The Celtic world, as it existed in three separate countries with a common spirit and tradition — Ireland, Wales, and Brittany — is brilliantly revealed in these exciting epic chronicles with 120 evocative photographs of artefacts, manuscripts, and landscapes that bring the Celtic world to life as never before. Ireland Ancient warriors who value nothing higher than fame and courage — as they battle magical forces pitted against them — whose deeds are as noble and mysterious as the hill forts and standing stones scattered around the landscape - whose love of exaggeration and boasting compete with the most extravagant blarney — these are the Celts revealed by the early Irish chronicles. cbRONicLes op The L cg t s CH RONiCLES OF THE CELTS IAIN ZACZEK Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. New York Editor: Liz Dean Designer: Alison Lee Picture research: Katie Bent, Philippa Lewis Original design: David Lordham Illustrator: A R Jewell Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Published 1997 by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. 387 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. I00I6 Originally published in Great Britain in 1996 by Collins & Brown Limited © 1996 by Collins & Brown Limited Text © 1996 by Iain Zaczek Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing c/o Canadian Manda Group, One Atlantic Avenue, Suite 105 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3E7 Printed and bound in Great Britain All rights reserved Sterling ISBN 0-8069-9949-7 CONTENTS Introduction 6 Ireland........................................................................................................18 The Táin Bó Cuailnge.................................................................................20 Cú Chulainns Youth.............................................................................21 The Plot to Steal the Bull...................................................................32 Cu Chulainns Prowess........................................................................42 Valour at the Ford.................................................................................52 The Final Battle....................................................................................64 The Fionn Cycle...........................................................................................76 Diarmaid and Gráinne...................................................................................77 Oenghus in Love.............................................................................................82 Finn and the Salmon....................................................................................84 Wales.............................................................................................................88 The Mabinogion...........................................................................................90 How Culhwch Won Olwen..........................................................................91 Pwyll Encounters Rhiannon......................................................................104 Peredur, Son of Evrawc ............................................................................114 The Birth of Taliesin..................................................................................124 Brittany....................................................................................................128 The Barzaz Breiz .......................................................................................130 The Drowned City ofYs .........................................................................131 The Quest of Saint Efflam and King Arthur......................................................................................142 Conomor andTriphine..............................................................................148 Bibliography..................................................................................................156 Pronunciation Guide ..................................................................................157 Picture Credits .............................................................................................158 Chronicles oi: the Celts INTRODUCTION T HE WORD ‘CELTIC’ CONJURES up many things. To some people, it evokes a hypnotic design from the Book of Kells or the Tara Brooch; to others, it is a plaintive song, accompanied by a lone fiddler or piper; or again, it is a mystical past, peopled with Arthurian knights and druids. All these notions have some basis in reality, but most are half-truths, seen through a veil of Romanticism. These, in turn, have been woven into the fabric of the Celtic tradition, which has captured the imagination of successive generations. The true origins of the Celts lie deep in the mists of prehistory. They were a loosely-knit group of tribes, with connective elements of a common culture and a common language. Traces of these date back to the final stages of the Hallstatt culture (c. 700—500 BC), which was based in the area around Upper Austria and Bavaria. By the sixth century BC, Greek authors wrote of a people called the ‘keltoi’ in southern France and, a century later, Herodotus located them in the region around the Danube. In time, their settlements stretched from Turkey and the Balkans right across to west­ ern Europe. At the peak of their power, they were strong enough to sack both Rome (386 BC) and Delphi (279 BC). The memory of these victories was soon eclipsed, however, by the rise of the Roman Empire. Here, the lack of cohesion between the various Celtic tribes proved fatal. One by one, they were overrun or expelled from their territories. Eventually, they were pushed back to the western fringes of the continent. The heyday of the ancient Celts coincided with the LaTène era, which flourished in the last centuries before Christ (c. 480—50 BC). During this lengthy period, their craftsmen developed a highly distinctive style of decoration. This consisted of a range of curvilinear motifs — such as spirals, interlacing and highly-stylized figurative forms — woven together to form intricate, maze­ like patterns. Initially, these designs were applied to various forms of metalwork, the medium in which the early Celts excelled. However, their near-abstract quality made them extremely versatile, enabling the visual style of the Celts to survive long after they had waned as a political force. Christian artists, for example, could use the same patterns on the page of a manuscript or in the design of a chalice, without having any qualms about their pagan source. This facet of Celtic culture has enjoyed great longevity. Many original artefacts have survived and their designs have been widely adapted and reused, right up to the present day. Indeed, it is this aspect of the Celts which is probably most familiar to people today. But, even though this is a fine tribute to the high quality of early Celtic craftsmanship, it tells us very little about the soci­ ety that produced it. The Celts themselves left virtually no written records, and so we are largely dependent on their enemies — classical and Christian authors — for information about them. These sources suggest that the Celts were a fierce, warlike people, who entered the battlefield with little fear of death; that they were ostentatious, loving gold and fine jewellery; and that they enjoyed feasting, boasting and eloquent speech. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the same sources also 6