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Sovereignty Goddess
Sovereignty goddess is a scholarly term, almost exclusively used in Celtic studies (although parallels for the idea have been claimed in other traditions, usually under the label ''hieros gamos''). The term denotes a goddess who, personifying a territory, confers sovereignty upon a king by marrying or having sex with him. Some narratives of this type correspond to folk-tale motif D732, ''the Loathly Lady'', in Stith Thompson's ''Motif-Index''. This trope has been identified as 'one of the most well-known and often studied thematic elements of Celtic myth'. It has also, however, been criticised in recent research for leading to "an attempt to prove that every strong female character in medieval Welsh and Irish tales is a souvenir of a Celtic sovereignty goddess". Historical evidence There is some evidence in Greek and Roman accounts of historical Celtic women that leading women such as Camma and Cartimandua might in antiquity actually have been associated with goddesses. It is al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celtic Studies
Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art history, archaeology and history, the focus lying on the study of the various Celtic languages, living and extinct.Wiley, "Celtic studies, early history of the field" (2006). The primary areas of focus are the six Celtic languages currently in use: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. As a university subject, it is taught at a number of universities, most of them in Ireland, the United Kingdom, or France, but also in the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands. History Written studies of the Celts, their cultures, and their languages go back to classical Greek and Latin accounts, possibly beginning with Hecataeus in the 6th century BC and best known through such authors as Polybius ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canu Heledd
''Canu Heledd'' (modern Welsh /'kani 'hɛlɛð/, the songs of Heledd) are a collection of early Welsh ''englyn''-poems. They are rare among medieval Welsh poems for being set in the mouth of a female character. One prominent figure in the poems is Heledd's dead brother Cynddylan. Summary Dorothy Ann Bray summarised the cycle thus: The entire cycle of the Heledd poems ... is a statement of mourning from which a background story has been deduced: Cynddylan, prince of Powys, and his brothers along with his heroic band are slain in battle, defending their country against the English in the mid-seventh century. Heledd, his sister, is one of the few survivors, who witnessed the battle and the destruction of Cynddylan's hall at Pengwern. She has lost not only all her brothers, but also her sisters and her home, and the poems suggest that she blames herself for the destruction of Cynddylan's court because of some ill-spoken words. As with the other so-called 'saga ''englynion''’ (p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peredur
Peredur (, Old Welsh ''Peretur'') is the name of a number of men from the boundaries of history and legend in sub-Roman Britain. The Peredur who is most familiar to a modern audience is the character who made his entrance as a knight in the Arthurian world of Middle Welsh prose literature. Gwrgi and Peredur, sons of Eliffer Gwrgi and Peredur are listed as sons of Eliffer (Old Welsh: ''Elidir'' or ''Eleuther'') "of the great warband" (''cascord maur'') and as sons of the Coeling dynasty in the Harleian genealogies, making them first cousins of Urien.Koch, "Peredur fab Efrawg", pp. 1437–8. Likewise, a pedigree from Jesus College MS 20 includes Gwrgi and Peredur as brothers together with one Arthur ''penuchel''. Their principal claim to fame rests on their having fought in the Battle of Arfderydd. The ''Annales Cambriae'' report that this battle (''bellum Armterid'') was fought in 573, but gives no further detail.Koch, "Arfderydd", pp. 82–3. A later expansion of the entry na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gormflaith Ingen Murchada
Gormlaith ingen Murchada (960–1030), sometimes spelled Gormflaith, was an Irish queen. Life Gormlaith was born in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland. Her father was Murchad mac Finn, King of Leinster, and her brother was Máel Mórda mac Murchada. According to annalistic accounts, she was married to Olaf Cuaran, the Viking king of Dublin and York until his death in 981; and mother to his son, King Sigtrygg Silkbeard. Perhaps most famously, after Sigtrygg's defeat at the Battle of Glenn Máma in 999, Gormlaith was married to Brian Boru, the King of Munster and High King of Ireland, and mother to his son and later King of Munster, Donnchad. It is also alleged that she married Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill after Olaf's death, but this is somewhat contentious as the sources for this marriage are less reliable. The Irish annals record Gormlaith's death in 1030. Gormlaith is most infamous for allegedly inciting men to such a degree that she caused the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Given t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gormflaith Ingen Flann Sinna
Gormflaith ingen Flann Sinna (c. 870–948) was an Irish Queen of Tara, Munster, and Leinster. Family background Gormflaith was the daughter of Flann Sinna, High King of Ireland from 879 to 916. Her mother was Gormlaith ingen Flann mac Conaing of Brega. Her known siblings were: * Donnchad Donn, her full sibling. * Óengus mac Flann Sinna, died 915. * Máel Ruanaid mac Flann Sinna, killed in 901 * Donnell mac Flann Sinna, King of Mide 919–921. * Lígach ingen Flann Sinna, died 923. * Conchobar mac Flann Sinna, king of Mide 916–919. * Áed mac Flann Sinna, blinded on Donnchad Donn's orders in 919. * Cerball mac Flann Sinna * Muirgel ingen Flann Sinna, died 928. Queen of Munster Gormflaith was notable for been the successive queen consort of Munster, Leinster and Tara. Gormflaith was married first to King Cormac mac Cuilennáin of Munster, who had taken vows of celibacy as a bishop. The marriage was not said to be consummated. MacShamhran (p. 203) wri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gormflaith Ingen Donncadha
(modern spelling: or ) is an Irish language female given name meaning "blue princess" or "illustrious princess". is also a Gaelic mythological personification of Ireland. The word ' is a compound of the Irish words ' ("blue") and ' ("sovereign"). ' is noted in early Irish texts as the name of several queens closely connected with dynastic politics in 10th- and 11th-century Ireland, and was one of the most popular Gaelic-Irish female forenames between the 8th and 16th century. Bearers of the name * , Abbess of , died 810. * , Queen of , died 840. * , Queen of , died 861. * , Queen of Tara, . * , Queen of Tara, died 948. * , Queen of Ireland, died 1030. * , Princess of , died 1046. * , died 1063. * , died 1076. * , Princess of Kerry, died 1110. * , Princess of Leinster, died 1112. * , died 1127/1134. * , died 1314. * , Princess of Moylurg, died 1324. * , died 1350. * , Princess of Fermanagh, died 1352. * , Queen of , died 1416. * , Queen of , died 1425. * , died 1432. * , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wife Of Bath's Tale
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" ( enm, The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe) is among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. It provides insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and was probably of interest to Chaucer himself, for the character is one of his most developed ones, with her Prologue twice as long as her Tale. He also goes so far as to describe two sets of clothing for her in his General Prologue. She holds her own among the bickering pilgrims, and evidence in the manuscripts suggests that although she was first assigned a different, plainer tale—perhaps the one told by the Shipman—she received her present tale as her significance increased. She calls herself both Alyson and Alys in the prologue, but to confuse matters these are also the names of her 'gossib' (a close friend or gossip), whom she mentions several times, as well as many female characters throughout ''The Canterbury Tales''. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the "Prologue of the Wife of B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific ''A Treatise on the Astrolabe'' for his 10-year-old son Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament. Among Chaucer's many other works are ''The Book of the Duchess'', ''The House of Fame'', ''The Legend of Good Women'', and ''Troilus and Criseyde''. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Badb
In Irish mythology, the Badb (Old Irish, ), or in Modern Irish Badhbh (, )—also meaning "crow"—is a war goddess who takes the form of a crow, and is thus sometimes known as Badb Catha ("battle crow").http://www.dil.ie/5114 ''badb'', Author: Royal Irish Academy She is known to cause fear and confusion among soldiers to move the tide of battle to her favoured side. Badb may also appear prior to a battle to foreshadow the extent of the carnage to come, or to predict the death of a notable person. She would sometimes do this through wailing cries, leading to comparisons with the bean-sídhe (banshee). With her sisters, Macha and the Morrigan or Anand, Badb is part of a trio of war goddesses known as '' the three Morrígna''.''Cath Maige Tuired'': The Second Battle of Mag Tuired T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macha
Macha () was a sovereignty goddess of ancient Ireland associated with the province of Ulster, particularly the sites of Navan Fort (''Eamhain Mhacha'') and Armagh (''Ard Mhacha''), which are named after her.Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia''. ABC-CLIO, 2006. p. 1231 Several figures called Macha appear in Irish mythology and folklore, all believed to derive from the same goddess. She is said to be one of three sisters known as ' the three Morrígna'. Like other sovereignty goddesses, Macha is associated with the land, fertility, kingship, war and horses.Mac Cana, Prionsias.The Goddesses of the Insular Celts. ''Celtic Mythology''. Hamlyn, 1970. Proinsias Mac Cana discusses three Machas: Macha wife of Nemed, Queen Macha wife of Cimbáeth, and Macha wife of Crunnchu who caused the debility of the Ulstermen. Gregory Toner discusses four, with the addition of Macha Mong Ruad. Etymology and alias The name is presumably derived from Proto-Celtic *''makajā'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhiannon
Rhiannon is a major figure in the Mabinogi, the medieval Welsh story collection. She appears mainly in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, and again in the Third Branch. She is a strong-minded Otherworld woman, who chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfed (west Wales), as her consort, in preference to another man to whom she has already been betrothed. She is intelligent, politically strategic, beautiful, and famed for her wealth and generosity. With Pwyll she has a son, the hero Pryderi, who later inherits the lordship of Dyfed. She endures tragedy when her newborn child is abducted, and she is accused of infanticide. As a widow she marries Manawydan of the British royal family, and has further adventures involving enchantments. Like some other figures of British/Welsh literary tradition, Rhiannon may be a reflection of an earlier Celtic deity. Her name appears to derive from the reconstructed Brittonic form *''Rīgantonā'', a derivative of *''rīgan-'' "queen". In the First Branch of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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