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wolverinesorcery · 1 year

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UNBLENDING CELTIC POLYTHEISTIC PRACTICES

Celtic Umbrella

This lesson is largely focusing on the insular Celtic nations & Brittany (Ireland/Eire, Scotland/Alba, Wales/Cymru, Cornwall/Kernow, Isle of Man/Mannin, & Brittany/Breizh) - traditionally regarded as 6 out of the 7 Celtic nations. Galicia/Galizia is the 7th, but because of a mix of the below + my own lack of knowledge, I won't be covering them.

The vast swath of Continental Celtic cultures are a different but equally complex topic thanks to extinction, revival, varying archaeological artefacts and the work of modern practioners to piece unknown parts back together.

This will serve as a quick 'n' dirty guide to the insular Celtic nations, Celtic as a label, blood percentages and ancestry, the whats and whys of "Celtic soup", and how to unblend practice.

The insular Celtic groups are split into two language groups: Brythonic languages and Gaelic languages.

Brythonic languages are Cymraeg/Welsh, Kernewek/Cornish, & Breton

Gaelic languages are Gàidhlig/Scottish, Gaeilge/Irish, & Gaelg/Manx.

The language split leads to certain folkloric and religious figures & elements being more common within the language group than without. All of these nations had historic cultural exchange and trade routes via the Celtic sea (and beyond). Despite this, it is still important to respect each as a home to distinct mythologies.

Pros/Cons of a broad Celtic umbrella

Pros

- Used within celtic nations to build solidarity - Relates to a set of cultures that have historic cultural exchange & broad shared experiences - A historic group category - Celtic nations’ culture is often protected under broad legislation that explicitly highlights its ‘Celtic-ness’.

Cons

- Can be used reductively (in academia & layman uses) - Often gives in to the dual threat of romanticisation/fetishisation & erasure - Conflates a lot of disparate practices under one banner - Can lead to centring ‘celtic american’ experiences. - Celtic as a broad ancestral category (along with associated symbols) has also been co-opted by white supremacist organisations.

In this I’m using ‘Celtic’ as a broad umbrella for the multiple pantheons! This isn’t ideal for specifics, but it is the fastest way to refer to the various pantheons of deities that’ll be referenced within this Q&A (& something that I use as a self identifier alongside Cornish).

What about blood % or ancestry?

A blood percentage or claimed Celtic ancestry is NOT a requirement to be a follower of any of the Celtic pantheons. The assumption that it does or is needed to disclose can feed easily into white supremacist narratives and rhetoric, along side the insidious implications that a white person in the USA with (perceived or real) Celtic ancestry is 'more celtic' than a person of colour living in a Celtic region (along with other romanticised notions of homogenously white cultures).

Along side this, a blood percentage or distant ancestry does not impart the culture and values of the Celtic region or it's recorded pagan practices by itself. Folk traditions are often passed down within families, but blood percentage is not a primary factor within this.

Connecting with ancestry is fine, good, and can be a fulfilling experience. It stops being beneficial when it leads to speaking over people with lived experiences & centres the USA-based published and authors - which can lead to blending/souping for reasons further on.

What is 'soup'?

Celtic soup is a semi-playful term coined by several polytheists (primarily aigeannagusacair on wordpress) to describe the phenomenon of conflating & combining all the separate pantheons and practices from the (mainly) insular Celtic nations into one singular practice - removing a lot of the regionalised folklore, associated mythos, & varying nuances of the nations that make up the soup.

Why does it happen?

The quick version of this is book trends and publishing meeting romanticisation and exotification of Celtic cultures (especially when mixed with pre-lapsarian views of the Nations). It's miles easier to sell a very generally titled book with a lot of Ireland and a little of everywhere else than it is to write, source and publish a separate book on each.

This is where centering American publishers and authors becomes an issue - the popular trend of USA-based pagan publications to conflate all celtic nations makes it hard to find information on, for example, Mannin practices because of the USA’s tendency to dominate media. Think of Llewellyn’s “Celtic Wisdom” series of books.

It has also been furthered by 'quick research guides'/TL;DR style posts based on the above (which have gained particular momentum on tumblr).

The things that have hindered the process in unblending/"de souping" is the difficulty in preserving independently published pamphlets/books from various nations (often more regionalised and immediately local than large, sweeping books generalising multiple practices) along with the difficulty of accessing historic resources via academic gatekeeping.

All of this has lead to a lack of awareness of the fact there is no, one, singular Celtic religion, practice or pantheon.

Why should I de-soup or unblend my practice?

Respecting the deities

It is, by and large, considered the bare minimum to understand and research a deity's origin and roots. The conflation of all insular Celtic deities under one singular unified pantheon can divorce them from their original cultures and contexts - the direct opposite to understanding and researching.

Folklore and myth surrounding various Celtic deities can be highly regionalised both in grounded reality and geomythically - these aren't interchangeable locations and are often highly symbolic within each nation.

Brú na Bóinne, an ancient burial mound in Ireland, as an entrance to the otherworld of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Carn Kenidjack & the Gump as a central site of Cornish folk entities feasts and parties, including Christianised elements of Bucca’s mythology.

The Mabinogion includes specific locations in Wales as well as broad Kingdoms - it’s implied that Annwn is somewhere within the historic kingdom of Dyfed, & two otherworldly feasts take place in Harlech & Ynys Gwales.

Conflating all celtic pantheons under one banner often leads to the prioritisation of the Irish pantheon, meaning all of the less ‘popular’ or recorded deities are sidelined and often left unresearched (which can lead to sources & resources falling into obscurity and becoming difficult to access).

Respecting the deities

Deities, spirits, entities, myth & folklore are often culturally significant both historically and to modern day people (just average folks along with practitoners/pagans/polytheists and organisations) located in the various Nations

A primary example is the initiatory Bardic orders of Wales and Cornwall.

Desouping/Unblending makes folklorist's lives easier as well as casual research less difficult to parse. The general books are a helpful jumping off point but when they constitute the bulk of writing on various Celtic polytheisms, they become a hinderance and a harm in the research process.

A lot of mythology outside of deities & polytheisms is also a victim of ‘souping' and is equally as culturally significant - Arthurian mythology is a feature of both Welsh and Cornish culture but is often applied liberally as an English mythology & and English figure.

Celtic nations being blended into one homogenous group is an easy way to erase cultural differences and remove agency from the people living in celtic nations. Cornwall is already considered by a large majority of people to be just an English county, and many areas of Wales are being renamed in English for the ease of English tourists.

How can I de-soup?

Chase down your sources' sources, and look for even more sources

Check your sources critically. Do they conflate all pantheons as one? Do they apply a collective label (the celts/celts/celt/celtic people) to modern day Celtic nations? How far back in history do they claim to reach?

Research the author, are they dubious in more ways than one? Have they written blog articles you can access to understand more of their viewpoints? Where are they located?

Find the people the author cites within their work - it can be time consuming but incredibly rewarding and can also give a good hint at the author's biases and research depth. You may even find useful further reading!

Find primary sources (or as close too), or translations of the originating folklore, e.g The Mabinogion. Going to the source of a pantheon’s mythos and folklore can be helpful in discerning where soup begins in more recent books as well as gaining insight into deities' actions and relationships.

Ask lots of questions

Question every source! Question every person telling you things that don't define what pantheon or region they’re talking about! Write all your questions down and search for answers! Talk to other polytheists that follow specific Celtic pantheons, find where your practices naturally overlap and where they have been forced into one practice by authors!

Be honest with yourself

There’s no foul in spreading your worship over several pantheons that fall under the celtic umbrella! A lot of polytheists worship multiple pantheons! But be aware of the potential for soup, and make sure you’re not exclusively reading and working from/with sources that conflate all practices as one.

If you approach any Celtic polytheistic path with the attitude of blood percentage or 'ancestral right', stop and think critically about why you want to follow a Celtic polytheistic path. Is it because it's the most obviously 'open' path to follow? Is it a desire to experience what other folks experience? Being critical, turning inward, and really looking at yourself is important. Originally posted in the Raven's Keep discord server

#celtic polytheism #celtic paganism #celtic soup #celtic #celtic reconstructionism #celtic revivalism #celtic polytheist #celtic pagan #celtic religion

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isleofdarkness · 2 months

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The Isle- Languages and Accents

In the United States of America, the main language is English and the main accent is American. However, that poorly represents the actual linguistics of the country. Different areas have different main secondary languages and accents, such as Southern California's main secondary language being Latin Spanish and the main accent is actually California English, which is an entirely different thing from the general American accent.

Like the United States, the Isle has different secondary languages and accents depending on the area, referred to as districts. While the entire Isle can be summarized by "The main language is English and the main accent is a Toronto accent," but that does little to actually represent the Isle. To look at languages and accents on the Isle, one needs to look at each district and which cultures and groups have settled there because it's so much more diverse than English with a Toronto accent. And English with a Toronto accent is far too brief an explanation for even those two general details.

The English spoken on the Isle is a mix of American and British English. As "pop" and "soda" mean the same thing and are used interchangeably in America, differences such as "pants" and "trousers" are used with few genuinely caring about the difference between the two words. Isle English even has its own words, most commonly insults, that make it its own unique version of English.

The Isle accent sounds closest to a Toronto (Tarahno) accent, but with a slight stress on vowels and little energy put into consonants. The Isle accent also includes a distinct drawl, something that makes it sound constantly sarcastic. This accent is almost universal on the Isle. It may be lighter in some people for any number of reasons, but one would be hard-pressed to find someone on the Isle without even the slightest Isle accent.

Each district on the Isle has its own unique set of secondary languages and accents commonly encountered. Some districts, like Far Shore and the Barricade, even have smaller districts within them where the languages and accents are completely different. The districts on the Isle are as follows- Far Shore (Harriet's territory,) Villain's Claim (mostly Mal's territory, but Diego owns what's closest to his territory,) Barricade (Diego's territory,) Thieve's District (Cassim's territory,) Shadowland (Facilier's territory,) Kraken Coast (Uma's territory,) Falcon Ridge (Shan Yu's territory,) the Darklands (Mordred's territory,) the Underland district (part of Harriet's territory,) and the Wicked Wilds (unclaimed, no one fucks with the Wilds.)

As previously stated, Far Shore has two sub-districts, which I'll be referring to as Inland and Coast. Inland is where civilians from Eurasian countries (unless said civilian is POC or are part of some ethnic or religious minority, because they need more protection from Frollo's cult) usually settle. Coast is where people from Celtic countries (mainly Ireland, but you'll find a decent population from all six) settle. Languages in this district are Breton, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Welsh, with a bit of Cornish and Manx

Inland, however, you'll find a mix from pretty much every country. The population is mostly European- minorities on the Isle need more protection than Harriet can provide- but you'll still find languages and accents from Asia, India, Africa, and the Americas. Different cultural groups in this area tens to group together, creating almost sub-districts. Some languages, like French or Russian, have enough speakers to have their own sub-district, but others, such as Budukh, will share a sub-district with multiple other language groups that aren't well-represented in Harriet's district. There are thousands of languages represented in this district from all over the world.

Barricade, Diego's district, is where you'll find a lot of South American languages and accents. This district has a second main language, Latin American Spanish. You'll also find a few Indigenous groups here, though most of them take shelter in Uma's territory. This district also used to have a large Romani population, which still impacts languages and accents in certain areas, but Frollo found out and it was decided, for everyone's safety, that they would direct Romani arrivals to Facilier's territory.

The languages you'll find here are mostly Portuguese, Spanish, and some Creole. You'll find accents from all over South America.

Shadow District is Facilier's territory. This is where most dark-skin people need to live, because Frollo is a racist fool. In this district you'll find a lot of African, Indian, Asian, Middle Eastern, diaspora, and Papa New Guinea languages. There's a lot of variety here, because a lot of people in this district have decided to work towards preserving languages lost to colonization or even just the sands of time. The most common languages spoken here are Zulu, Xhosa, Hindi, AAVE, and Balkan Romani, and accents are an extremely mixed bag.

Thieve's District is Cassim's territory, and it's a haven for religious minorities. The population here is mostly either Muslim or Jewish, but you can find dozens, if not hundreds, of religious groups here. The most common languages are Arabic, Yiddish, and Jewish diaspora languages, but you'll find languages from everywhere on Earth. Accents tend to be Arabic variations or Yiddish.

Kraken Coast is Uma's district, home to Indigenous cultures from Oceania, the Americas, and Australia. This area used to be part of Facilier's territory, before he ceded it to Uma, and the people here share the hobby of preserving languages. The language and accent statistics for the area reflect this, with numbers too close to definitively call a most common language, other than Isle English.

Falcon Ridge is Shan Yu's territory, and this is where you'll find a lot of Asian cultures. There's a lot of Mongolian, but also sizeable populations who speak Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Tibetan, and other Sino-Tibetan languages and accents.

Villain's Keep, Mal's territory, has a lot of Spain Spanish, British English, German, France French, etc. The largest linguist group here is French, and that's also a common accent in the area.

The Badlands, a territory caught in a war between Madam Mim and Mordred, has a lot of Welsh, but not naturally. People in this area had to learn Welsh to understand Madam Mim's soldiers in order to survive the constant turmoil of the region. Most of the population here was American, so American accents and American English are extremely common. You'll also find some Latin. And, if you look, even some Enochian.

As for the Forbidden Land, that's Maleficent's territory, No one lives there, are least not above ground, and no one visits. As far as the Isle is concerned, the only language there is the singing of the night frogs.

Little do they know exactly what hides beneath the surface

#descendants #descendants au #isle of darkness

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ask-welland-and-the-uk-bros · 2 months

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Hello everyone! Welcome to my first ask blog ever! I hope you like it here!

Here are some rules, info and disclaimers so everything runs smoothly:

We Bully England

WE BULLY ENGLAND

The blog is mainly about Welland and the UK brothers, but some other characters might appear too if the occasion presents itself

I'll try to answer all asks with art, which means it can take some time to reply to things because life and sleep like getting in the way of my hobbies

I'm not English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish, so please go easy on me when you ask questions about those specific cultures cause all i got is google and a dream 5.1. That also means that regional dialects will be rare to nonexistant

Please don't send me asks related to shipping, i have nothing against it but it makes me slightly uncomfortable, especially when it involves my own characters, so i don't want to get involved

This Welland is a creation of my own and has no links to any real place with the same name

We Bully England

I'll update this post if i think things should be added

My other blog is @ask-stomaria-n-the-micronations Blog by @bellhopmomo

#hetalia #aph #aph welland #ask blog

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izabesworld · 1 year

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Appleby Horse Fair!

To this who have followed my blog for a while, it has been a while! So hello, and thank you for sticking around 😃.

For those who are new, my name is Izzy and I’m a Rroma woman wanted to educate people on all things Rroma. I focus mainly on educating those on Peaky Blinders misconceptions and fanfic writing tips, but also share things about my culture, about Rromani culture and share traditions.

This time of year is a big part of the year for many Rroma men and women in England as it’s officially the time of the Appleby Horse Fair!

The Appleby Horse Fair, also known as Appleby New Fair, is an annual gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland in Cumbria, England.

The horse fair is held each year in early June, attracting roughly 10,000 Gypsies and Travellers, about 1,000 caravans, several hundred horse-drawn vehicles, and about 30,000 visitors. The Gypsy and Traveller attendees include British Romanichal, Irish Travellers, Scottish Gypsy and Traveller groups, Kale (Welsh Romanies) and more!

My family is under the Romanichal section of this list, or if you’re English you’d know us better as Romany due to where we come from.

Appleby was given to us by King James (the second) of England in 1685 - supposedly - and by the 1900’s became a huge thing for English Travellers are it’s a time of year for us to come together, share our culture and even trade with a spit to the hand.

The Appleby Horse Fair, despite being a huge thing in Romani culture, isn’t shown in Peaky Blinders, and would be an amazing thing to show in fan fiction.

At Appleby, we have markets and history, where we see each other vardo’s and horses, tell people family stories and even make family tree connections! We like to call it a big family get together.

There are so many things I could delve into when it regard the Applyby Horse Fair, so let me know if you’re interested in knowing more about it ! 💗 (Even as an anonymous ask).

Much love to you all 👋

#peaky blinders #izabesworld #malfoyzsxpeakyblinders #peakyblindershelp #malfoyzsx #arthur shelby #finn shelby #applebyhorsefair #romani #rroma #rromani #romanitalk

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the-great-british-blorbo-off · 8 months

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Map of the UK because some of your comments about British geography are actually horrific (I'm not mad). The UK is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island. This is why English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish characters were allowed in the tournament :)

And this is a slightly more detailed map that splits the countries into their counties and highlights some more cities for you to zoom in on if you're interested.

There are loads of different accents in the UK - as you can see it's made up of four countries which then split into loads of different counties, which can have very different accents and dialects with some really distinct features despite some places only being an hour up the road from each other. I could talk about accents forever so instead I will drop the link to this video which briefly goes over a few accents (mainly English ones) and has examples. It's a really interesting topic so I would recommend checking it out if you're unfamiliar!

#not a poll #uk #taking the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone #perhaps this was an excuse to talk about accents too

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fluffyjack5 · 4 months

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(CHARACTER BELONGS TO VIVZIEPOP)

(Zoophobia: Project Reborn)

I'm proudly can introduce for you Olivia Bonapars-Graceful ballet dance and one of the main Mackenzie's rivals.

Alternative Version:

(!!!DO NOT USE THIS AS A FACTS IN CANON!!!)

Some facts about her in my ZP headcanon:

-Olivia have a mixed French-Breton origin (Brittany is a region in France, which mainly populated by Bretons-Celtic ethnic group which related to Irish, Scottish and Welsh people).

-Her mother is the famous in Save Haven ballet dancer Catherine Gant while father was a magor banker with Breton origins Jean-Levy Bonapars.

-Olivia is one of main members of Daphna's friends team, usually she's not so friendly with one of the her's friend-Penelope. They both trying to influnce to Daphne by their own sides, But if Penelope represents more calm and serious attitude towards the world around, Olivia is more agressive and sometimes like to mock the weaker female students of ZPA, such as Mackenzie.

-She's openly Polysexual

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cursed-40k-thoughts · 1 year

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Since James Workshop followed suit with every other fantasy creator on making their (space-)elves speak Irish, I think all Aeldar should sound Irish. More rural Irish for exodites and less so for Harlies but all of them do.

Except Drukhari, who are incurably Norwegian.

I mean, I don't disagree with you. Aeldari culture and naming conventions are derived from real world Celtic culture. I think they should... sound mainly like different dialects of Irish with Scottish and Welsh sprinkled in.

I even think the Drukhari should be Irish, tbh. "Klaive" is literally the phonetic spelling of "Claíomh", which is "Sword" in Gaelic. They should just be like... sinister, unseelie Irish.

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ltwilliammowett · 2 years

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An archaeological study of skeletons from Greenwich pensioners and the conclusions about life at sea

In 1999-2001, an archaeological survey was carried out on the south-east corner of the Greenwich Royal Hospital Burial Ground. Greenwich pensioned Sailors and Marines were buried on this burial ground from 1749-1857. During this excavation 186 graves were uncovered, but only 107 of these were excavated, the others being reburied after a short survey.

Burial ground

The excavated area once held 20,000 inhabitants who were buried there over the course of time. However, 4000 were demonstrably removed and due to construction work and the two world wars, especially the second, great damage was left behind. What is striking, however, is that the marines and normal sailors are buried in simple, rather superficial graves in a NE-SW direction and not in a W-E direction as is usual in the Christian context. Also, many graves were double-occupied, or some were buried together with their partner, which explains the 5 women.

Double interment, skeletons 3211 and 3162

Officers were buried in a specially constructed mausoleum, the existence of which can only be proven by documents. No grave goods in the form of shoe buckles, buttons or even personal objects were found. It can therefore be assumed that they were all buried in simple shrouds.

The inhabitants

The skeletons revealed that they were mainly 105 adults and 2 sub adults. 5 skeletons were identified as definitely female and two as undefined because the skeletons were too damaged. Osteological examinations revealed an age range of 60-75, with the 71-75 group being the largest. The females were between 40-50 years old. Similarly, the average height of the men was 1.60-1.74m, with only a few being between 1.74-1.80m tall. The women were between 1.40-1.55m tall.

Compared to the other hospitals in Portsmouth, Haslar and Gosport where the injured and temporarily unfit Sailors and Marines were housed, the age range was as follows. The men there, and they were all men, were between 16-50 years old, with the majority being between 20 and 30 years old. There was no great difference in size to the pensioners in Greenwich. Therefore, it can be said that the Sailor and Marine standard height was between 1.60 and 1.75m.

Nationalities

The muster rolls of the ships showed that there were a variety of nationalities on board the ships, although the majority were British, Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Islanders. The remaining part consisted of continental Europeans, and there were Prussians, North Germans, Americans, Spaniards and even Frenchmen, but also Swiss and even Africans and Indians. Now, one might think that the residents of Greenwich Hospital would be exclusively British, Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Islanders, as it was a special honour to spend one's twilight years in this hospital. But the opposite was the case: as in the muster rolls, the residents were also of different origins and the examinations of the skeletons revealed three African men. So the selection was really based on performance and injuries and not on nationality.

Trauma - everyday injuries

Almost all of the skellets had serious injuries, but these had occurred a long time ago and could therefore be traced back to everyday life on board. Typical injuries in these cases were bone fractures, especially of the lower leg. But ribs and broken noses were also the most common. a few skeletons showed full-body fractures from a fall from a high height. On one ship, this was a typical injury from a fall from the rigging. Often these ended fatally for the person who fell, but also for one or the other who was standing on the deck at the same spot and was thus killed by the falling person. Few survived and often had permanent injuries that stayed with them for the rest of their lives.

Poorly reduced but well healed nasal fracture

The fact that the legs were often broken was often due to the fact that the people slipped during a storm, fell badly and broke their legs in the process. This also often led to broken ribs and noses. The latter were also caused by scuffles between the men themselves. Interestingly, hand and finger fractures were rare among the skeletons examined. Even though one might expect this to be the case when it came to handling in the rigging or guns. On the other hand, dislocations of the arms were found in many of the examined individuals, which can be attributed to the handling of sails. Joint diseases resulting from years of toil under the most difficult conditions, such as carrying heavy loads, repetitive jerky movements, could lead to these skeletal disorders, which usually occur in old age and are therefore not uncommon.

Trauma - Battle Injuries

In this case, the injuries are much more varied and leave the victims with permanent damage and limitations.

Amputation ans secondary osteomyelitis of the right femur

Skull injuries, soft tissue injuries in the form of splinter or bullet wounds, but also dislocations of extremities or even the loss of those extremities were often encountered. Musket wounds could lead to fractures, but also to more unusual injuries such as those suffered by retiree and ex-Marine Thomas Chapman. He died at the age of 72 in 1851, having suffered a gunshot wound to the face that left his lower jaw barely functional and caused severe problems with eating and speaking.

Below knee amputation of the right tibia and femur

Bone diseases

A very typical disease that many Sailors suffered from was osteoporosis and rheumatism. This was also clearly visible in these skeletons.

Infectious diseases

Tuberculosis and syphellis were the most common. The men could have contracted these diseases in the hospital, but it is most likely that they were contracted much earlier, as healing processes could be proven in various stages. Many also suffered from periostitis. Meningitis occurs after blunt injuries, bacterial infections or when osteomyelitis and bone inflammation spread to the periosteum. It severely restricts the mobility of the affected person and causes severe pain. Many also suffered from chronic sinusitis, an inflammation of the nasal sinuses, which was promoted by the constantly damp and windy weather. Since the men could not cure themselves properly and there were no antibiotics, this was a common illness, along with chronic bronchitis.

Pott's disease (tuberculosis of the spine). Note the crush fractures and the collapse of the vertebrae

Deficiency symptoms

Even when scurvy was treated, many suffered from it and it showed clearly in their bone structures, but vitamin D deficiency in childhood also led to rickets and could also cause bone softening and deformation in adulthood, which was extremely difficult for the person affected.

Surgeons interventions

There were not many Naval Surgeons, there were only 15 in 1797 and more than half of them were on half pay ashore. This, of course, led to a chronic lack of care on board the ships, which was often evident in the injuries and their healing processes. Even if there was a surgeon on board, this did not mean that the men were also well cared for, because many of the surgeons were poorly trained and had to learn their trade themselves. Many of the injuries were either badly splinted, which led to deformations in the bones, or even amputated. In this case, it only showed in the missing bones; the prostheses were not buried with them. Infectious diseases or chronic illnesses were only treated symtomatically, because either the knowledge or the means for treatment were lacking. Which is why the pensioners at Greenwich Hospital often had many illnesses and often suffered from them, but at least received some treatment. The men who were not admitted and no longer fit for service often died earlier and were very often under cared for.

Skeleton 3119 with post-mortem craniotomy

Post-mortem autopsies were even performed on four skeletons, whether for teaching purposes or for corrective reasons such as an active tuberculosis outbreak in the hospital cannot be precisely determined.

Summary

The skeletons examined, even if they were pensioners, showed the typical illnesses and injuries that a sailor could suffer at sea. Of course, the selection was quite small, but it showed well that the men, with the care they received and despite their limitations, managed to live to a fairly advanced age in a time of conflict. The abundant dataset reflects well what can often only be read in the logbooks. The origins of the men, the harsh life, the diet on board and the effects this could have on people in old age. In order to be able to provide a more accurate picture, further and more faithful studies are still needed.

#naval history #archeology #sailors and marines graves #greenwich pensioners #burial ground #18th 19th century #tw: skeleton #tw:bones

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aikoiya · 9 months

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LoZ - My HCs on Ordonian Culture

Ordon Town can be found in Ordona, which in BotW & TotK, translates into the Faron Grasslands. Ordon Village originally being located around the Lake of the Horse God with Ordon Ranch being settled within Ibara Butte.

The Village has since expanded to Fural Plain (once the South Faron Woods) around the Fardona Spirit Lake, canonically known as Haran Lake, & has become a small town. It had once been a simple spring, but something had happened to the Faron Spring to cause Faron to migrate down to Ordona's Spring where the 2 merged & became Fardona. This resulted in the spring growing large & becoming a sacred lake.

Ordona encompasses the entirety of the Faron Grasslands, including the area west of Cora Lake & Menoat River. This includes the Parache Plains, Papetto Grove, & Darybon Plains. Which I believe used to be the Deep Faron Woods & Sacred Grove areas in TP.

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Ordon homes tend to be either the typical farm house or resemble Hobbit Holes, so smials. The smials are also known for having trees growing out the tops of them which later become incorporated into later families' homes.

As for their overall culture & architecture, Ordon has a rural ranching feel & might be inspired by a southern agricultural town in Italy called Ordona. So, maybe rural Italy with American South mannerisms & sensibilities. Maybe with a bit of Welsh in there too. Sometimes in certain words, such as Hiraeth & Cariaeth. Which, Cariaeth is a word I made up that has much a similar meaning to Hiraeth, but instead of being for a place, it's for a person or people. Both are just words that there really is no English equivalent for.

At the same time, I also get Irish Gaelic & small-town English countryside vibes as opposed to the Scottish Gaelic ones I get from Hateno.

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Ordon is mostly populated by Humans & Lupáns, but has the occasional Hylian, Sheikah, & Gerudo here & there.

While not many Goron visit the area, when they do, they tend to get on well with the locals as they have a lot of similar values.

For more on Lupáns, see my Wolf Link & the Búralupán Race post.

—

Ordon's main religion mainly surrounds the Light Spirits, Fardona the Long-Tailed Calopus, Eldin the Raptor Bird, & Lanayru the Gator-Headed Snake. Fardona being one of their 2 main patrons alongside Malanya (referred to as Meiléina here), both of whom are said to have blessed Ordon Ranch.

(Calopus being a Mythological Medieval creature resembling a horned wolf. In the original myth, it also had the face of a cat, but that doesn't apply here.)

It is said that Ordona the Calopus & Faron the Bushy-Tailed Monkey had originally been one entity, but due to necessity, had split themselves into 2 in order to subdue an enemy, protect the lands' light, & properly guide an ancient hero. Once their tasks as 2 separate entities were truly concluded, they merged once more into their original form. Thus becoming Fardona the Long-Tailed Calopus.

Ordonians never really worshipped the Golden Goddesses as a triumferate (in fact, practically no one in modern society does anymore) or Hylia. Rather, their religion mostly revolves around the Light Spirits, who have a much closer & more personal connection to Ordon itself, considering how between 2-3 of them are so close to Ordon.

They also worship Karina, the Goddess of Love, Passion, Marriage, Pudicity, & Healthy Relationships. Though, she is also very prominently worshipped as a moon goddess, also strongly associated with inspiration, & is referred to as Karridwena in Ordona.

On the other hand, Farore does still have a fairly recognized role in Ordonian religion as Fayrah, fae goddess of the wild things & fortune.

Though, they also recognize her husband as the bringer of winter, hunters, & survival, Hebarngán.

—

In Ordon weddings, the bride & groom traditionally wear clothes inspired by the Light Spirits & crows meant to resemble Ordona's horns. - This idea comes from @smilesrobotlover, who originally had the idea!

A number of elderly Ordonian men tend to take up horn carving in their old age. It isn't uncommon for goats to lose a horn at times, so why not find a use for them?

The designs are often Celtic as most don't start carving with much intent, rather preferring to just allow inspiration to drive them.

They often come out looking quite lovely.

Sometimes, they'll even carve bukkehorns from them.

It's believed that a crown carved from the horns of young kids are considered sacred to the Light Spirit, Fardona, which is why it's believed that if a young goat loses their horns before a wedding, that the union was given Fardona's blessing.

Traditionally speaking, it's supposed to be the fathers of the bride & groom who're supposed to carve them. This is supposed to act as their own blessings for the union as well.

Extremely rarely, a pair of faintly glowing horn shards will suddenly appear before a truly blessed by fate pair. It is believed that they may be the peeled pieces of Fardona's own horns, which is considered a sign of a truly sacred union. These pieces are often polished, causing them to shine like gemstones, before being embedded into the crowns themselves to act as centerpieces.

Rusl & Uli still have the crowns from their own wedding hung up over their mantel.

---

Ordon is primarily a ranching town focused on the Ordon Goat, Horses, & Cuccos. As such, they tend to use mostly goat products.

Ordon Goats being unique in that they are much larger than normal goats with blueish-gray fur & have horns that form a large, complete circle or oval atop their heads. Their milk has a distinct taste that separates it from that of other goats.

Goat milk is generally said to taste somewhat sweet & mild with little to no aftertaste. Goat butter tastes sweet & tangy & has a smooth, creamy texture. While goat cheese is considered to be mild & buttery.

Ordon Goat dairy products are these things as well, but they are also consistently richer & slightly sweeter with a somewhat earthy undertone to them that other goat dairy products simply don't have. Ordona Cheese specifically also being slightly tart with no soapy aftertaste like some goat cheeses can have.

Ordon is also known for their famous Gilded Cuccos. These Gilded Cuccos can be found anywhere in Hyrule, but are extremely rare & mostly found in Ordon. The reason being that the hatching of a Gilded Cucco is considered the mark of an exceptional cucco farmer. Technically, one can be hatched anywhere depending on how well its mother was raised, it just so happens that Ordon tends to produce these more often than other places.

It's said that a Gilded Egg is lain when a hen is positively brimming with happiness & contentment & love for its farmer. Thus, having one is considered a point of pride amongst cucco farmers. If that Gilded Egg happens to be fertilized, then it can hatch a Gilded Cucco. And if that Gilded Cucco is a hen as well, it too will produce Gilded Eggs. Though, rarely will those eggs be fertilized, only happening when that Gilded Hen has reached that same threshold as their mother did before & a Gilded Cucco can only lay one fertilized Gilded Egg in its entire life.

No one knows why their fertility rates are so much lower than the typical Cucco, but a lot of old ranchers & chicken farmers say that it's to keep ya from getting complacent or a big head.

It's also said that hatching & raising a Gilded Cucco causes a blessing to be placed upon the farmer's family & land that only leaves it if the cuccos are ever treated badly. It's nothing too extreme, just more good luck, higher yields, higher quality products, longer harvests, shorter winters, stuff like that. You'd barely notice unless you were paying real close attention.

All the same, these little things do tend to add up.

Gilded Eggs are very nutritious & delicious, even more so than the typical egg, which is already considered a super food, & are known for the sparkling, pale gold-like sheen to them. Their yolks being known to shimmer slightly & are the absolute best when done over medium so that the whites are cooked, but the yolk remains runny. These eggs are considered a luxury & are often sought after by the rich.

A single ranching community typically can't have more than 3 Gilded Cuccos at once. Though, even still, it is insanely rare to get more than 1.

—

Ordona has this legend about fae wolves. They're called the Búraló-síth (Pronounced: bura-low-she). Which are based off of real world Irish & Scottish folk creatures called Cú-síth (Pronounced: coo-she).

IRL, they are described as large dog-like creatures that have shaggy, green fur & are known to be as large as a small cow. But in Ordona folklore, they are wolves instead of dogs & only extremely old Búraló-síth become so large. They also come in a variety of colors instead of just green. Though, they are marked by peculiar patterns.

Anyway, Búraló-síth are also known for taking souls to the afterlife, same as Cú-síth. So, they are a type of Psychopomp.

They are also said to protect lost children.

(A not so subtle reference to TP.)

---

Ordon is also known for its apple orchard on the east side of Fural Plain. This orchard is known for producing a higher than average amount of Golden Apples.

There is also the large amount of Courser Bee hives populating the nearby forest. This forest is known as an apiarist forest as the bees there are allowed to live naturally & the beekeepers only interfere to take excess honey while making sure to leave enough for the bees.

—

Ordonians quite like wry wit. So, their toasts tend to reflect this. They also have a distinct brewing & drinking culture.

Toasts include:

"Confusion to our enemies!"

"Here's to the liver!"

"May you be in the Beckonwyld half an hour before the Demon King knows you're dead."

"Here's to your death. May I build your coffin myself from the wood of a hundred year old oak tree that I will plant... tomorrow."

"To the ladies. May we fall into their arms without falling into their hands."

Ordonians also quite enjoy singing when they drink, being a jolly bunch.

Such includes:

"Health & a long life to you.

Land without rent to you.

A child every year to you.

And if you can't go to the Beckonwyld,

May you at least die in Ordona."

- Inspired by an Irish toast.

"She offered her honor,

I honored her offer.

And all the night long,

I was on her & off her."

- Best used when drinking with "the guys."

---

One of the things that they're known for is their food & their brewing. And instead of an inn, Ordon has a tavern instead known as The Tangled Capaill (based on an old Ordonian folktale about a drunken horse: here). Which gets them a good amount of adventurers & researchers.

Ordon also has a fairly large baking community & they are known for their use of Ordon dairy products, honey, apples, & pumpkins in their baking.

For more on Ordon's Food Culture, go here.

---

Ordon is also known for sports such as sumo wrestling, step dance, caber toss, hurling, & boxing.

However, Ordon & Mabe also have an annual baking competition & the role of host alternates each year. It's mainly between them, but anyone from anywhere can join.

Ordon also enters the Hyrule Rodeo in the summer, which features horseback riding/racing, saddle bronc, bareback, bull riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping, goat tying, & other events. This rodeo is generally held near Hateno in Olvi Plain, just south of Nirvata Lake.

---

Ordon also has its own festivals that it enjoys, such as the Harvest Festival in the fall, specifically held to give thanks for autumn's bounty. The 1st few days are an actual festival with food stalls, music, games, but the last day of the festival's activities is more for those who don't have families of their own as that day is specifically meant to focus on family togetherness in a similar way to Thanksgiving & is called the Feast of Family. The Feast of Family is, traditionally, a potluck. During the Feast, large tables are set up in the town squares for them. It's also tradition for local farmers, brewers, families, & businesses to donate a very small portion of their harvests/food/alcohol so that those individuals without families get to have a feast of their own together in case they don't have the means to bring anything themselves.

Some families will even invite friends without their own over to celebrate with them & they are treated as part of the family. That last day, you are intended to give thanks for all the blessings in your life. This is actually a Hyrule-wide celebrated holiday, but it's also very important to Ordon specifically.

There's also the Festival of Light in winter. An Ordon festival dedicated to honoring the Light Spirits, specifically Fardona. Kakariko also holds it too for Eldin, but no one celebrates it quite like Ordon.

It's tradition to gather Brightblooms & Starlight Rosemary & for the kids to weave them together into garlands, wreaths, & streamers to decorate the town with.

They also celebrate Bondsday, which takes place at the beginning of spring. It's a Hyrule-wide celebration, but specifically has roots in Faron, Ordona, & Necluda. So, it's considered part of their culture. It's considered the Hyrule equivalent of Valentine's day, Family day, & Friendship day. It is held to honor Karina. However, she is specifically a goddess of healthy relationships & not just romance. So, daytime is spent with friends & family, while nighttime is spent with either immediate family or romantic partners. Family is generally celebrated throughout the day.

Other things Ordon participates in is the Hyrule Fair, which is held in Windvane Meadow. It's basically just your typical county fair sort of thing. With blue ribbons & all that. Has a bunch of agricultural & ranching contests.

They also celebrate Remembrance Day, which is a holiday founded by TotK's Zelda to honor & mourn the lives that were lost during the Calamity. Special attention is given to remember the sacrifices of the soldiers & Champions who died protecting Hyrule. (It's basically like if you combined Veteran's Day with the Jewish holiday, Yom HaShoah, a.k.a. Holocaust Remembrance Day.) - Each individual race also has their own individual day to celebrate the lives of their specific Champion in their own ways. Always held on that Champion's birthday. However, since Ordon didn't have a specific Champion, they simply mourn the soldiers & Champions as a unit.

LoZ Cultural Masterlist

#loz #legend of zelda #tp #twilight princess #botw #totk #breath of the wild #tears of the kingdom #ordon #ordona #ordon village #culture

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fiantacleasai · 5 months

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Introduction

Hi there! You can call me Bat. It/Its pronouns. My username is in Gaeilge (Irish) and means Fiery Trickster. (was previously under the UN Gaelcryp) TLDR; I am: 27, queer, nonbinary, autistic, adhd, disabled, and a spoonie. I am an Astrologer, based in Hellenistic Astrology. I do incorporate this into my practice. I am a cosmic folk hedge witch, with an emphasis on spirit work and am learning the folk traditions of the Appalachian, Irish, Scottish, and Swedish. I'm a Gaelpol, Lokean, and Animist. Actively learning decolonization, antifascism, abolitionism, anarchy and harm reduction. Covid Vigilant. Please only follow if you are over 18, minors don't follow. You are not in a safe space if you are a folkist or any other form of white supremacist, an informed appropriator(including Lilith devotees), racist, ableist, queerphobic, anti-Semitic, pro-Israel or a zionist, fatphobic, anti-masker (or just not masking bc u don't care anymore!), or harm apologist. Also note that I am Wicca Critical. ---------------------Long Version--------------------------

I have been a witch/magic practitioner for the past 6 or so years. I practice mainly folk magic as of recently, focusing my studies on Appalachian, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and occasionally Swedish traditions. I've been learning slowly about my ancestry and where my family comes from in order to both connect with my ancestors and venerate them, as well as learning about the places of my family's origin and their folk traditions. My family is heavily tied to the Appalachian regions, namely of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Georgia. A great many of them seem to have emigrated from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Another subset of ancestors seem to have emigrated from Sweden and Germany.

That said, I'm also trying to learn about the land I live on currently in the Pacific NW and figure out how to practice the traditions of my homelands while I reside here and incorporate the land respectfully. I have felt homesick for Ireland since I was about 7 years old, and I've wanted to be involved in anything Irish I could find. I feel that the land Herself is calling me back, to the place where my ancestors called home. I'm trying to learn the language and hope that one day I will be able to, at the very least, visit for a long while. I consider myself a hedge witch as well, not for the aspects of solitude but rather for the hedge-jumping/spirit-flight and focus on the Otherworld and spirit work. Connecting and communing with spirits has been a primary focus of my craft since the beginning. As far as my beliefs go. I have been particularly focused on Gaelpol/Irish & Scottish Polytheism the past 4 or so years. (and now learning about Welsh) I am a Flame Keeper for Brighid, tending Her flame for 24 hours every 20 days. She is the goddess and deity that I have worshipped the longest, and felt a strong connection to first. Of the Tuatha De Danann, I also hope to form relationships with Donn, Lugh, Manannán mac Lir, Áine, and Aengus Og. Within the past year I've also been connecting to Heathenry, through an unexpected connection to Loki. Though heathenry will not be a particular focus in my practice, I consider myself a Lokean and devotee of Loki and honor their family (partners and children) as well. I use he/they/she pronouns for Loki, personally. I am a strong Animist and have been, without the word, since I was very young. It is important to me to honor and get to know house spirits, land spirits, animal spirits, and plant spirts. I believe in fate and partial pre-determinism and that the planets give us signs through astrology. I believe electional astrology and astrologic magic are ways to work with the universe with some self-determinism. I believe in soul-transmigration and of course, the Otherworld. I believe in the soul having many parts - much like in Norse paganism.

As a disabled person, I am always on the hunt for things to make my practice more accessible. I also am hungry for community, as being inside all the time due to trying to stay safe from covid and just generally often being home-bound is so lonely. As an ever-growing and changing person, I allow myself to morph and grow as I learn and experience more. So this post will likely be updated over time.

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subjects-of-the-king · 1 year

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The Historical Value of Geoffrey of Monmouth

An Original Essay of Lucas Del Rio

The year was 1136. Britain in recent centuries had come to be defined by her English, Welsh, and Scottish boundaries. Of the three, England by far exercised the greatest hegemony. Most of the people living there talked in the English tongue, although the Norman leadership spoke French. This was because the population of England consisted mainly of the Anglo-Saxons, with their Norman-French overlords only recently having seized power. There had been a time, however, when the Saxons were the invaders, for they were not the indigenous people of the island. It was the story of Britain and her early history that the Welsh clergyman Geoffrey of Monmouth told in his 1136 work The History of the Kings of Britain.

Other British historians, including those of the present day and his own contemporaries, have tended to be highly critical of Geoffrey. His work, they say, is filled with myth. There is no doubt that there is a great deal of legend contained within its pages, although there are also reasons that the text deserves to be the subject of historical research. Many early history books filled in gaps of knowledge with legend, and the myths the medieval Welshman provides offer insight into the now largely forgotten traditional beliefs of the Celtic Britons. It is also the only surviving source to thoroughly explore the history of Britain prior to Roman occupation. Some of the episodes of British history from the Roman era and early Middle Ages touched on by other writers are discussed in far more detail by Geoffrey. Finally, his account of the life of King Arthur towards the end of the book is among the earliest sources for the Arthurian legend.

Geoffrey was aware that there were other writers of British history, but he felt that he could offer insight that others had not yet been able to do. “It has seemed a remarkable thing to me that, apart from such mention of them as Gildas and Bede had each made in a brilliant book about the subject, I have not been able to discover anything at all on the kings who lived here before the Incarnation of Christ, or indeed about Arthur and all the others who followed on after the Incarnation,” says Geoffrey as he opens his book. In this fragment of his opening statement, he is clearly giving praise to Gildas and the Venerable Bede, two historians who had lived centuries before his own time but whose works were highly respected. The first of these, published by the Romano-British monk Gildas in 540 AD, was On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain. When Gildas wrote, Roman occupation was still a fresh memory, and the withdrawal of Roman garrisons had left the Britons vulnerable to Germanic, Irish, and Pictish invaders. Gildas, in his book, writes a brief history of how the Romans had once subjugated the island and then how they had left. Later, the book consists of Gildas condemning the new kings who had emerged from the former Roman province. From his perspective, they were both sinful and had been unable to effectively respond to the challenges facing a post-Roman Britain.

The other British historian referenced by Geoffrey at the start of his book is the Venerable Bede, who wrote much later than Gildas but still a very long time before he himself wrote The History of the Kings of Britain. His chief work, and probably the one that Geoffrey is calling “a brilliant book,” was the 731 AD book Ecclesiastical History of the English People. As the title suggests, the primary focus of the book is the history of the church in English society. Along the way, Bede also chronicles the wars, cultural changes, and royal dynasties of the era. Ecclesiastical History of the English People is the oldest surviving comprehensive British history book, and one that was the gold standard for other British history books to emulate for much of the rest of the medieval era. Even today, it remains invaluable for the particular time period that it covers. Geoffrey obviously respected both him and the earlier Gildas, yet he saw certain weaknesses in works that did indeed have a great deal of merit. Britain in the era prior to the dawn of Christianity is almost entirely ignored by the two historians. Their chronicles of the early medieval era also are lacking in biographic information of the kings of the Celtic Britons. Gildas offers more criticism of leadership style than any real biographical detail, and Bede neglects the Britons in favor of the lives of Anglo-Saxon kings.

“The deeds of these men were such that they deserve to be praised for all time,” continues Geoffrey, making it clear that he is setting out to write a book that he feels deserves to exist. “These deeds were handed joyfully down in oral tradition,” he asserts, although he also claims to have used as a source “a certain very ancient book written in the British language.” Certainly, any history of the Britons written at this point which covered the span that it did would have had to make use of oral tradition. A trickier question is whether or not the “ancient book written in the British language” really existed. Prior to English becoming the dominant language, the Britons had spoken a language called Brythonic, which eventually branched into the modern Celtic dialects of Breton, Cornish, and Welsh. As someone who was Welsh, especially at a time when Wales was not yet as Anglicized as it would later become, it seems perfectly feasible that Geoffrey would have had knowledge of Brythonic. Modern knowledge of Brythonic is limited, but it may have been written in the Ogham alphabetic script that was at the time used by the Irish and the Picts. Geoffrey could, however, have simply been adding such a detail at the beginning of his book to capture the attention of his audience. Discovering an “ancient book” is more exciting than depending solely on oral tradition.

Geoffrey clearly made use of surviving sources whether or not he really had an “ancient book written in the British language.” Bede, whom Geoffrey highly respected despite perceiving certain shortcomings, was one. Both Ecclesiastical History of the English People and The History of the Kings of Britain start their chronicles by introducing the island of Britain herself, with very similar descriptions of her geography and natural resources. This opening of Bede must have been as influential on medieval British historians as the rest of his book, as it is also closely copied by Henry of Huntington, a contemporary of Geoffrey, in History of the English. Next, Geoffrey makes a statement that very much sets up a great deal of the rest of his book, which largely consists of the epic struggle of the Britons against hostile foreigners such as the Romans, Norwegians, and Irish. “Britain is inhabited by five races of people,” he says. Even though “the Britons once occupied the land from sea to sea,” he declares that “the vengeance of God overtook them because of their arrogance and they submitted to the Picts and the Saxons.”

The first tale told by Geoffrey is the one that is the most blatantly a legend, and also one that ties in closely with Greco-Roman mythology. In fact, Greco-Roman myth is a prominent theme for much of the book, with the early Britons described as worshiping their deities. Multiple explanations can be offered for this. For one, there was plenty of nostalgia in the Middle Ages for classical antiquity, which some medieval Europeans perceived to have been a more civilized time. However, perhaps a better explanation is that Celtic religion was assimilated into that of the Roman Empire when Celtic lands were conquered. Today, many aspects of Celtic religion are lost to history, and this may have been no less true at a time when Britain had already long been Christianized. It seems likely that all Geoffrey knew of the religion of the Celtic Britons was its eventual fusion with Roman elements. All of the references to classical mythology in the book align more closely with the Romans than with the Greeks. Roman names of the gods and goddesses are used, the book incorporates the story found in the Latin poem The Aeneid by Virgil, and the Greeks are portrayed as antagonists while the Trojans are glorified.

The story Geoffrey tells at the beginning of his narrative is also told to an extent in an older work from 833 AD called The History of the Britons. While the authorship of the work is disputed, and it may actually be a compilation of multiple authors over many years, The History of the Britons is commonly ascribed to the monk Nennius. Like The History of the Kings of Britain, the text attempts to chronicle history from the perspective of the Celtic Britons rather than the Anglo-Saxons who were writing the overwhelming majority of the accounts. Both books tell many of the same stories with some differences, although The History of the Britons is significantly shorter than the work penned by Geoffrey. At the start of both books, the reader is introduced to a great-grandson of the Trojan hero Aeneas by the name of Brutus. After accidentally killing his father, he is exiled from Italy and ultimately arrives in Britain. Apparently it was from him that the island took her name. This cannot be true, of course, because the term “Britain” originates with Greek explorers and was not used by native Britons prior to contact with Mediterranean peoples. Nennius, or whomever else may have written The History of the Britons, does not detail how Britain was populated. Nor does the book History of the English by Henry of Huntington, who also tells the story of Brutus.

For all the reader knows, Britain may already have had inhabitants, and Brutus may merely have become a person of prominence there. Geoffrey, on the other hand, tells a far more fanciful tale. In his book, the island “called Albion” when Brutus arrived “was uninhabited except for a few giants.” Accompanying Brutus to Albion were other descendants of those who had lived in Troy. After the Trojan War, Geoffrey tells his reader, the Greeks had enslaved their vanquished enemies. Brutus can be described as leading a revolutionary Exodus of sorts against an apparent “King of the Greeks.” Some modern readers may view such a term with skepticism, noting that Greece in antiquity was divided into numerous independent city-states. It should also be noted, however, that Greece was organized in this fashion during the archaic, classical, and hellenistic eras of Greek history. Much less is known of Greek society during the Bronze Age, when the Trojan War would have taken place, due to a total absence of literature. The Iliad by the legendary poet Homer describes Greek forces being commanded by an overlord named Agamemnon during the Trojan War.

Regardless of any other details of this section of the narrative, it is almost certainly fantasy. However, it has value in that it shows how the myths of the Britons meshed at some point with their Roman conquerors. As the story is told, albeit in much less detail, in The History of the Britons more than three hundred years earlier, Geoffrey cannot have simply made the whole thing up for entertainment value. Perhaps of greater interest to historical scholarship are the stories that immediately follow, which tell of a Celtic society in Britain prior to Roman subjugation. No written records exist from this era of British history, so a book preserving its oral traditions is invaluable. Some readers may be surprised by the tales of powerful kings, burgeoning towns, and massive wars, possibly meeting them with skepticism. It is nearly impossible to assess the accuracy of the stories, although they should not be dismissed. A common yet ignorant image of pre-Roman Britain is that it was barely emerging from the Stone Age, yet archaeology demonstrates otherwise. Trade goods have been unearthed from as far away as Egypt and Greece, and it should be remembered that the Celtic Britons managed to construct the magnificent monument now known as Stonehenge.

One of the first stories after the kingship of Brutus, and certainly one of interest, follows the partition of the island amongst his three sons. There are no quarrels between them, but they end up having to repel an invasion of the Huns. As the Huns did not invade Europe until the final decades of the Roman Empire, it is impossible that this exact circumstance could have taken place. It is a stretch to suggest the Huns even existed just a few generations after the Trojan War. However, there have been numerous nomadic peoples who have invaded different regions of Europe at various points in history. A horde similar to the one led back Attila could feasibly have built boats and sailed to Britain, and they may simply have been remembered later by a familiar name. On the other hand, the ravages of the Huns in Europe could have created a legend that they had attacked Britain many centuries earlier.

Some of the events that Geoffrey claims to have occurred at this point in British history can be observed in British lore in general, indicating that they were indeed derived from oral tradition. Modern audiences are likely to instantly recognize the story of King Lear, which William Shakespeare would turn into a play hundreds of years after The History of the Kings of Britain was written. A lesser known fact is that other Elizabethan playwrights penned plays concerning Lear and different kings that Geoffrey wrote about. There is another tale, that of the brothers Belinus and Brennus, which may initially seem to be fantasy but possibly has roots in reality. Belinus and Brennus both desire the British kingship and fight multiple civil wars over it, which on one occasion leads to Brennus fleeing to Gaul. While in this foreign land, he befriends Segnius, the Duke of the Allobroges, and eventually becomes duke himself. After the brothers decide to put aside their differences and unite, they fight various leaders in what would one day be France and then go on to invade Italy. They even sack Rome herself.

The idea of the Britons sacking Rome at a time well before the Romans had ever reached Britain may seem preposterous. Geoffrey concludes his biographical information on Brennus by stating that “I have not attempted to describe his other activities there or his eventual death, for the histories of Rome explain these matters.” By “histories of Rome,” Geoffrey is likely referring to a 9 BC work of this name by the ancient Roman historian Livy, who writes of the Celts sacking Rome early in her history. Leading the Celts in this endeavor was a chieftain by the name of Brennus. Much later in Roman history, when Julius Caesar battled the Gauls, these enemies of his often received aid from the Britons, so there easily could have been Britons involved in the events described by Livy. Brennus could actually have been born in Britain, or his acclaim amongst the Celtic tribes may have caused the Britons to claim that he was one of them. As the title of The History of the Kings of Britain suggests, there are descriptions of the lives of many other British kings, including in the pre-Roman era.

A rising action in the narrative of the book is when the Romans arrive on British soil. Geoffrey asserts that Julius Caesar led the earliest Roman expeditions to Britain, as the Roman general himself attested to in his 52 BC memoir Commentaries on the Gallic War. Caesar states in his memoir that he wished to explore Britain due to her people providing support to the tribes in Gaul that he was fighting. However, Geoffrey claims that he launched an invasion after the Britons rejected his demand that they immediately submit to Roman rule. As this is the time that the Romans started to write down information about events occurring in Britain, it is often said to be when the “recorded history” of the island begins. Other medieval accounts of British history concur with this notion, for they mostly ignore the earlier centuries described in The History of the Kings of Britain. Gildas says nothing of Britain before the Romans. In Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede, Chapter 1 is a summary of Britain as an island, while Chapter 2 begins with the words “Britain remained unknown and unvisited by the Romans until the time of Gaius Julius Caesar.” Nennius and Henry of Huntington skip to the arrival of Julius Caesar after their descriptions of Britain being settled.

The account given by Geoffrey of Julius Caesar and his activities in Britain does not contradict Bede, Nennius, or Henry of Huntington in any major way, although he provides far greater detail. Each of the chronicles describe Caesar failing in his first invasion and defeating the united forces of Cassivelaunus in the second. Bede, unlike the others, asserts that the Romans lost control of Britain right after Caesar departed from the island and did not regain it until the reign of Emperor Claudius. Geoffrey tells his reader that Britain was reduced to a tributary state after the campaign led by Caesar, with Claudius invading when the Britons stopped paying the tribute owed to Rome. Between the initial subjugation and the resumption of war, Geoffrey says that the Britons would be ruled successively by Tenvantius, Cymbeline, and Guiderius. Tenvantius and Cymbeline are known to modern historians as descendants of Cassivelaunus who were later leaders of his tribe, and Cymbeline was another figure that Shakespeare penned a play about. Details about the war with Claudius, however, are very fanciful and therefore dubious.

Sometimes The History of the Kings of Britain downplays the importance of Roman rule at this time in favor of discussion of local affairs of the Britons. Both Bede and Geoffrey mention a certain King Lucius. They agree that, in 156 AD, Lucius was the first British king to convert to Christianity and that many other Britons were soon to follow in his footsteps. Lucius is mentioned in other medieval sources, and scholars today continue to debate whether or not he really existed. Geoffrey later describes the persecution of British Christians by the Emperor Diocletian, a despot whose oppressive actions are also condemned by Gildas and Bede. During their accounts of the Diocletian persecutions, Bede and Geoffrey both tell of the martyrdom of St. Alban. All of the chroniclers write that the Roman Empire struggled more and more with usurpers at this point in time, some of whom came from Britain, and that this weakened imperial resources. In a year that Bede assigns as 409 AD, the Romans were forced to withdraw from the island forever.

Geoffrey writes of a leader coming to power in Britain after the Roman departure named Vortigern. Gildas, Bede, Nennius, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, and Henry of Huntington all also include him. They discuss Vortigern warring with the Picts, whom Geoffrey says that he antagonized after he had some of them executed for assassinating his predecessor. It was what would happen next according to the medieval chroniclers, a tale which many modern historians dispute the accuracy of, that changed Britain forever. In the year said by The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles to have been 449 AD, Vortigern hired the Saxon brothers Hengist and Horsa to help him in the war that he was losing against the Picts. Hengist and Horsa, according to Geoffrey and the other chroniclers, were very successful in fighting the Picts. The History of the Kings of Britain says that this allowed the brothers to convince Vortigern to allow more and more Saxon warriors to come to Britain until they were able to turn on the army of the king.

The History of the Kings of Britain concludes with the victory of the Saxons but a glimmer of future hope for the Britons. Vortigern encountered a young Merlin, who told him of his doom and symbolized the events of the future by showing him a battle between a red and white dragon. This same prophetic vision is also found in the work of Nennius. After the death of Vortigern, the Britons enjoyed some military success against the Saxons and reached their peak of glory, says Geoffrey, under King Arthur. He died of wounds sustained in battle in 542 AD, yet the Britons continued to resist under eleven more kings until the death of King Cadwallader in 689 AD. Arthur is also described by Nennius and Henry of Huntington as having led battles against the Saxons. Historians today tend to dismiss the possibility of the existence of Arthur, just as they dismiss the value of Geoffrey, yet sometimes lore and oral tradition go a long way in outlining the events of history.

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private-bryan · 7 months

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Get To Know Me

Thanks for the tag @queer-cosette

🖌 - Do you have/want any tattoos?

Niet - I've never really wanted to get one either. If I was forced to at needlepoint it would probaby be the inscription from the One Ring around my bicep

💚 - What’s your favourite colour?

Royal Blue

🍕 - What’s the last thing you ate?

A bowl of Kellogg's Special K (gotta get that fibre in)

🕰 - What time is it where you are rn?

11:06 - I'm meant to be doing a security review, but that can wait for the more important Tumblring

🌟 - What is your zodiac sign?

Libra. And I've got no clue on anything more than that

🌍 - What is your favourite accent?

Canadian (just in case the missus is listening), but from the UK/Ireland it's any of the Scottish, Welsh, or Irish accents. They're extremely sexy (most of the time) compared to the bland Home Counties accent in my area

⚡️ - Do you have any scars?

Several.

My dumbest are the ones on my knuckles. It wasn't from a fight, but from slipping down an icy set of concrete steps, and not realising I was bleeding copiously from all the knuckles on my left hand until I was halfway to work (on a Rail Replacement Bus, no less)

I also have one on my palm from where it was cut by flaking paint (on the handrail of the same set of stairs!)

🌺 - What’s your MBTI type?

ISTP

🥀 - Favourite animated movie?

The Road to El Dorado

"Did you ever imagine it would end like this?"

"The horse is a surprise."

📺 - Favourite show?

Derry Girls. Also Taskmaster

😂 - Are you ticklish?

Yes, but the freewheeling elbows that follow usually disuade people from trying again

💍 - Do you ever want to get married?

I already am. Unless I divorce I'd rather not commit bigamy

😳 - Do you like your name?

I don't dislike my name. It's just... a name. My surname is quite rare though, so I've got that going for me

💙 - What colour is your bedroom?

Magnolia (we rent)

🤓 - How did you get your name?

I don't think there's a reason my parents picked it, unfortunately.

🎓 - When did/do you graduate?

I never went to Uni, but I left college (UK definition) in 2004

🍄 - Do you have/want any piercings?

Nope. Again, fairly bland in how I want my body to look. Aside from the beard (which was mainly an excuse not to shave every day) I basically just think of it as a slightly crappy vessel to live in.

👀 - What colour are your eyes?

Brown. Quite dark, in fact, so that from not too far away they look almost black.

👱🏻‍♀️ - What is your go to hairstyle?

Cut short twice a year (grade 3 all over), then I just let it grow until it gets too curly. I don't do anything with it, not that you could do anything with it anyway.

🥂 - Have you ever drank underage?

Not really. I was a/am nerd, and didn't really go past shandy until I was 18

🍾 - Have you ever gotten drunk?

Just twice - I don't really like how it makes my head feel. Once was after a funeral of a schoolfriend. I can't remember the other one

😱 - What’s your biggest fear?

Physical fear is either heights or dogs. But my biggest one is that one day I'll be alone and forgotten.

🥵 - Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

Too cold. I'm an overweight man, so I don't like almost literally swimming in sweat. And with cold weather I can just chuck on another jumper or t-shirt (I'm currently sat here in my dressing gown)

🌦 - What’s your favourite weather?

Pissing it down. So long as I'm at home and can listen while reading in bed

🍂 - What’s your favourite season?

Autumn. Cool, colourful, and has my birthday in it!

🐷 - What’s your favourite animal?

The Alpaca. I made the missus go to an Alapca farm on the Isle of Wight when we were over there for our 10th wedding anniversary

🐶 - Do you have any pets?

Three cats (Penelope, Irene, Helen). The wife has a dog called Fritz, but I don't interact with him

😴 - What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?

Just over two days.

🎨 - Any hobbies?

Writing, gaming, bookbinding, sewing, model making, 3D printing, procrastinating

🛩 - If travelling was free, where’s the first place you’d go?

I'd like to tour the UK - Have a hoke around Scotland, revisit Wales and Northern Ireland, go and see some history in York or Nottingham or something.

🎇 - What’s your most searched thing on Google?

Currently, it's foiling techniques for my books - the missus bought a second hand set of the LOTR books, and I've got designs on rebinding them and want to make the edges gold

📱 - Favourite app on your phone?

Tumblr. Close second for NYT Games (gotta get Wordle and Connections in), and Duolingo

🤠 - Are you more of a city person or a country person?

I'm a suburbs person. Or at least a town person.

I like some people around, and being in close range to a supermarket and stuff, but I don't like being in a really big city (like London or Belfast) for too long - something like Portsmouth or Derry is ideal actually

Tagging: @areseebee @carouselunique @imstressedx if you feel like you'd like to have a go too :)

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