Divine Sacrifice, The (37 page)
Read Divine Sacrifice, The Online
Authors: Anthony Hays
Arthur.
We turned and saw the Rigotamos and Guinevere walking along the parapet to join us. “My lord.” I nodded at him. “Cousin.”
“This is a welcome sight, Malgwyn,” Guinevere said. “I thought you would never come to your senses.”
I smiled at her. “It was a long and truly bloody road. Too many good men died. Too many scoundrels yet live. And for what, power, wealth?”
“Look out there, Malgwyn,” Arthur said. In the moonlight, the hills and flatlands stood in stark relief to the star-crowded sky. Occasionally, here and there, the dim lights of farms
twinkled on the landscape. “That is what they died for. Aye, even our little thief Llynfann. Even Patrick and Elafius.”
“Too many died,” I repeated, softly.
“Tomorrow, Malgwyn, those folk, living on their farms, will arise and milk the cows, feed the hogs. They will cook their meals and tend their crops. And they will do all of that without
fear of plundering Saxons or treacherous rebels. Who is to say what price is too high for that? You? Me? No. Only God in his heaven can make that judgment.”
A thought struck me at the mention of God, something I had completely forgotten. I turned to Guinevere. “Cousin, what happened to the emissary, this Francesco from Rome? Did he arrive? By
the time I returned to Ynys-witrin from Bannaventa, I had nothing on my mind but the rebellion.”
Arthur looked away, trying to suppress a smile. Ygerne looked at us, confused. “Well, Malgwyn,” Guinevere began, “I paired him with a Pictish woman named Sinead. She had little
enthusiasm for a life of service to the Christ, but she found great enthusiasm for the emissary. Aye, so great that I am not sure they have even yet ventured from his chamber.”
And we all laughed then, and it felt good. We stood for a while, the four of us, staring across the land and breathing the clean air of Britannia.
G
LOSSARY
AND
G
AZETTEER
Aquae Sulis—
This was the Roman name for what is now Bath, England.
braccae—
Breeches worn by both Saxons and the Brythonic tribes. The only extant examples come from peat bogs in Europe. There was a certain
disdain by Romans toward the Gallic tribes for wearing pants.
Breton—
A native or inhabitant of Brittany, or the Celtic language of the Breton people.
castellum—
Castle, but not in the High Middle Ages sense, with thick stone walls, towers, and damsels in distress. Usually a defensive position
with stacked rock and timber defensive rings.
Castellum Artorius—
For the purposes of this novel, Cadbury Castle at South Cadbury, Somerset, is the location for Arthur’s castle.
Excavations during the 1960s identified it as having been significantly rebuilt and reinforced during the late fifth century by a warlord of Arthurian stature, although no explicit evidence
linking the site to Arthur himself was discovered.
Castellum Marcus—
Castellum Marcus in southeast Cornwall is believed to have been the site of King Mark’s headquarters. Nearby was found
the famous Tristan stone, a gravestone believed to commemorate the historical Tristan, making it the one contemporary piece of evidence for the historicity of a character in the Arthurian
canon.
cervesa—
The Latin name for the beer made by the local tribes during the Roman occupation. According to tablets unearthed at Vindolanda near
Hadrian’s Wall, Roman soldiers were not shy about drinking
cervesa.
consilium—
A council. Gildas refers to a
consilium
ruling pre-Saxon Britannia that ended in Vortigern hiring Saxon mercenaries to help
put down the raids of the Picts and Scots. It is safe to assume that any warlord that exerted influence over large areas in central and western England would have done so at the behest and the
agreement of such a council of lesser kings.
Dumnonia (Dumnonii)—
A tribe residing in the area of Cornwall and throughout the west lands. Mark is thought to have been a king of the Dumnonii
during the general period of Arthur’s life. Christopher Snyder suggests in
The Britons
that people in the post-Roman period referred to themselves by tribal designations.
Durotrigia (Durotrigii)—
A tribe residing in the area surrounding Glastonbury down through the South Cadbury area to the southern coast.
Gildas—
A monk who wrote one of the few histories of post-Roman Britain. He unquestionably had strong connections to southwest England, and some
late sources connect him to Arthur. According to one story, Gildas was the brother of Huaill, who was allegedly killed by Arthur.
iudex pedaneus—
A Roman official assigned to investigate crimes and offenses. It is known that such titles were still used in post-Roman
Britannia.
latrunculii—
A term applied to groups of bandits that ran rampant during the fifth century, not to be confused with a Roman board game of the
same era.
Londinium—
As would be expected, this is the Roman name for what is now London.
meneds—
The
meneds
is the ancient name for the Mendip hills of northwest England.
mortaria—
A type of bowl with knots or beads in the bottom to make it easier to grind vegetables to a pulp.
peplos—
A type of gown worn by women, having a Roman cut.
presbyter—
A Latin term applied to priests or other church officers. Remember that this was a time before parish priests.
sacerdote—
A term used to describe priests, interchangeable with
presbyter
above. There may certainly have been differences between
these two terms at the time, but such distinctions, without documentary evidence, are impossible for modern readers to understand.
tigernos—
The Celtic word for “lord,” sometimes used to designate local lords, but believed by some scholars to have been combined
with the word “vor” to produce the name “Vortigern,” or “overlord.”
vallum—
A ditch, possibly holding a wooden palisade, used as both a defense and a boundary marker for monastical sites during the fifth century
and onward.
Via Arturius—
“Arthur’s Way.” A roadway or lane actually ran from Cadbury Castle to Glastonbury. It has become known as
Arthur’s Way. Two major Roman roads near Cadbury Castle were the Via Fosse and the Via Harrow.
Via Caedes—
“The Killing Way.” Obviously, this is a creation for the novel, but skeletons have been found along the main roadway
entering Cadbury Castle. They were victims of an ancient massacre, probably at the hands of Romans and probably in reaction to the rebellions of Caractacus or Boudicca.
vigile—
The Roman equivalent, in a sense, of both a policeman and a fireman. In Rome, they watched for fires as much as any crime.
Votadini (Votadinii)—
A tribe residing in what is now northern England and into the lands of the Scots border as far as the Firth of Forth. One
story of a chieftain named Cunneda (Kenneth) suggests that some of the Votadini migrated to northern Wales, but, according to Snyder, that possibility has been discounted.
Ynys-witrin—
According to some sources, this was the early name for what is now Glastonbury. It is believed that a Christian community may have
resided there during the Arthurian age.
A
UTHOR’S
N
OTE
A
s I like to point out, this is a novel. While I have done my best to adhere to elements of the actual time period as we know it, this is not
intended to be history. No one knows exactly what life was like in the age of Arthur, but I have tried to give a flavor of what it may have been like as best we understand the evidence.
The story of Lauhiir killing three of Arthur’s men tracks to one of the earliest Arthurian tales, the life of Saint Cadoc. As it is told traditionally, David, Teilo, and Dochu do play a
part, but only as mediators along with the abbot. Such a story is interesting, but I’ve chosen to make it a nefarious plot to overthrow Arthur. Indeed, the story also gives a hint of how
unpopular Arthur was in certain areas. The Welsh material, particularly, tends to paint Arthur in a far less sympathetic way than he is normally seen. Is this some hint of an Arthur less grand than
he is depicted in the romances? Since nearly all written material was prepared by the clergy, it more likely is indicative of the attitude within the clergy toward Arthur.
Counterfeiting in the fifth century? Certainly. On the scale that I indicate? Probably not. Tin was mined extensively in western Britain even before the days of the Romans. But the departure of
the Romans meant a reduction in the tin production. The exact date that tin mining resumed is elusive. But a ruling body, in the wake of the Roman withdrawal, would certainly have seen the profit
in mining tin.
One method of counterfeiting coins included using tin and bronze with a silver wash. Others involved pewter, a mixture of tin and lead, with a silver wash. They were typically marked by a
degradation of the original design and/or errors. In actuality, many early coin designs were copies of Greek and Roman coins anyway.
Patrick. The great saint himself told us in his
Confessio
that he had committed a horrible sin in his youth, a sin confided to only one person, and that that person had revealed his
confidence to the church. It did indeed cause him problems, as many in the church were jealous of his fame. Some scholars point to Burnham-on-the-Sea in Somerset as the site of Bannaventa while
others look farther north. A number of traditions at Glastonbury have it that Patrick is buried there; some even credit him as the founder of the abbey. And Patrick actually did request that no
stone mark his grave, hence some of the confusion over his final resting place. Another likely grave site is Downpatrick in Ireland. But no one knows for certain where the old bishop’s bones
lie.
Pelagianism was a constant problem for the church, evidence their dispatch of Germanus not once but twice. Agricola was a British Pelagian attacked by Germanus. We know little of
Agricola’s life before or after this event. I’ve simply stirred all of these up and woven them into my story.
Glastonbury as Ynys-witrin. That’s the earliest recorded name for the area. During the time of the novel, it really was something of an island. The Somerset Levels were flooded for much of
the year. The Romans truly did have a wharf at the base of Wirral Hill, and it’s believed that the Brue River was navigable by ships as far as Glastonbury.
The founding of the abbey is shrouded in mystery. There are no absolutely reliable records that date the abbey before the seventh century. But there is a mountain of tradition, folklore, and
legend that carries it back to the time of the novel. Glastonbury Tor was almost certainly occupied at this date, as evidenced by archaeological digs. While the data suggests occupation by,
perhaps, a Dark Age lord, it could also have been a hermitage site.
The cave where Malgwyn is imprisoned is Wookey Hole Cavern, a remarkable set of passages that run deep under the Mendip Hills not far from the lovely cathedral city of Wells. There have been,
indeed, any number of skeletons recovered from Wookey Hole, including those of Roman soldiers. According to the tour guide, scenes from Kevin Costner’s
Robin Hood
were filmed there
and even J. K. Rowling has visited, seeking inspiration. For anyone who visits, the cave’s potential as a setting for a story is obvious.