Bernard Cornwell: Enemy of God

Druidism’s rival faiths were all introduced by the Romans, and for a time Mithraism was a genuine threat to Christianity, while other Gods, like Mercury and Isis, also continued to be worshipped, but Christianity was by far the most successful of the imports. It had even swept through Ireland, carried there by Patrick (Padraig) a British Christian who was supposed to have used the clover-leaf to teach the doctrine of the Trinity. The Saxons extirpated Christianity from the parts of Britain they captured, so the English had to wait another hundred years for St Augustine of Canterbury to reintroduce the faith into Lloegyr (now England). That Augustinian Christianity was different from the earlier Celtic forms; Easter was celebrated on a different day and, instead of using the Druidic tonsure that shaved the front part of the head, the new Christians made the more familiar bald circle on the crown of the head. As in The Winter King I have deliberately introduced some anachronisms. The Arthurian legends are fiendishly complex, mainly because they include all kinds of different stories, many of which, like the tale of Tristan and Iseult, started as quite independent tales and only slowly became incorporated in the much larger Arthurian saga. I did once intend to leave out all the later accretions, but that would have denied me, among many other things, Merlin and Lancelot, so I allowed romanticism to prevail over pedantry. I confess that my inclusion of the word Camelot is a complete historical nonsense, for that name was not invented until the twelfth century so Derfel would never have heard it. Some characters, like Derfel, Ceinwyn, Culhwch, Gwenhwyvach, Gwydre, Amhar, Loholt, Dinas and Lavaine, dropped out of the stories over the centuries, to be replaced by new characters like Lancelot. Other names changed over the years; Nimue became Vivien, Cei became Kay, and Peredur Perceval. The earliest names are Welsh and they can be difficult, but, with the exceptions of Excalibur (for Caledfwlch) and Guinevere (for Gwenhwyfar), I have largely preferred them because they reflect the milieu of fifth-century Britain. The Arthurian legends are Welsh tales and Arthur is an ancestor of the Welsh, while his enemies, like Cerdic and Aelle, were the people who would come to be known as the English, and it seemed right to stress the Welsh origins of the stories. Not that I can pretend that the Warlord trilogy is in any way an accurate history of those years; it is not even an attempt at such a history, merely another variation on a fantastic and complicated saga that has come to us from a barbaric age, yet it still enthralls us because it is so replete with heroism, romance and tragedy.

ADE —Mistress to Lancelot

AELLE —A Saxon king

AGRICOLA —Warlord of Gwent, who serves King Tewdric

AILLEANN —Once Arthur’s mistress, mother of his twin sons Amhar and Loholt

AMHAR —Bastard son of Arthur and Ailleann

ARTHUR —Warlord of Dumnonia, guardian of Mordred

BALIN —One of Arthur’s warriors

BAN —Once King of Benoic (a kingdom in Brittany), father of Lancelot

BEDWIN —Bishop in Dumnonia and chief councillor

BORS —Lancelot’s cousin, his champion

BROCHVAEL —King of Powys after Arthur’s time

BYRTHIG —Edling (Crown Prince) of Gwynedd, later King

CADOC —A Christian bishop, reputed saint, a recluse

CADWALLON —King of Gwynedd

CADWY —Rebellious prince in Isca

CALLYN —Champion of Kernow

CAVAN —Derfel’s second-in-command

CEI —Arthur’s childhood companion, now one of his warriors

CEINWYN —Princess of Powys, sister of Cuneglas

CERDIC —A Saxon king

CULHWYCH —Arthur’s cousin, one of his warriors

CUNEGLAS —King of Powys, son of Gorfyddyd

CYTHRYN —Dumnonian magistrate, a councillor

DERFEL CADARN —The narrator, born a Saxon, one of Arthur’s warriors, later a monk

DIAN —Derfel’s youngest daughter

DINAS —A Silurian Druid, twin to Lavaine

DIWRNACH —Irish King of Lleyn, a country formerly called Henis Wyren

EACHERN —One of Derfel’s spearmen

ELAINE —Lancelot’s mother, widowed wife of Ban

EMRYS —Bishop in Dumnonia, succeeds Bedwin

ERCE —Derfel’s mother, also called Enna

GALAHAD —Lancelot’s half-brother, a Prince of (lost) Benoic

GORFYDDYD —King of Powys killed at Lugg Vale, father to Cuneglas and Ceinwyn

GUINEVERE —Arthur’s wife

GUNDLEUS —Once King of Siluria, killed after Lugg Vale

GWENHWYVACH —Guinevere’s sister, a Princess of (lost) Henis Wyren

GWLYDDYN —Servant to Merlin

GWYDRE —Son of Arthur and Guinevere

HELLEDD —Cuneglas’s wife, Queen of Powys

HYGWYDD —Arthur’s servant

IGRAINE —Queen of Powys after Arthur’s time, married to Brochvael

IORWETH —Druid of Powys

ISEULT —Queen of Kernow, married to Mark

ISSA —One of Derfel’s spearmen, later his second-in-command

LANCELOT —Exiled King of Benoic

LANVAL —One of Arthur’s warriors

LAVAINE —A Silurian Druid, twin to Dinas

LEODEGAN —Exiled King of Henis Wyren, father to Guinevere and Gwenhwyvach

LIGESSAC —Traitor in exile

LOHOLT —Arthur’s bastard son, twin to Amhar

LUNETE —Once Derfel’s lover, now an attendant to Guinevere

MAELGWYN —Monk at Dinnewrac

MALAINE —Druid in Powys

MALLA —Sagramor’s Saxon wife

MARK —King of Kernow, father of Tristan

MELWAS —Exiled King of the Belgac

MERLIN —The chief Druid of Dumnonia

MEURIG —Edling (Crown Prince) of Ciwent, later King

MORDRED —King of Dumnonia, son of Norwenna

MORFANS —‘The Ugly’, one of Arthur’s warriors

MORGAN —Arthur’s elder sister, once Merlin’s chief priestess

MORWENNA —Derfel’s eldest daughter

NABUR —Christian magistrate in Durnovaria

NIMUE —Merlin’s lover and chief priestess

NORWENNA —Mordred’s mother, killed by Gundleus

OENGUS MAC AIREM —Irish King of Demetia, a land once called Dyfed

PEREDUR —Son to Lancelot and Ade

PYRLIG —Derfel’s bard

RALLA —Merlin’s servant, married to Gwlyddyn

SAGRAMOR —Arthur’s Numidian commander, Lord of the Stones

SANSUM —Bishop in Dumnonia, later Derfel’s superior at Dinnewrac

SCARACH —Issa’s wife

SEREN —Derfel’s second daughter

TANABURS —A Silurian Druid, killed by Derfel after Lugg Vale

TEWDRIC —King of Gwent, father of Meurig, later a Christian recluse