The name Marriga or Riga, which occurs on an
inscription at Mai ton in Yorkshire5, is likewise probably that of some
local deity identified with Mars.
inscription at Mai ton in Yorkshire5, is likewise probably that of some
local deity identified with Mars.
Cambridge Medieval History - v2 - Rise of the Saracens and Foundation of the Western Empire
XV.
(a) 30
## p. 466 (#498) ############################################
466 Sacred Buildings
with a ram's horn: a horse-god, carried by the snake-footed giant: a
goddess seated on a beast of burden (Epona, the goddess of horses):
a horned god, and many others. But we hesitate before pronouncing
these images to be the manifestations of unmixed Keltic thought. At
the time when they appeared a century had elapsed since the Gauls had
been independent in their thoughts and beliefs; they were no longer
under the direction of their priests, and they were ceaselessly open to
contact with Greek and Roman imagery, so that they often combined
native emblems with copies of foreign symbols; they spoke no more of
Teutates, but invoked Mercury in his place. All these images possess
a real interest none the less, but it is necessary to guard against attri-
buting to them an undue importance in the history of Gallic religion.
What has been said of religious sculpture is still more true of archi-
tecture. All the temples and altars without exception, which were
consecrated to Gallic gods, date from the period of the Roman Empire:
and by that time the Roman architects and priests had invaded the
land with their stereotyped buildings and their customs, the templum
and ara. This does not imply that it is impossible to discover in these
constructions a trace of indigenous survivals. Thus a great many
temples in Gaul proper are constructed on a square plan (as for
instance that of Champlien, in Normandy), and this architectural type
is hardly to be found in the Graeco-Roman world, therefore it may
possibly recall some sacred customs of the Gauls; but a complete inquiry
on these lines has not yet been made. It is certain that in the time of
independence, the Gauls possessed sacred places; and a few, like that of
the Virgins of the Isle of Sein (in Armorica), must have been complete
buildings, with walls and roofs. But these were doubtless made of wood
(hence their complete destruction) and they were in the minority among
sanctuaries. The majority of consecrated places were simply open spaces
limited by ritual, but not by material boundaries; spaces where frag-
ments of the precious metals, destined for the gods, were accumulated.
There were also clusters of trees, spaces reserved in the great forests, or
even lakes or marshes, like those of Toulouse, which have been men-
tioned already. When a spring was considered to be holy it is probable
that offerings for the god of the place were thrown into the water; the
spring was at the same time both god and sanctuary. This theory
explains the fact that when sites are excavated the springs often yield
the largest crop of surprising discoveries.
All that has been said helps to shew why it is still more difficult
to penetrate far in the knowledge of doctrines; that is, the fashion
in which the Gauls conceived of the destinies of man, the world, and
the gods. But there remain a few indications of their beliefs in these
matters, escaped from the total ruin which has befallen their religious
poems. Further, it is always possible that the Greeks and Romans
have not given a very exact interpretation even of what they were
## p. 467 (#499) ############################################
Doctrine 467
able to learn. At the time when they were writing on Gallic religion
there was a fashion prevalent, owing its origin doubtless to Alexandria,
of painting the wisdom and philosophy of the barbarians in glowing
colours; so that quite possibly they may have endowed the Gallic
dogmas with a purity and elevation really quite foreign to them.
The Keltic doctrine most highly praised by these writers is that of
the immortality of the soul. They have not explained to us very clearly
the nature of this immortality, but it is more than probable (if we
examine the equipment of a Gaul in his tomb) that the Kelts imaged
the next life as very similar to this, with more pleasures and with greater
combats for him who died bravely on the battle-field. This type of
immortality is traceable in the beliefs of most barbaric peoples; it
has no special mark of nobility, and does not justify the frequent
practice of deducing from it any particular glory for the Kelts.
Concerning the world, their religious poems spoke of the struggle
between water, earth and fire, of the triumph of the two first-named
elements, and of the submergence of all in a future cataclysm. More-
over, the world was later to emerge as victor over destruction. This is
a sufficiently childish cosmogony, in which it is possible to trace all the
usual elements.
The religious practices of the Gauls do not seem to. offer any extra-
ordinary features, either good or bad. Caesar and others tell us that
they were the most religious of men, and performed no action without
consulting their gods; in this they resembled the Greeks and Romans of
primitive times, and if the contemporaries of Augustus were astonished at
it, it was merely because at that time it was considered by educated Romans
to be good taste to mock at the gods and to act independently of them.
The Gauls must be severely condemned for their human sacrifices,
whether of those already sentenced to death, or of innocent persons
whom they are said to have enclosed in large wicker hampers. Re-
cently certain modern scholars, too ready perhaps (like the Alexandrians
in the time of Posidonius) to admire the Gauls, have tried to deny
or excuse these horrible ceremonies. This is only labour lost. We
must accept their existence, not forgetting, however, that they were
not peculiar to the Gauls, but that the Greeks and Romans themselves
had their sacrifices of men and women. The ancients have insisted with
equal vehemence on the Keltic practice of divination, and have cited
many facts to shew their passion for the art of the diviner, whether by
means of birds, entrails of victims, decisions of augurs or dreams.
Without doubt the Gauls had essayed all these means for discovering
the future, but in this again they took the same course as the Greeks
and Romans of earlier times; and if the raven was by them accounted
the greatest of soothsaying birds, it held a similar position among the
Greeks long before.
With regard to the magical practices of the Gallic world, the
ch. xv. (a) 30—2
## p. 468 (#500) ############################################
468 Druidism
ancients have little to tell us. This may simply be due to chance, but
possibly the Kelts were really inferior, in this respect, to the Italians and
Carthaginians. Various indications (specially the relative scarcity of
magical tablets under the emperors) seem to shew that as far as magic is
concerned, they were rather imitators than masters.
Perhaps it was in their sacerdotal organisation that the Kelts (they
alone can be dealt with in this connexion) shewed most originality; though
it is necessary to add that we are only half-informed on the subject.
They called their chief priests Druids. This name (whatever its
etymology may be) seems to have conveyed a more important meaning to
them than did the words sacerdos or pontifex to the Romans. Neverthe-
less, the druids were not without some resemblance to the men who bore
one or other of these titles at Rome. They also were drawn from the
upper class of society; they were selected from the nobles, exactly as the
pontifices of primitive Rome were chosen from the patrician ranks.
The dignity of druid did not force its holder to withdraw himself from
civil and political life. Caesar has told us of an Aeduan druid in his
time, Diviciacus by name, who was, perhaps, the chief of all the Gallic
druids. He was very rich, wielding great influence both in his own
tribe and throughout Gaul, he was probably both married and the father
of a family; he was allowed to ride and to wear arms; he accompanied
Caesar on his first campaigns, and the Roman proconsul even entrusted
the command of a corps of the army to him. His obligations, as a Gaul,
do not seem to have differed from those of Caesar as a Roman, and
Caesar was pontifex maximus.
Two points remain, however, in which the druids do not resemble the
priests of Classical antiquity, but rather recall those of the East. First,
though each tribe in Gaul had its own druid or druids, all the druids
were associated in a permanent federation, like priests of the same cult.
Although they were not formally a clergy, they did form a church, like
the bishops of the Catholic Church; and this church necessitated both
a hierarchy and periodical assemblies.
At the head of the druids was a high-priest, who seems to have held
his dignity for life. Since there was an organised hierarchy, the high-
priest was succeeded by the man who held the post immediately below
his own. If the succession should be disputed by rival claimants of
equal rank, a decision was made by means of election, or sometimes by
a duel with weapons, standing probably for some kind of divine judg-
ment by the sword.
Every year all the druids of Gaul met in a solemn assembly in the
territory of the Carnutes (Chartres and Orleans); this country was
chosen because it was considered (and with considerable accuracy) to be
the centre of the whole of Gaul. This assembly had at the same
time a political, judicial and religious aspect. The druids formed them-
selves into a tribunal, and judged all cases submitted to their decision;
## p. 469 (#501) ############################################
Druidism 469
such as those involving murder, disputed inheritance and boundaries.
It is probable that this tribunal came into competition with the jurisdic-
tion of the ordinary magistrates of the cities. The druids pronounced
sentences which seem in the main to have consisted of formulae of com-
position or of excommunication. Those excluded by them from the
sacrifices were, said Caesar, treated as scoundrels, and guilty of impiety,
and no one dared approach them. It remains to be discovered to what
extent this tribunal was attended, its sentences executed and its juris-
diction respected. It may be that in the last century of independence,
these druidical assizes were but the survival of very ancient institutions,
then falling more and more into desuetude—a form without much mean-
ing. None the less, they are one of the strangest things found in Gaul,
and even in the whole of the West.
The second original feature of druidism was that the priests were
also the teachers of the Gallic youth. If it were said absolutely that
they directed the schools, the expression would be unsuitable. But they
gathered round them the young men of the Gallic families, and taught
them all that they knew or believed concerning the world, the human
soul and the gods. A few of these scholars stayed with their masters
until they had reached the age of twenty years; but it is clear that those
who were to become priests received the lion's share of attention. Such
an institution, making the priests into the educators of the young, is
surprising in ancient times, and calls to mind modern conditions. We
cannot be certain, however, that in it we have an exceptional pheno-
menon, for is it not possible that something approaching the druidical
teaching may be found in the schools founded in Rome in connexion
with the members of the colleges of Augurs and Pontifices?
In all other respects, however, the analogy between druidism and the
ancient priesthoods is complete. The druids alone possessed the power
of offering sacrifices by the act of presiding at them; they studied philo-
sophy, astronomy and physiology; they wrote (in verse) the annals of
their people, as did the pontifices of Rome and the priests of Israel.
The druids were not the only priests of the Gauls. They were the
most important, and probably they alone were considered to rank in
dignity with the nobles. But they had depending on them a good many
subordinate priests who officiated singly, and others who were combined
to form a sodality.
The single priests were those who were attached to a sanctuary as
a kind of guardian or celebrant of a temple and its god: somewhat
resembling the Roman aedituus. Among the greater number of tribes
they were known as gntuater.
The Gauls also possessed priestly confraternities, which seem to have
been largely made up of women. The ancient geographers tell us of a
few, which were all dedicated to the orgiastic cults, doubtless having a
chthonian origin. The most famous was that of the maidens of the Isle
CH. XV. (a)
## p. 470 (#502) ############################################
470 Decay of Druidism
of Sein (already mentioned) who foretold the future, and raised or tran-
quillised storms. The truth of this information has frequently been
denied of late, but all ancient religions have confraternities of this kind,
all having a similar origin, and all giving rise to, and carrying on, the
worship of the Earth-Mother.
Druidism did not disappear with Gallic independence, but it under-
went fundamental modifications, which must be mentioned here in order
to explain the way in which medieval writers have alluded to it.
The druids, as public high-priests of the Gallic tribes, lost their
old place under the Roman domination. They were suppressed, or
rather, transformed into Sacerdotes according to the Roman custom; and
in the Concilium of the Three Gauls at Lyons, composed of Sacerdotes
Romae et Augusti it is possible to trace a Roman interpretation of the
druidical assemblies in the land of the Carnutes.
The lower priests, prophets, diviners, sages, guardians of temples and
sorcerers, survived in obscurity, carrying on their traditions and sought
after by devotees and peasants who were faithful to the old popular cults.
Thus it came about that the word druid, which was formerly applied to
the sacerdotal aristocracy, was finally used to designate these rustic
priests, the last survivals of the national religion. When, therefore, the
Latin writers mention druids and druidesses in connexion with mistletoe,
remedies and witchcraft, it is probable that they allude to these priests
of the uneducated people.
The word druid is found in medieval writings applied to the native
priests of Ireland and the so-called Keltic lands. It is difficult to feel
sure that the word is there a direct survival, and that the Irish druids
really were the authentic descendants of those mentioned by Pliny and
Tacitus. In more than one place, the name and the dignity might have
been interpolated by a learned writer who had read Caesar and Strabo.
But ought this statement to be made general? and further, is it not
possible that all druids found in the West in medieval times are the
production of literary men? The present writer refrains from ex-
pressing an opinion on the subject.
One last question remains in connexion with the druids. Caesar
states in his Commentaries that their doctrine (disciplina) was evolved
(inventa) in the isle of Britain, from whence it had been taken to Gaul.
He adds "those who wish to study it deeply, usually go to the Island,
and stay there for a time. "
A completely satisfactory explanation of this passage has not yet been
given. Perhaps it was simply an invention of the Gallic druids, who
wished to invest their doctrine with the attractiveness that belongs to
a mystery, and therefore evolved this British origin for it. But per-
haps their dogmas and their myths really did spring from the large
neighbouring island. In this latter case, two hypotheses must be
considered.
## p. 471 (#503) ############################################
Literature 471
In the time of Caesar the British population was composed of two
different groups: a minority consisting of conquerors who had come from
Gaul, Belgians or Kelts; and a majority consisting of natives. To which
of these two races did the druids ascribe the paternity of their intellectual
discipline? If to the Gauls, possibly Britain produced a reforming
druid, who restored the religious doctrines of the nation to their primi-
tive purity. If to the natives, it may be that an ancient religious
community existed on the Island, with foreign rites and teaching,
that nevertheless supplied inspiration to the druids.
In either case, one thing seems certain. It is that Britain, the last,
in point of date, of the Keltic settlements in Europe, somehow preserved
more faithfully than the other countries the religious habits of the
common mother-land. It is evident from Caesar that the Britons still
respected the most ancient customs of the Gallic race, therefore it is
probable that among them religion would have retained the most
primitive forms. This may explain why the druids sent their novices
there for instruction.
The druids of Gaul, like the pontifices of Rome, were writers. Caesar
reiterates his account of their long poems; for to prevent their doctrines
from being made known to all, they composed (or had composed)
thousands of verses, which they compelled their disciples to learn by
heart. These poems dealt with the stars, the gods, the earth and
nature; probably also with the origin of the Gallic tribes and the
human soul. They were at the same time their books of Genesis and
Chronicles. Moral precepts were mixed with or added to this theoretical
teaching, the best known being that which taught that death is not to
be feared, and that another life is to be expected.
Probably these didactic poems did not exhaust the religious poetry
of the Gauls. Their sacred literature seems to have been extraordinarily
rich. We find quotations referring to songs of war and victory, also
magnificent melodies, hymns in honour of their leaders, and historical
poems, often of an epic character, in which facts and supernatural events
alternate bewilderingly. The unfortunate fact is that all this is known
to us only by the vague allusions to it to be found in the Classical authors.
In connexion with these songs and poems, the word most often used
by the ancient writers is Bardi, and this was the ordinary term for
poet among the Gauls. These Bardi must be remembered in considering
Gallic religion, for it is possible that they were half priests, half prophets,
living in dependence on the druids.
As well as references to druids and Gallic gods, we come across
bards in the celebrated Keltic poems of the Middle Ages; and the
same question arises in connexion with all these traces of Gallic
religion. Do they all come directly and continuously from the past, or
are they nothing more than clever reconstructions due to readers of
the Classics?
ch. xv. (a)
## p. 472 (#504) ############################################
472 Heathenism in Britain
(B)
KELTIC HEATHENISM IN THE BRITISH ISLES.
Just as the general condition of Britain in Roman times is far more
imperfectly known than that of Gaul, so, too, we have but scanty
data for painting a complete picture of Keltic heathendom in these
islands during the period in question, and that which immediately
succeeded it. Such evidence as we find is derived partly from inscrip-
tions, partly from the survival in legend of certain names which are
either those of known Keltic deities, or which may be presumed from
their forms to have been those of divine beings, partly from the
allusions found in legend to heathen practices, and partly from inferences
based upon a study of existing folk-lore. A consideration of this
evidence leads to the conclusion that the condition of heathenism in
Britain was very similar to that of Gaul, except that, in North Britain
and Ireland and the less Romanised parts of Southern Britain, there
had been less assimilation of the native religion to that of Rome.
In Britain, as in Gaul, the basis of Keltic religion was largely local
in character, and rivers, springs, hills and other natural features were
regarded as the abodes of gods and goddesses. The belief in fairies and
similar beings, as well as in fabulous monsters supposed to inhabit caves,
lakes and streams, which comes to view in medieval and modern Keltic
folk-lore, is doubtless a continuous survival from the period of heathenism,
and certain of the practices connected with regularly recurring festivals,
such as the lighting of bonfires, the taking of omens and the like, have
probably come down from the same time. The curious reader can find
a very full account of these and similar survivals in Sir John RhyVs
Celtic Folk-lore, Campbell's Tales of the Western Highlands and
Dr Frazer's Golden Bough.
Certain of the deities of Britain may have been tribal, and there are
reasons for thinking that, in Britain as well as in Gaul, some deities
were worshipped by several Keltic tribes, so that these may be regarded
as the major deities of the Keltic pantheon. For instance, the name of
Lug, a character of Irish legend, and that of Lieu in Welsh legend, are
both cognate with the Gaulish Lugus, a god whose wide worship in the
Keltic world is attested by the number of places called after his name
Lugudunum or Lugdunum (the fortress of Lugus), and it is highly
probable that both Lug of Irish legend and Lieu of Welsh legend were
once regarded in their respective countries as divine. The Welsh place-
names Dinlleu (the fort of Lieu) and Nantlleu (the valley of Lieu) in
Carnarvonshire point in the same direction, no less than the ancient
British name of Carlisle, Luguvallium (the embankment of Lugus).
## p. 473 (#505) ############################################
The Gods 473
A name corresponding to that of the god Segomo of Gaul is found
on an Ogam inscription in Ireland—Netta-Segamonas (the Champion
of Segamo), and, later, as Nia-Sedhamain (for Seghamain). The
Gaulish god Camulos has his British counterpart in the Camalos or
Camulos after whom Colchester received its name Camalodunum or
Camulodunum. The proper name Camulorigho (in an oblique case)
found on an inscription in Anglesey, as well as Camelorigi, which occurs
on an inscription at Cheriton in Pembrokeshire, are further evidence that
the god Camulos was not unknown in Britain. This is still more pro-
bable, since the name of this deity occurs on an inscription at Barhill1,
while the wide range of his worship is suggested by the existence of his
name on inscriptions at Salona*, Rome' and Clermont.
It would be unsafe to take the fact that the name of a deity occurs
on an inscription in Britain as evidence that the deity in question was
worshipped by the natives, since the inscriptions found in Britain are
mostly those of soldiers who often paid their vows to the deities of their
own lands. At the same time, the area over which certain inscriptions
are found makes it highly probable that the deities mentioned on them
were worshipped, among other countries, in Britain itself. The following
account of the deities mentioned on inscriptions in Britain will suggest
not a few instances where this was doubtless the case. The name Aesus,
which is probably identical with the Gaulish Esus, occurs once on a British
silver coin*, and this fact makes it not unreasonable to suppose that
this god was worshipped in Britain. On an inscription found at
Colchester, there is mentioned a god identified with Mercury, called
Andescox8, but of this deity nothing further is known. The name of
another god Ane^tiomarus (a name probably meaning "the great
protector") is found, identified with Apollo, on an inscription at South
Shields on the Herd sands, south of the mouth of the Tyne, and the
beginning of the same name occurs on a stone which is in the Museum
at Le Mans. The name Antenociticus is found on an inscription of the
second century8 at Ben well, and Antocus7 at Housesteads, but the con-
nexion of these gods with Britain is uncertain, as is that of a god
Arciaco8 mentioned on a votive inscription at York. The name Audus',
identified with Belatucadrus, on an inscription at Scalby Castle, is pro-
bably British, and similarly that of Barrex, a god identified with Mars,
mentioned on an inscription at Carlisle10. A deity, whose name is
incomplete (Deo Sancto Bergant. . . ), mentioned on an inscription found
at Longwood near Slack (Cambodunum), was not improbably the tribal
god of the Brigantes. Another name, Braciaca, identified with Mars
on an inscription11 at Haddon House near Bakewell, was probably that
1 C. I. L. vii. 1103. * lb. in. 8671. 3 lb. vi. 46.
* Evans, British Coins, p. 386. 6 C. I. L. vii. 87. 6 lb. vii. 603.
'lb. vii. 656. 8 lb. vii. 231. » lb. vii. 874.
18 lb. vii. 925. "lb. vii. 176.
ni. xv. (b)
## p. 474 (#506) ############################################
474 The Gods
of a local British god. At Wardale in Cumberland there occurs on an
inscription1, the name of a god Ceaiius, but the connexions of this name
are entirely unknown. At Martlesham in Suffolk, there occurs an un-
doubtedly Keltic name Corotiacus*, identified with Mars, and probably
a British local god.
The name Marriga or Riga, which occurs on an
inscription at Mai ton in Yorkshire5, is likewise probably that of some
local deity identified with Mars. The name Matunus4, found on an
inscription at Elsdon in Northumberland, may be a derivative of the
Keltic "matis" (meaning good), and, as it occurs nowhere else, it may
well be a local name. There is an inscription, too, at Colchester
(c. a. d. 222-235), set up by a Caledonian (Caledo), which mentions
a god Medocius, identified with Mars, and clearly this can hardly have
been a foreign deity. On the other hand, the name Mounus", which
occurs on an inscription at Risingham, is probably a contraction of
Mogounus, the name of a god who is identified on an inscription at
Horberg in Alsace with Grannos and Apollo, and who is probably
unconnected with Britain. One of the clearest instances, however, of
the occurrence of the name of a British god on an inscription of Roman
times, is in the case of the god Nodons or Nodens, whose name is
identical with the Irish name Nuada and the Welsh name Nudd. The
Irish name Nuada forms the element -nooth in the name Maynooth
(the plain of Nuada). The form Nodens or Nodons (in the dative case
Nodenti or Nodonti) occurs four times' on inscriptions at Lydney
Park, a place on the Severn near Gloucester. It is possible that
the name Lydney itself comes from a variant of Nodens, or from the
name of a cognate deity Lodens, which has given in Welsh the legendary
name Lludd. The name Arvalus, which occurs on an inscription at
Blackmoorland on Stainmoor, Westmoreland, is most probably the
name of a local deity of Brescia, inscribed by a soldier from that region,
and there is some doubt, too, as to the British character of Contrebis
(identified with Ialonus), though both names are undoubtedly Keltic,
found at Lancaster7 and Overborough8, inasmuch as Ialonus occurs also
on an inscription at Nimes9. The name Contrebis probably means "the
god of the joint dwellings," and Ialonus, "the god of the fertile land. "
Another Keltic name, found on inscriptions in Britain as well as in
Gaul, is that of Condatis (" the joiner together "), identified with Mars,
and occurs on an inscription at Piers Bridge, Durham10 as well as at
Chester-le-Street and Allonne, Sarthe, Le Mans. Even when inscriptions
were set up in Britain by foreign troops, it must not be too hastily
assumed that they paid no deference to local British gods, since the
name Maponos, an undoubtedly Keltic name of a British deity, occurs
on an inscription11 found at Ribchester, Durham, for the welfare of
1 Orelli, 1981. 2 C. I. L. vii. 93». * lb. vii. 263*. * lb. vn. 995.
b lb. vn. 997. "lb. vn. J 37, 138, 139, 140. 7 lb. vn. 254.
» lb. vn. 290. • lb. hi. 3057 add. 10 lb. vn. 420. » lb. vn. 218.
## p. 475 (#507) ############################################
The Gods 475
Sarmatian troops, and on an inscription1 found at Ainstable near
Armthwaite, Cumberland, erected by Germans, as well as at Hexham,
Northumberland*. The Geographer of Ravenna5 mentions a place-name
in Britain called Maponi, which was, in full, possibly Maponi fanum. On
the Continent the name Maponos occurs only at Bourbonne-les-Bains
and Rouen, in both cases as that of a man. The name Maponos meant
"the great (or divine) youth,'" and survived in Welsh legend as that of
Mabon. Welsh legend gives his mother's name as Matrona (the divine
mother), a name identical with that of the original name of the river
Marne. In Wales, the name Mabon forms the second element in the
place-name Rhiw Fabon (the slope of Mabon), now commonly spelt
Ruabon, in Denbighshire. On all the British inscriptions Maponos is
identified with Apollo.
It is difficult to be certain whether Mogons, the deity from whom
Moguntiacum (Mainz) derives its name, was known to natives of Britain,
but the name occurs on inscriptions at Plumptonwall near Old Penrith4,
Netherby* and Risingham6. In the case of deities of this type the
original zone of their worship is not easily discoverable; for example,
the name of a god Tullinus occurs on inscriptions at Newington in
Kent7 and Chesterford9, as well as at Inzino8 and Heddernheim. There
is a similar difficulty in the case of the god Sucellos, whose name occurs
on inscriptions at York, Vienne (dep. Isere), Yverdun in Switzerland,
Worms, Mainz, and the neighbourhood of Saarburg in Lorraine. It
is not impossible that we have here a reference to one of the greater
gods of the Keltic pantheon, who was worshipped in Britain as well as
in other parts of the Keltic world. It is scarcely possible, again, to
doubt the identity with the major Keltic god Teutates of the Toutatis
mentioned on inscriptions at Rooky Wood, Hertfordshire10, Seckau" and
Rome", and of the Tutatis (identified with Cocidius and Mars), mentioned
on an inscription at Old Carlisle18. It is certain that Cocidius was a British
god; and the evidence for the British character of Tutatis appeal's no less
convincing. The name of Cocidius occurs on inscriptions at Lancaster,
Old Carlisle, Housesteads, Hardriding, Banksteed near Lanercost Priory,
Howgill near Walton, Birdoswald near Bewcastle, Low Wall near
Howgill, High Stead between Old Wall and Bleatarn, Old Wall near
Carlisle, at a spot between Tarraby and Stanwix, at Netherby, and
close to Bewcastle, while it occurs nowhere on the Continent. The
name of another deity, Belatucadros, occurs on inscriptions at Whelp
Castle near Kirkby Thore in Westmoreland, Brougham Castle, West-
moreland, Plumptonwall near Penrith in Cumberland, Kirkbride in
Cumberland, Old Carlisle, Ellenborough, Carvoran, Castlesteads, Scalby
1 C. I. L. vii. 332. * lb. vii. 1345. 3 5, 31, p. 436, 20.
♦ C. I. L. vii. 320. * lb. vii. 958. • lb. vii. 996.
7 lb. vii. 1337, 59. 8 lb. vii. 1337, 60. » lb. v. 4914.
10 lb. vii. 84. u lb. in. 5320. "lb. vi. 31182. u lb. vn. 335.
CH. XV. (b)
## p. 476 (#508) ############################################
476 Goddesses
Castle, Burgh-by-Sands and Netherby, and its meaning is "brilliant in
war. " It is remarkable that no inscription in Britain mentions Belenos,
whose name is found in certain British proper names, such as Cuno-
belTnos, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare and the Cynfelyn of the Welsh.
Of inscriptions to grouped goddesses, there are several in Britain
dedicated to Matres, but only one inscription mentions Matres Bri-
tannae along with Italian, German and Gaulish "Mothers. "" The
inscription in question1 is at Winchester. The other grouped goddesses,
the Nymphs, that are mentioned on inscriptions, are probably local, and
are named on inscribed stones at Great Broughton (Nymphii et Fontibus),
at Blenkinsop Castle (Deabus Nymphis), at Risingham {Nymphis Vene-
randis), and at Nether Croy Farm near Croyhill {Nymphis). An inscrip-
tion dedicated to Lamiis tribus, found at Ben well near Newcastle-on-
Tyne, also doubtless refers to some local belief. On one inscription
found at Chester2 are the words Deae Matri, but unfortunately the
inscription is incomplete and we have no further information as to this
"Mother-goddess. 1' It is highly probable that the goddess Epona was
worshipped in Britain as well as in other parts of the Keltic world, and
inscriptions dedicated to her have been found at Carvoran*, and at
Auchindavy near Kirkintulloch4. The goddess Brigantia may have
been the tribal goddess of the Brigantes, and it is noticeable that her
name is identical in form with the Irish Brigit. She is mentioned on
an inscription6, of a. d. 205, at Greetland, and on another inscription',
at Adel, near Leeds, while, on an inscription7 in Cumberland, she is
called Dea Nympha Brigantia. A further inscription8 of the second
century, found at Birrens, near Middleby, reads Brigantia* sacrum.
An undoubted instance of a local British goddess exists in the case
of Sul or Sulis, whence the Roman name Aquae Sulis for Bath, a place
whose fame was great, as we learn from Solinus9, even in Roman times.
One inscription found at Bath10 is of special interest, inasmuch as it
refers to the rebuilding of a temple to this goddess. She is further
mentioned at Bath on five other inscriptions". There is an inscription
dedicated to her at Alzey in Rheinhesse", which was probably set up by
someone who was grateful to this goddess for restored health. That
rivers, too, were worshipped in Britain is attested by the fact that the
ancient name of the Mersey or the Ribble was Belisama, a name identical
with that of a Gaulish goddess. In addition to the foregoing, a goddess
Latae or Latis is mentioned on inscriptions at Kirkbampton" and
Birdoswald'4.
The value of the evidence as to the pre-Christian religion of Britain
1 C. I. L. vii. 5. * lb. vii. 168«. ■ lb. vii. 707.
* lb. vii. 1114d. * lb. vii. 200. e lb. vii. 203.
T lb. vii. 875. 8 lb. vii. 1062. » 22, 10. w C. I. L. vii. 39.
11 lb. vii. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44. « lb. mi. 6266.
13 lb. vii. 938. u lb. vii. 1348.
## p. 477 (#509) ############################################
Legendary Names 477
and Ireland that is to be obtained from legends and from folk-lore,
cannot always be estimated with certainty, but there can be little
doubt that many of the characters of both Irish and Welsh legend bear
names which once had a religious significance, and that many popular
beliefs and customs found in the British Isles go back to pre-Christian
times. By the help of Keltic philology several proper names found in
legend, such as Mabon and Nudd, to which reference has been made, can
be identified with names of deities that occur on inscriptions, or they
can be shewn to be similar in formation to certain known types of
divine names. For example, -onos and -ona were favourite Keltic
terminations for the names of gods and goddesses respectively, and
certain Welsh names ending in -on of legendary characters appear from
their very structure to have been at one time the names of deities. In
addition to Mabon (Maponos) and Modron (Matrona), already men-
tioned, may be adduced Khiannon (Regantona), meaning "the divine
queen,1' Teyrnon (Tigernonos), " the divine lord," Banon (Banona)," the
divine lady," Amaethon (Ambactonos), "the divine husbandman,"
Gofannon (Gobannonos), "the divine smith. " The two latter names
suggest the existence among the Kelts of Britain of departmental
deities. Certain river-names, too, suggest by their forms that they
were of this type, for example, Aeron (Agrona), "the goddess of war,"
Tarannon (Tarannonos or Tarannona), "the god or goddess of thunder,"
Ieithon (Iectona), "the goddess of speech. "
Other legendary names, such as Ler of Irish legend and Llyr of
Welsh legend, have meanings which throw light on their original
character, for example, "llyr" is used in Welsh poetry for the sea,
and there can be little doubt but that the original of both Ler and
Llyr was the god of the Irish sea, whose son was the Irish Manannan (the
Welsh Manawyddan), the eponymous deity of the Isle of Man. The name
Lug, again, of Irish, and Lieu of Welsh legend, is phonetically equivalent
to that of Lugus of Gaul, and the meaning of the Welsh word, namely,
light, makes it probable that this god had originally some association
with the sun or with fire. In Ireland, the legends sometimes speak of
certain characters as divine; for example, the goddess Danu or Dana, in
the name of the legendary Tuatha De Danann (the tribes of the goddess
Danu). Similarly, the glossary attributed to Cormac (King-Bishop of
Cashel in the ninth century), speaks of the goddess Ana as mater deorum,
and mentions a goddess Brigit, a poetess and prophetess, worshipped by
the poets of ancient Erin. Her father, too, the Dagda, is represented as
divine, while her sisters (also called Brigit), were like herself represented
as goddesses, the one being patroness of the healing-art, the other of
smith-work. There were, also, two Irish war-goddesses, called the
Mdr-rigu and Bodb Catha. Certain beings belonging to the Tuatha
De Danann, such as Nuada of the Silver Hand, Ogma, Dian Cecht,
Goibniu, Mider and a few others, along with Lug and Ler, appear to
CH. XV. (b)
## p. 478 (#510) ############################################
478 Christian evidence. Folk-lore
have been traditionally raised above the human plane. Another being
who was regarded as divine was the Mac Oc, who was said to have been
the son of Dagda the Great and the goddess Boann.
In the lives of the early missionaries of Ireland there are some
allusions to the heathenism of the country, and one of the best accounts
of this heathenism is to be found in the Tripartite Life of St Patrick
(trans, by the late Dr Whitley Stokes in Revue Celtique, i. p. 260). This
version of St Patrick's life is attributed to St Eleranus of the seventh
century. The passage reads as follows: "Thereafter went Patrick over
the water to Mag Slecht, a place wherein was the chief idol of Ireland,
to wit, Cenn Cruaich, covered with gold and silver, and twelve other idols
about it, covered with brass. When Patrick saw the idol from the water
whose name is Guth-ard (elevated its voice), and when he drew right unto
the idol, he raised his hand to put Jesus' crozier upon it, and did not
reach it, but it bowed westwards to turn on its right side, for its face was
from the south, to wit, to Tara. And the trace of the crozier abides on
its left side still, and yet the crozier moved not from Patrick's hand.
And the earth swallowed the twelve other images as far as their heads,
and they are thus in sign of the miracle, and he cursed the demon and
banished him to hell. 1' In the Book of Leiiister (twelfth century) Mag
Slecht is said to have been so called because the ancient Irish used to
sacrifice there the first-born of their children and of their flocks, in order
to secure power and peace in all their tribes, and to obtain milk and com
for the support of their families. A careful and discriminating study of
Keltic legends would reveal no small sediment of pre-Christian thought,
just as there are traces of the belief in a " Happy Other-world" and of
the rebirth of heroes, in the Irish Voyage of Bran, and non-Christian
pictures of another world in the Welsh Annwfn, which a medieval
Welsh poem represents as being beneath the earth. Similarly, the Keltic
folk-lore stories of water-bulls, water-horses, water-nymphsA fairies,
sprites, and the like give a clue to the way in which Nature Vas re-
garded by the Kelts of Britain, as of other lands, before Christianity
began its work in these islands.
## p. 466 (#498) ############################################
466 Sacred Buildings
with a ram's horn: a horse-god, carried by the snake-footed giant: a
goddess seated on a beast of burden (Epona, the goddess of horses):
a horned god, and many others. But we hesitate before pronouncing
these images to be the manifestations of unmixed Keltic thought. At
the time when they appeared a century had elapsed since the Gauls had
been independent in their thoughts and beliefs; they were no longer
under the direction of their priests, and they were ceaselessly open to
contact with Greek and Roman imagery, so that they often combined
native emblems with copies of foreign symbols; they spoke no more of
Teutates, but invoked Mercury in his place. All these images possess
a real interest none the less, but it is necessary to guard against attri-
buting to them an undue importance in the history of Gallic religion.
What has been said of religious sculpture is still more true of archi-
tecture. All the temples and altars without exception, which were
consecrated to Gallic gods, date from the period of the Roman Empire:
and by that time the Roman architects and priests had invaded the
land with their stereotyped buildings and their customs, the templum
and ara. This does not imply that it is impossible to discover in these
constructions a trace of indigenous survivals. Thus a great many
temples in Gaul proper are constructed on a square plan (as for
instance that of Champlien, in Normandy), and this architectural type
is hardly to be found in the Graeco-Roman world, therefore it may
possibly recall some sacred customs of the Gauls; but a complete inquiry
on these lines has not yet been made. It is certain that in the time of
independence, the Gauls possessed sacred places; and a few, like that of
the Virgins of the Isle of Sein (in Armorica), must have been complete
buildings, with walls and roofs. But these were doubtless made of wood
(hence their complete destruction) and they were in the minority among
sanctuaries. The majority of consecrated places were simply open spaces
limited by ritual, but not by material boundaries; spaces where frag-
ments of the precious metals, destined for the gods, were accumulated.
There were also clusters of trees, spaces reserved in the great forests, or
even lakes or marshes, like those of Toulouse, which have been men-
tioned already. When a spring was considered to be holy it is probable
that offerings for the god of the place were thrown into the water; the
spring was at the same time both god and sanctuary. This theory
explains the fact that when sites are excavated the springs often yield
the largest crop of surprising discoveries.
All that has been said helps to shew why it is still more difficult
to penetrate far in the knowledge of doctrines; that is, the fashion
in which the Gauls conceived of the destinies of man, the world, and
the gods. But there remain a few indications of their beliefs in these
matters, escaped from the total ruin which has befallen their religious
poems. Further, it is always possible that the Greeks and Romans
have not given a very exact interpretation even of what they were
## p. 467 (#499) ############################################
Doctrine 467
able to learn. At the time when they were writing on Gallic religion
there was a fashion prevalent, owing its origin doubtless to Alexandria,
of painting the wisdom and philosophy of the barbarians in glowing
colours; so that quite possibly they may have endowed the Gallic
dogmas with a purity and elevation really quite foreign to them.
The Keltic doctrine most highly praised by these writers is that of
the immortality of the soul. They have not explained to us very clearly
the nature of this immortality, but it is more than probable (if we
examine the equipment of a Gaul in his tomb) that the Kelts imaged
the next life as very similar to this, with more pleasures and with greater
combats for him who died bravely on the battle-field. This type of
immortality is traceable in the beliefs of most barbaric peoples; it
has no special mark of nobility, and does not justify the frequent
practice of deducing from it any particular glory for the Kelts.
Concerning the world, their religious poems spoke of the struggle
between water, earth and fire, of the triumph of the two first-named
elements, and of the submergence of all in a future cataclysm. More-
over, the world was later to emerge as victor over destruction. This is
a sufficiently childish cosmogony, in which it is possible to trace all the
usual elements.
The religious practices of the Gauls do not seem to. offer any extra-
ordinary features, either good or bad. Caesar and others tell us that
they were the most religious of men, and performed no action without
consulting their gods; in this they resembled the Greeks and Romans of
primitive times, and if the contemporaries of Augustus were astonished at
it, it was merely because at that time it was considered by educated Romans
to be good taste to mock at the gods and to act independently of them.
The Gauls must be severely condemned for their human sacrifices,
whether of those already sentenced to death, or of innocent persons
whom they are said to have enclosed in large wicker hampers. Re-
cently certain modern scholars, too ready perhaps (like the Alexandrians
in the time of Posidonius) to admire the Gauls, have tried to deny
or excuse these horrible ceremonies. This is only labour lost. We
must accept their existence, not forgetting, however, that they were
not peculiar to the Gauls, but that the Greeks and Romans themselves
had their sacrifices of men and women. The ancients have insisted with
equal vehemence on the Keltic practice of divination, and have cited
many facts to shew their passion for the art of the diviner, whether by
means of birds, entrails of victims, decisions of augurs or dreams.
Without doubt the Gauls had essayed all these means for discovering
the future, but in this again they took the same course as the Greeks
and Romans of earlier times; and if the raven was by them accounted
the greatest of soothsaying birds, it held a similar position among the
Greeks long before.
With regard to the magical practices of the Gallic world, the
ch. xv. (a) 30—2
## p. 468 (#500) ############################################
468 Druidism
ancients have little to tell us. This may simply be due to chance, but
possibly the Kelts were really inferior, in this respect, to the Italians and
Carthaginians. Various indications (specially the relative scarcity of
magical tablets under the emperors) seem to shew that as far as magic is
concerned, they were rather imitators than masters.
Perhaps it was in their sacerdotal organisation that the Kelts (they
alone can be dealt with in this connexion) shewed most originality; though
it is necessary to add that we are only half-informed on the subject.
They called their chief priests Druids. This name (whatever its
etymology may be) seems to have conveyed a more important meaning to
them than did the words sacerdos or pontifex to the Romans. Neverthe-
less, the druids were not without some resemblance to the men who bore
one or other of these titles at Rome. They also were drawn from the
upper class of society; they were selected from the nobles, exactly as the
pontifices of primitive Rome were chosen from the patrician ranks.
The dignity of druid did not force its holder to withdraw himself from
civil and political life. Caesar has told us of an Aeduan druid in his
time, Diviciacus by name, who was, perhaps, the chief of all the Gallic
druids. He was very rich, wielding great influence both in his own
tribe and throughout Gaul, he was probably both married and the father
of a family; he was allowed to ride and to wear arms; he accompanied
Caesar on his first campaigns, and the Roman proconsul even entrusted
the command of a corps of the army to him. His obligations, as a Gaul,
do not seem to have differed from those of Caesar as a Roman, and
Caesar was pontifex maximus.
Two points remain, however, in which the druids do not resemble the
priests of Classical antiquity, but rather recall those of the East. First,
though each tribe in Gaul had its own druid or druids, all the druids
were associated in a permanent federation, like priests of the same cult.
Although they were not formally a clergy, they did form a church, like
the bishops of the Catholic Church; and this church necessitated both
a hierarchy and periodical assemblies.
At the head of the druids was a high-priest, who seems to have held
his dignity for life. Since there was an organised hierarchy, the high-
priest was succeeded by the man who held the post immediately below
his own. If the succession should be disputed by rival claimants of
equal rank, a decision was made by means of election, or sometimes by
a duel with weapons, standing probably for some kind of divine judg-
ment by the sword.
Every year all the druids of Gaul met in a solemn assembly in the
territory of the Carnutes (Chartres and Orleans); this country was
chosen because it was considered (and with considerable accuracy) to be
the centre of the whole of Gaul. This assembly had at the same
time a political, judicial and religious aspect. The druids formed them-
selves into a tribunal, and judged all cases submitted to their decision;
## p. 469 (#501) ############################################
Druidism 469
such as those involving murder, disputed inheritance and boundaries.
It is probable that this tribunal came into competition with the jurisdic-
tion of the ordinary magistrates of the cities. The druids pronounced
sentences which seem in the main to have consisted of formulae of com-
position or of excommunication. Those excluded by them from the
sacrifices were, said Caesar, treated as scoundrels, and guilty of impiety,
and no one dared approach them. It remains to be discovered to what
extent this tribunal was attended, its sentences executed and its juris-
diction respected. It may be that in the last century of independence,
these druidical assizes were but the survival of very ancient institutions,
then falling more and more into desuetude—a form without much mean-
ing. None the less, they are one of the strangest things found in Gaul,
and even in the whole of the West.
The second original feature of druidism was that the priests were
also the teachers of the Gallic youth. If it were said absolutely that
they directed the schools, the expression would be unsuitable. But they
gathered round them the young men of the Gallic families, and taught
them all that they knew or believed concerning the world, the human
soul and the gods. A few of these scholars stayed with their masters
until they had reached the age of twenty years; but it is clear that those
who were to become priests received the lion's share of attention. Such
an institution, making the priests into the educators of the young, is
surprising in ancient times, and calls to mind modern conditions. We
cannot be certain, however, that in it we have an exceptional pheno-
menon, for is it not possible that something approaching the druidical
teaching may be found in the schools founded in Rome in connexion
with the members of the colleges of Augurs and Pontifices?
In all other respects, however, the analogy between druidism and the
ancient priesthoods is complete. The druids alone possessed the power
of offering sacrifices by the act of presiding at them; they studied philo-
sophy, astronomy and physiology; they wrote (in verse) the annals of
their people, as did the pontifices of Rome and the priests of Israel.
The druids were not the only priests of the Gauls. They were the
most important, and probably they alone were considered to rank in
dignity with the nobles. But they had depending on them a good many
subordinate priests who officiated singly, and others who were combined
to form a sodality.
The single priests were those who were attached to a sanctuary as
a kind of guardian or celebrant of a temple and its god: somewhat
resembling the Roman aedituus. Among the greater number of tribes
they were known as gntuater.
The Gauls also possessed priestly confraternities, which seem to have
been largely made up of women. The ancient geographers tell us of a
few, which were all dedicated to the orgiastic cults, doubtless having a
chthonian origin. The most famous was that of the maidens of the Isle
CH. XV. (a)
## p. 470 (#502) ############################################
470 Decay of Druidism
of Sein (already mentioned) who foretold the future, and raised or tran-
quillised storms. The truth of this information has frequently been
denied of late, but all ancient religions have confraternities of this kind,
all having a similar origin, and all giving rise to, and carrying on, the
worship of the Earth-Mother.
Druidism did not disappear with Gallic independence, but it under-
went fundamental modifications, which must be mentioned here in order
to explain the way in which medieval writers have alluded to it.
The druids, as public high-priests of the Gallic tribes, lost their
old place under the Roman domination. They were suppressed, or
rather, transformed into Sacerdotes according to the Roman custom; and
in the Concilium of the Three Gauls at Lyons, composed of Sacerdotes
Romae et Augusti it is possible to trace a Roman interpretation of the
druidical assemblies in the land of the Carnutes.
The lower priests, prophets, diviners, sages, guardians of temples and
sorcerers, survived in obscurity, carrying on their traditions and sought
after by devotees and peasants who were faithful to the old popular cults.
Thus it came about that the word druid, which was formerly applied to
the sacerdotal aristocracy, was finally used to designate these rustic
priests, the last survivals of the national religion. When, therefore, the
Latin writers mention druids and druidesses in connexion with mistletoe,
remedies and witchcraft, it is probable that they allude to these priests
of the uneducated people.
The word druid is found in medieval writings applied to the native
priests of Ireland and the so-called Keltic lands. It is difficult to feel
sure that the word is there a direct survival, and that the Irish druids
really were the authentic descendants of those mentioned by Pliny and
Tacitus. In more than one place, the name and the dignity might have
been interpolated by a learned writer who had read Caesar and Strabo.
But ought this statement to be made general? and further, is it not
possible that all druids found in the West in medieval times are the
production of literary men? The present writer refrains from ex-
pressing an opinion on the subject.
One last question remains in connexion with the druids. Caesar
states in his Commentaries that their doctrine (disciplina) was evolved
(inventa) in the isle of Britain, from whence it had been taken to Gaul.
He adds "those who wish to study it deeply, usually go to the Island,
and stay there for a time. "
A completely satisfactory explanation of this passage has not yet been
given. Perhaps it was simply an invention of the Gallic druids, who
wished to invest their doctrine with the attractiveness that belongs to
a mystery, and therefore evolved this British origin for it. But per-
haps their dogmas and their myths really did spring from the large
neighbouring island. In this latter case, two hypotheses must be
considered.
## p. 471 (#503) ############################################
Literature 471
In the time of Caesar the British population was composed of two
different groups: a minority consisting of conquerors who had come from
Gaul, Belgians or Kelts; and a majority consisting of natives. To which
of these two races did the druids ascribe the paternity of their intellectual
discipline? If to the Gauls, possibly Britain produced a reforming
druid, who restored the religious doctrines of the nation to their primi-
tive purity. If to the natives, it may be that an ancient religious
community existed on the Island, with foreign rites and teaching,
that nevertheless supplied inspiration to the druids.
In either case, one thing seems certain. It is that Britain, the last,
in point of date, of the Keltic settlements in Europe, somehow preserved
more faithfully than the other countries the religious habits of the
common mother-land. It is evident from Caesar that the Britons still
respected the most ancient customs of the Gallic race, therefore it is
probable that among them religion would have retained the most
primitive forms. This may explain why the druids sent their novices
there for instruction.
The druids of Gaul, like the pontifices of Rome, were writers. Caesar
reiterates his account of their long poems; for to prevent their doctrines
from being made known to all, they composed (or had composed)
thousands of verses, which they compelled their disciples to learn by
heart. These poems dealt with the stars, the gods, the earth and
nature; probably also with the origin of the Gallic tribes and the
human soul. They were at the same time their books of Genesis and
Chronicles. Moral precepts were mixed with or added to this theoretical
teaching, the best known being that which taught that death is not to
be feared, and that another life is to be expected.
Probably these didactic poems did not exhaust the religious poetry
of the Gauls. Their sacred literature seems to have been extraordinarily
rich. We find quotations referring to songs of war and victory, also
magnificent melodies, hymns in honour of their leaders, and historical
poems, often of an epic character, in which facts and supernatural events
alternate bewilderingly. The unfortunate fact is that all this is known
to us only by the vague allusions to it to be found in the Classical authors.
In connexion with these songs and poems, the word most often used
by the ancient writers is Bardi, and this was the ordinary term for
poet among the Gauls. These Bardi must be remembered in considering
Gallic religion, for it is possible that they were half priests, half prophets,
living in dependence on the druids.
As well as references to druids and Gallic gods, we come across
bards in the celebrated Keltic poems of the Middle Ages; and the
same question arises in connexion with all these traces of Gallic
religion. Do they all come directly and continuously from the past, or
are they nothing more than clever reconstructions due to readers of
the Classics?
ch. xv. (a)
## p. 472 (#504) ############################################
472 Heathenism in Britain
(B)
KELTIC HEATHENISM IN THE BRITISH ISLES.
Just as the general condition of Britain in Roman times is far more
imperfectly known than that of Gaul, so, too, we have but scanty
data for painting a complete picture of Keltic heathendom in these
islands during the period in question, and that which immediately
succeeded it. Such evidence as we find is derived partly from inscrip-
tions, partly from the survival in legend of certain names which are
either those of known Keltic deities, or which may be presumed from
their forms to have been those of divine beings, partly from the
allusions found in legend to heathen practices, and partly from inferences
based upon a study of existing folk-lore. A consideration of this
evidence leads to the conclusion that the condition of heathenism in
Britain was very similar to that of Gaul, except that, in North Britain
and Ireland and the less Romanised parts of Southern Britain, there
had been less assimilation of the native religion to that of Rome.
In Britain, as in Gaul, the basis of Keltic religion was largely local
in character, and rivers, springs, hills and other natural features were
regarded as the abodes of gods and goddesses. The belief in fairies and
similar beings, as well as in fabulous monsters supposed to inhabit caves,
lakes and streams, which comes to view in medieval and modern Keltic
folk-lore, is doubtless a continuous survival from the period of heathenism,
and certain of the practices connected with regularly recurring festivals,
such as the lighting of bonfires, the taking of omens and the like, have
probably come down from the same time. The curious reader can find
a very full account of these and similar survivals in Sir John RhyVs
Celtic Folk-lore, Campbell's Tales of the Western Highlands and
Dr Frazer's Golden Bough.
Certain of the deities of Britain may have been tribal, and there are
reasons for thinking that, in Britain as well as in Gaul, some deities
were worshipped by several Keltic tribes, so that these may be regarded
as the major deities of the Keltic pantheon. For instance, the name of
Lug, a character of Irish legend, and that of Lieu in Welsh legend, are
both cognate with the Gaulish Lugus, a god whose wide worship in the
Keltic world is attested by the number of places called after his name
Lugudunum or Lugdunum (the fortress of Lugus), and it is highly
probable that both Lug of Irish legend and Lieu of Welsh legend were
once regarded in their respective countries as divine. The Welsh place-
names Dinlleu (the fort of Lieu) and Nantlleu (the valley of Lieu) in
Carnarvonshire point in the same direction, no less than the ancient
British name of Carlisle, Luguvallium (the embankment of Lugus).
## p. 473 (#505) ############################################
The Gods 473
A name corresponding to that of the god Segomo of Gaul is found
on an Ogam inscription in Ireland—Netta-Segamonas (the Champion
of Segamo), and, later, as Nia-Sedhamain (for Seghamain). The
Gaulish god Camulos has his British counterpart in the Camalos or
Camulos after whom Colchester received its name Camalodunum or
Camulodunum. The proper name Camulorigho (in an oblique case)
found on an inscription in Anglesey, as well as Camelorigi, which occurs
on an inscription at Cheriton in Pembrokeshire, are further evidence that
the god Camulos was not unknown in Britain. This is still more pro-
bable, since the name of this deity occurs on an inscription at Barhill1,
while the wide range of his worship is suggested by the existence of his
name on inscriptions at Salona*, Rome' and Clermont.
It would be unsafe to take the fact that the name of a deity occurs
on an inscription in Britain as evidence that the deity in question was
worshipped by the natives, since the inscriptions found in Britain are
mostly those of soldiers who often paid their vows to the deities of their
own lands. At the same time, the area over which certain inscriptions
are found makes it highly probable that the deities mentioned on them
were worshipped, among other countries, in Britain itself. The following
account of the deities mentioned on inscriptions in Britain will suggest
not a few instances where this was doubtless the case. The name Aesus,
which is probably identical with the Gaulish Esus, occurs once on a British
silver coin*, and this fact makes it not unreasonable to suppose that
this god was worshipped in Britain. On an inscription found at
Colchester, there is mentioned a god identified with Mercury, called
Andescox8, but of this deity nothing further is known. The name of
another god Ane^tiomarus (a name probably meaning "the great
protector") is found, identified with Apollo, on an inscription at South
Shields on the Herd sands, south of the mouth of the Tyne, and the
beginning of the same name occurs on a stone which is in the Museum
at Le Mans. The name Antenociticus is found on an inscription of the
second century8 at Ben well, and Antocus7 at Housesteads, but the con-
nexion of these gods with Britain is uncertain, as is that of a god
Arciaco8 mentioned on a votive inscription at York. The name Audus',
identified with Belatucadrus, on an inscription at Scalby Castle, is pro-
bably British, and similarly that of Barrex, a god identified with Mars,
mentioned on an inscription at Carlisle10. A deity, whose name is
incomplete (Deo Sancto Bergant. . . ), mentioned on an inscription found
at Longwood near Slack (Cambodunum), was not improbably the tribal
god of the Brigantes. Another name, Braciaca, identified with Mars
on an inscription11 at Haddon House near Bakewell, was probably that
1 C. I. L. vii. 1103. * lb. in. 8671. 3 lb. vi. 46.
* Evans, British Coins, p. 386. 6 C. I. L. vii. 87. 6 lb. vii. 603.
'lb. vii. 656. 8 lb. vii. 231. » lb. vii. 874.
18 lb. vii. 925. "lb. vii. 176.
ni. xv. (b)
## p. 474 (#506) ############################################
474 The Gods
of a local British god. At Wardale in Cumberland there occurs on an
inscription1, the name of a god Ceaiius, but the connexions of this name
are entirely unknown. At Martlesham in Suffolk, there occurs an un-
doubtedly Keltic name Corotiacus*, identified with Mars, and probably
a British local god.
The name Marriga or Riga, which occurs on an
inscription at Mai ton in Yorkshire5, is likewise probably that of some
local deity identified with Mars. The name Matunus4, found on an
inscription at Elsdon in Northumberland, may be a derivative of the
Keltic "matis" (meaning good), and, as it occurs nowhere else, it may
well be a local name. There is an inscription, too, at Colchester
(c. a. d. 222-235), set up by a Caledonian (Caledo), which mentions
a god Medocius, identified with Mars, and clearly this can hardly have
been a foreign deity. On the other hand, the name Mounus", which
occurs on an inscription at Risingham, is probably a contraction of
Mogounus, the name of a god who is identified on an inscription at
Horberg in Alsace with Grannos and Apollo, and who is probably
unconnected with Britain. One of the clearest instances, however, of
the occurrence of the name of a British god on an inscription of Roman
times, is in the case of the god Nodons or Nodens, whose name is
identical with the Irish name Nuada and the Welsh name Nudd. The
Irish name Nuada forms the element -nooth in the name Maynooth
(the plain of Nuada). The form Nodens or Nodons (in the dative case
Nodenti or Nodonti) occurs four times' on inscriptions at Lydney
Park, a place on the Severn near Gloucester. It is possible that
the name Lydney itself comes from a variant of Nodens, or from the
name of a cognate deity Lodens, which has given in Welsh the legendary
name Lludd. The name Arvalus, which occurs on an inscription at
Blackmoorland on Stainmoor, Westmoreland, is most probably the
name of a local deity of Brescia, inscribed by a soldier from that region,
and there is some doubt, too, as to the British character of Contrebis
(identified with Ialonus), though both names are undoubtedly Keltic,
found at Lancaster7 and Overborough8, inasmuch as Ialonus occurs also
on an inscription at Nimes9. The name Contrebis probably means "the
god of the joint dwellings," and Ialonus, "the god of the fertile land. "
Another Keltic name, found on inscriptions in Britain as well as in
Gaul, is that of Condatis (" the joiner together "), identified with Mars,
and occurs on an inscription at Piers Bridge, Durham10 as well as at
Chester-le-Street and Allonne, Sarthe, Le Mans. Even when inscriptions
were set up in Britain by foreign troops, it must not be too hastily
assumed that they paid no deference to local British gods, since the
name Maponos, an undoubtedly Keltic name of a British deity, occurs
on an inscription11 found at Ribchester, Durham, for the welfare of
1 Orelli, 1981. 2 C. I. L. vii. 93». * lb. vii. 263*. * lb. vn. 995.
b lb. vn. 997. "lb. vn. J 37, 138, 139, 140. 7 lb. vn. 254.
» lb. vn. 290. • lb. hi. 3057 add. 10 lb. vn. 420. » lb. vn. 218.
## p. 475 (#507) ############################################
The Gods 475
Sarmatian troops, and on an inscription1 found at Ainstable near
Armthwaite, Cumberland, erected by Germans, as well as at Hexham,
Northumberland*. The Geographer of Ravenna5 mentions a place-name
in Britain called Maponi, which was, in full, possibly Maponi fanum. On
the Continent the name Maponos occurs only at Bourbonne-les-Bains
and Rouen, in both cases as that of a man. The name Maponos meant
"the great (or divine) youth,'" and survived in Welsh legend as that of
Mabon. Welsh legend gives his mother's name as Matrona (the divine
mother), a name identical with that of the original name of the river
Marne. In Wales, the name Mabon forms the second element in the
place-name Rhiw Fabon (the slope of Mabon), now commonly spelt
Ruabon, in Denbighshire. On all the British inscriptions Maponos is
identified with Apollo.
It is difficult to be certain whether Mogons, the deity from whom
Moguntiacum (Mainz) derives its name, was known to natives of Britain,
but the name occurs on inscriptions at Plumptonwall near Old Penrith4,
Netherby* and Risingham6. In the case of deities of this type the
original zone of their worship is not easily discoverable; for example,
the name of a god Tullinus occurs on inscriptions at Newington in
Kent7 and Chesterford9, as well as at Inzino8 and Heddernheim. There
is a similar difficulty in the case of the god Sucellos, whose name occurs
on inscriptions at York, Vienne (dep. Isere), Yverdun in Switzerland,
Worms, Mainz, and the neighbourhood of Saarburg in Lorraine. It
is not impossible that we have here a reference to one of the greater
gods of the Keltic pantheon, who was worshipped in Britain as well as
in other parts of the Keltic world. It is scarcely possible, again, to
doubt the identity with the major Keltic god Teutates of the Toutatis
mentioned on inscriptions at Rooky Wood, Hertfordshire10, Seckau" and
Rome", and of the Tutatis (identified with Cocidius and Mars), mentioned
on an inscription at Old Carlisle18. It is certain that Cocidius was a British
god; and the evidence for the British character of Tutatis appeal's no less
convincing. The name of Cocidius occurs on inscriptions at Lancaster,
Old Carlisle, Housesteads, Hardriding, Banksteed near Lanercost Priory,
Howgill near Walton, Birdoswald near Bewcastle, Low Wall near
Howgill, High Stead between Old Wall and Bleatarn, Old Wall near
Carlisle, at a spot between Tarraby and Stanwix, at Netherby, and
close to Bewcastle, while it occurs nowhere on the Continent. The
name of another deity, Belatucadros, occurs on inscriptions at Whelp
Castle near Kirkby Thore in Westmoreland, Brougham Castle, West-
moreland, Plumptonwall near Penrith in Cumberland, Kirkbride in
Cumberland, Old Carlisle, Ellenborough, Carvoran, Castlesteads, Scalby
1 C. I. L. vii. 332. * lb. vii. 1345. 3 5, 31, p. 436, 20.
♦ C. I. L. vii. 320. * lb. vii. 958. • lb. vii. 996.
7 lb. vii. 1337, 59. 8 lb. vii. 1337, 60. » lb. v. 4914.
10 lb. vii. 84. u lb. in. 5320. "lb. vi. 31182. u lb. vn. 335.
CH. XV. (b)
## p. 476 (#508) ############################################
476 Goddesses
Castle, Burgh-by-Sands and Netherby, and its meaning is "brilliant in
war. " It is remarkable that no inscription in Britain mentions Belenos,
whose name is found in certain British proper names, such as Cuno-
belTnos, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare and the Cynfelyn of the Welsh.
Of inscriptions to grouped goddesses, there are several in Britain
dedicated to Matres, but only one inscription mentions Matres Bri-
tannae along with Italian, German and Gaulish "Mothers. "" The
inscription in question1 is at Winchester. The other grouped goddesses,
the Nymphs, that are mentioned on inscriptions, are probably local, and
are named on inscribed stones at Great Broughton (Nymphii et Fontibus),
at Blenkinsop Castle (Deabus Nymphis), at Risingham {Nymphis Vene-
randis), and at Nether Croy Farm near Croyhill {Nymphis). An inscrip-
tion dedicated to Lamiis tribus, found at Ben well near Newcastle-on-
Tyne, also doubtless refers to some local belief. On one inscription
found at Chester2 are the words Deae Matri, but unfortunately the
inscription is incomplete and we have no further information as to this
"Mother-goddess. 1' It is highly probable that the goddess Epona was
worshipped in Britain as well as in other parts of the Keltic world, and
inscriptions dedicated to her have been found at Carvoran*, and at
Auchindavy near Kirkintulloch4. The goddess Brigantia may have
been the tribal goddess of the Brigantes, and it is noticeable that her
name is identical in form with the Irish Brigit. She is mentioned on
an inscription6, of a. d. 205, at Greetland, and on another inscription',
at Adel, near Leeds, while, on an inscription7 in Cumberland, she is
called Dea Nympha Brigantia. A further inscription8 of the second
century, found at Birrens, near Middleby, reads Brigantia* sacrum.
An undoubted instance of a local British goddess exists in the case
of Sul or Sulis, whence the Roman name Aquae Sulis for Bath, a place
whose fame was great, as we learn from Solinus9, even in Roman times.
One inscription found at Bath10 is of special interest, inasmuch as it
refers to the rebuilding of a temple to this goddess. She is further
mentioned at Bath on five other inscriptions". There is an inscription
dedicated to her at Alzey in Rheinhesse", which was probably set up by
someone who was grateful to this goddess for restored health. That
rivers, too, were worshipped in Britain is attested by the fact that the
ancient name of the Mersey or the Ribble was Belisama, a name identical
with that of a Gaulish goddess. In addition to the foregoing, a goddess
Latae or Latis is mentioned on inscriptions at Kirkbampton" and
Birdoswald'4.
The value of the evidence as to the pre-Christian religion of Britain
1 C. I. L. vii. 5. * lb. vii. 168«. ■ lb. vii. 707.
* lb. vii. 1114d. * lb. vii. 200. e lb. vii. 203.
T lb. vii. 875. 8 lb. vii. 1062. » 22, 10. w C. I. L. vii. 39.
11 lb. vii. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44. « lb. mi. 6266.
13 lb. vii. 938. u lb. vii. 1348.
## p. 477 (#509) ############################################
Legendary Names 477
and Ireland that is to be obtained from legends and from folk-lore,
cannot always be estimated with certainty, but there can be little
doubt that many of the characters of both Irish and Welsh legend bear
names which once had a religious significance, and that many popular
beliefs and customs found in the British Isles go back to pre-Christian
times. By the help of Keltic philology several proper names found in
legend, such as Mabon and Nudd, to which reference has been made, can
be identified with names of deities that occur on inscriptions, or they
can be shewn to be similar in formation to certain known types of
divine names. For example, -onos and -ona were favourite Keltic
terminations for the names of gods and goddesses respectively, and
certain Welsh names ending in -on of legendary characters appear from
their very structure to have been at one time the names of deities. In
addition to Mabon (Maponos) and Modron (Matrona), already men-
tioned, may be adduced Khiannon (Regantona), meaning "the divine
queen,1' Teyrnon (Tigernonos), " the divine lord," Banon (Banona)," the
divine lady," Amaethon (Ambactonos), "the divine husbandman,"
Gofannon (Gobannonos), "the divine smith. " The two latter names
suggest the existence among the Kelts of Britain of departmental
deities. Certain river-names, too, suggest by their forms that they
were of this type, for example, Aeron (Agrona), "the goddess of war,"
Tarannon (Tarannonos or Tarannona), "the god or goddess of thunder,"
Ieithon (Iectona), "the goddess of speech. "
Other legendary names, such as Ler of Irish legend and Llyr of
Welsh legend, have meanings which throw light on their original
character, for example, "llyr" is used in Welsh poetry for the sea,
and there can be little doubt but that the original of both Ler and
Llyr was the god of the Irish sea, whose son was the Irish Manannan (the
Welsh Manawyddan), the eponymous deity of the Isle of Man. The name
Lug, again, of Irish, and Lieu of Welsh legend, is phonetically equivalent
to that of Lugus of Gaul, and the meaning of the Welsh word, namely,
light, makes it probable that this god had originally some association
with the sun or with fire. In Ireland, the legends sometimes speak of
certain characters as divine; for example, the goddess Danu or Dana, in
the name of the legendary Tuatha De Danann (the tribes of the goddess
Danu). Similarly, the glossary attributed to Cormac (King-Bishop of
Cashel in the ninth century), speaks of the goddess Ana as mater deorum,
and mentions a goddess Brigit, a poetess and prophetess, worshipped by
the poets of ancient Erin. Her father, too, the Dagda, is represented as
divine, while her sisters (also called Brigit), were like herself represented
as goddesses, the one being patroness of the healing-art, the other of
smith-work. There were, also, two Irish war-goddesses, called the
Mdr-rigu and Bodb Catha. Certain beings belonging to the Tuatha
De Danann, such as Nuada of the Silver Hand, Ogma, Dian Cecht,
Goibniu, Mider and a few others, along with Lug and Ler, appear to
CH. XV. (b)
## p. 478 (#510) ############################################
478 Christian evidence. Folk-lore
have been traditionally raised above the human plane. Another being
who was regarded as divine was the Mac Oc, who was said to have been
the son of Dagda the Great and the goddess Boann.
In the lives of the early missionaries of Ireland there are some
allusions to the heathenism of the country, and one of the best accounts
of this heathenism is to be found in the Tripartite Life of St Patrick
(trans, by the late Dr Whitley Stokes in Revue Celtique, i. p. 260). This
version of St Patrick's life is attributed to St Eleranus of the seventh
century. The passage reads as follows: "Thereafter went Patrick over
the water to Mag Slecht, a place wherein was the chief idol of Ireland,
to wit, Cenn Cruaich, covered with gold and silver, and twelve other idols
about it, covered with brass. When Patrick saw the idol from the water
whose name is Guth-ard (elevated its voice), and when he drew right unto
the idol, he raised his hand to put Jesus' crozier upon it, and did not
reach it, but it bowed westwards to turn on its right side, for its face was
from the south, to wit, to Tara. And the trace of the crozier abides on
its left side still, and yet the crozier moved not from Patrick's hand.
And the earth swallowed the twelve other images as far as their heads,
and they are thus in sign of the miracle, and he cursed the demon and
banished him to hell. 1' In the Book of Leiiister (twelfth century) Mag
Slecht is said to have been so called because the ancient Irish used to
sacrifice there the first-born of their children and of their flocks, in order
to secure power and peace in all their tribes, and to obtain milk and com
for the support of their families. A careful and discriminating study of
Keltic legends would reveal no small sediment of pre-Christian thought,
just as there are traces of the belief in a " Happy Other-world" and of
the rebirth of heroes, in the Irish Voyage of Bran, and non-Christian
pictures of another world in the Welsh Annwfn, which a medieval
Welsh poem represents as being beneath the earth. Similarly, the Keltic
folk-lore stories of water-bulls, water-horses, water-nymphsA fairies,
sprites, and the like give a clue to the way in which Nature Vas re-
garded by the Kelts of Britain, as of other lands, before Christianity
began its work in these islands.
