Blogging at Seduced by History
The Red Lady and Bells of the Deep examines the connection between archaeology and the story of story-telling. What makes us create our pasts? Why do we imagine our history? When we know the truth, why do we cling to our myths?
I pose the questions. Scientists and philosophers have pondered the same. What do you think?
Review: Into the Crossfire
This is not my usual genre but you may like this book:
Although I would only give this book 3stars overall, I did enjoy reading this on the flight and coach ride from New York to Wales. I had to hide some of the pages from my fellow passengers because the sex scenes are surface-of-the-sun-hot! This was a last minute acquire and definitely one to read again. I particularly appreciated the use of real nouns for anatomical parts rather than crude metaphors.
Hooray for Haycox
I’ve just read an article in today’s Western Mail titled “Queen of Hay” about Elizabeth Haycox, an American from Oregon, who has been a contributor to the rejuvenation of the bookshop that sparked the developments leading to the Hay Festival. Richard Booth has been known as the “King of Hay” for decades since he opened the first secondhand bookshop in this Powys town, 50 years ago.
I made my first pilgrimage to Hay in the early 1980s. By then, the town was well-established as a haven for the hunter of secondhand books. I took away so many there was no room in the boot (trunk) of the car and the bumps on the way back to Cardiff were accompanied by thuds.
The Festival begins in the last week of May – coinciding with the Urdd Eisteddfod (see my blog for Seduced by History, A Living Tradition, for more about this) and, this year, giving literary and music lovers a choice to spend their soggy May Bank Holiday in Powys or Abertawe.
Elizabeth Haycox was given the title by Steve Dubé (himself a Canadian) for her role in the regeneration of the Booth’s bookshop in the style of café/bookshops appearing in San Francisco’s independent bookshops in the 1970s and finding their way to the likes of chain book retailers thirty years later. Haycox is expanding Booth’s original premises into the building next door, more room for tables and mugs of tea.
All of that aside, despite the good news for Hay and the Festival with the promise of a cinema and the restoration of Hay Castle, I say hooray for Haycox for this one statement in particular: “…But I won’t be the Queen of Hay. Americans don’t take titles…” Thank you, Elizabeth, for restoring my faith.
A pity no one reminded Ian MacGregor of that before he destroyed the mining industry.
Marriage Laws in Celtic Britain
Dwynwen rejects the attentions of her lover.
With the publication of Traitor’s Daughter, this is the perfect opportunity to talk about the various Celtic marriage laws that are the premise of the book.
Depending on the tribe, there are nine laws that governed the marital status of a couple. Many of them are not allowed these days but were acceptable in the early Celtic civilizations. My sources for this information are Peter Berresford Ellis’s book, Celtic Women, and Henrietta Leyser’s Medieval Women. These nine forms are also to be found in the eight types of marriage in Hindu law.
Polygamy was a commonplace occurrence in the earliest, war-torn times, in practicality, to provide for the many widows who otherwise would have starved to death along with their children. A warrior with many wives served the social needs of his tribe by taking responsibility for the families of his dead soldiers.
According to (at least) one Celtic woman, when chastised for her lack of chastity, ”Why should we not enjoy the best of men. Roman women comingle with the worst.”
As necessity waned, polygamy in Celtic society disappeared and, with the conversion to Christianity in Celtic countries by the 6th-7th centuries, was no longer acceptable. In Cymru, some monastic Celtic Church clergy continued to marry until the late 12th century. In Ireland, polygamy continued for some time after the conversion to the Christian church.
Marriage in antiquity was predominately a contract merger of property for the establishment of a family and household.
Hywel Dda codified the marriage laws in Cymru.
The first degree of marriage was priodas (pree-O-das) – the partnership of a man and woman of equal financial position. This is how Heledd and Garmon are wed (eventually) in Traitor’s Daughter. In this form of marriage, a catalogue of goods is made and shared between the partners for the good of the household. I have also used this form in the marriage of minor characters in Invasion, the first book in my Pendyffryn: The Conquerors.
The second form is agwedi (aG-WED-ee). The woman brings a lesser amount or no property to the partnership. Heledd is in this position when she believes she is to wed Huw.
The third form of marriage is caradas (car-A-das), from the word caru (car-ee) to love. In Cymru, this is when a man lives with a woman with her kin’s consent. In Ireland, the third form is the man who has nothing to offer to the wealth of the household. (She must love him very much!) In Invasion, Gwennan Pendyffryn has no difficulty accepting Ieuan Emyr on the Irish grounds but it doesn’t work out that way for them.
The fourth form of marriage in Cymru, deu lysuab (day lees-EE-ab), having no equivalent in Irish marriage law, is the union of two persons related only by the marriage of their respective parents, i.e., stepbrother and stepsister. The word llys (ll [an aspirated l] = llees) refers to a court of law; a legal relationship). Garmon is Huw’s llysfab (stepson).
The fourth form in Ireland is lánamnas fir thathigthe (sorry, my limited Gaelic won’t help with this pronunciation) – a man is given permission to live with a woman with her kin’s consent. This is the same as the third form in Cymru.
The fifth type of marital union is called llathlut goleu (llAHth-leet go-lay) means ‘open connection’ – two people chose to live together openly without the consent of the woman’s kin. I use this form of marriage in my forthcoming novel, Invasion.
Numbers six on the Celtic wedding hit parade is llathlut twyll (llATth-leet tOO-eell [aspirated l]). An independent-minded woman allows herself to be abducted by a man or is visited by a man in secret without the knowledge of her kin.
Beichogi twyll gwraig lwyn a pherth (bay-CHO[hard CH as in loch]-ee too-eell gur-eyeg loo-een ah phair-th) is number seven, literally “to impregnate a woman between loins and hedge”. This is a double entendre as llwyn also means hedge. It can be taken to mean “to make love in the hedgerows”.
In Traitor’s Daughter, Elgan choses the eighth form, cynnywedi ar liw ac ar oleu, as well as the nineth, to take
Win this ebook! Anwsers by May 29th.
Heledd away from her lawful husband (cun-ee-WED-ee ahr loo ahk ahr O-lay), rough literal translation: ”to join by color and by light”, a union by abduction of a woman without her consent.
Twyll morwyn (tOO-eell MOR-ooeen) is the nineth form of marriage, leading on from the eighth, a marriage by rape. In Ireland, there was a different nineth form: lánamnas genaige – a union of two insane people.
So now you know but can you guess which form Garmon uses to make his initial claim on Heledd? If you are one of the first nineteen to guess correctly, you will win a copy of Traitor’s Daughter in whichever ebook form you prefer. Please leave your answer and your email address in the Comments for this post. I’ll reveal the answer and the winners on May 29th, so hurry.
First Copy of Traitor’s Daughter Sold!
Ebook Cover for Traitor's Daughter
The title says everything I need to say today.
Diolch yn fawr!
http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/medieval_welsh
Until the end of May I’m offering a discount voucher to everyone who comments on this post.
–Lily
A Day In Loch Garman
The Pikeman in the Bull Ring
29 April 2011: I’ve spent this day in one of the first towns in Ireland to rebel against the foreign domination of this Celtic country first overrun by the Norman rulers of England in the latter part of the 12thC and subjugated for a further 800 years.
Of what? The Tree of Liberty.
Where did it first grow? In America.
Where does it bloom? In France.
Where did the seeds fall? In Ireland.
- Irish Breakfast served at Sidetracks on the Crescent Quay
Loch Garman was a random choice but ultimately wholly significant to the reason for my journey away from Cymru today. Although the trip was a statement, I did have ample opportunity to sample the local fare, not to mention the several glasses of Guinness.
Opposite Sidetracks is the Crescent Quay. The town has been a settlement since the earliest times and was important to fishing industries and international commerce from the arrival of the Norse in the 9thC. On the Quay is the statue of Commodore John Barry – a native son of Loch Garman – whose contribution, in 1783, in the fight for American independence included firing the American Navy’s last shot of the Revoltuion.
Why the Welsh Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
Patron Saint of Ireland and Cymro
On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day and having come across a letter to the editor in the Western Mail from George Brinley Evans, I think it’s appropriate to pay homage to a revered and venerated saint of the Early Celtic Christian Church. Besides all the parades to be marched and pint glasses of heady brews to be lifted to celebrate the day on which St. Patrick died, there will be another ceremony.
This commemorative event will take place in the village where St. Patrick was born, in Banwen, near Castell Nedd (Neath), in the Dulais Valley, near Abertawe (Swansea). He was the son of a propsperous merchant in a part of Wales renown for its contribution to the Industrial Revolution.
At about 16 years of age, Patrick and his sister were captured and enslaved by Irish marauders. He spent many years in Ireland as a shepherd. He escaped to his home in Cymru (Wales) and studied in Llydaw (Brittany) before being ordained and travelling to Rome. After his ordination as a bishop, he returned to Ireland to carry on his personal mission of sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry.
Location of St. Patrick's Commemorative Stone In Banwen
A standing stone at the side of the Roman road, Sarn Helen, in Banwen commemorates the courage and bravery of this famous Cymro (Welshman), whose dedication and humility are celebrated throughout the world. A service at the site of the stone will be attended by villagers and eminent compatriots.
For more information about St. Patrick, Black Lab Books (New York) are publishing Thomas John Clark’s The Chronicles of St. Patrick in chapter-length editions. For a fictionalized story, Stephen Lawhead’s Patrick is intense and comprehensive.
Titles and Merit | Tyranny and Worth
I cannot fathom the penchant for titles, especially among Americans. The USA was founded on the premise that all people are created equal and each person has the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And yet, so many Americans search for the ancestral links to titled progenitors.
Living in a small country, next door to the largest generator of titled personages in western Europe, I must express my dismay. The presence of a ‘royal’ line diminishes all those beneath it, makes subjects of people who are rightly citizens. If you live in a country founded on equality and freedom, why do you seek servility and bow to privilege?
Why is it important to you to be related to a person of ‘royal’ lineage? All that means is your ancestor was more bloodthirsty, more devious, more morally reprehensible, more willing to grovel for favor than the next person. Only those who were in the ruler’s favor gained or kept titles. To accomplish that, they, more often than not, had to set aside any personal integrity. Do you truly want to be the progeny of a person who, for the love of privilege, caged a child or imprisioned a toddler (Gwenllian merch Llewelyn) at the behest of his/her king?
Here’s a sobbing fact: anyone claiming ancestral links to titled people is 99.99% certain to be a peasant. If you can trace your ancestry back beyond the first census, there is an overwhelming possibility your ancestor was listed as chattel on an estate.
Thankfully then, there is an excellent chance you do not carry the genes of sycophants at all – unless your ancestor was the victim of a ‘royal’s' sexual assault.
Give me real people in real circumstances overcoming obstacles and finding love where they least expect it.
By the way, if I am not in Ireland, I will be in total media blackout on 29 April 2011.
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi 2011 St. David’s Day
Dewi Sant at Jesus Chapel, Oxford
March 1st is celebrated in Cymru as Gŵyl Dewi (St. David’s Day): Dewi Sant, son of Non (daughter of Cynyr Caer Goch), conceived by rape and born on a cliff overlooking Môr Iwerddon (the Irish Sea), patron saint of Cymru. The date of his birth is unknown and variously set in the 5th Century and the 6th. March 1st is reconginized as the day of his death but, again, the year is uncertain, c. AD589.
Dewi’s best known teaching was “gwnewch y pethau bychain” – do the small things. Legend proports these words were spoken at the Synod of Llanddewi Brefi, where he place a small scarf on the grass and the ground rose so that he could be seen by the multitude who had come to hear him speak.
Cydymdaith Dewi Sant, Caerdydd
On this day, there are parades in the capital city, Caerdydd (Cardiff), community events such as feasts and festivals, schools hold concerts and services, perform plays and arrange suppers. The Gymanfa Ganu and the Oedfa are favorite ways of celebrating the saint’s day. The Gymanfa is a singing festival and the Oedfa is a religious observance (also with singing). These celebrations occur all over the world, where ever Welsh people gather – from the metropolises of New York and Hong Kong to the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Pice Man, cawl and cwrw are the traditional fare in the community suppers, accompanied by – singing! As well as harping, piping, reciting and the utterly unique cerdd dant - the juxtaposition of two opposing tunes from harp and voice.
Tradtional cawl is a lamb stew (this is lambing season around these parts). The variations on recipes depend on where in Cymru you are but the basic recipe is: 500g (1lb) lamb, 500g (1lb) potatoes, swede (rutabaga), leeks, onions, drippings (butter/cooking oil will do), seasoning (usually only salt & pepper) and water. Brown the lamb, quarter the potatoes, slice and dice the leeks, onions and swedes (not too small – this is a hearty dish for cold weather), and simmer for hours – or so my mother-in-law insisted.
Baner Dewi Sant / St. David's Flag
This year, we will be celebrating Dydd Gŵyl Dewi in the village of Merthyr (martyr) with the parishoners and clergy of St. Martin’s Church – a community a few miles north of Caerfyrddin.
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus i Bawb! Gwnewch y pethau bychain.
Saint David, Saint Teilo, Saint Padarn – 5th-6thC Welsh Saints
- Saint Teilo’s Church, Pontarddulais, Cymru
This photograph is taken from the St. Fagan’s National History Museum’s website. The church was restored and opened from viewing on 14th October 2007 – just five weeks after I began work on my novel, Traitor’s Daughter. The church so inspired me that I wrote about its peace in the novel – giving it special significance to my heroine, Heledd, in her first fearful days in her new home.
