Comment

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 14, 2012 at 9:20am

RUMAN (Ruan) is a holy figure of Cornish oral tradition said to be a werewolf who is invulnerable to wolves. Though no reliable documents of his life survive, he is also said to have been a 6th-century, saint whose name survives in numerous place-names such as Romansleigh and Ruan Lanihorne, in Devonshire and Cornwall. Ruan is the Cornish version of his name. Although he was earlier identified with St Rónán of Brittany, 20th-century hagiography has argued for Ruman's discrete identity. Although not on the official calendar of saints, Ruman has been venerated on 30 August. He is said to be invulnerable to wolves and also having driven them out of his region but because of the etymology of his name, he has been nicknamed ''the hairy''. So in oral traditions some have even said that he, himself was a werewolf.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 13, 2012 at 9:45am

The exalted HIGHNESS of sovereignty over the land was envisioned as a beautiful woman on a crystal throne. After Conn sets out from Tara, he finds himself in an otherworldly chamber with a ridge-pole of white gold. Seated upon a throne is Lug Lámfhota, who embodies sacral kingship, while nearby on a crystal chair is a beautiful girl, his consort. She is unnamed but identified by commentators with the goddess Ériu. She asks who should serve the derg-fhlaith [red ale] making a pun on laith [Latis, ale] and flaith [vlatis, sovereignty]. Lug answers by naming all Conn's successors in the kingship. Here the sexual contact is only symbolic as Conn is offered the drink in a golden cup, whose implications are clear from other contexts. Art by Geoff Taylor.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 13, 2012 at 9:41am

BLEIDDWN the dark wolf of Welsh mythology was the son of the brothers Gilfaethwy and Gwydion when they mated with each other as a wolf and a bitch. The wizard-king Math took Bleiddwn from the brothers, transformed him into a man and baptised him "in the way they did then."

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 13, 2012 at 9:39am

BRÚ NA BOÍNN [the brink of the Boyne] is a passage tomb on the banks of the River Boyne. Archaeologists classified Newgrange as a passage tomb, however Newgrange is now recognised to be much more than a passage tomb. Ancient Temple is a more fitting classification, a place of astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance, much as present day cathedrals are places of prestige and worship where dignitaries may be laid to rest. The usual English designation is “Newgrange”. It was in use by 3100 BC. Some historians now see it as the centre from which the megalithic cult spread across Ivern-Albio.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 12, 2012 at 7:43am

FATHACH was the poet of the Fir Bolg in the court of King Eochaid Mac Eirc at the time of the first battle of Moytura. He erected a pillar known as 'Fathach's Pillar' on which to stand and watch the proceedings of the battle and take account of all that transpired. He made a lamentation as he saw that the Fir Bolg were suffering such heavy losses. Art by Jim Fitzpatrick (1977).

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 12, 2012 at 7:33am

The SWORD OF NÚADA came from Findias. No foe could withstand its might.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 12, 2012 at 7:30am

And the black man was there, sitting upon the top of the mound, huge of stature. And he took his club in his hand, and with it he struck a stag a great blow so that he brayed vehemently, and at his braying the animals came together, as numerous as the stars in the sky, so that it was difficult to find room in the glade to stand among them. There were serpents, and dragons, and divers sorts of animals. And he looked at them, and bade them go and feed; and they bowed their heads, and did him homage as vassals to their lord. Then the black man said, 'Seest thou now, little man, what power I hold over these animals?'’

Gundestrup cauldron (c. 1st Century BC); inner plate A:

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 12, 2012 at 7:25am

The VINČA SYMBOLS are an Old European script on Neolithic era artifacts from the Vinča culture of southeastern Europe in the 6th to 5th millennia BCE. The symbols are mostly considered as constituting an instance of "proto-writing"; that is, they probably conveyed a message but did not encode language, predating the development of writing proper by more than a millennium. Some have also been found in 1993 on the Dispilio Tablet (also known as the Dispilio Scripture or the Dispilio Disk), a wooden tablet bearing inscribed markings (charagmata), unearthed during George Hourmouziadis's excavations of Dispilio in Greece and carbon 14-dated to about 7300 BP (5260 BC). It was discovered in 1993 in a Neolithic lakeshore settlement that occupied an artificial island near the modern village of Dispilio on Lake Kastoria in Kastoria Prefecture, Greece. I find them reminiscent of runes. Could they in some way have been a forerunner?

Comment by miyoko canter on July 11, 2012 at 1:02pm

I have english kings in my ancestors.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 9:48am

KING JAMES STUART was King of Scots and of England. He was the son of Queen Mary of Scots the daughter of King James V of Scots the son of King James IV of Scots the son of King James III of Scots the son of King James II of Scots son of King James I of Scots the son of King Robert III of Scots the son of Marjorie Bruce the daughter of King Robert the Bruce the son of Marjorie the daughter of Earl Niall of Carrick the son of Cailean (Colin) son of Earl Donnchad of Carrick the son of Gille Brighde of Galloway the son of King Fergus of Galloway. Although wed, James Stuart was quite partial to the odd bit of gaiety. Mind you, his mother’s ups and downs may have put him off women a bit. King James is the ancestor of the Hanovers and the Windsors. He was King of the American Colonies and Jamaica was named after him. He welcomed Pocahontas to his court.

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