The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts. Rodney Castleden
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Название: The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts

Автор: Rodney Castleden

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр: Историческая литература

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isbn: 9780007519439

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СКАЧАТЬ King of Gwynedd, and he was elected king. The Picts would not have chosen an obscure or low-ranking person as their king, and Maelgwn, we know, was an overking. Pictish succession passed through the female line, so it is likely that for him to be eligible for the Pictish throne; Bridei’s mother or grandmother was a Pict. In fact Welsh tradition has it that Maelgwn’s mother was a Pict.

      Bridei’s high reputation among the Picts rests on a great military victory won in 560. Gabran, King of Dal Riada, had taken a large area of Pictland and, by defeating him in 560, Bridei won most or all of this land back and once more united the northern and southern Picts.

      St. Columba visited him and asked Broichan, his chief magician, to set free his Irish slave girl.

      Bridei was eventually killed in 584 during a rebellion of the southern Picts.

      BRIGANTES

      An Iron Age tribe in the north of England. At the time of the Roman invasion, Queen Cartimandua was their ruler; she had a treaty arrangement with Rome.

      See Religion: Brighid.

      St. Brioc was born in 468 in the West Wales kingdom of Ceretigan (or in Latin Coriticiana, modern Cardigan). He was the son of Cerpus and Eldruda. He performed various miracles, including rescuing a stag from a king in Ceretigan.

      In about 510 he sailed away with 168 companions to a port in Cornwall and converted King Conan (or Kynan) and his people to Christianity. Later he crossed the Channel to Brittany, but went back to Ceretigan again to comfort his people when plague struck them in 547.

      The Cornish port was probably on the Camel estuary: St. Brioc’s (now St. Breock’s) parish is very large, covering the area south of Padstow. Recently a Dark Age port has been uncovered on the Camel estuary near Padstow.

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      BROICHAN

      The wizard of the Pictish King Bridei. Broichan covered Loch Ness with darkness and raised a storm so that for a time St. Columba was unable to set sail on the lake (See Magicians).

      BRUDEUS

      See Bridei.

      BRYCHAN

      See Nectan, Theodoric.

      Brynach or Bernacus was of noble birth, and probably Welsh rather than Irish. He visited Rome and killed a dragon. He returned by way of Brittany to Milford Haven in south-west Wales. There he resisted attempts at seduction and founded many churches. He resisted a demand from Maelgwn for food and managed to secure a grant from him exempting him from future royal exactions.

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      CADFAN

      A king of Gwynedd who died in about 620 or 630. The Llangadwaladr Stone on the island of Anglesey is his memorial. Translated from some oddly laid-out Latin, the inscription reads “Cadfan, wisest king, most renowned of all kings.” The lettering suggests a date around 620, which fits with the information in the Welsh Annals, to the effect that Cadfan’s father died in 616 and his son Cadwallon was killed in 633 by Oswald of Northumbria. This is his genealogy: Cadfan, son of Iago, son of Beli, son of Rhun, son of Maelgwn of Gwynedd.

      CADO

      See Geraint.

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      CADOC OF LANCARFAN

      Son of Gwynnliw of Glevissig, educated at Caerwent, Cadoc refused the royal scepter of Penychen because of his commitment to the Church and was granted Llancarfen by Paul Penychen; there he built Castil Kadoci, perhaps to be identified as Castle Ditches near Llancarfen. Much later he left Llancarfen to Elli of Llanelli and moved to Beneventum (possibly Abergavenny), where he was visited annually by Elli and became bishop under the name Sophias.

      He visited Rome in the time of Pope John III (560–72). He also visited Jerusalem, Cornwall, and Brittany. He acquired Gildas’ bell, though Gildas refused to surrender it to Cadoc until he was ordered to do so by Pope Alexander; he also acquired the Gospel book that Gildas wrote while studying at Nantcarvan for a year while Cadoc was away in Scotland.

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      He was finally martyred “by the soldiers of a cruel king.”

      Cadoc has more church dedications than any other Welsh saint except David and he is very prominent in both Welsh and Breton fable.

      CADWALLON

      A Dark Age king of Gwynedd. He fought alongside Penda of Mercia in the Battle of Meicen in which King Edwin of Northumbria was killed. The battle was noted by a British scribe as gueith meicen, ‘the strife of Meicen.” The battle in which the great King of Northumbria was slain justified a longer-than-usual entry in the annals.

      CALEDONII

      A major tribe living in the Grampians in Scotland at the time of the Roman occupation. The incredibly hardy Caledonii were described by Dio Cassio:

       The Maeatae live near the wall [Hadrian’s Wall] that divides the island [of Britain] in two, the Caledonii beyond them. Both inhabit rough mountains with marshy ground [the Scottish Lowlands] between them, neither have walled places or towns or cultivated lands. They live by pasture, hunting, and on a kind of fruit with a hard shell [hazelnuts?]

       They eat no fish, though their waters are full of many species. They live in tents, unclothed and barefoot. They have their women in common, and raise all their children. Their government is democratic, and they delight in raids and plunder. They fight from chariots and have small, fast horses. Their infantry move fast, and have great stamina. Their weapons are a shield and a short spear with a bronze knob at the butt end.

       СКАЧАТЬ