Albion Prelude

Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scotland in most of the Celtic languages is related to Albion: ''Alba'' in Scottish Gaelic, ''Albain'' (genitive ''Alban'') in Irish, ''Nalbin'' in Manx and ''Alban'' in Welsh and Cornish. These names were later Latinised as ''Albania'' and Anglicised as ''Albany'', which were once alternative names for Scotland.

''New Albion'' and ''Albionoria'' ("Albion of the North") were briefly suggested as names of Canada during the period of the Canadian Confederation. Francis Drake gave the name New Albion to what is now California when he landed there in 1579.

Etymology

The toponym in English is thought to derive from the Greek word , Latinised as (genitive ).

The root ' is also found in Gaulish and Galatian 'world' and Welsh (Old Welsh 'earth, world, land, country, district'). It may be related to other European and Mediterranean toponyms such as '' Alpes'', ''Albania'' or the river god Alpheus (originally 'whitish'). It has two possible etymologies: either from the Proto-Indo-European word *' 'white' (cf. Ancient Greek , Latin  ), or from *''alb-'' 'hill'.

The derivation from a word for 'white' is thought to refer perhaps to the white Cliffs of Dover in the southeast, visible from mainland Europe and a landmark at the narrowest crossing point. On the other hand, Celtic linguist Xavier Delamarre argued that it originally meant 'the world above, the visible world', in opposition to 'the world below', i.e. the underworld.

Attestation

Judging from Avienius' ''Ora Maritima'', for which it is considered to have served as a source, the ''Massaliote Periplus'' (originally written in the 6th century BC, translated by Avienus at the end of the 4th century AD), does not use the name ''Britannia''; instead it speaks of ''nēsos Iernōn kai Albiōnōn'' "the islands of the Iernians and the Albiones". Likewise, Pytheas (c. 320 BC), as directly or indirectly quoted in the surviving excerpts of his works in later writers, speaks of ''Albiōn and Iernē'' (Great Britain and Ireland). Pytheas's grasp of the (''nēsos Prettanikē'', "Prettanic island") is somewhat blurry, and appears to include anything he considers a western island, including ''Thule''.

The name ''Albion'' was used by Isidore of Charax (1st century BC – 1st century AD) and subsequently by many classical writers. By the 1st century AD, the name refers unequivocally to Great Britain. But this "enigmatic name for Britain, revived much later by Romantic poets like William Blake, did not remain popular among Greek writers. It was soon replaced by (''Prettanía'') and (''Brettanía'' 'Britain'), (''Brettanós'' 'Briton'), and (''Brettanikós'', meaning the adjective British). From these words the Romans derived the Latin forms Britannia, Britannus, and Britannicus respectively".

Describing the ocean beyond the Mediterranean Basin, the Pseudo-Aristotelian text ''On the Universe'' (; ) mentions the British Isles, naming the two largest islands Albion and Ierne:

Pliny the Elder, in the fourth book of his ''Natural History'' () likewise calls Great Britain . He begins his chapter on the British Isles () as follows, after describing the Rhine delta:

In his 2nd century ''Geography'', Ptolemy uses the name (''Alouiōn'', "Albion") instead of the Roman name ''Britannia'', possibly following the commentaries of Marinus of Tyre. He calls both Albion and Ierne in .

In 930, the English king Æthelstan used the title . His nephew, Edgar the Peaceful, styled himself in 970: .

The giants of Albion

A legend exists in various forms that giants were either the original inhabitants, or the founders of the land named Albion. John Milton told the story in his History of Britain (1670)
In Book I he recounts that the land was “subdu’d by Albion a Giant, Son of Neptune; who call’d the Iland after his own name, and rul’d it 44 Years. ”

Geoffrey of Monmouth

According to the 12th-century ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' ("The History of The Kings of Britain") by Geoffrey of Monmouth, the exiled Brutus of Troy was told by the goddess Diana:

After many adventures, Brutus and his fellow Trojans escape from Gaul and "set sail with a fair wind towards the promised island".

"The island was then called Albion, and inhabited by none but a few giants. Notwithstanding this, the pleasant situation of the places, the plenty of rivers abounding with fish, and the engaging prospect of its woods, made Brutus and his company very desirous to fix their habitation in it." After dividing up the island between themselves "at last Brutus called the island after his own name Britain, and his companions Britons; for by these means he desired to perpetuate the memory of his name". Geoffrey goes on to recount how the last of the giants are defeated, the largest one called Goëmagot is flung over a cliff by Corineus.

Prose ''Merlin''

The 13th century Prose ''Merlin'' drew on Geoffrey's story, but instead had Brutus and Corneus as two barons of Troy, who fled the city after its destruction. Brutus went to Britain and founded London, while Corneus, who was descended from giants, went to Britanny, where he founded cities and castles, and gave his name to Cornouaille. In this version the giants were descended from Corneus, and survived until the time of King Arthur, when they fought alongside the Saracens against the Britons during the Saxon invasion of Britain. In the story, they are eventually defeated by Arthur and his knights, and flee to a forest "that noon ne a-bode other"; Merlin warns not to chase them, "ffor soone shull thei mete with folke that shall do hem I-nough of sorowe and care."

Anglo-Norman Albina story

Later, in the 14th century, a more elaborate tale was developed, claiming that Albina and her sisters founded Albion and procreated there a race of giants. The "Albina story" survives in several forms, including the octosyllabic Anglo-Norman poem "Des grantz geanz" dating to 1300–1334. had allowed for earlier dating range, giving 1200 (more likely 1250) to 1333/4: "not earlier than the beginning – probably not before the middle – of the thirteenth century and not later than 1333–4" According to the poem, in the 3970th year of the creation of the world,, "Del mound, treis mil e nef cent/E sessante e diz ans" ll.14–15; but "treis" is lacking in so that it reads "1970 years" a king of Greece married his thirty daughters into royalty, but the haughty brides colluded to eliminate their husbands so they would be subservient to no one. The youngest would not be party to the crime and divulged the plot, so the other princesses were confined to an unsteerable rudderless ship and set adrift, and after three days reached an uninhabited land later to be known as "Britain". The eldest daughter Albina () was the first to step ashore and lay claim to the land, naming it after herself. At first, the women gathered acorns and fruits, but once they learned to hunt and obtain meat, it aroused their lecherous desires. As no other humans inhabited the land, they mated with evil spirits called "incubi", and subsequently with the sons they begot, engendering a race of giants. These giants are evidenced by huge bones which are unearthed. Brutus arrived 260 years after Albina, 1136 before the birth of Christ, but by then there were only 24 giants left, due to inner strife. As with Geoffrey of Monmouth's version, Brutus's band subsequently overtake the land, defeating Gogmagog in the process.

Manuscripts and forms

The octosyllabic poem appears as a prologue to 16 out of 26 manuscripts of the Short Version of the Anglo-Norman prose ''Brut'', which derives from Wace. Octosyllabic is not the only form the Anglo-Norman ''Des Grantz Geanz'', there are five forms, the others being: the alexandrine, prose, short verse, and short prose versions., cited by . Fisher: "five distinct versions of ''Des Grantz Geanz'': the octosyllabic, alexandrine, prose, short verse, and short prose versions survive in 34 manuscripts, ranging in date from the first third of the fourteenth to the second half of the fifteenth century" The Latin adaptation of the Albina story, ''De Origine Gigantum'', appeared soon later, in the 1330s. It has been edited by Carey & Crick (1995), and translated by Ruth Evans (1998).

Diocletian's daughters

A variant tale occurs in the Middle English prose ''Brut'' (Brie ed., ''The Brut or the Chronicles of England'' 1906–1908) of the 14th century, an English rendition of the Anglo-Norman ''Brut'' deriving from Wace.In the Anglo-Norman prose ''Brut'', the poem prefaced to the Short Version was incorporated to the text proper (prologue) of the Long Version, from the long version. This long version was then rendered into Middle English. In the Prolog of this chronicle, it was King "Dioclician" of "Surrey" (Syria), who had 33 daughters, the eldest being called "Albyne". The princesses are all banished to Albion after plotting to murder their husbands, where they couple with the local demons; their offspring became a race of giants. The chronicle asserts that during the voyage Albyne entrusted the fate of the sisters to "Appolyn", which was the god of their faith. The Syrian king who was her father sounds much like a Roman emperor, though Diocletian (3rd century) would be anachronistic, and Holinshed explains this as a bungling of the legend of Danaus and his fifty daughters who founded Argos.

Later treatment of the myth

Because Geoffrey of Monmouth's work was regarded as fact until the late 17th century, the story appears in most early histories of Britain. Wace, Layamon, Raphael Holinshed, William Camden and John Milton repeat the legend and it appears in Edmund Spenser's ''The Faerie Queene''.

William Blake's poems ''Milton'' and ''Jerusalem'' feature Albion as an archetypal giant representing humanity.
(Quotation needed)

In 2010, artist Mark Sheeky donated the 2008 painting "Two Roman Legionaries Discovering The God-King Albion Turned Into Stone" to the Grosvenor Museum collection.

Popular culture

The name Albion has appeared in many cultural productions, including in William Blake's poetry and in a piece of his artwork titled ''Albion Rose''; in the Babyshambles' debut album '' Down in Albion'' (2005); and in ''The Last Words of Albion'' (2024), a children's book by Joshua Ferdinand. The game series Fable is set in a country named Albion.

See also

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* Clas Myrddin, an early name for Great Britain given in the Third Series of Welsh Triads.
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* Nordalbingia, based on the Latin name for the Elbe River: Alba
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Notes

References

Bibliography

Albina story

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Studies

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{{Refend

History of the British Isles
Terminology of the British Isles