'Lost Kingdom' found in Scotland

Pottery from Africa found in a burnt-out fortress in Galloway hints at a 'lost' Dark Ages kingdom that may even have been born of an alliance between Britons and Picts.

Remarkably, a Pictish carved stone at the fort's entrance shows two entwined symbols which could have been evidence of an alliance between Britons and Picts, possibly through a ‘royal’ marriage.

A shard of sixth century pottery from Africa also found at the site shows it could only have been home to someone of ‘the very highest status’, like a King.
The Picts were a savage tribe who lived north of the Firth of Forth - very few Pictish stones have ever been found outside their traditional territory.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2152693/Lost-Kingdom-Scotland--remains-burnt-Dark-Ages-fort-hint-ancient-ALLIANCE-Picts-Britons.html#ixzz3ReYExDXv

Anglo Saxon Hall discovered in Kent

The foundations of a huge Anglo-Saxon feasting hall, the first to be discovered in more than 30 years, has been found below a village green in Kent.
The hall, where a king and his warriors would have enjoyed epic days-long feasts, has laid just inches underground for 1,300 years.
A team from the University of Reading working with villagers and local archaeologists made the exceptional discovery in Lyminge, Kent.

Read more here.

Ireland in a Roman World. 20-21 October 2012

The Discovery Programme is proud to announce the first international interdisciplinary conference that will consider how communities in Ireland engaged with the Roman world. We have invited leading academics from Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Denmark and the USA to present papers from across the subjects of Archaeology, History, Classics, Earth Sciences, Iron Age studies and 'Celtic' Studies, covering the Iron Age through to Late Antiquity.

Recent contemporary dialogues in archaeology have highlighted the fluid nature of both the identities and materialities of those living and dying within and beyond the formal frontiers of the Roman Empire. Through the work of scholars such as Richard Hingley, David Mattingly and Andrew Gardner it is now recognised that concepts such as emulation and engagement, and reception and resistance, are as much to do with individual agency, opportunity and access as any grand overarching narrative of wholesale 'Romanization'. New social mores vied with local traditions to produce an eminently variable and localized Roman-ness both within and beyond the Roman provinces. To understand what it was to become Roman, we have to consider the layers of subtle negotiation and transformation taking place at the level of the individual, their community and the landscapes in which they lived and died.
What is remarkable and only recently understood is that despite the monumentalization of military might and control, both in northern Britain and along the Rhine frontier, these physical and ideological barriers did not stop the movement of people. Roman material is widely distributed beyond all of the frontiers of the Roman Empire, in areas that never fell within the territorium of Rome itself.
Until quite recently Roman material at Irish sites was widely regarded as anomolous or intrusive within the traditional archaeological narrative of the later Iron Age. With no expectation of contexts that might hold Roman evidence, readily identifiable material such as Samian ware, fibulae, coins and glass have been classified as 'intrusive' and often considered irrelevant to dating sequences at sites. More recent excavations, contemporary research and more recent finds have, however, prompted a reconsideration of Ireland's engagement with the Roman administration in the western provinces. The LIARI project was designed to investigate fully this formative period in early Irish history and has forged new collaborative research with leading scholars both inside and outside Ireland. The conference will provide an extraordinary opportunity for us re-evaulate the settlement, societies and economy of 'Ireland in a Roman world'.

Further Information

Please contact us at liari-mail@discoveryprogramme.ie with any questions or for further information.

Trinity College Dublin
20-21 October 2012

 Conference Timetable

Legendary Viking town unearthed

Danish archaeologists believe they have found the remains of the fabled Viking town Sliasthorp by the Schlei bay in northern Germany, near the Danish border.
According to texts from the 8th century, the town served as the centre of power for the first Scandinavian kings.
But historians have doubted whether Sliasthorp even existed. This doubt is now starting to falter, as archaeologists from Aarhus University are making one amazing discovery after the other in the German soil.
"This is huge. Wherever we dig, we find houses – we reckon there are around 200 of them,” says Andres Dobat, a lecturer in prehistoric archaeology at Aarhus University.
“And the houses we have dug up so far were filled with finds: beads, jewellery, pieces of broken glass, axes, keys and arrowheads.”

http://sciencenordic.com/legendary-viking-town-unearthed

Glastonbury Abbey excavations reveal Saxon glass industry

Professor Roberta Gilchrist, from the Department of Archaeology, has re-examined the records of excavations that took place at Glastonbury in the 1950s and 1960s.
Glass furnaces recorded in 1955-7 were previously thought to date from before the Norman Conquest. However, radiocarbon dating has now revealed that they date approximately to the 680s, and are likely to be associated with a major rebuilding of the abbey undertaken by King Ine of Wessex. Glass-making at York and Wearmouth is recorded in historical documents in the 670s but Glastonbury provides the earliest and most substantial archaeological evidence for glass-making in Saxon Britain.
The extensive remains of five furnaces have been identified, together with fragments of clay crucibles and glass for window glazing and drinking vessels, mainly of vivid blue-green colour. It is likely that specialist glass workers came from Gaul (France) to work at Glastonbury. The glass will be analysed chemically to provide further information on the sourcing and processing of materials.

Read more here...

The Easter Controversy of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Its Manuscripts, Texts, and Tables

The Easter Controversy of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Its Manuscripts, Texts, and Tables


2010 saw the publication of the Proceedings of the 1^st International Conference on the Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, which took place in Galway, 14–16 July, 2006. That first collection, which had the sub-title Computus and its Cultural Context in the Latin West, AD 300–1200, brought together papers by ten of the leading scholars in the field, on subjects ranging from the origins of the Annus Domini to the study of computus in Ireland c. 1100. All those who participated in the Conference were unanimous that a second, follow-up event should be organized, and that duly took place (also in Galway), 18–20 July, 2008. The proceedings of that Conference are published in this current volume.
The topics covered in the 2^nd Galway Conference ranged from the general – but vitally important – vocabulary of computus (i.e., the technical terminology developed by computists to describe what they were doing) to the origins of the different systems used to calculate the date of Easter in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In addition, there was discussion also of the great debates about Easter, epitomized by the famous Synod of Whitby in AD 664, and the role of well-known individuals in the evolution of computistical knowledge (e.g., Anatolius of Laodicea, the African Augustalis, Sulpicius Severus, Victorius of Aquitaine, Cassiodorus, Dionysius Exiguus, Willibrord, the ninth-century Irish scholar-exile, Dicuil, as well as the late-tenth century Abbo of Fleury).

 The Easter Controversy of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Its Manuscripts, Texts, and Tables

Discover your genetic ancestors - Irish Times

Discover your genetic ancestors
 
WHOSE BLOOD courses through your veins? Could you be a descendant of a Viking warrior or a Berber pirate? Or perhaps you are related to the Uí Neill chieftains or the kings of Laighin (Leinster)?
If so your genes will carry the proof, and a new company set up by scientists offers a service that can reveal your genetic heritage.
Today sees the launch of “Ireland’s DNA”, a direct to customer genetic ancestry service. “We are planning it as a national project. The more people that get involved, the more we can understand about Irish history from the resulting dataset,” says Dr Gianpiero Cavalleri, one of three founders of the company....

 Discover your genetic ancestors 

New Oxford University Press e-Catalogues

Oxford University Press is delighted to introduce their NEW interactive e-catalogue for History titles publishing in 2012. View the new History 2012 e-catalogue

 

Irish Archaeological Research Magazine - Free Digital edition

New Free Archaeology Magazine

 
The First issue of Irish Archaeological Research Magazine  has arrived! The magazine is totally free and can be downloaded from here .

Download

The magazine features some great articles about the history, archaeology and heritage of Ireland so if you have an interest in any of these subjects or you know someone who might be why not have a look.

There will be flash and html 5 versions of the magazine being released early next month for a more interactive experience.

Contents Include :

*Request for articles 1

*Introduction to IAR 2

*So who are Irish Archaeological Research? 3

*IAR’s Night at the Museum 5

*Living History at Aughnaure Castle 7

*Past Performance: Agendas Ifor experimental Archaeology 13

*Bone of Contention: The Raystown ‘idol’ 15

*Beyond the Summit: Remote Sensing 17

*A Vernacular Apocalypse Now 25

*Them Bones… Them Bones need….Examining 32

*Swordplay in the 20th Century 35

*The Cleaning of a Roman coin using electrolysis 39

*Mystery surrounding strange stone unearthed on Cave Hill, Belfast 42

The magazine is looking for your help; the IAR Digital Magazine is written by volunteers, people just like you. They are looking for news items and articles about archaeology, history, heritage and culture. Is there a subject here that interests you? You do not have to be an expert; just have a good working knowledge of your subject and a passion to inform the wider world about it. Are you involved with a local historical society or heritage network and want to spread the word about your organisation? If yes why not write a small article and send it in to us.
 

As the magazine is digital it can reach a large worldwide audience with more ease than a traditional papermagazine. Our website and facebook page receive over 9000 visits each month. The top 5 countries many of these visitors come from are UK, Ireland, USA, Italy and Australia. The size of the article depends on your subject, generally 200‐500 words and it can include as many images and illustrations as are needed to suit the article.

Submit your article to magazine@irisharchaeologicalresearch.com

Kells wants its famous book back, but Trinity says no.

The town of Kells in Co. Meath wants its book back ... the famous Book of Kells.  A campaign has got under way to secure the return of one of the four volumes of the famous priceless works of art.

See full story on The Independent IE
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/kells-wants-its-famous-book-back-but-trinity-says-no-2861725.html

 Wikipedia Book of Kells:
The Book of Kells (Irish: Leabhar Cheanannais) (Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS A. I. (58), sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created by Celtic monks ca. 800 or slightly earlier. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure.
The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass that of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colours, enliven the manuscript's pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism and so further emphasise the themes of the major illustrations.
The manuscript today comprises 340 folios and, since 1953, has been bound in four volumes. The leaves are on high-quality calf vellum, and the unprecedentedly elaborate ornamentation that covers them includes ten full-page illustrations and text pages that are vibrant with decorated initials and interlinear miniatures and mark the furthest extension of the anti-classical and energetic qualities of Insular art. The Insular majuscule script of the text itself appears to be the work of at least three different scribes. The lettering is in iron gall ink, and the colours used were derived from a wide range of substances, many of which were imports from distant lands.
The manuscript takes its name from the Abbey of Kells that was its home for centuries. Today, it is on permanent display at the Trinity College Library, Dublin. The library usually displays two of the current four volumes at a time, one showing a major illustration and the other showing typical text pages.

Archaeologists dig at Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen

Archaeologists are launching a new dig to try to unearth the secrets of a 9th Century stone monument on a prehistoric mound. See BBC news story here:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-14774061

From Wikipedia: The Pillar of Eliseg also known as Elise's Pillar or Croes Elisedd in Welsh, stands near Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire, Wales, at grid reference SJ204442. It was erected by Cyngen ap Cadell (died 855), king of Powys in honour of his great-grandfather Elisedd ap Gwylog. The form Eliseg found on the pillar is thought to be a mistake by the carver of the inscription.
The Latin inscription not only mentions several individuals described in the Historia Britonum, but also complements the information presented in that text. A generally accepted translation of this inscription, one of the longest surviving inscriptions from pre-Viking Wales, is as follows:

† Concenn son of Cattell, Cattell son of Brochmail, Brochmail son of Eliseg, Eliseg son of Guoillauc.

† And that Concenn, great-grandson of Eliseg, erected this stone for his great-grandfather Eliseg.

† The same Eliseg, who joined together the inheritance of Powys . . . throughout nine (years?) out of the power of the Angles with his sword and with fire.

† Whosoever shall read this hand-inscribed stone, let him give a blessing on the soul of Eliseg.

† This is that Concenn who captured with his hand eleven hundred acres [4.5 km²] which used to belong to his kingdom of Powys . . . and which . . . . . . the mountain

[the column is broken here. One line, possibly more, lost]

. . . the monarchy . . . Maximus . . . of Britain . . . Concenn, Pascent, Maun, Annan.

† Britu son of Vortigern, whom Germanus blessed, and whom Sevira bore to him, daughter of Maximus the king, who killed the king of the Romans.

† Conmarch painted this writing at the request of king Concenn.

† The blessing of the Lord be upon Concenn and upon his entire household, and upon the entire region of Powys until the Day of Judgement.

The Pillar was thrown down by the Roundheads during the English Civil War and a grave under it opened. Edward Lhuyd examined the Pillar and copied the inscription in 1696. The lower half disappeared but the upper half was re-erected in 1779. The original inscription is now illegible.

Was Magnus Maximus the Superbus Tyrannus of Gildas?

Professor Guy Halsall author of  the Historian on the Edge blog makes the extraordinary suggestion that Magnus Maximus may have been the Superbus Tyrannus of Gildas' History of Britain written in the early sixth century as part of the De Excidio.  Here is a quote from his post on his lecture from Feb 2011 on the subject of Northern Britain and the Fall of the Roman Empire :

"Some of you may know that in my book on the Barbarians Migrations, I argued that it was Maximus who was behind the settlement of Saxons in Britain, as foederati: that he was the superbus tyrannus mentioned by Gildas in his De Excidio. I made this argument on the basis of a lengthy discussion of Gildas’ historical section, its structure and the parallelism within that. I don’t have time to rehearse all of that argument here, but I do want to add something of a lengthy foot-note to it, not least because I was put onto this tack by Alex Woolf, who suggested that one might find the key to all this by looking at Orosius. So I did look at Orosius, and indeed at everyone else in the late fourth and fifth centuries who wrote about Magnus Maximus. Sadly I didn’t find any clear textual borrowings or anything really nice such as Rufinus referring to Maximus as a superbus tyrannus or anything like that. What did emerge, though, is in some ways more interesting. And that is that it is really very difficult to see where Gildas got his picture of Maximus from.

Gildas is unremittingly hostile to Maximus: cunning rather than virtuous; attaching areas to his ‘kingdom [or rather Empire] of wickedness with the nets of perjury and lying’; his was a ‘wicked empire’; he ‘raged madly’, engaged in ‘appalling acts of daring’ and had ‘his evil head cut off’. Not surprising, if I’m right, that this tyrannus, referred to anonymously as supradictus tyrannus in De Excidio 14, the start of the ‘Northern Section’, should be described (again without his name) as superbus and infaustus in De Excidio 23, near the start of the so-called ‘Eastern Section’. Interesting, though hardly decisive, for my case is the emphasis on Maximus’ consilium that one finds if one reads through the contemporary and near-contemporary accounts and which might connect with the fact that it is indeed the council of the ‘Proud Tyrant’ which decides to enrol the Saxons in Britain’s defence."

There is some superficial evidence from the Historia Brittonum (HB) that the Saxons may have been invited over earlier in around 374/5. This comes from the chronological information within the HB:

Guorthigirnus suscepit eos benigne et tradidit eis insulam, quae in lingua eorum vocatur Tanet, Brittannico sermone Ruoihm. regnante Gratiano secundo cum. Equitio Saxones a Guorthigirno suscepti sunt anno cccxlvii post passionem Christi.

Valentinian

Here we can see the statement that Vortigern invited the Saxons at the time of the consuls Gratianus and Aequitius. This was in 374/5. The text gives the date as well, 347, post passion of Christ, which is 347+28 = 375. This was actually the time when the Emperor Valentinian sent three armies of Alamannic troops to Britain to re-enforce the defences there. At the head of these armies are the kings Froamarius - given the title Tribune, Hortarius and Bitherides. The Irish HB tell us the same story as the Latin above, ie when `Gratian and Aquitias’ were consuls of Rome the Saxons came to Britain in the time of Vortigern. The only time when these consuls were joint rulers was in 374 AD. This Alamannic event appears to be confused with the arrival of Saxons and Vortigern. It is made even more confusing when we find that one Maximinus is now the Praetorian Prefect in Gaul, in charge of the administration of both Gaul and Britain, an `Overlord’ or `Super Lord’ in British terms and that in Milan his nemesis is one Sanctus Ambrosius. It remains only to say that these earlier traditions may have been mixed up with the later 5^th Century Vortigern and Ambrosius in the writings of later historians. 

These factors though all took place long before Magnus Maximus entered Britain in about 380, although he may have been in the army of Theodosius the Elder when he cleared up the barbarian conspiracy of the late 360's. Having looked at the chronology of Gildas concerning Maximus and the Superbus tyrannus I find that too much time has elapsed before the superbus tyrannus is mentioned and therefore there can be no way he can be Maximus. Here is Gildas, chapter 13 and 14.

Magnus Maximus

13. At length also, new races of tyrants sprang up, in terrific numbers, and the island, still bearing its Roman name, but casting off her institutes and laws, sent forth among the Gauls that bitter scion of her own planting Maximus, with a great number of followers, and the ensigns of royalty, which he bore without decency and without lawful right, but in a tyrannical manner, and amid the disturbances of the seditious soldiery. He, by cunning arts rather than by valour, attaching to his rule, by perjury and false hood, all the neighbouring towns and provinces, against the Roman state, extended one of his wings to Spain, the other to Italy, fixed the seat of his unholy government at Treves, and so furiously pushed his rebellion against his lawful emperors that he drove one of them out of Rome, and caused the others to terminate his holy life. Trusting to these successful attempts, he not long after lost his accursed head before the walls of Aquileia, whereas he had before cut off the crowned heads of almost all the world.

14. After this, Britain is left deprived of all her soldiery and armed bands, of her cruel governors, and of the flower of her youth, who went with Maximus, but never again returned; and utterly ignorant as she was of the art of war, groaned in amazement for many years under the cruelty of two foreign nations-the Scots from the north-west, and the Picts from the north.

It is a full ten paragraphs later, and by extension quite a bit of time, that the Superbus Tyrannus is mentioned :

late medieval depiction of Vortigern

23. Then all the councillors, together with that the Proud Tyrant (Superbus Tyrannus), the British king, were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country, they sealed its doom by inviting in among them (like wolves into the sheep-fold), the fierce and impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and men, to repel the invasions of the northern nations. Nothing was ever so pernicious to our country, nothing was ever so unlucky. What palpable darkness must have enveloped their minds-darkness desperate and cruel! Those very people whom, when absent, they dreaded more than death itself, were invited to reside, as one may say, under the selfsame roof. Foolish are the princes, as it is said, of Thafneos, giving counsel to unwise Pharaoh. A multitude of whelps came forth from the lair of this barbaric lioness, in three cyuls, as they call them, that is, in three ships of war, with their sails wafted by the wind and with omens and prophecies favourable, for it was foretold by a certain soothsayer among them, that they should occupy the country to which they were sailing three hundred years, and half of that time, a hundred and fifty years, should plunder and despoil the same. They first landed on the eastern side of the island, by the invitation of the unlucky king, and there fixed their sharp talons, apparently to fight in favour of the island, but alas! more truly against it.
Their mother-land, finding her first brood thus successful, sends forth a larger company of her wolfish offspring, which sailing over, join themselves to their bastard-born comrades. From that time the germ of iniquity and the root of contention planted their poison amongst us, as we deserved, and shot forth into leaves and branches. The barbarians being thus introduced as soldiers into the island, to encounter, as they falsely said, any dangers in defence of their hospitable entertainers, obtain an allowance of provisions, which, for some time being plentifully bestowed, stopped their doggish mouths. Yet they complain that their monthly supplies are not furnished in sufficient abundance, and they industriously aggravate each occasion of quarrel, saying that unless more liberality is shown them, they will break the treaty and plunder the whole island. In a short time, they follow up their threats with deeds.

St Ambrose

So the parts detailing the Superbus Tyrannus, translated into Brittonic by the seventh to eighth century as Vortigern are seen to have occurred much later in time and so could not possibly relate to Maximus. I have made a suggestion above that if anyone was meant in the HB it was Maximinus the PP of Gaul who at the time of 374/5 would have been responsible for bringing Germanic troops to Britain on the orders of Valentinian. That he had a nemesis in St. Ambrose is even more compelling as Vortigern's nemesis in the HB was Ambrosius. The only other person that may have been responsible for bringing  Saxon troops into Britain would have been Magnus Magnentius whose story is told in this blog. It would be interesting to read the book The Barbarian Migrations by Prof Halsall to see how he came to these startling conclusions concerning Maximus and the Superbus.



All images from wikipedia commons.

Bid to save O'Doherty Castle

A campaign has been launched to raise €120,000 to "stabilise and preserve" O’Doherty Castle at Carrickabraghy on the Isle of Doagh, Inishowen, Donegal Ireland. See here for full story



If you would like to join or support the society – whether you are at home or abroad - you can contact them on www.carrickabraghy.com , +35374- 9378468, or at Carrickabraghy Restoration Society, Isle of Doagh, Inishowen, Co Donegal.

King Arthur's round table may have been found by archaeologists in Scotland

This is only supposed to date back to the 1620's but this article claims references to it go back much further.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8724183/King-Arthurs-round-table-may-have-been-found-by-archaeologists-in-Scotland.html

Lost City of the Legion': Roman port from which soldiers launched invasion of Wales 2,000 years ago is unearthed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2029532/Roman-port-unearthed-soldiers-launched-invasion-Wales-2-000-years-ago.html

Inishowen Community Radio appearance Friday 26th August

I will be appearing on Inishowen Community Radio station Donegal, Ireland this Friday, 26th August at 10.40am to discuss the findings in my book.

Book mentioned in Journal.ie news page.

See the Journal IE Article here.

 I have made my book available to all now as a downloadable PDF. Enjoy the story of the Irish Arthur in all his glory, at the correct time in history and in all the right places!

Download the full book here.

Here is the preface, without the References.

The story of Arthur

The great King Arthur, defeater of Saxons, Picts and Scots, conqueror of Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Gaul and the Orkneys needs no introduction being probably the most famous ancient Briton of all time, but as we will be comparing his life with that of certain Irish legends a brief summary of what is known of his life and their sources would be useful.

     Arthur first appears through the mists of time in the early ninth century work the Historia Brittonum (HB) – the History of the Britons - composed around 829AD. This work was an accumulation of various sources bundled together and rewritten to form a whole narrative history. The work incorporates material concerning a chronology of ancient British events; material on Vortigern, Ambrosius Aurelianus, St.Germanus and St.Patrick, Arthur’s battles, Northern British events, the mirablilia and Saxon genealogies.

      In this work then, Arthur’s twelve battles are mentioned for the first time, where he is said to have defeated the Anglo Saxons and won every battle including the famous battle of Badon hill. We also get a glimpse of the mythology that has begun to surround him as he became associated with the landscape due to the similarity of his name to various rock formations. Therefore, he is associated with a Neolithic tomb in Ercing in Wales and to another stone associated with a giant mythical dog of his called Cabal.

     In the HB Arthur is merely called in Latin a dux bellorum or miles, the former meaning a ‘general or leader of battle’ and the latter a ‘soldier’ or ‘mounted warrior’. From this, it has been deduced that he may have been of lower rank than the kings of the Britons he fought for, but this may not be the case. Medieval scribes in copying ancient manuscripts often changed the title of Rex (king) to that of Dux (General) or Comes (Count) as they didn’t recognise the status of the petty king. This was due to the time in which they wrote, not understanding that in the fifth and sixth centuries the whole country would have been full of petty kings and their kingdoms, with several kings occupying small areas that were later amalgamated under one sovereignty. The poetic epithet of dux bellorum (leader of battles) itself was a common enough one in Welsh poetry, suggesting, as many scholars have done, that the Arthur battle list derived from a Welsh poem of the seventh or eighth centuries. The HB was appended to over many years, with some more information on Arthur included, such as glosses to the main work. These made more of his Christian links and offered some puzzling comments concerning his wayward youth. The Irish then wrote their own vernacular version of the HB in the mid eleventh century.

      The next we hear of Arthur is in the tenth century poem The Gododdin[. This poem concerning events of Britons living in what is now southern Scotland around Edinburgh compared one of their heroes Gwawrddur to Arthur, implying that he was not as great as Arthur even though he could kill 300 men. This comparison is based on the battle list in the HB as Arthur was said to be able to kill 960 men in one assault. The poem also shows many more borrowings from the HB so can be dated in its Arthurian form sometime after the HB became widely read. Therefore, for this part a tenth century date seems appropriate even though the manuscript we have now only dates from the thirteenth century. The poem refers to a battle that took place in Scotland in the late sixth century called Catraeth, which is mentioned in the Irish annals as having taken place in 596AD against Saxons incursions into far northern Britain.  Also in the tenth century, we find Arthur mentioned in the Welsh Annals as having fought at Badon in the year 516 and having died in 537 in battle, at the same time as one Medraut (Mordred) but it is possible these are later interpolations to the annals.

       Arthur then reappears next in possibly an early eleventh century text called Vita Goeznovius (circa 1016 but could be later) which has taken material from a continental version of the HB, which detailed his twelve battles against the Saxons and then mentions for the first time his conquest of Gaul and his kingship.

     In around 1120 a Flemish cleric called Lambert of St Omer, in a work entitled Liber Floridus mentions a palace of Arthur situated in Pictland, “built with marvelous art and variety, in which the history of all his exploits and wars are to be seen in sculpture”. These sculptures are most likely those at the Pictish capital Forteviot as opposed to the medieval belief that Arthurs Oven near the river Carron is meant. Soon after this in 1125, William of Malmesbury in the Gesta Regum Anglorum mentions Arthur where he says that Arthur was the subject of “fantastic tales told by the Bretons”. This is then followed by the most famous or infamous work to mention Arthur, the History of the Kings of Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in about 1139. This expands on the legends of Arthur and Geoffrey uses him as a figurehead to appease the British and English who had recently been conquered by the Normans with Breton help. He does this by linking Arthur to Breton descent and envisages the Bretons playing a major role in the conquest of the Saxons as they did in helping the Normans of William the Conqueror defeat Harold.

     Also in this century are other works from the Welsh such as Culhwch and Olwen and other fairy tales that mention Arthur from a group of works now called the Mabinogian.  It was Geoffrey’s work though which was to inspire the later romance tales of Arthur, including as it does mention of Merlin and Mordred and others that became linked with Arthurian legend. It is in this work that Arthur was given a father ‘Uther’, whose deeds are merely a mirror of Arthur’s. It is here we find his wife for the first time, Guinevere, his famous sword Caliburnus, later Excalibur, his extended battles against the Saxons ( in various places Geoffrey assumes they took place) an expanded version of Arthur’s conquest of Gaul, southern Scotland and Ireland, his non death as he sails away to Avalon to heal his wounds and much more.

     From here on in Geoffrey’s work found its way to the continent and the French Romance writers picked up the story and incorporated their own localised legends of Arthur mixed with Greek mythology to create a chivalric Arthur and his knights, born to uphold late medieval moral values and take part in the search for the Holy Grail. Other later writers then incorporated the Round Table to accommodate Arthurs many knights in equal sitting and the legend of Arthur was complete.

     Arthur then, after the death of Uther , as a lad of fifteen, was chosen to lead the Britons after pulling a sword from a stone, signifying his right to rule. He moved against the Saxons, Irish and Picts fighting twelve battles with the help of his Breton allies culminating in the great battle of Badon where the Saxons were finally defeated and peace brought to Britain. He is given Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake to help in his wars. He was then threatened by the king of Gaul who called for the Britons to give tribute to the Romans as they had done in the past. This Arthur refused and set out to conquer Gaul instead, as many Romano British emperors had done in the past. He was successful in this and then married Guinevere and thought all was well but in a second campaign to Gaul he left his foster son Mordred in control of Britain. Mordred wanted the crown for himself so traitorously enrolled the help of the Saxons to usurp power. At this Arthur returned from his campaigns and fought against Mordred, which culminated in the great battle of Camlann in 537 where Arthur killed Mordred; but Arthur, mortally wounded, was carried off to the isle of Avalon. Arthur was now said to sleep in a cave waiting to return to save the Britons once more in their hour of need. Unfortunately, to stop this idea that the Britons had for salvation from the Norman conquest, the Norman King of England decided to orchestrate the finding of ‘Arthurs’ bones buried under Glastonbury Tor, complete with fake inscription. Arthur was now never to return but this did not stop his legends growing to even greater heights over the centuries.

     The biggest question for those seeking Arthur now is did he actually exist? From a scholarly viewpoint the evidence is scant to say the least, his name a puzzle to etymologists and contemporary evidence for his very existence is missing. Many have sought to find the original Arthur on whom these legends have grown but no one has been able to place their person in the right time frame. Instead we have the Roman - Lucius Artorius Castus from the second century AD who actually fought against the Britons as a suggestion; or Riothamus a fifth century British leader who fought in 470AD against the Goths in Gaul and lost ; or Artuir Mac Aedan an insignificant Arthur of Irish descent who died in the late sixth or early seventh century, as well as others such as Arthur Ap Pedr, again of the seventh century.

     What no one has been able to do is find legends concerning an Arthur like person that fits him into his correct time frame of the late fifth to the mid sixth century; that has him fight the Saxons, Irish and Picts and assume power over them all including the Danes and the Orkneys. That has him conquer the Gauls twice, has a wife Guinevere, has him raised by a druid, has special weapons and is not initially a king of the Britons. Not only this, but no one has been able to link such a person to an historical king living in the sixth century whose name could represent the name Arthur. What this current work sets out to do is present exactly those requirements in the form of annals and legends hidden for hundreds of years, some still awaiting translation. This material is brand new to the subject of Arthuriana and has never been presented before. This work therefore is an introduction to Arthuriana of this fascinating and rather brutal character of Irish history, pseudo-history and mythology. I will start first with an introduction to the character and to the sources in which he appears. I will then discuss his name, family and background and then move onto his battles. After this the main story of his life and deeds will then be presented as a narrative work.

 

Download the full book here.

King Arthur in Irish Pseudo-Historical Tradition - An Introduction

Was King Arthur Irish?

..and then the power and strength of Britain was destroyed after him..

After four years of research and the translation of ancient Irish manuscripts the forgotten story of the Irish Arthur can now be introduced and revealed for the first time in hundreds of years. From long forgotten manuscripts this scholarly paper has pieced together a tale that will astound those seeking the origins of King Arthur. Most of this material has never been seen or read before, with much of it newly translated into English for the first time, both narrative prose and ancient poetry.

The main sources are discussed first and then the implications of the ancestry, name and background of this fascinating character of Irish history and myth are examined. What then unfolds is a tale of astounding similarities to that of the Arthur of the Welsh. It is a story of heroic deeds, conquests, romance, enslavement and magic. 

This King fought numerous battles, was in his early years a murderous tyrant, exacted tribute, was in possession of the Lia Fáil, conquered Ireland and Gaul and assumed the sovereignty of Britain, Scotland, the Saxons, Denmark and the Orkneys; is fostered by a Druid and is finally given the ultimate accolade of a famous hero – the triple death. 

Not only did he accomplish all this but did so at exactly the same time as King Arthur of the Britons is said to have done! With over two hundred footnotes there is plenty of information for those seeking further clues and answers to the enigma of Arthur. 

 So was King Arthur Irish? Read it and decide for yourself!

 Now available as a PDF for free download, get it here.

ISBN : 978-0-9570002-0-9

Dark Age Arthurian Books
Author : Dane Pestano

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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/irisharthur

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Reviews :

Great review here by Tyler Tichelaar on his blog. Presented here as well below.

Recently, Dane Pestano, author of King Arthur in Irish Pseudo-Historical Tradition was kind enough to write a review of my book King Arthur’s Children on his blog at: http://darkagehistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/book-review-king-arthurs-children.html. I felt honored to have such a scholar read my book, and I wish to return the favor by reviewing his book.

And I’m glad I did because King Arthur in Irish Pseudo-Historical Tradition is an impressive and insightful look into the possibility that the legend of King Arthur may be rooted in that of a historical Irish king. I am completely impressed with the extensive research Pestano did to write this book—in his short bio in the back of the book, Pestano states that he spent four years researching this topic, and while I don’t feel qualified to comment on all of his research, I could easily follow the argument and he has me fairly convinced by all the supporting evidence he finds.

Pestano begins by discussing the evolution of the Arthurian legend in early written texts including the Historia Brittonum from 829 AD that first mentions Arthur and his Twelve Battles, the 10^th century Gododdin, and the Vita Goeznovius, circa 1016, which first mentions Arthur’s kingship and conquest of Gaul. All these works predate Geoffrey of Monmouth’s important History of the Kings of Britain from the twelfth century. But they are all three centuries or later from Arthur’s actual timeframe of the early sixth century. Pestano thinks the answers to the historical Arthur may lie in Irish literature and history, and after discussing scholars who have dismissed Ireland as offering anything in the search for the historical Arthur, he states that the Irish had their own Arthur but by a different name so his identity has lain hidden. This Arthur actually fits into the timeframe for Arthur better than any other candidate offered so far.

Who is this Irish Arthur? Pestano points out that there are possibly some blended versions of this man, but he believes it to be Muircertach Mac Erca, who was the first Christian King of Ireland and reigned from about 510-537. Not only does Mac Erca’s timeframe fit perfectly with Arthur’s dates, but he has many other similarities, including that he was said to have conquered Britain and Gaul, and that he was fostered by a Druid. His wife also has a name that would match Arthur’s wife as the Welsh equivalent. Furthermore, he is provided with a threefold death which Pestano suggests was Christianized into the Fortune’s Wheel dream that appears in well known Arthurian texts.

Pestano’s research is very extensive, and I admit I had a bit of a hard time following it at times because most of the texts and people he discusses are unfamiliar to me, but those are shortcomings on my own part and the book’s organization is overall clear.

In my continual interest in King Arthur’s children, I found a couple of things particularly interesting in the book. Pestano mentions Mac Erca’s children, including Baedan, whose descendants were rulers of Saxon Northumbria, via his second wife, the daughter of Clovis of France. Therefore, if Mac Erca is the real King Arthur, his descendants did live on to the present day through Northumbrian royalty. Pestano also refers to Baedo, whom the Spanish say was King Arthur’s daughter, a reference to a child of Arthur’s whom I missed in writing King Arthur’s Children.

But I was most excited by research revealing that Mac Erca had a son whom Pestano says was Constantine, the heir to Arthur in the Arthurian legend. Interestingly, Constantine’s mother was the daughter to Clovis, King of the Franks, who when baptized was called the “new Constantine” which explains the origin for Constantine’s name, and more importantly, solves the longtime riddle of why Constantine ended up inheriting the kingdom upon Arthur’s death—because he was Arthur’s (Mac Erca’s) son.

I admit I have not read all the theories for different candidates of the historical Arthur, but most that I have heard about do not fit into the timeframe for Arthur but are several years away from it, before or after. Therefore, Pestano’s theories bear further looking into. Fortunately, he is planning to produce a longer work on the subject, while this work is to introduce the information and provide a basic life of Mac Erca and the supporting texts.

Overall, I highly recommend the book. My only criticisms stem from reading the Kindle version; I’m still getting used to the Kindle reader and dislike flipping back and forth to try to read end notes, and I wished there had been some genealogy charts to look at and help me keep all the people mentioned straight, but those are minor concerns. I definitely feel this book is one that merits a second and third reading in order to absorb fully all of the extensive research Pestano has done. I trust King Arthur in Irish Pseudo-Historical Tradition will become a major source for future research, and it will be interesting to see a few years down the road if Pestano’s theory is accepted or other scholars build upon it. I look forward to Pestano’s next book which will go into even more detail.

By Mak Wilson

This book is not only well research but extremely well written. However, it is not for the faint hearted as there is a great deal of detail contained within the 125 pages; detail that would take a similar expert in the subject matter to do a true critique of it. I did find it a gripping read, never-the-less. Would I personally agree that the ‘Dark Age’ character put forward by Dane Prestano was the bases for Arthur? Probably not, although there is no denying the similarities between his exploits and those of the legendary king. It did leave me with more question than answers and I look forward to the next book where some of those might be resolved. Would I recommend this book? I would indeed ... even with its ‘interesting’ cover image.

By Karen Han.
Very rarely do we get a ground-breaking book that changes the way we look at the history and evolution of a legend. In his very first work of historical non-fiction, Dane Pestano has handed it to us. With his well-researched and exhaustive account, Pestano blows away the mists of the past. Using his extensive knowledge of the literary sources, archaeology, history and art, he triumphantly resurrects a shadowy warlord who may have entered literary and pseudo-historical tradition as "King Arthur of the Irish". His fresh new perspectives and alternative insights add to our understanding of the Dark Ages, a period hugely shrouded in mystery, of which we know very little about. This book is essential reading for all Arthurian enthusiasts.

By JML, 2010. I've read and re-read your paper, first of all I'm in no way a literary critic but I have to say that I was left flabbergasted. I've never come across any history of that time relating to the high kings that is as comprehensive in its research as that of your paper. I never heard this idea before but after reading your paper, and if you've got your research right, as I believe you do, I'm convinced of your argument.
May I conclude by thanking you for letting me glimpse this powerful and compelling exposé, and by all means let me know when your going to publish the book.For now I wish you the best of luck with this project and hope you succeed in publishing this book as it would be akin to a pole-shift in an historical sense..

By J-G Turner, 2010. I have studied your work closely. I am not yet ready to solidify my position. I will tell you though I am fascinated by it. I think that you have done great work. I think that you have some brilliant ground breaking research.

Blog review here :

Roisin McLaughlin's Child of Danu Blog review

 Radio Interview 26th August and thoughts.

Newspaper article by Roisin for the Inishowen Times.

Who was King Arthur? Table comparison of contenders.

Who was King Arthur? In this post I compare the various contenders. Looks pretty much like Mac Erca wins hands down as the most influential candidate. See my book for more details.

What Mac Erca does prove is that there _could_ have been an Arthur. My work swings the pendulum back from where Dumville, Green and others left it, with all smoke and no fire, for now, with Mac Erca we have a real historical person who DID acquire legends and tales exactly like Arthurs. This increases the possibility now that there was an Arthur by a large percentage, and if that is all I could bring to the study of Arthur then I would be happy. In essence, we have found an example of Dumville's fire and a damn good one it is...

	Arthur	Mac Erca	Finn	Lucius Artorius Castus	Artuir Mac Aedan	Riothamus	Urse Cuneglase
Has the name Arthur		possible
Lived between    465 -537							possible
Fought Saxons					??
Fought Irish					??
Fought Danes
Fought Franks
Fought Picts
Fights Dog heads and other mythicals
Ruled Orkneys					??
Had special weapon
Christian references					??
Considered a giant
Encounters fairies
Death or removal of wife
Consorts with druid
Fights abroad
Hunter
Magical Dog
Fights Giants
Wife’s name translatable to Guinevere type
Fights twelve battles
Joint sovereignty
Dubious ancestry
Mythical death
Saxon Ascendancy after death
Fought at Badon and Camlan
Associated with Badon or Camlann		*  see below
Associated with Constantine
Associated with period of seven years.
Associated with St Caranog

* Mac Erca has a son called Baitan/Baedan and his last battle was at Ebhlann. This name Baitan became very popular in the sixth century Ireland and northern Britain surely acting as a witness to the battle of Mount Badon. In fact the name Baitan became the name of a place in Argyll called Kinnel Badon/Vadon.

Muircertach Mac Erca

“And then the power and strength of Britain was destroyed after him”

Muircertach Mac Erca, as Irish legend tells us, was a High king of Ireland, son of Muiredach, son of Eoghan, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. Reputedly, he was the first Christian King of Ireland[1] who reigned from around 510[2] or 513[3] until about 534 or 537[4]. He fought numerous battles, was in his early years a murderous tyrant, exacted tribute, was in possession of the Lia Fáil, conquered Ireland and Gaul and assumed the sovereignty of Britain, Scotland, the Saxons, Denmark and the Orkneys; is fostered by a Druid and is finally given the ultimate accolade of a famous hero – the triple death. If this set of circumstances sounds familiar you would be right; this is the same as King Arthur was supposed to have accomplished as related by Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth and exactly during the same time period!

    Muircertach’s story is told in various existing ancient Irish manuscripts. The fourteenth century Yellow Book of Lecan, the sixth to twelfth century Irish Annals, the eleventh to twelfth century Dinshenchas and Banshenchus, tenth to twelfth century Book of Leinster and Laud Synchronisms, the twelfth century Banquet of Dun Na nGedh and the fourteenth century Book of Ballymote which includes the Lebor Bretnach or ‘Book of the Britons’. Most of these books were compiled using earlier sources and hence the provenance of the stories has a more ancient origin. Muircertach was also mentioned in a now lost work called Echtra Muircheartach Mac Erca – The Navigation or Journeys of Muircheartach Mac Erca[5], mentioned in the Book of Leinster which may have told the story of his Gallic campaign. Cendfaeladh, a seventh century poet and possible descendent of Mac Erca is attributed with various verses recording his exploits[6]. His mythical death is mentioned in the tale called Aided Muircertach Mac Erca – The Violent Death of Muircertach Mac Erc.

We should remember though that Muirchertach Mac Erca is a merged character, being composed of Muircertach Mac Muiredach of O'Neill genealogy and the historical Mac Erca mentioned by Adamnan in the seventh century. This merging took place sometime in the late eighth to early ninth century.

---

[1] His Christian leaning is suggested by the lack of a Feiss Temro (a pagan kingship and marriage ceremony), during his reign. See Carney, James. ‘Studies in Irish Literature and History’ Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1955 p. 338. See also Smith, P. J. Imarcaigh sund ar gach saí : An Early Modern Irish Poem on the Contemporaneous Emperors of Byzantium and the Kings and Ecclesiastics of Ireland, , University of Ulster, Poem twelfth to fifteenth century in which Muircertach is mentioned : “The death of Muircheartach son of Earc about that time – he was no heathen”.

[2] Annals of Tigernach

[3] Annals of Ulster

[4] The Alternative dates occur in myth and the Irish Annals. He reigned for 24 years and in Aided MM Erca 25 years. From the AU 513 this would give 537. Note Arthur is supposed to have died in 537, according to the Welsh Annals of the tenth century or later.

[5] Another variation existed called Immram Luinge Murchertaig –‘Voyage of the Ship of Muircertach son of Erc’. Moylan, Tom, Irish Voyages and Visions: Pre-Figuring, Re-configuring Utopia, Utopian Studies 18.3, 2007.

[6] Irish and Scottish Annals.