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• Historical Aftermath
• Glossary
• Arthurian Characters
• The Grail Place
• Bibliography
• Scripture References
• About the Author
Historical Aftermath
The Battle of Camboganna unfolded just as Alyn described. Having mortally wounded each other, Arthur and Modred were carried from the fields on their shields, fulfilling Columba’s historical prediction that Arthur would not succeed his father, Aedan. Grass and water turned crimson with the blood of hundreds of Scots, Britons, Picts, and Saxons. The Pictish Gwenhyfar returned to her childhood home in Meikle, where she shed her alleged Grail name for Anora. Her grave can be seen there today. Urien of Rheged rose as leader of the Britons, who never did unite with the Picts, though the Picts and Scots eventually united to form today’s Scotland.
Urien’s Men of the North alliance almost succeeded in driving the Saxons out of Albion … until Urien was assassinated by an envious ally. The last stand of the Britons was immortalized by Aneirin in Y Gododdin, about the battle of Catraeth, led by Urien’s son Owain and Hering, the Saxon son of Hussa. (In my previous novel Thief, the historical Prince Hering took shelter with the Scots after his cousin Aethelfrith seized his rightful throne in Bernicia.) Merlin’s prophecy that the Saxon White Dragon would prevail over the Britons’ Red came to pass, and the Saxons thus won control of most of Albion.
In the seventh century, the victorious Saxons chose the Roman Church authority over the proto-Protestant Celtic Church, a decision that held until Henry the Eighth’s rule. Only the highlands of Scotland, the far west of Wales, and Ireland resisted Rome’s influence for a while longer. The pursuit of sciencia, confused with and abused as magic, was driven underground until the Renaissance.
As for the Grail Church, some scholars believe there is a thread of truth to its existence, a thread that has been carried on in some form through later secret societies such as the Knights Templar and Masons. It’s closely linked to Arthurian legend, which also is considered to have some historical basis. Whether its records—if they existed—were destroyed by the Roman Church to establish authority as some scholars claim, no one knows. The whole truth belongs to the ages to intrigue readers, as it has for centuries.
In Rebel, we’ve seen the same human conflicts rehashed over and over in the history of the world—Christian churches who would dictate rather than shepherd, insisting their authority/doctrine is the only authority/doctrine; church and political leaders using and abusing the name of Christ for power and prestige, rather than advancing peace and the care of the needy; and lastly, the still ongoing battle between church and science.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is important to understand that, like our churches today, neither the Celtic nor the Roman Churches were without blemish. Though much evil has been done in the name of Christianity, both believers and nonbelievers must take care not to throw Jesus and all He stood for out with the dirty church water. We must remember that good works, such as the many done in His name, rarely make the headlines of past or present.
Glossary
Alba—Scotland
Albion—the Isle of Britain
Alcut/Alclyd—Dumbarton on Firth of Clyde
anmchara—soulmate
arthur—title passed down from Stone Age Britain, meaning “the bear,” or “protector,” connected with the constellation of the Big Dipper; equivalent of Dux Bellorum and Pendragon; the given name of Arthur, prince of Dalraida
a stór—darling
behoved—beholden
braccae—Latin for woolen drawstring trousers or pants, either knee-or ankle-length
bretwalda—leader/king of Saxon warlords or thanes
cariad—dearest
Carmelide—Carlisle
Cennalath—ken’-nah-lot; Pictish king of the Orkneys killed by Arthur for treachery
colleen—an Irish girl
Cruithne—Pict
Cumbric—language of western Celtic peoples of Britain, close to today’s Welsh
Cymri—brotherhood of the Romano-Britons and Welsh
Cymric—language of the Romano-Britons and Welsh
druid—an educated professional—doctors, judges, poets, teachers, and protoscientists, as well as priests. Druid meant “teacher, rabbi, magi, or master,” not the dark, hooded stereotype assumed by many today. Those who were earnest sought light, truth, and the way. Others abused their knowledge, which was power.
Dux Bellorum—Roman reference to Arthur, meaning duke of war; in Briton and Irish, High King; and in Welsh, Pendragon or Head Dragon
Eboracorum—York
earthways—to death/burial
fell—rocky hill
foolrede—foolishness
gleemen—entertainers for the common people akin to circus performers, as well as singers and dancers
Grásta—pronounced graws-tah, meaning “grace”; name of Alyn’s staff
Gwenhyfar—Guinevere; considered by some scholars to have been a title like arthur and merlin, as well as a given name. Some scholars believe the Pictish Gwenhyfar was called Anora.
haegtesse—witch
haws—medieval term for a house in a town/borough that is part of a larger country estate; a house on a small lot in a borough
heremon—an ancient Irish name and a title meaning “High King”
highlander—someone from the highlands of Alba
hillfort—an enclosed fortress/village on a hill, usually with earthenwork and/or wood stockade about its perimeter
Joseph, the—the high priest of the Grail Palace on the Sacred Isle
Leafbud—spring
Leaf Fall—fall
Long Dark—winter
mathair—mother
merlin—title for the adviser to the king, often a prophet or seer; sometimes druidic Christian as in Merlin Emrys, or not, as in Merlin Sylvester
Merlin Emrys (Ambrosius)—the prophet/seer/Celtic Christian priest descended from the Pendragon Ambrosius Aurelius; thought to be Arthur’s merlin; suggested to be buried on Bardsley Island
mind—remember or recall
mo chroi—my heart
Pendragon—Cymri (Welsh-Briton) for “Head Dragon” or High King, dragon being a symbol of knowledge/power; see arthur, Dux Bellorum
rath—walled keep and/or village
sciencia—Latin for the study of science
scop—Saxon bard or entertainer
Strighlagh—strī’-lăk []; Stirling
Sun Season—summer
sunwise—clockwise
thane—a high-ranking chief, noble, or warlord of the Saxon bretwalda/king; the king’s sword-friend (comrade in arms) and hearth friend, who usually led his own warband and received his own lands in reward
toll—interest on a loan
tuath—tǔth []; kingdom; clan land
widdershins—counterclockwise
Arthurian Characters
Most scholars agree that Arthur, Guinevere, and Merlin were titles shared by various personas throughout the late fifth and sixth centuries. The ones in this book are the late sixth-century characters. Because of inconsistent dating, multiple persons sharing the same titles and/or names, and place names as well as texts recorded in at least six languages, I quote Nennius: “I’ve made a heap of all I could find.”
* historically documented individuals
* Arthur—Prince of Dalraida, Dux Bellorum (Latin “Duke of War”) or Pendragon (Welsh) High King (Scot) of Britain, although he held no land of his own. He is a king of landed kings, their battle leader. A Pendragon at this time can have no kingdom of his own to avoid conflict of interest. Hence, Gwenhyfar is rightful queen of her lands, Prince Arthur’s through marriage. Arthur is the historic son of Aedan of DalraidaScotland, descended from royal Irish of the Davidic bloodline preserved by the marriage of Zedekiah’s daughter Tamar to the Milesian king of Ireland Heremon Eoghan in 587 BC. Iro
nically the Milesians are descended from the bloodline of Zarah, the “Red Hand” twin of Pharez (David and Jesus’s ancestor) in the book of Genesis. Thus the breach of Judah prophesied in Isaiah was mended by this marriage of very distant cousins, and the line of David continued to rule through the royal Irish after Jerusalem fell.
* Aedan of Dalraida—Arthur’s father, Aedan, was Pendragon of Britain for a short time and prince of Manau Gododdin by his mother’s Pictish blood (just as Arthur was prince of Dalraida because of his marriage to Gwenhyfar). When Aedan’s father, the king of Dalraida, died, Aedan became king of the more powerful kingdom, and he abandoned Manau Gododdin. For that abandonment, he is oft referred to as Uther Pendragon, uther meaning “the terrible.” He sent his son Arthur to take his place as Pendragon and Manau’s protector.
Angus—the Lance of Lothian. Although this Dalraida Arthur had no Lancelot as his predecessor did, Angus is the appointed lesser king of Stirlingshire/Strighlagh and protector of his Pictish queen, Gwenhyfar, and her land. As with his ancestral namesake Lancelot, Angus’s land of Berwick in Lothian now belongs to Cennalath, who is ultimately defeated by Arthur. (See Cennalath and Brude.) Angus is Arthur’s head of artillery. It is thought he was raised at the Grail Castle and was about ten or so years younger than his lady Gwenhyfar.
Scholar/researcher Norma Lorre Goodrich suggests he may have been a fraternal twin to Modred or Metcault. That would explain Lance not knowing who he really was until he came of age, as women who bore twins were usually executed. The second child was thought to be spawn of the Devil. Naturally Morgause would have hidden the twins’ birth by casting one out, only to have him rescued by her sister, the Lady of the Lake, or Vivianne del Acqs. This scenario happened as well in the lives of many of the saints, such as St. Kentigern. Their mothers were condemned to death for consorting with the Devil and begetting a child or a twin. Yet, miraculously, these women lived and the cast-off child became a saint.
* Brude/Bridei—see Cennalot/Cennalath/Lot of Lothian.
* Cennalath/Cennalot/Lot of Lothian—Arthur’s uncle by marriage to Morgause. This king of eastern Pictland and the Orkneys was all that stood between Brude reigning over the whole of Pictland. Was it coincidence that Arthur, whose younger brother, Gairtnat, married Brude’s daughter and became king of the Picts at Brude’s death, decided to take out this Cennalath while Brude looked the other way? Add that to the fact that Cennalath was rubbing elbows with the Saxons and looking greedily at Manau Gododdin, and it was just a matter of time before either Brude or Arthur got rid of him.
* Dupric, bishop of Llandalf—a historical bishop who may also be Merlin Emrys per Norma Goodrich.
* Gwenhyfar/Guinevere—High Queen of Britain. This particular Gwen’s Pictish name is Anora. She is descended from the apostolic line and is a high priestess in the Celtic Church. She is buried in Fife. Her marriage brought under Arthur the lands of Stirlingshire, or Strighlagh. Her offspring are its heirs, as the Pictish rule is inherited from the mother’s side. There were two abductions of the Gwenhyfars. In one she was rescued. In the other she slept, meaning she died (allegedly from snakebite), precipitating the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty. In both Gwenhyfar’s abduction and that of Sleeping Beauty, thorns surrounded the castle, thorns being as common a defense in those days as moats were. Also note the similarities of names, even if the definitions are different—Anora (grace), Aurora (dawn).
* Merlin Emrys of Powys—a Christian druidic-educated bishop of the Celtic Church, protoscientist, adviser to the king, prophet after the Old Testament prophets, and possibly a Grail king or Joseph. Emrys is of the Irish-Davidic and Romano-British bloodlines as son of Ambrosius Aurelius and uncle to Aedan, Arthur’s father. Merlin Emrys retired as adviser during Arthur’s later reign, perhaps to pursue his beloved science or perhaps as the Grail King. In either case, he would not have condoned Arthur’s leaning toward the Roman Church’s agenda. Later the Roman Church and Irish Celtic Church priests would convert the Saxons to Christianity, but the British Celtic Church suffered too much at pagan hands to offer the Good News to their pagan invaders. (See Dupric and Ninian.)
Modred—king of the Orkneys and Lothian, also a high priest or abbott in the Celtic Church; Arthur’s cousin and son of late Cennalath and Morgause.
* Morcant—king of Byrneich, now mostly occupied on the coast by the Saxons and called Northumbria. The capital was Traprain Law.
* Ninian—Merlin’s protégé, priestess in the Celtic Church.
* Vivianne del Acqs—sister to Ygerna, Arthur’s mother, and Morgause of Lothian. She is known as the Lady of the Lake. Vivianne is a high priestess and tutor at the Grail Castle. It’s thought that she raised both Gwenhyfar and Angus/Lance of Lothian, all direct descendants of the Arimathean priestly lines.
* Ygerna—Arthur’s mother and a direct descendant of Joseph of Arimathea, was matched as a widow of a British duke and High Queen of the Celtic Church to Aedan of Dalraida by Merlin Emrys to produce an heir with both royal and priestly bloodlines. It is thought her castle was at Caerlaverock.
The Grail Palace
Norma Lorre Goodrich suggests that the Grail Palace was on the Isle of St. Patrick, and recent archaeology has exposed sixth-century ruins of a church/palace there. But what was it, or the Grail itself, exactly? Goodrich uses the vast works of other scholars, adding her expertise in the linguistics field to extract information from Arthurian texts in several languages. Weeding out as much fancy as possible, the Grail Palace was the church or place where the holy treasures of Christianity were kept (not to be confused with the treasures of Solomon’s Temple, which Jeremiah and Zedekiah’s daughter Tamar allegedly took to Ireland in 587 BC, or the Templars found during the Crusades). The Grail treasures consist of items relating to Jesus: a gold chalice and a silver platter (or silver knives) from the Last Supper, the spear that pierced Christ’s side, the sword (or broken sword) that beheaded John the Baptist, gold candelabra with at least ten candles each, and a secret book, or gospel, attributed directly to either Jesus Himself, John the Beloved, Solomon, John the Baptist, or John of the Apocalypse.
Or was this book the genealogies of the bloodlines, whose copies were supposedly destroyed by the Roman Church?
If the house of the Last Supper was that of the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea, is it possible that Jesus used these rich items and that Joseph brought them to Britain in the first century as tradition holds? The high priest of the Grail Castle tradition was called the Joseph. Of all the knights who vied for the Grail or the high priest position as teacher and protector of the bloodlines and treasures, only Percival and Galahad succeeded. Did they take the place of Merlin Emrys when he passed on?
The purpose of the Grail Palace, beyond holding the treasures, was one of protecting and perpetuating the apostolic and royal bloodlines … hence the first-century Christianity brought to Britain by Christ’s family and followers. It was believed that an heir of both lines stood a chance of becoming another messiah-like figure. Such breeding of bloodlines was intended to keep the British church free of Roman corruption and close to its Hebrew origins. Nennius, who was pro-Roman to the core, accused the Celtic Church of clinging to the shadows of the Jews—the first-century Jews of Jesus’s family and friends.
But by the time the last Arthur fell, the hope of keeping the line of priests and Davidic kings, as had been done in Israel prior to Zedekiah’s fall, was lost. With the triumph of the Roman Church authority, political appointment from Rome trumped the inheritance of the priestly and kingly rights divinely appointed in the Old Testament. Celibacy became the order of the day to keep the power and money in Rome.
Goodrich suggests that there were three Grail brotherhoods: Christ and His Twelve Disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and his twelve companions, and Arthur and the Twelve Knights of the Round Table. After Arthur’s death, the order of the Grail with its decidedly Jewish roots gave way to Columba at Iona and the Roman Church. The Grail treasure—which had been brought from the Holy Land by
Joseph of Arimathea, first to Glastonbury and later, after Saxons came too close for comfort, to the Isle of Patrick off of Man—had to be moved again. Percival and Galahad returned it to the Holy Land. And it is there, centuries later, that the Knights Templar allegedly entered into the mystery, perhaps with privileged information kept and passed down among the sacred few remnants of the bloodlines that shaped early Christian Scotland, England, and Ireland.
Étienne Gilson said that the Grail veneration started in Jerusalem with Arimathea and Jesus’s family and friends and that it stood for grace. God’s grace. Christ’s grace by sacrifice.
Or is it that only those truly baptized by Pentecostal fire are fit to care for the Grail treasures, just as only the high priest Aaron was allowed into the Holy of Holies in ancient Israel? And is finding the Grail a metaphor for the Holy Spirit embodied in the apostles, or entering into the presence of God? Lancelot only dreamed of it, while Percival and Galahad actually achieved it as evidenced by the fires on their tunics.
The truth has been veiled by time, muddied, or intentionally destroyed by later anti-Semitic factions in the church, and turned into a fantasy by later medieval writers who vilified most of the women, romanticized the men, and changed the now-lost original accounts to suit the tastes of their benefactors. Yet still this quest haunts the imagination and the soul—to be like, and hence in the presence of, Christ.
Bibliography
For Readers Who Want More:
There are over seventy-five books from which I’ve garnered information and inspiration for this novel. However, I am listing those of the most influence for the reader who wants to delve into the history and tradition behind this work of fiction.
David F. Carroll makes a case for the historically documented Prince Arthur of Dalraida as the Arthur. This documentation is why I chose Arthur’s story as the background for this series, while incorporating many of Norma Lorre Goodrich’s observations as well. Her scholarly analysis of Arthurian history suggests that there is more than one Arthur, Guinevere, and Merlin. This, and the fact that there was no standard for dating, explains Arthur and company having to have lived for nearly a hundred years, as well as the many dating discrepancies in historical manuscripts. She, among others listed, uses geographical description and her knowledge of linguistics to place Arthur mostly in the lowlands of today’s Scotland. Shortly after she suggested the location of Arthur’s Grail Palace on an island near Man, the ruins of a Dark Age Christian church were discovered there.
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