Enemy of God twc-2

by Bernard Cornwell

  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.

  LIST OF CHARACTERS

  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

  TRISTAN — Edling (Crown Prince) of Kernow, son of Mark

  TUDWAL — Novice monk at Dinnewrac

  UTHER — The dead High King of Dumnonia, Mordred’s grandfather

  Copyright © 1997 by Bernard Cornwell

  Bernard Cornwell asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Libraries

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law

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