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Taliesin (ING) - Wikipedia

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Taliesin

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The Eden Valley between Appleby and Penrith, an area referred to affectionately as the heartland of Urien Rheged in the praise poems of Taliesin.

Taliesin (c. 534 – c. 599)[1] was a Brythonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three Celtic British kings.

A maximum of eleven of the preserved poems have been dated to as early as the 6th century, and were ascribed to the historical Taliesin[2] These indicate that he became court bard to King Brochfael Ysgithrog of Powys around 555, then to his successor Cynan Garwyn, and lastly to King Urien of Rheged and his son Owain mab Urien. Some of the events to which the poems refer, such as the Battle of Arfderydd (c. 583), are known from other sources.

His name, spelled as Taliessin in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King and in some subsequent works, means "shining brow" in Middle Welsh.[1] In legend and medieval Welsh poetry, he is often referred to as Taliesin Ben Beirdd ("Taliesin, Chief of Bards" or chief of poets). He is mentioned as one of the five British poets of renown, along with Talhaearn Tad Awen ("Talhaearn Father of the Muse"), Aneirin, Blwchfardd, and Cian Gwenith Gwawd ("Cian Wheat of Song"), in the Historia Brittonum, and is also mentioned in the collection of poems known as Y Gododdin. Taliesin was highly regarded in the mid-twelfth century as the supposed author of a great number of romantic legends.[1]

According to legend, Taliesin was adopted as a child by Elffin, the son of Gwyddno Garanhir, and prophesied the death of Maelgwn Gwynedd from the Yellow Plague. In later stories he became a mythic hero, companion of Bran the Blessed and King Arthur. His mythologized life-story is found in several late renderings (see below), the earliest surviving narrative being found in a manuscript chronicle of world history written by Elis Gruffydd in the mid-16th century).

Contents

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[edit] Biography

Little is known about his life, beyond what can be gleaned from the poems which are considered genuinely historical. These refer to victories over Ida of Bernicia at the Battle of Argoed Llwyfain about the year 547, at Gwen Ystrad between that year and 560, at Menao, Northumbria about the year 560.[1] All of these locations are found in the Hen Ogledd (The Old North). After the death of Urien Rheged, Taliesin was the bard of his son Owain mab Urien, by whose hand Ida fell.[1] It is striking that he is not the first named by Nennius. He also sang in praise of Cynan Garwyn, king of Powys, Wales.[3]

According to a tradition often alluded to in medieval Welsh poetry and in Historia Taliesin ("The Tale of Taliesin", surviving from the 16th century), Taliesin was the foster-son of Elffin ap Gwyddno, who gave him the name Taliesin, meaning "radiant brow", and who later became a king in Ceredigion, Wales. The legend states that he was then raised at his court in Aberdyfi and that at the age of 13, he visited King Maelgwn Gwynedd, Elffin's uncle, and correctly prophesied the manner and imminence of Maelgwn's death. A number of medieval poems attributed to Taliesin allude to the legend but they postdate the historical poets floruit by at least five hundred years, or more.

The idea that he was a bard at the court of King Arthur dates back at least to the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, perhaps a product of the 11th century. It is elaborated upon in modern English poetry, such as Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Charles Williams's Taliessin Through Logres. In any case the historical Taliesin's career can be shown to have fallen in the last half of the 6th century, while historians who argue for Arthur's existence date his victory at Mons Badonicus in the years to either side of AD 500; the Annales Cambriae offers the date of 532 for his death or disappearance in the Battle of Camlann, only a few years earlier than the date of 542 found in the Historia Regum Britanniae.

Bedd Taliesin, a hilltop Bronze Age tumulus in Ceredigion, opposite Aberdyfi (see above), is a traditional site for his grave but the village of Tre-Taliesin, located at the foot of the hill, was actually named after the bard in the 19th century. A manuscript in the hand of 18th century literary forgerer Iolo Morganwg claimed he was the son of Saint Henwg of Llanhennock but this is contrary to every other fact and tradition. In it he is said to have been educated in the school of Catwg, at Llanfeithin, in Glamorgan, Wales, which the historian Gildas also attended. Captured as a youth by Irish pirates while fishing at sea, he is said to have escaped by using a wooden bucklet for a boat; he landed at the fishing weir of Elffin, one of the sons of Urien (all medieval Welsh sources, however, make Elffin the son of Gwyddno Garanhir). Urien made him Elffin's instructor, and gave Taliesin an estate of land. But once introduced to the court of the warrior-chief, Taliesin became his foremost bard, followed him in his wars, and wrote of his victories.[1]

[edit] Book of Taliesin

Some of the texts of The Book of Taliesin, scholars believe, are examples of 10th century Welsh. Since much if not all Welsh poetry was transmitted orally in Taliesin's day, it is possible that the original poems were first written down four centuries later using the contemporary spellings of that day. Sir Ifor Williams, whose work helped lay the foundations for the academic study of Old Welsh, particularly early Welsh poetry, published the text with notes in Canu Taliesin (1960), and subsequently in an English version as The Poems of Taliesin (1968).

John Gwenogvryn Evans dated the Book of Taliesin to around 1275, but Daniel Huws now dates it to the first quarter of the 14th century. Most of the poems in the collection are quite late (around 10th to 12th century), though some claim Taliesin as author while others are attributed internally to other poets. A few of the "marks" presumably awarded for poems - or at least measuring their "value" - are extant in the margin of the Book of Taliesin.

Of the poems in The Book of Taliesin, twelve are addressed to known historical kings such as Cynan Garwyn, king of Powys, and Gwallog of Elmet. Eight of the poems, however, are addressed to Urien Rheged, whose kingdom was centered in the region of the Solway Firth on the borders of present-day England and Scotland and stretched east to Catraeth (now Catterick in North Yorkshire) and west to Galloway. One poem, a "marwnad" or death lament, was addressed to Owain, son of Urien.

The rest comprises some poems addressing mythological and religious topics as well as a few works such as 'Armes Prydein Vawr', the content of which implies that they were by later authors. Many lack the characteristics, metre and 'poetic tag' associated with the work of the historical Taliesin. Much of this material is associated with the mythical Taliesin.

[edit] The mythical account of his life

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Wikisource has original text related to this article:

In the mid 16th century, Elis Gruffydd recorded a mythological account of Taliesin which resembles the story of the boyhood of the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhail and the salmon of wisdom in some respects, and has many characteristics of creation mythology. The tale was also recorded in a slightly different version by John Jones of Gellilyfdy) (c. 1607). A composite version based on these accounts is given below.

[edit] Birth

Taliesin began life as Gwion Bach, a servant to the enchantress Ceridwen. Ceridwen had a beautiful daughter and an ugly son named Morfran (also called Avagddu), whose appearance no magic could cure. Ceridwen sought to give him the gift of wisdom as compensation and cooked a potion granting wisdom inspiration (Awen), which had to be constantly stirred and cooked for a year and a day. A blind man named Morda tended the fire beneath the cauldron, while Gwion Bach stirred. The first three drops of liquid from this cauldron would give wisdom; the rest was a fatal poison. Three hot drops spilled onto Gwion's thumb as he stirred, and he instinctively put his thumb in his mouth, instantly gaining wisdom and knowledge. The first thought that occurred to him was that Ceridwen would kill him, so he ran away.

All too soon he heard her fury and the sound of her pursuit. He turned himself into a hare on the land and she became a greyhound. He turned himself into a fish and jumped into a river: she then turned into an otter. He turned into a bird in the air, and in response she became a hawk.

Exhausted, he turned into a single grain of corn and she became a hen and ate him. She became pregnant. She resolved to kill the child, knowing it was Gwion, but when he was born he was so beautiful that she couldn't, so she threw him in the ocean in a leather bag.

[edit] Discovery by Elffin

The baby was found by Elffin, the son of Gwyddno Garanhir, 'Lord of Ceredigion', while fishing for salmon. Surprised at the whiteness of the boy's brow, he exclaimed "dyma Dal Iesin", meaning "this is a radiant brow." Taliesin, thus named, began to recite beautiful poetry, saying:

Fair Elffin, cease your lament!
....Though I am weak and small,
On the wave crest of the the surging sea,
I shall be better for you
Than three hundred shares of salmon.
Elffin of noble generosity,
Do not sorrow at your catch.
Though I am weak on the floor of my basket,
There are wonders on my tongue....''

Amazed, Elffin asked how a baby could talk. Again Taliesin replied with poetry:

"Floating like a boat in its waters,
I was thrown into a dark bag,
and on an endless sea, I was set adrift.
Just as I was suffocating, I had a happy omen,
and the master of the Heavens brought me to liberty."

[edit] At the court of Maelgwn Gwynedd

A few years later, when Taliesin turned thirteen, Elffin was at the court of King Maelgwn Gwynedd, claiming Taliesin was a better bard and that his wife a better woman than anyone the king had in his court. Maelgwn's son Rhun went to Elffin's house to seduce his wife and prove Elffin's claims weren't true. Rhun got her drunk and tried to take off her wedding ring to prove her unfaithfulness. But Elffin was unconvinced. Maelgwn then demanded Taliesin prove the claim that he was a better bard than the ones in his court. Taliesin then prophesied the king's downfall in a flood of stanzas, while the king's bards could only play with their lips and make baby noises. Elffin was released from the prison into which he had been cast.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f English Writers: An Attempt Towards a History of English Literature.
  2. ^ by Welsh scholar Ifor Williams.
  3. ^ Ifor Williams, Canu Taliesin (University of Wales Press, 1960), poem I.

[edit] References

  • Ford, Patrick K. 1977. The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Ford, Patrick K. 1992. Ystoria Taliesin University of Wales Press: Cardiff.
  • Ford, Patrick K. 1999. The Celtic Poets: Songs and Tales from Early Ireland and Wales Ford and Bailie: Belmont, Mass.
  • Haycock, Marged 2007. Legendary Poems from the Book of Taliesin (CMCS, Aberystwyth)
  • Haycock, Marged. 1997. "Taliesin's Questions" Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 33 (Summer): 19–79.
  • Haycock, Marged. 1987. "'Some talk of Alexander and some of Hercules': three early medieval poems from the 'Book of Taliesin." Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 13 (1987): 7–38.
  • Haycock, Marged. 1987–88. "Llyfr Taliesin," National Library of Wales Journal 25: 357–86.
  • Haycock, Marged. 1983–1984. "Preiddeu Annwn and the Figure of Taliesin" Studia Celtica18/19: 52–78.
  • Koch, John and John Carey. 2003.The Celtic Heroic Age 3rd ed. Celtic Studies Publishing: Malden, Mass.
  • Williams, Ifor. 1960. Canu Taliesin. Translated into English by J. E. Caerwyn Williams as The Poems of Taliesin Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies: Dublin. (first edition 1967, reprinted 1975, 1987)
  • Williams, Ifor. 1944. Lectures on Early Welsh poetry. Dublin: DIAS
  • English Writers: An Attempt Towards a History of English Literature, Henry Morley, William Hall Griffin, Published by Cassell & Company, limited, 1887

[edit] External links

Taliesin (ESP) - Wikipedia

Fuente:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliesin

Información:

Taliesin

De Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Para otros usos de este término, véase Taliesin (desambiguación).
Facsímil de una página del Libro de Taliesin.

Taliesin (c. 534 - 599),[1] escrito Taliessin en Los idilios del rey, de Alfred Tennyson, es el más antiguo poeta galés conocido. Pertenecía al grupo de los Cynfeirdd (en galés, «bardos primitivos» durante la época heorica del reino de Gales, con el rey Cynan Garwyn y el príncipe Urien Rheged como héroes. Su poesía dramática muestra que la lengua galesa era empleada como medio artístico habitual.[1] Toda su obra se encuentra recogida en el Llyfr Taliesin («libro de Taliesin»).

La mayor parte de su vida está rodeada de misterio, de tal forma que algunos estudiosos afirman que tras el nombre de Taliesin se esconden varios poetas anónimos a lo largo del siglo VI.[2] Su nombre ha sido asociado en la literatura posterior al culto druídico, como en la novela Las nieblas de Ávalon de Marion Zimmer Bradley, donde Taliesin es Merlín o en la también novela Taliesin de Stephen R. Lawhead, donde es presentado como el último gran chamán celta.[3]

Contenido

[ocultar]

Obra poética [editar]

Soy el primero de los bardos ante Elphin,

y mi patria es el país de las estrellas del verano.
En su día me llamaba Merlín
Y hoy me llamo Taliesin.

He estado en el Cielo y en el Infierno
Estuve con Noé, durante la construcción del arca
Conozco los nombres de todas las estrellas
pero yo sigo siendo una maravilla inexplicada.

He tomado todas las formas posibles,
Estuve muerto y a la vez vivo,
Seguiré en la tierra hasta el juicio final,
Nadie sabe si soy pescado o carne

Fui llevado durante nueve meses,
en el vientre de la bruja Cerridwen
Entonces me conocían como el pequeño Gwyon

Pero ahora soy Taliesin.


Referencias [editar]

  1. ↑ a b Matthews, John; Matthews, Caitlin (1991). Taliesin: Shamanism and the Bardic Mysteries in Britain and Ireland. Aquarian Press. ISBN 0044405863.
  2. ↑ Varvasovszky, Laszlo (1982). La Leyenda De Taliesin El Gales. Altea. ISBN 8437216184.
  3. ↑ Matthews, John; Matthews, Caitlin (2002). Bear & Company (ed.). Taliesin: The Last Celtic Shaman. Inner Traditions. ISBN 0892818697.

Bibliografía [editar]

  • Ford, Patrick K. 1977. The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Ford, Patrick K. 1992. Ystoria Taliesin University of Wales Press: Cardiff.
  • Ford, Patrick K. 1999. The Celtic Poets: Songs and Tales from Early Ireland and Wales Ford and Bailie: Belmont, Mass.
  • Haycock, Marged. 1997. "Taliesin's Questions" Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 33 (Summer): 19–79.
  • Haycock, Marged. 1987. "'Some talk of Alexander and some of Hercules': three early medieval poems from the 'Book of Taliesin." Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 13 (1987): 7–38.
  • Haycock, Marged. 1987–88. "Llyfr Taliesin," National Library of Wales Journal 25: 357–86.
  • Haycock, Marged. 1983–1984. "Preiddeu Annwn and the Figure of Taliesin" Studia Celtica18/19: 52–78.
  • Koch, John and John Carey. 2003.The Celtic Heroic Age 3rd ed. Celtic Studies Publishing: Malden, Mass.
  • Williams, J. E. Carwyn. 1987. The Poems of Taliesin Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies: Dublin.

Enlaces externos [editar]

Wikisource

Druida - Wikipedia

Fuente:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druida

Información:

Druida

De Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Los druidas eran una clase social elevada en la sociedad celta.

Contenido

[ocultar]

Etimología [editar]

Dos druidas. Bajo relieve encontrado en Autun.

Los druidas se presentan a menudo como sacerdotes de la religión celta, pero su papel envolvía muchos aspectos más. Los druidas formaban una clase social independiente, representando la clase intelectual de la sociedad. Aunque también desempeñaban funciones religiosas, no se limitaban a ellas. Eran entre otros bardos, médicos, astrónomos, filósofos y magos.

Sin embargo, se pueden diferenciar tres funciones entre los druidas, aunque la separación a veces no era muy clara y ciertos autores se muestran escépticos (T.D.Kendrick):

  • Los "Druids", que enseñaban el arte de la guerra y que disponían de poderes mágicos
  • Los "Bairds" o bardos, que eran responsables de la tradición oral
  • Los "Filidhs" o videntes que predecían el futuro.

También hay que distinguir entre los druidas celtas (hasta el final de las culturas celtas independientes, coincidiendo aproximadamente con el comienzo de la Edad Media) y los druidas modernos. Los primeros desaparecerían sin dejar testimonio escrito. Los últimos se desarrollaron en Gales e Irlanda según conceptos de la Edad Moderna y unen tradiciones con ideas actuales, nacionalismos y romanticismos.

La procedencia de la palabra "druida" está muy debatida. Dr. O'Hogain supone que deriva de la palabra celta para "rico en conocimientos", mientras que otros admiten que ha derivado de drus, la palabra celta para roble. Otra teoría finalmente lo relaciona con dru (cuidadoso, a fondo) y uid (saber).

Druidas históricos [editar]

No se conocen escritos directos de druidas de la antigüedad, ya que, al parecer, los druidas pasaban su saber sólo por tradición oral a sus alumnos. Existen algunos textos de la baja Edad Media de Gales, Irlanda y Escocia que se relacionan con tradiciones de los druidas. Sin embargo, se trata habitualmente de textos mitológicos que ya tienen una cierta influencia cristiana y que sólo admiten unas conclusiones limitadas sobre los druidas de la antigüedad.

De Plinio el Viejo sabemos de los druidas vestidos de blanco que cortaban el muérdago con hoz de oro; además nos habla de sacrificios taurinos presididos por druidas, así como de su veneración de diversas arboledas o árboles y plantas sagrados como el roble, el avellano, o el muérdago; o lugares naturales como la cima de ciertas colinas, corrientes de agua, y lagos, así cómo del cielo, la tierra, el mar, y el fuego -que veían como algo purificador- recogiendo una costumbre presente en las comunidades celtas en las que servían. El muérdago entre los druidas era una planta sacra. Aunque a menudo se atribuye a este sentido sus propiedades medicinales, es poco probable que sea la razón única. Más verosímil es que se deba a que el muérdago está aún verde en invierno cuando el resto del árbol parece sin vida. Hay otras fuentes que dicen que esto se debe a que crece sin tocar el suelo, y por eso se lo recogía en una tela blanca.

Ya anteriormente Julio César mencionaba a los druidas en su "De Bello Gallico". Estas referencias tienen ciertos paralelismos con relatos de Posidonio (135 - 51 a. C.), quien nos da una imagen idealizada helenística del druida como filósofo. Éste autor también afirmaba que se encargaban de castigar a determinados miembros de la sociedad expulsándolos de ceremonias religiosas, y por tanto de la sociedad. Hay que ver los relatos de César, como los de los demás autores, con un cierto escepticismo, ya que eran ajenos a esta cultura.

Diodoro Sículo afirmaba de los druidas que a veces antes de una batalla se interponían entre los combatientes para evitar el combate, así cómo que predecían el futuro mediante la observación del vuelo y los reclamos de las aves y el sacrificio de animales sagrados, así cómo que creían en una especie de reencarnación, según la cual al morir el alma migraba de un cuerpo a otro.

Con la conquista de los países celtas (Iberia, Galia, Britania) por parte del Imperio Romano vanecía la influencia de los druidas, los cuales entre otras figuras fueron de acuerdo con Plinio prohibidos por el Senado en un decreto que posteriormente Tiberio renovó en el año 54 dC. Un último bastión era la isla Anglesey (Ynys Mon) situada al norte de Gales, que fue destruida por los romanos en 60 dC. Los últimos relatos de la Irlanda de la baja Edad Media ya muestran influencia cristiana y diabolizan a los druidas como enemigos de la Iglesia católica.

A menudo se habla también de mujeres druida, que eran conocidas cómo Dryades o Bandrui, pensando, por ejemplo, en Mebd de Connacht o Ceridwen. De Ceridwen hay una leyenda donde ella prepara en un cáliz que puede verse como el prototipo del Santo Grial, una pócima que da sabiduría infinita sobre el pasado, el presente y el futuro. Preparó el potingue para su hijo Affagdu (= oscuridad absoluta) para compensar el poco agrado físico que tenía. No obstante, su ayudante tomó tres gotas de la bebida. Para escapar de su ira huyó y se escondió adoptando diversas formas. Finalmente tomó la forma de un grano de trigo que fue tragado por Ceridwen. De esto Cerdiwen se quedó embarazada y dio a luz a otro hijo, Taliesin, quien está visto hoy en día como el prototipo de todos los druidas. Esta leyenda confirma que existían druidas femeninos y que su rango no era necesariamente inferior al de los hombres.

De todos los relatos conjuntos se forma la imagen del druida como persona culta en una posición socialmente destacada. También era responsable de los sacrificios religiosos y se le veía como mediador entre los hombres y los dioses. Al mismo tiempo era juez, profesor y se ocupaba de la historia y de la civilización de las culturas celtas.

Asimismo el bardo celta tenía una posición destacada, aunque no se puede confirmar que druidas y bardos eran rangos diferentes en la misma organización.

Los druidas no tenían templos de culto erigidos en piedra. Probablemente disponían de edificios de madera que no han pasado a nuestros días. Según las fuentes originales, a menudo celebraban sus ritos en claros en los bosques cercanos a manantiales o pozos naturales.

Plinio relata uno de sus rituales: "Tras haber preparado los sacrificios y los banquetes bajo los árboles, traen dos toros blancos cuyos cuernos han sido vendados. Con su túnica blanca un druida sube al árbol para cortar el muérdago con su hoz de oro, otros vestidos de la misma manera lo reciben. Después matan a los animales del sacrificio y rezan para que el dios les recompense esta ofrenda con sus dones".

También hay relatos (en parte dudosos) de sacrificios humanos.

Los últimos druidas se convirtieron al cristianismo (los fili), al igual que toda la clase dirigente de Irlanda. Estos conversos convivieron con los paganos hasta que sometieron a estos últimos a una persecución. De esta forma, la Iglesia Irlandesa conservó muchas de las tradiciones celtas.

Los druidas actuales [editar]

Se conoce a William Stukeley (1687 - 1765) como padre de los druidas modernos. Era el primero en relacionar el círculo de piedras de Stonehenge con la religión celta, relación que nunca ha sido probada ni históricamente ni por hallazgos arqueológicos. En 1792 se diseñó en Gales una ceremonia para el solsticio de verano, donde jóvenes druidas se consagraron a un "archi-druida".

Este movimiento iba unido a la búsqueda en Gales e Irlanda de una historia independiente de Inglaterra con raíces celtas y ganó adeptos en el ámbito del movimiento nacionalista. Un atractivo adicional era el carácter oculto en una época donde las logias secretas estaban en auge. El neo-druida está generalmente considerado como una forma del paganismo y un sucesor directo del druida de la antigüedad.

Influido por los ideales naturalistas del romanticismo, se fundó en 1781 en Inglaterra una orden druida que se dedicó a defender la tolerancia, la humanidad y la dignidad humana. Los fundadores veían representada en la clase suprema de los celtas a la ciencia, arte y sabiduría.

A mediados del siglo XIV empezó el Renacimiento y se recuperó el interés por los escritores griegos y latinos de la antigüedad, resurgiendo las enseñanzas del mundo clásico. En la Francia del siglo XVI, los druidas, junto con los antiguos celtas, o mejor dicho, galos, se convirtieron en figuras históricas respetables. Comenzaron a aparecer muchos libros sobre los antiguos galos y los druidas. El entusiasmo por estas obras continuo en el siglo XVII. Los druidas fueron incluso proclamados antepasados de los germanos. En 1648 Elias Schedius trataba el asunto en De Dis Germanis, subtitulado "La religión de los Antiguos Germanos, Celtas, Galos, Britanos y Vandalos". El libro ofrece una visión de los Druidas aún en sus sombríos robledales, con un druida adornado con hojas de roble, adecuadamente vestido, empuñando un cuchillo manchado con la sangre de un sacrificio mientras una siniestra sacerdotisa se encuantra a su lado. La mujer lleva un cráneo humano colgando de la cintura y esta golpeando un tambor con dos fémures también humanos.... tal era la percepción que se tenia de los druidas. En 1693 se había impuesto la idea de que todos los megalitos eran templos de los druidas. Se reivindico varias veces que Stonehenge era un templo druida, aunque también se sostuvo que habían sido los sajones los constructores, por su parecido con las tumbas megalíticas con cámara existentes en Schleswig-Holstein, la patria originaria europea de los anglos, sajones y jutos El druidismo británico apareció a finales del siglo XVI como una extravagante recreación de lo que se suponía eran los druidas, y no se consideraban a si mismos como un movimiento religioso sino como una “Orden Fraternal”, un Club de Caballeros. Muchos de los líderes Druidas eran masones o Hermeticos, cabalistas o rosacruces.

En el siglo XVIII, Inglaterra y Gales experimentaron un resurgimiento del interés por los druidas, inspirado por los anticuarios John Aubrey, John Toland y William Stukeley. En 1740 vio la luz el trabajo de John Toland , cuando se publicó su "Historia crítica de la religión Celta" que en posteriores ediciones se llamó "Historia de los Druidas". Posteriormente Toland formó una de las primeras Ordenes druidas, centrada en la Tradición Primordial.

En el siglo XIX, surgieron algunas Ordenes dudosas que afirmaban estar basadas en el druidismo histórico. El actor principal en esta reinvención del Druidismo, motivado por Henry Hurle, fue Edward Williams, mejor conocido como Iolo Morganwg. Su obra, publicada como los manuscritos de Iolo (1849) y Barddas (1862), no es considerada creíble por los movimientos de Druidismo contemporáneos. Williams afirmó haber encontrado un mapa cosmologico basado en la tradición Galesa, llamado “Barddas”, un compendio de conocimientos antiguos, en un "Gorsedd de vates de las islas de Gran Bretaña".

Iolo insistió en que este escrito era autentico y que había sido traducido de un escrito original Galés. El escrito indicaba que “en el principio existía Dios y Cythrawl, la energía positiva y la negativa. Dios pronunció su nombre y creó Manred, la sustancia que conforma el universo” . Muchos de los que los eruditos creen que mucha de la información fue inventada por el propio Iolo, pero una gran parte del trabajo parece ser de origen meso–pagano, aproximadamente del 600 A.C. A pesar de todo, es imposible separar el material de referencia original de el trabajo inventado, y los documentos son considerados irrelevantes por los eruditos más estrictos. El druidismo Británico actual esta mayoritariamente basado en los escritos de Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams) que se alimenta de la cosmologia Galesa y separa el mundo en tres círculos concéntricos: Annwyn, Abred y Gwynfyd. Existe también un lugar “donde habita Dios” y que es llamado Ceugant. Quizá al principio las bases de este druidismo fueran en parte invención, pero lo que no se puede negar es que la tradición ha alcanzado una solera de casi 200 años....

Con el gran resurgimiento celta en todos los países hacia finales del siglo XIX, fue en 1901 cuando se fundó el Gorzez Gourenez Breiz Vihan (El Gosserd Bretón), reuniéndose en Guincamp bajo el patrocinio de la Unión Regionalista Bretona. En Cornualles hubo también un resurgimiento de la lengua córnica, que había dejado de ser un vehículo de comunicación general a principios del siglo XIX y hubo movimientos para crear un gosserd. En Gran Bretaña acontece en esa época (XIX) una fiebre constructora de "templos druídicos". Valga como ejemplo el caso del Mariscal de Campo Henry Seymour Conway, antiguo gobernador de Jersey, quien edificó Temple Combe, Berkshire, construido con megalitos auténticos (ver foto adjunta). Númerosos "Templos Druidas" son construidos en las tierras privadas de la nobleza, siguiendo la nueva moda del resurgir de los druidas...

En la actualidad, el druidismo se ha escindido en diversas vertientes, que incluyen desde Ordenes Druidas con estructuras similares a las ordenes masónicas o de alta magia, a Ordenes que aceptan cualquier divinidad y no se consideran politeistas sino universalistas, ordenes druidas cristianas, Ordenes reconstruccionistas y totalmente politeístas u Ordenes basadas únicamente en el pensamiento filosófico druídico y no en su espiritualidad.

Neodruidismo [editar]

El neodruidismo es para algunos un camino espiritual y filosófico, para otros una religión y para otros un movimiento cultural. El camino y definición dependerá de cada persona y su libre elección.

Como camino espiritual y filosófico, el neodruidismo es una filosofía que encuentra sus raíces en la naturaleza misma, que busca la conexión del individuo con la tierra, el cielo y el mar, los tres reinos de la cosmovisión celta. Es un camino de reflexión sobre las preguntas que surgen en nuestra mente y espíritu, tratando de encontrar las respuestas y el crecimiento personal en la sabiduría y enseñanzas celtas, es sus tradiciones y folklore, su mitología y sobre todo, en las lecciones que la naturaleza misma como un ente vivo y radiante nos puede dar.

Literatura fantástica [editar]

La mitología celta presenta a los druidas con capacidades mágicas cómo -entre otras- la de predecir el futuro, provocar tormentas, lanzar bolas de nieve y de oscuridad, o transformar a personas en animales. Llegan a tener mayor rango que los reyes, ya que en algunos relatos el rey no puede hablar hasta que no lo haya hecho el druida.

Uno de los druidas más conocidos de la literatura es la creación de René Goscinny y Albert Uderzo, Panoramix del celebre comic Asterix . Su túnica blanca, la hoz de oro, el hecho de que corta el muérdrago, etc. reflejan los ritos conocidos por las fuentes antiguas. También su rol social como conocedor de la historia y asesor del jefe de la tribu sigue ejemplos históricos, aunque no desempeña ningún papel religioso.

Marion Zimmer Bradley relata en su novela "Las nieblas de Avalon" la leyenda del rey Arturo desde el punto de vista de la Dama Morgana, la hermana de Arturo, donde también se puede apreciar la presencia del Merlín, uno de los druidas más conocidos en la actualidad por su gran sabiduría.

En el juego de rol Dragones y Mazmorras aparece reflejada la figura del druida. Sin embargo, estos druidas tienen poco que ver con el druida celta, siendo representados cómo una especie de magos de los elementos de la naturaleza. Estos druidas veneran y protegen el mundo natural, no son sacerdotes pero sí tratan de conservar el equilibrio natural. Dada su comunión con el mundo salvaje, son bendecidos con el control de ciertos poderes naturales, por lo que pueden controlar el propio envejecimiento o su peso, son capaces de hablar con animales y plantas, de convocar la lluvia o incluso la tormenta, pueden mover las raíces de los árboles a voluntad, y también se transforman en animales ó plantas, y curan a otros con gran presteza por medio de remedios naturistas ó por la magia que les da la naturaleza. Su adaptabilidad entre los magos de la literatura fantástica es amplia y económica, pues existen pocos espacios a los que los poderes de la naturaleza no puedan acceder, y muchos donde dominan por completo. Éste concepto del druida ha sido tomado posteriormente por bastantes otras ambientaciones de fantasía inspiradas en ése juego cómo Warcraft.

El cómic Sláine, que está basado en la cultura celta, recoge a la figura del druida cómo un sacerdote, así cómo bastantes elementos que tradicionalmente se atribuyen a los druidas, cómo realizar sus cultos en arboledas ó el caldero.

En el conocido videojuego Praetorians hay un druida que es médico y aliado de los romanos. Aparecen también otros druidas que son médicos, pero que además pueden producir una ceguera temporal en las tropas enemigas.

También hacen aparición en el juego MMORPG Tibia, como una de las 4 vocaciones básicas, en la cual desepeñan la principal función de de sanadores, y creadores de runas de curación, además de manejar elementos de la natureleza tierra y hielo.Después de un tiempo, pueden adquirir una promoción a "Elder Druid" y manejar hechizos más poderosos.

La clásica ópera italiana Norma (1831), de Vincenzo Bellini (y el libretista Felice Romani) está basada en una tragedia neoclásica francesa. Su protagonista es una sacerdotisa druida. La obra describe el trágico amor de ésta y Pollione, el líder de las tropas romanas invasoras de la Galia. Obra emblemática del romanticismo italiano y acabada expresión del bel canto, Norma exhibe los más altos logros alcanzados por los artistas peninsulares de la época. Fue estrenada en 1831 en Teatro de la Scala en Milán. Entre otras sopranos destacadas la protagonizaron Maria Callas y Montserrat Caballé.

Véase además [editar]

Bibliografía [editar]

  • Berresford Ellis, Peter (2003). Druidas: el espíritu del mundo celta. Madrid: Editorial Oberón. ISBN 84-96052-45-1.

Enlaces externos [editar]

Picts - Wikipedia

Fuente:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts

Información:

Picts · History

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The Aberlemno Serpent Stone, Class I Pictish stone

The Picts were a confederation of tribes, in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland, from before the Roman conquest until the 10th century. They lived to the north of the Forth and Clyde rivers. They are assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii and other tribes named by Roman historians or found on the world map of Ptolemy. Pictland, also known as Pictavia, gradually absorbed the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba. Alba expanded absorbing British and Bernician territory and by the 11th century the Pictish identity had become subsumed under a new term for this amalgamation of North British peoples: the "Scots".

Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts. Although very little in the way of Pictish writing has survived, Pictish history since the late 6th century is known from a variety of sources, including Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, saints' lives such as that of Columba by Adomnán, and various Irish annals. Although the popular impression of the Picts may be one of an obscure, mysterious people, this is far from being the case. When compared with the generality of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Pictish history and society are well attested.[1]

Contents

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[edit] Names

The name the Picts called themselves is still unknown. The Greek word Πικτοί (Latin Picti) first appears in a panegyric written by Eumenius in AD 297 and is taken to mean "painted or tattooed people" (Latin pingere "to paint"). The Gaels of Ireland and the Scottish kingdom of Dál Riata called the Picts Cruithne, (Old Irish cru(i)then-túath), presumably from Proto-Celtic *kwriteno-toutā. There were also people referred to as Cruithne in Ulster, in particular the kings of Dál nAraidi.[2] The Britons to the south knew them, in the P-Celtic form of "Cruithne", as Prydyn.[3] Their Old English name gave the modern Scots form Pechts and the Welsh word Fichti.[4]

[edit] History

The means by which the Pictish confederation formed in Late Antiquity from a number of tribes is unknown, although there is speculation that reaction to the growth of the Roman Empire was a factor.[5]

Clach an Tiompain, a Class 1 Pictish symbol stone in Strathpeffer

Pictland had previously been described as the home of the Caledonii.[6] Other tribes said to have lived in the area included the Verturiones, Taexali and Venicones.[7] Except for the Caledonians, the names may be second- or third-hand: perhaps as reported to the Romans by speakers of Brythonic or Gaulish languages.[8]

Pictish recorded history begins in the Dark Ages. It appears that they were not the dominant power in Northern Britain for the entire period. The Gaels of Dál Riata controlled their own region for a time, but suffered a series of defeats in the first third of the 7th century.[9] The Angles of Bernicia overwhelmed the adjacent British kingdoms, and the neighbouring Anglian kingdom of Deira (Bernicia and Deira later being called Northumbria), was to become the most powerful kingdom in Britain.[10] The Picts were probably tributary to Northumbria until the reign of Bridei map Beli, when the Anglians suffered a defeat at the battle of Dunnichen which halted their expansion northwards. The Northumbrians continued to dominate southern Scotland for the remainder of the Pictish period.

Britain around the year 802

In the reign of Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761), Dál Riata was very much subject to the Pictish king. Although it had its own kings from the 760s, it appears that Dál Riata did not recover.[11] A later Pictish king, Caustantín mac Fergusa (793–820), placed his son Domnall on the throne of Dál Riata (811–835).[12] Pictish attempts to achieve a similar dominance over the Britons of Alt Clut (Dumbarton) were not successful.[13]

The Viking Age brought great changes in Britain and Ireland, no less in Scotland than elsewhere. The kingdom of Dál Riata was destroyed, certainly by the middle of the 9th century, when Ketil Flatnose is said to have founded the Kingdom of the Isles. Northumbria too succumbed to the Vikings, who founded the Kingdom of York, and the kingdom of Strathclyde was also greatly affected. The king of Fortriu Eógan mac Óengusa, the king of Dál Riata Áed mac Boanta, and many more, were killed in a major battle against the Vikings in 839.[14] The rise of Cínaed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) in the 840s, in the aftermath of this disaster, brought to power the family who would preside over the last days of the Pictish kingdom and found the new kingdom of Alba, although Cínaed himself was never other than king of the Picts.[citation needed]

In the reign of Cínaed's grandson, Caustantín mac Áeda (900–943), the kingdom of the Picts became the kingdom of Alba. The change from Pictland to Alba may not have been noticeable at first; indeed, as we do not know the Pictish name for their land, it may not have been a change at all. The Picts, along with their language, did not disappear suddenly. The process of Gaelicisation, which may have begun generations earlier, continued under Caustantín and his successors. When the last inhabitants of Alba were fully Gaelicised, becoming Scots, probably during the 11th century, the Picts were soon forgotten.[15] Later they would reappear in myth and legend.[16]

[edit] Kings and kingdoms

The early history of Pictland is unclear. In later periods multiple kings existed, ruling over separate kingdoms, with one king, sometimes two, more or less dominating their lesser neighbours.[17] De Situ Albanie, a late document, the Pictish Chronicle, the Duan Albanach, along with Irish legends, have been used to argue the existence of seven Pictish kingdoms. These are as follows; those in bold are known to have had kings, or are otherwise attested in the Pictish period:

Map showing the approximate areas of the kingdom of Fortriu and neighbours c. 800, and the kingdom of Alba c. 900

More small kingdoms may have existed. Some evidence suggests that a Pictish kingdom also existed in Orkney.[21] De Situ Albanie is not the most reliable of sources, and the number of kingdoms, one for each of the seven sons of Cruithne, the eponymous founder of the Picts, may well be grounds enough for disbelief.[22] Regardless of the exact number of kingdoms and their names, the Pictish nation was not a united one.

For most of Pictish recorded history the kingdom of Fortriu appears dominant, so much so that king of Fortriu and king of the Picts may mean one and the same thing in the annals. This was previously thought to lie in the area around Perth and the southern Strathearn, whereas recent work has convinced those working in the field that Moray (a name referring to a very much larger area in the High Middle Ages than the county of Moray), was the core of Fortriu.[23]

The Picts are often said to have practised matrilineal succession on the basis of Irish legends and a statement in Bede's history. In fact, Bede merely says that the Picts used matrilineal succession in exceptional cases.[24] The kings of the Picts when Bede was writing were Bridei and Nechtan, sons of Der Ilei, who indeed claimed the throne through their mother Der Ilei, daughter of an earlier Pictish king.[25]

In Ireland, kings were expected to come from among those who had a great-grandfather who had been king.[26] Kingly fathers were not frequently succeeded by their sons, not because the Picts practised matrilineal succession, but because they were usually followed by their brothers or cousins, more likely to be experienced men with the authority and the support necessary to be king.[27]

The nature of kingship changed considerably during the centuries of Pictish history. While kings had to be successful war leaders to maintain their authority, kingship became rather less personalised and more institutionalised during this time. Bureaucratic kingship was still far in the future when Pictland became Alba, but the support of the church, and the apparent ability of a small number of families to control the kingship for much of the period from the later 7th century onwards, provided a considerable degree of continuity. In the much same period, the Picts' neighbours in Dál Riata and Northumbria faced considerable difficulties as the stability of succession and rule which they had previously benefited from came to an end.[28]

The later Mormaers are thought to have originated in Pictish times, and to have been copied from, or inspired by, Northumbrian usages.[29] It is unclear whether the Mormaers were originally former kings, royal officials, or local nobles, or some combination of these. Likewise, the Pictish shires and thanages, traces of which are found in later times, are thought to have been adopted from their southern neighbours.[30]

[edit] Society

The harpist on the Dupplin Cross, Scotland, c. 800 AD

The archaeological record provides evidence of the material culture of the Picts. It tells of a society not readily distinguishable from its similar Gaelic and British neighbours, nor very different from the Anglo-Saxons to the south.[31] Although analogy and knowledge of other "Celtic" societies may be a useful guide, these extended across a very large area. Relying on knowledge of pre-Roman Gaul, or 13th century Ireland, as a guide to the Picts of the 6th century may be misleading if analogy is pursued too far.[32]

As with most peoples in the north of Europe in Late Antiquity, the Picts were farmers living in small communities. Cattle and horses were an obvious sign of wealth and prestige, sheep and pigs were kept in large numbers, and place names suggest that transhumance was common. Animals were small by later standards, although horses from Britain were imported into Ireland as breed-stock to enlarge native horses. From Irish sources it appears that the élite engaged in competitive cattle-breeding for size, and this may have been the case in Pictland also. Carvings show hunting with dogs, and also, unlike in Ireland, with falcons. Cereal crops included wheat, barley, oats and rye. Vegetables included kale, cabbage, onions and leeks, peas and beans, turnips and carrots, and some types no longer common, such as skirret. Plants such as wild garlic, nettles and watercress may have been gathered in the wild. The pastoral economy meant that hides and leather were readily available. Wool was the main source of fibres for clothing, and flax was also common, although it is not clear if it was grown for fibres, for oil, or as a foodstuff. Fish, shellfish, seals and whales were exploited along coasts and rivers. The importance of domesticated animals argues that meat and milk products were a major part of the diet of ordinary people, while the élite would have eaten a diet rich in meat from farming and hunting.[33]

No Pictish counterparts to the areas of denser settlement around important fortresses in Gaul and southern Britain, or any other significant urban settlements, are known. Larger, but not large, settlements existed around royal forts, such as at Burghead, or associated with religious foundations.[34] No towns are known in Scotland until the 12th century.[35]

The technology of everyday life is not well recorded, but archaeological evidence shows it to have been similar to that in Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England. Recently evidence has been found of watermills in Pictland. Kilns were used for drying kernels of wheat or barley, not otherwise easy in the changeable, temperate climate.[36]

Reconstructed crannog on Loch Tay

The early Picts are associated with piracy and raiding along the coasts of Roman Britain. Even in the Late Middle Ages, the line between traders and pirates was unclear, so that Pictish pirates were probably merchants on other occasions. It is generally assumed that trade collapsed with the Roman Empire, but this is to overstate the case. There is only limited evidence of long-distance trade with Pictland, but tableware and storage vessels from Gaul, probably transported up the Irish Sea, have been found. This trade may have been controlled from Dunadd in Dál Riata, where such goods appear to have been common. While long-distance travel was unusual in Pictish times, it was far from unknown as stories of missionaries, travelling clerics and exiles show.[37]

Brochs are popularly associated with the Picts. Although these were built earlier in the Iron Age, with construction ending around 100 AD, they remained in use into and beyond the Pictish period.[38] Crannogs, which may originate in Neolithic Scotland, may have been rebuilt, and some were still in use in the time of the Picts.[39] The most common sort of buildings would have been roundhouses and rectangular timbered halls.[40] While many churches were built in wood, from the early 8th century, if not earlier, some were built in stone.[41]

The Picts are often said to have tattooed themselves, but evidence for this is limited. Naturalistic depictions of Pictish nobles, hunters and warriors, male and female, without obvious tattoos, are found on monumental stones. These stones include inscriptions in Latin and Ogham script, not all of which have been deciphered. The well known Pictish symbols found on stones, and elsewhere, are obscure in meaning. A variety of esoteric explanations have been offered, but the simplest conclusion may be that these symbols represent the names of those who had raised, or are commemorated on, the stones. Pictish art can be classed as Celtic, and later as Insular.[42] Irish poets portrayed their Pictish counterparts as very much like themselves.[43]

[edit] Religion

An early 20th century depiction of Saint Columba's miracle at the gate of King Bridei's fortress, described in Adomnán's late 7th century Vita Columbae

Early Pictish religion is presumed to have resembled Celtic polytheism in general, although only place names remain from the pre-Christian era. The date at which the Pictish elite converted to Christianity is uncertain, but there are traditions which place Saint Palladius in Pictland after leaving Ireland, and link Abernethy with Saint Brigid of Kildare.[44] Saint Patrick refers to "apostate picts", while the poem Y Gododdin does not remark on the picts as pagans.[45] Bede wrote that Saint Ninian (confused by some with Saint Finnian of Moville, who died c. 589), had converted the southern Picts.[46] Recent archaeological work at Portmahomack places the foundation of the monastery there, an area once assumed to be among the last converted, in the late 6th century.[47] This is contemporary with Bridei mac Maelchon and Columba, but the process of establishing Christianity throughout Pictland will have extended over a much longer period.

Pictland was not solely influenced by Iona and Ireland. It also had ties to churches in Northumbria, as seen in the reign of Nechtan mac Der Ilei. The reported expulsion of Ionan monks and clergy by Nechtan in 717 may have been related to the controversy over the dating of Easter, and the manner of tonsure, where Nechtan appears to have supported the Roman usages, but may equally have been intended to increase royal power over the church.[48] Nonetheless, the evidence of place names suggests a wide area of Ionan influence in Pictland.[49] Likewise, the Cáin Adomnáin (Law of Adomnán, Lex Innocentium) counts Nechtan's brother Bridei among its guarantors.

The importance of monastic centres in Pictland was not perhaps as great as in Ireland. In areas which had been studied, such as Strathspey and Perthshire, it appears that the parochial structure of the High Middle Ages existed in early medieval times. Among the major religious sites of eastern Pictland were Portmahomack, Cennrígmonaid (later St Andrews), Dunkeld, Abernethy and Rosemarkie. It appears that these are associated with Pictish kings, which argues for a considerable degree of royal patronage and control of the church.[50]

The cult of Saints was, as throughout Christian lands, of great importance in later Pictland. While kings might patronise great Saints, such as Saint Peter in the case of Nechtan, and perhaps Saint Andrew in the case of the second Óengus mac Fergusa, many lesser Saints, some now obscure, were important. The Pictish Saint Drostan appears to have had a wide following in the north in earlier times, although all but forgotten by the 12th century. Saint Serf of Culross was associated with Nechtan's brother Bridei.[51] It appears, as is well known in later times, that noble kin groups had their own patron saints, and their own churches or abbeys.[52]

[edit] Art

Pictish Art appears on stones, metalwork and small objects of stone and bone. It has similarities to both Saxon and Irish art. Primarily Pictish art is found on the many Pictish stones that are located all over Pictland, from Inverness to Lanarkshire. An illustrated catalogue of these stones was produced by J. Romilly Allen as part of The Early Church Monuments of Scotland, with lists of their symbols and patterns. The symbols and patterns consist of animals, the "bill", the "mirror and comb", "the spectacles" and "the crescent and V-rod". There are also bosses and lenses with pelta and spiral designs. The patterns are curvilinear with hatchings.

Pictish metalwork is found throughout Pictland and also further south. The items found in the south consist of heavy silver chains over 0.5m long, and may have been gifts or carried off by raiders. It has been suggested by Stevenson (in Wainwright, The Problem of the Picts) that these chains formed part of "choker" necklaces.

[edit] Language

The Pictish language has not survived. Evidence is limited to place names and to the names of people found on monuments and the contemporary records. The evidence of place-names and personal names argue strongly that the Picts spoke Insular Celtic languages related to the more southerly Brythonic languages.[53] A number of inscriptions have been argued to be non-Celtic, and on this basis, it has been suggested that non-Celtic languages were also in use.[54]

The absence of surviving written material in Pictish does not indicate a pre-literate society. The church certainly required literacy, and could not function without copyists to produce liturgical documents. Pictish iconography shows books being read, and carried, and its naturalistic style gives every reason to suppose that such images were of real life. Literacy was not widespread, but among the senior clergy, and in monasteries, it would have been common enough.[55]

Place-names often allow us to deduce the existence of historic Pictish settlements in Scotland. Those prefixed with "Aber-", "Lhan-", or "Pit-" indicate regions inhabited by Picts in the past (for example: Aberdeen, Lhanbryde, Pitmedden, Pittodrie etc). Some of these, such as "Pit-" (portion, share), were formed after Pictish times, and may refer to previous "shires" or "thanages".[56]

The evidence of place-names may also reveal the advance of Gaelic into Pictland. As noted, Atholl, meaning New Ireland, is attested in the early 8th century. This may be an indication of the advance of Gaelic. Fortriu also contains place-names suggesting Gaelic settlement, or Gaelic influences.[57]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Sources for Pictish history include Irish Annals - the Annals of Ulster, Tigernach, Innisfallen, Ireland (the Four Masters), and Clonmacnoise all report events in Scotland, some frequently; the Lebor Bretnach, Scottish recension of the Historia Britonum of Nennius; the continuation of Bede; the Historia Regum of Symeon of Durham; the Annales Cambriae; saints' lives; and others.
  2. ^ The Cruithni are discussed by Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, pp. 106–109, Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland, pp. 48–50.
  3. ^ Old Irish cruth and Welsh pryd are the Q- and P-Celtic forms respectively of a word meaning "form" or "shape", taken to be a reference to the Picts' practice of tattooing their bodies. See The Scottish Place-Name Society and MacBain's Dictionary.
  4. ^ The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has pihtas and pehtas.
  5. ^ See the discussion of the creation of the Frankish Confederacy in Geary, Before France, chapter 2.
  6. ^ e.g. by Tacitus, Ptolemy, and as the Dicalydonii by Ammianus Marcellinus. Note that Ptolemy refers to the sea to the west of Scotland as the Oceanus Duecaledonius.
  7. ^ e.g. Ptolemy, Ammianus Marcellinus.
  8. ^ Caledonii is attested from a grave marker in Roman Britain.
  9. ^ At Degsastan in the first decade of the century and several times under Domnall Brecc in the third and fourth decades.
  10. ^ For the kingdoms of Bernicia, and Northumbria, see e.g. Higham, The Kingdom of Northumbria.
  11. ^ Broun, "Pictish Kings", attempts to reconstruct the confused late history of Dál Riata. The silence in the Irish Annals is ignored by Bannerman in "The Scottish Takeover of Pictland and the relics of Columba".
  12. ^ After Broun, "Pictish Kings", but the later history of Dál Riata is very obscure.
  13. ^ Cf. the failed attempts by Óengus mac Fergusa.
  14. ^ Annals of Ulster (s.a. 839): "The (Vikings) won a battle against the men of Fortriu, and Eóganán son of Aengus, Bran son of Óengus, Aed son of Boanta, and others almost innumerable fell there."
  15. ^ Broun, "Dunkeld", Broun, "National Identity", Forsyth, "Scotland to 1100", pp. 28–32, Woolf, "Constantine II"; cf. Bannerman, "Scottish Takeover", passim, representing the "traditional" view.
  16. ^ For example, Pechs, and perhaps Pixies. However, Sally Foster quotes John Toland in 1726: "they are apt all over Scotland to make everything Pictish whose origin they do not know." The same could be said of the Picts in myth.
  17. ^ Broun, "Kingship", for Ireland see, e.g. Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, and more generally Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland.
  18. ^ Forsyth, "Lost Pictish Source", Watson, Celtic Place Names, pp. 108–109.
  19. ^ Bruford, "What happened to the Caledonians", Watson, Celtic Place Names, pp. 108–113.
  20. ^ Woolf, "Dun Nechtain"; Yorke, Conversion, p. 47. Compare earlier works such as Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, p. 33.
  21. ^ Adomnán, "Life of Columba", editor's notes on pp. 342–343.
  22. ^ Broun, "Seven Kingdoms".
  23. ^ Woolf, "Dun Nechtain".
  24. ^ Bede, I, c. 1
  25. ^ Clancy, "Nechtan".
  26. ^ Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, pp. 35–41 & pp. 122–123, also p. 108 & p. 287, stating that derbfhine was practised by the cruithni in Ireland.
  27. ^ Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, p. 35, "Elder for kin, worth for rulership, wisdom for the church." See also Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 32–34, Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, p. 67ff.
  28. ^ Broun, "Kingship", Broun, "Pictish Kings"; for Dál Riata, Broun, "Dál Riata", for a more positive view Sharpe, "The thriving of Dalriada"; for Northumbria, Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, pp. 144–149.
  29. ^ Woolf, "Nobility".
  30. ^ Barrow, "Pre-Feudal Scotland", Woolf, "Nobility".
  31. ^ See, e.g. Campbell, Saints and Sea-kings for the Gaels of Dál Riata, Lowe, Angels, Fools and Tyrants for Britons and Anglians.
  32. ^ Celt is a word with many meanings, and may itself be unhelpful if overused.
  33. ^ Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 49–61. Fergus Kelly, Early Irish Farming: a study based mainly on the law-texts of the 7th and 8th centuries AD (School of Celtic Studies/DAIS, Dublin, 2000. ISBN 1-85500-180-2) provides an extensive review of farming in Ireland in the middle Pictish period.
  34. ^ The interior of the fort at Burghead was some 12 acres (5 hectares) in size, see Driscoll, "Burghead"; for Verlamion (later Roman Verulamium), a southern British settlement on a very much larger scale, see e.g. Pryor, Britain AD, pp. 64–70.
  35. ^ Dennison, "Urban settlement: medieval".
  36. ^ Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 52–53.
  37. ^ Trade, see Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 65–68; seafaring in general, e.g. Haywood, Dark Age Naval Power, Rodger, Safeguard of the Sea.
  38. ^ Armit, Towers In The North, chapter 7.
  39. ^ Crone, "Crannogs and Chronologies", PSAS, vol. 123, pp. 245–254.
  40. ^ Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 52–61.
  41. ^ See Clancy, "Nechtan", Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, p. 89.
  42. ^ For art in general see Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 26–28, Laing & Laing, p. 89ff., Ritchie, "Picto-Celtic Culture".
  43. ^ Forsyth, "Evidence of a lost Pictish Source", pp. 27–28.
  44. ^ Clancy, "'Nennian recension'", pp. 95–96, Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, pp. 82–83.
  45. ^ Markus, "Conversion to Christianity".
  46. ^ Bede, III, 4. For the identities of Ninian/Finnian see Yorke, p. 129.
  47. ^ Mentioned by Foster, but more information is available from the Tarbat Discovery Programme: see under External links.
  48. ^ Bede, IV, cc. 21–22, Clancy, "Church institutions", Clancy, "Nechtan".
  49. ^ Taylor, "Iona abbots".
  50. ^ Clancy, "Church institutions", Markus, "Religious life".
  51. ^ Clancy, "Cult of Saints", Clancy, "Nechtan", Taylor, "Iona abbots"
  52. ^ Markus, "Religious life".
  53. ^ Forsyth, Language in Pictland, Price "Pictish", Taylor, "Place names", Watson, Celtic Place Names. For K.H. Jackson's views, see "The Language of the Picts" in Wainwright (ed.) The Problem of the Picts.
  54. ^ Jackson, "The Language of the Picts", discussed by Forsyth, Language in Pictland.
  55. ^ Forsyth, "Literacy in Pictland".
  56. ^ For place names in general, see Watson, Celtic Place Names; Nicolaisen, Scottish Place Names, pp 156–246. For shires and thanages see Barrow, "Pre-Feudal Scotland."
  57. ^ Watson, Celtic Place Names, pp. 225–233.

[edit] References

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[edit] Further reading

Clarkson, Tim The Picts: A History, Tempus Publishing Ltd, (2008) ISBN 978-0-7524-4394-8

James E. Fraser, The New Edinburgh History Of Scotland Vol.1 - From Caledonia To Pictland, Edinburgh University Press(2009) ISBN 978-0-7486-1232-1

Alex Woolf, The New Edinburgh History Of Scotland Vol.2 - From Pictland To Aba, Edinburgh University Press,(2007) ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5

[edit] External links