Ancient World Review

Finding The Deer Goddess Of The Ancient World

"Caroline Wise shares her quest to find ‘Elen of the Ways’, an elusive figure who is associated with deer and the ancient tracks of the land. In Britain, her story is conflated with that of St Elen of Wales, Elen Luyddog, whose mythic story is told in the Mabinogion. But her tracks and her ways take us much further afield. Who is Elen? Where does she come from, and where can we find her?" Source: Megalithomania.

Mystery Site: Cloddio Llys Dorfil

Video from 2018. This appears to be an amateur dig somewhere in Wales. I can't find anything in English about this site, but the word "cloddio" means "excavation" in Welsh. As mentioned in the video, the site was named after Derfel Gadarn, aka St. Derfel, a 6th century Celtic monk said to have been one of King Arthur's warriors:

"Reputedly born around 566, Derfel is said to be one of seven warriors of Arthur who survived the Battle of Camlan. Three of the six other survivors were also said to have become saints. While others survived through good fortune, Derfel survived 'by his strength alone'." (Wikipedia)

More videos from this group can be found here.

The Battle Of Camlann

"The Battle of Camlann ... is a legendary final battle of King Arthur, in which Arthur either died or was fatally wounded while fighting either with or against Mordred, who also perished. The original legend of Camlann, inspired by a purportedly historical event said to have taken place in Britain in 537, appears only in vague mentions found in several medieval Welsh texts dating since around the 10th century." (Wikipedia)

"...The earliest dateable reference to the battle is found in the 10th-century Welsh annals Annales Cambriae. An entry for the year 537 mentions the 'strife of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut fell, and there was great mortality in Britain and Ireland.' This is also the first written mention of Medraut (the later Mordred), but it does not specify whether he and Arthur fought on the same side or who won the battle."

Killer Bunnies, Phallic Trees & Other Weird Medieval Images

"The image of cute little bunny rabbits doing horrible violence to people is strangely adorable – watching the twitchy nosed little guys beat the hell out of people who’d normally have then for dinner with Rosemary, thyme and sage – but it does beg a simple question: what the hell is going on?" Source: Jon Kaneko-James.

Weird images aren't unusual in manuscripts from the Middle Ages.

"Often, in medieval manuscripts’ marginalia we find odd images with all sorts of monsters, half man-beasts, monkeys, and more; even in religious books the margins sometimes have drawings that simply are making fun of monks, nuns and bishops. For example: The monkey is a popular animal to take over the human role in the marginal decorations; but so is the rabbit, along with many other animals." Source: The Digital Medieval Manuscripts blog (the article from which this quote was taken is currently unavailable).

Besides killer rabbits and knights fighting snails, the bizarre images in medieval art also include cats licking their butts, women riding Aristotle like a pony,  Moses with horns on his head, Mary Magdalene covered in body hair, bored people getting killed in various violent ways, people flying spaceships and demons with faces on their crotches. And don't forget tubas in people's butts. (Listverse)

These images may have had some kind of symbolic value. There's been a lot of speculation about that, but it's also possible, I guess, that the artists were just flat-out deranged.

Also see: X-rated Medieval Doodles Reveal Our Ancestors Had A Sense Of Humor.

Medieval Paintings Of Cats Licking Their Butts

What Lies Beneath The Castle Where Dracula Was Imprisoned?

Castelul Corvinilor, aka Corvin Castle in Romania, once central Transylvania. English subtitles available.

"A historic Transylvanian castle that may have once imprisoned Vlad the Impaler — likely inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula [1] — still stands today. But what lies beneath it?" Source: Live Science (2018).

"Because of centuries of rebuilding and additions, archaeologists weren't sure where the castle's original foundation lay ... However, new research using radar scans of the ground beneath the structure is revealing what's going on below the building's imposing facade."

[1] It's probably incorrect to say that Bram Stoker was inspired by stories about the real Dracula. According to Wikipedia, "[s]ome historians are convinced that a historic figure, Vlad III Dracula, often called Vlad the Impaler, was the model for Stoker's Count although there is no supporting evidence. Stoker borrowed only 'scraps of miscellaneous information', according to one expert, about this bloodthirsty tyrant of Wallachia and there are no comments about him in Stoker's working notes. Dracula scholar Elizabeth Miller has remarked that aside from the name and some mention of Romanian history, the background of Stoker's Count bears no resemblance to that of Vlad III Dracula."

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Torture instruments on display at the castle. English subtitles available.

Comment: From what I can tell, the connection between Vlad and Corvin Castle is tenuous as best. The story that Vlad was imprisoned in this impressive castle may be purely legendary. If the Dracula angle attracts public interest and, hopefully, more funding to preserve the castle, so much the better. As for Vlad himself most sources describe him as some kind of sadistic, blood-crazed monster, but the truth is far more complex and interesting. Modern Romanians consider him, with good reason, to be one of their country's greatest heroes.

Queen Cynethryth's "Lost" Monastery Discovered

"The discovery of an Anglo-Saxon monastery in Berkshire, unearthed this summer by archaeologists, gives unique insight into the life of one of the most powerful women of the Early Middle Ages and her likely final resting place." Source: Archaeology News Network.

"The location of the 8th century monastery in the Berkshire village of Cookham, on the banks of the Thames, was a mystery until now, despite being well known from contemporary historical sources. Written records show it was placed under the rule of a royal abbess: Queen Cynethryth, the widow of the powerful King Offa of Mercia."

Urien of Rheged

"Urien ... often referred to as Urien Rheged or Uriens, was a late 6th-century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd (today's northern England and southern Scotland). His power and his victories, including the battles of Gwen Ystrad and Alt Clut Ford, are celebrated in the praise poems to him by Taliesin, preserved in the Book of Taliesin. He became the 'King Urien of Gorre' of later Arthurian legend and his son Owain mab Urien was later known as Ywain" (Wikipedia)

The location of the kingdom of Rheged was unclear until recently. Archaeologists speculated that the kingdom was situated in Cumbria (northwest England) until 2012, when structural ruins indicating a royal stronghold were discovered on top of a hill in the southwestern region of Galloway in Scotland. A "fortification system with a timber-reinforced stone rampart...supplemented by small defensive works along the low-lying slopes," these ruins may have been part of Rheged's capital in 600 AD.

According to one of the researchers, "This is a type of fort that has been recognized in Scotland as a form of high status secular settlement of the early medieval period. The evidence makes a compelling case for Galloway being the core of the kingdom of Rheged." (Wikipedia)

I'm not a hundred percent sure about this, but I believe the next video shows the remains of this particular citadel.

Urien was apparently a real king who -- perhaps like Arthur himself -- was later transformed into an almost mythical character:

"Urien remained a popular figure in Wales over the centuries, and he and his son Owain were incorporated into Arthurian legend as it spread from Britain to continental Europe. His kingdom was eventually transferred to the mythical land of Gore, and Kings Lot of Lothian and Auguselus of Scotland are sometimes said to be his brothers. During the reign of Uther Pendragon, Urien marries Arthur's sister (often Morgan le Fay, but sometimes another sister is named). He, like the kings of several other lands, initially opposes Arthur's accession to the throne after Uther's death. Urien and the others rebel against the young monarch, but upon their defeat, the rebels become Arthur's allies and vassals."

Note: According to English Monarchs, "The name Rheged is thought to have derived from the Celtic Brigantes tribe, which occupied much of northern England during the Dark Ages. 'Brigant' appears to have become 'Breged' and later Rheged."

Ancient Monument Linked To King Arthur Older Than Stonehenge?

"A mysterious stone tomb in western England — known as Arthur's Stone because of its links to the mythical King Arthur — originated almost 6,000 years ago as part of an elaborate 'ceremonial landscape' across the whole area, according to archaeologists." Source: Live Science.

"Excavations this year near the ancient stone structure in rural Herefordshire, just east of the River Wye between England and Wales, show that the site was first occupied by an earthen mound pointing to another ancient structure nearby; but that a few hundred years later, it was rebuilt and realigned to point to hills much farther south..."

Video from 2020.

Note: I'm not sure how Arthur's Stone was dated. As far as I know, the age of most stone megaliths can only be determined by their context. Carbon-14 dating can't be used on rock because it isn't organic material, but C14 methods can be used to determine the age of charcoal, for instance, buried at a site when it was constructed. Context alone isn't very reliable. For instance, a stone circle at Aberdeenshire, thought to be thousands of years old, was recently found to have been built by a local farmer in the 1990s. In the case of Arthur's Stone, however, there's no reason to think that the site isn't extremely old. Dating back thousands of years, the megalith is surrounded by a lot of history:

"Several historical events have also taken place there, including a duel between knights during the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century. In 1645, during the English Civil War, King Charles dined with his army there. And according to the website Mysterious Britain, Arthur's Stone was C.S. Lewis' inspiration for the "stone table" where Aslan the Lion was sacrificed in his 'Narnia' stories."

The Battle Of Mount Badon

"The Dark Age Battle of Mount Badon, known to the Welsh as Mynydd Baddon, was fought between the Britons and an invading force of Anglo-Saxons sometime between 490 and 517 AD. The Saxons were defeated and forced to come to terms with the Celts, establishing a period of peace. Archaeological evidence confirms a sudden cessation of Saxon advances in the south until the mid-sixth century." Source: English Monarchs.

Next video (2020) shows a walking tour of the battlefield in terrible weather. Actual tour starts around 9:00.

Note: According to Wikipedia, "The earliest mention of the Battle of Badon is Gildas' De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain), written in the early to mid-6th century. In it, the Anglo-Saxons are said to have 'dipped [their] red and savage tongue in the western ocean' before Ambrosius Aurelianus organized a British resistance with the survivors of the initial Saxon onslaught. Gildas describes the period that followed Ambrosius' initial success:

'From that time, the citizens were sometimes victorious, sometimes the enemy, in order that the Lord, according to His wont, might try in this nation the Israel of today, whether it loves Him or not. This continued up to the year of the siege of Badon Hill (obsessionis Badonici montis), and of almost the last great slaughter inflicted upon the rascally crew. And this commences, a fact I know, as the forty-fourth year, with one month now elapsed; it is also the year of my birth.'

^"De Excidio Britanniae describes the battle as such an 'unexpected recovery of the [island]' that it caused kings, nobles, priests, and commoners to 'live orderly according to their several vocations.' Afterwards, the long peace degenerated into civil wars and the iniquity of Maelgwn Gwynedd."

A full reading of De Excidio Britanniae can be found here.

The Medieval Book Of Hours

The Book of Hours is a devotional book popular with Christians in the Middle Ages. According to Wikipedia, these are the most common type of surviving illuminated manuscripts from the period:

"Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and psalms, often with appropriate decorations, for Christian devotion. Illumination or decoration is minimal in many examples, often restricted to decorated capital letters at the start of psalms and other prayers, but books made for wealthy patrons may be extremely lavish, with full-page miniatures."

These fantastic illuminated books are valuable collector's items today. "As a group, Books of Hours are arguably the most beautiful of all books," according to one source I found. "They are also some of the most expensive, with modest examples starting in five figures. One of the finest Book of Hours -- the richly illuminated Rothschild Prayerbook -- sold for a record $13.5 million (£8.6 million) in 1999."

Comment: Considering all the time, money and painstaking craftsmanship that went into creating these masterpieces, it's obvious that they weren't just simple prayer books. Books of Hours -- the more lavishly illustrated ones, at least -- are classic examples of conspicuous consumption. Back in the medieval world, they were a display of affluence, of discretionary economic power and the political influence that goes along with it. As hyper-expensive collector's items, they're still symbols of wealth, sometimes massive wealth as in the case of the Rothschild Prayer Book. This is more than a little ironic considering their content and Jesus' teachings about the "poor in spirit," but this tension between spirituality and earthly power runs all through the history of the Christian church.

These are beautiful books, works of art, but they're too safe, too harmless to be really interesting. Nobody would have gotten into trouble for owning a Book of Hours containing devotions presumably authorized by the church. I like my medieval books to be more dangerous than that. The most interesting ones were the grimoires and banned Bible translations that had to be hidden away on pain of death or banishment. Handcrafted books gave their contents a kind of magical power, especially in an age of widespread illiteracy, and the most powerful books were full of forbidden knowledge. Books are mass-produced today, but we still have forbidden books that can't be found in mainstream bookstores and have to be read more or less in secret. The public denunciations and rituals of secrecy surrounding these books give their contents an aura of dark energy that you'll never find in a mass market paperback.

Related: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts