Rodney Castleden - The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts

By the end of the Bronze Age a particularly hardy form of wheat called spelt and a new hardy type of barley (hulled instead of naked barley) were introduced into Britain. These innovations meant that in the Iron Age a crop could be sown in the autumn and harvested in the spring—before the spring-sowing. The Greek writer Hecateus observed that as early as the sixth century BC the people of Britain reaped two harvests a year.

The fields were irregular in shape, but on average roughly 1 acre (0.4 hectares) in area. It was the size of field that could be plowed in a day by two oxen ambling along at 2 miles (3km) per hour.

The farming year was marked by four major quarter-day festivals, Imbolg, Beltane, Lugnasad, and Samhain.

A king of South Rheged(Lancashire and Cheshire) who was the son-in-law of King Maelgwnof Gwynedd.

Elidyr landed near Caernarvon in an attempt to take Gwynedd from Rhun, son of Maelgwn, but was killed on the beach. He was apparently not supported by the York or Pennine kings. Instead it was Rhydderch and other northern allies who sailed south to Gwynedd to avenge his death.

Rhun’s half-brother Brideihad become King of the Pictsin 555; he was not only Maelgwn’s son but a cousin of Egferth, King of the Bernicians. A kinship alliance of this kind between Gwynedd and Pictland was something of a threat to the security of the Celtic kingdoms in between, Clyde and Rheged.

But Rhydderch’s raid on Gwynedd was unsuccessful and he had to withdraw. Rhun, King of Gwynedd, responded by gathering an army and marching it north, probably by way of York. It was a march of legendary length and duration and the warriors returned to Gwynedd in triumph.

A king of Powys, commemorated on the Pillar of Eliseg. The inscription, as read by Edward Lhuyd in 1696, is as follows:

Concenn, son of Cattell, Cattell son of Brohcmail, Brohcmail son of Eliseg, Eliseg son of Guoilliac. Concenn, who is therefore great-grandson of Eliseg, erected this stone to his great-grandfather Eliseg. Eliseg annexed the inheritance of Powys throughout nine years from the power of the English.

The inscription also mentioned that “Britu moreover was the son of Vortigern whom Germanus blessed,” which seems to tell us the name of King Vortigern’s successor.

The inscription has deteriorated as a result of weathering and is no longer legible ( see Symbols: Phallus ).

The Celts have always admired eloquence, believing it to be more powerful than brute strength.

Etain of the Tuatha dé Danannwas the heroine of the Irish love story Midhir and Etain . This tale has been the inspiration of poems and plays, and is probably best known through Fiona McLeod’s play The Immortal Hour and Rutland Boughton’s opera, which in turn is based on the McLeod play ( see Part 6: Celtic Twilight and Revival).

King of Powysin the early sixth century. He was murdered by Maelgwn, the notorious King of Gwynedd, and succeeded by his (Ewein’s) son Cynlas. Cynlas was nicknamed, possibly privately by Gildas, Cuneglasus, which meant “Pale Dog” in Brittonic.

See Religion: Headhunting .

An Irish monk from Sligo who went with Columbawhen he left for Iona.

See Fiacc of Sletty .

An abbot of Iona, 608–624.

A magus or wizard of Loegaire, High King of Ireland. Fiacc or Feic was a student under Dubthach Maccu Lugir. He was the only one of Loegaire’s magi to accept Patrick( See Magicians ).

See Learning .

A Cornish saint. He was the son of an Irish king called Clyto. When Patrickvisited Clyto’s court in Ireland, Fingar alone honored him. Fingar was apparently disinherited and emigrated to Brittany (via Cornwall) where he founded monasteries with his sister Piala and 770 companions and seven bishops. They were accompanied by St. Hia, who traveled by herself on a leaf. This odd convoy landed at Hayle, where it was attacked by the local King Theodoric, a pagan who was afraid the missionaries would convert his subjects. He had been warned by Clyto that his son had sailed and fell on the rear of one party and killed them. According to one account, Fingar’s party then surrendered and were massacred. Fingar himself was beheaded, but he replaced his headand went on to perform several miracles.

Finnian was the “teacher of the saints of Ireland.” He founded Clonard, where he encountered the magus Fraychan.

Finnian’s mother founded a monastic house for women, together with the mother of Ciaran of Clonmacnoise.

Finnian lived on a simple diet of bread, vegetables, and water, and a little fish on feast days. He slept on the ground with a stone pillow. He died in 551.

His tradition was hard, rather like St. David’s, but without the harshness or arrogance that was attributed to David. Finnian was said to be full of learningand compassion.

A low-ceilinged subterranean passage in Cornwall. Fogous are similar to souterrains in being associated with settlements, but they are made in a different way. The Breton souterrains were burrowed out of sand, while the Cornish fogous were built in open trenches with side walls of stone and roofed with capstones; they were then covered with backfill. There is the same discussion about their function as with souterrains ; on balance it is most likely that their primary use was as grain stores.

The fine fogou at Carn Euny in Cornwall was made in the first century BC. The passage is 66 feet (20m) long with, unusually, a circular side chamber.

See Religion: Headhunting .

Ceremony surrounded the Celtic domestic hearth. Even more ceremony surrounded the provision of large meals. Banquets and feasting were major characteristics of the Celtic way of life.

Posidoniusdescribed a feast:

The Celts sit on hay and have their meals served up on wooden tables raised slightly above the earth. Their food consists of small numbers of loaves together with a large amount of meat, either boiled or roasted on charcoal or on spits. This food is eaten cleanly, but they eat like lions, raising up whole limbs in both hands and biting off the meat…

When a large number dine together they sit around in a circle with the most influential man in the centre, like the leader of the chorus, whether he surpasses the others in warlike skill, or lineage, or wealth. Beside him sits the host and next on either side the others in order of distinction…