Hero tales were especially popular, and legends about a warrior named Arthur have lasted until our own time. Fanciful romances have been written about a King Arthur said to have lived during the late Middle Ages, A.D. 1000 to 1400. However, historians and archaeologists say that Arthur, if he existed at all, was the military leader who directed the resistance to Saxon invasions of Britain around A.D. 500.
I have set The Legend of Lady Ilena in northern Britain (now Scotland) in about A.D. 500. This was a time of great tumult in Britain. The Roman legions, which had brought central government and a stable society to southern Britain (now England), had been gone for more than a century. Old tribal rivalries broke out once more across the land. Germanic tribes (Saxons) invaded and occupied the Southeast, and Irish war bands plundered, took slaves, and ultimately began to settle in the West.
In the North tribes were faced with a difficult choice between continuing old feuds and making an alliance to stand against the Saxons, who were pushing ever north and west. Some tribes apparently joined with clans of the South to hold the line against the invaders. Others, however, allied with Saxons to fight their old enemies.
The new religion, Christianity, was spreading throughout Britain. People held on to most of their old beliefs when they accepted Christianity, but the Christian monks, because they opposed human sacrifice, were a threat to the power of the Druids. This added another layer to the complicated political and social interactions of the time.
The Druids had influenced Celtic society for centuries. In this time before science and modern medicine, people believed that gods and spirits intervened in human lives. The Druids, as the religious leaders, controlled the rituals and sacrifices that appeased those forces. The Druids were also custodians of the ancient legal codes. As the authorities in things that affected people’s daily lives, they often had more power than the chiefs who ruled the fortresses.
Amid all this turmoil, the common people, who were very much like us, battled to save their homes, worked to feed and protect their families, and struggled to live honorable lives. Their stories continue to speak to us across the years and link us in spirit with the sixth-century Britons.
PATRICIA MALONE grew up on a farm in central Illinois. She has traveled extensively throughout Great Britain, researching its history, legends, and folktales. She is particularly interested in Scotland, the land of her ancestors.
Patricia Malone lives in Naperville, Illinois, and divides her time between writing and teaching. The Legend of Lady Ilena is her first novel.
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Copyright © 2002 by Patricia Malone
Map © 2002 by Scott MacNeill
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