Archaic England Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 16.--"Kaadman." From _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_ (Wright, T.).]

Among the monkish loot at St. Albans was an ancient cameo herewith reproduced. This particular jewel was supposed to be of great efficacy and was ent.i.tled _Kaadman_; "perhaps," suggests Wright, "another mode of spelling _cadmeus_ or _cameus_". But in view of the fact that Alban means _all good_, it was more probably the picture of a sacred figure which the natives recognised as the original Kaadman, _i.e., Guidman_ or the Good Man.[131] The jewels found at St. Albans being unquestionably Gnostic it is quite within the bounds of probability that the Kaadman seal was an "idol" of what the Gnostics ent.i.tled Adam Caedmon or Adam Kadman. According to C. W. King the Adam Kadman or Primitive Man of Gnosticism, was the generative and conceptive principle of life and heat, Who manifested Himself in ten emanations or types of all creation.[132] In Irish _cad_ means _holy_; _good_ and _cad_ are the same word, whence Kaadman and the surnames Cadman and Goodman were probably once one. The word Albon or Albion means as it stands _all good_, or _all well_, and the river Beane, like the river Boyne--over whom presided the beneficent G.o.ddess Boanna--means _bien_, good, or _bene_ well. The Herefords.h.i.+re Beane was alternatively known as the river _Beneficia_, a name which to the modern etymologer working on standard lines confessedly "yields a curious conundrum".[133]

The Anglo-Saxon Abbot of St. Albans after having a.s.sured himself that the idolatrous books before-mentioned proved that the pagan British wors.h.i.+pped Phoebus, and Mercury consigned them to the flames with the same self-complacency as the Monk Patrick burnt 180--some say 300--MSS.

relative to the Irish Druids. These being deemed "unfit to be transmitted to posterity," posterity is proportionately the poorer.

Phoebus was the British Heol, Howel, or the Sun, and Mercury, was, as Caesar said, the Hercules of Britain. The snake-encircled club of Kaadman is the equivalent to the caduceus or snake-twined rod of Mercury; the human image in the hand of Kaadman implies with some probability that "Kaadman" was the All Father or the Maker of Mankind. We shall see subsequently that the Maker of All was personified as Michael or Mickle, and that St. Mickle and All Angels or All Saints stood for the Great Muckle leading the Mickle--"many a mickel makes a muckle". St. Michael is the patron saint of Gorhambury, a suburb of St. Albans, and in Christian Art St. Michael is almost invariably represented with the scales and other attributes of Anubis, the Mercury of Egypt. Both Anubis of Egypt and Mercury of Rome were connected with the dog, and Anubis was generally represented with the head of a dog or jackal. In _The Gnostics and their Remains_, King ill.u.s.trates on plate F a dog or jackal-headed man which is subscribed with the name MICHAH, and it is probable the word _make_ is closely a.s.sociated with Micah or Mike.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANUBIS. FIG. 17.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 18.--From _An Essay on Ancient Coins, Medals, and Gems_ (Walsh, R.).]

Eastern tradition states that St. Christopher, or St. Kit, was a Canaanitish giant, 12 feet in stature, having the head of a dog. The kilted figure represented in the Gnostic cameo here ill.u.s.trated, is seemingly that same Kitman, or Kaadman, Bandog, or Good Dog, and _chien_, the French for dog, Irish _chuyn_, may be equated with _geon_, _geant_, or _giant_. The wors.h.i.+p of the _chien_ was carried in the Near East to such a pitch that a great city named Cynopolis or Dog-Town existed in its honour. The priests of Cynopolis, who maintained a golden image of their divine _kuon_ or _chien_, termed themselves Kuons, and these _kuons_ or dog-ministers were, according to some authorities, the original Cohen family. A beautiful relievo of Adonis and his dog has been unearthed at Albano in Etruria; Fig. 13 is accompanied by bandogs(?); Albania in Asia Minor is mentioned by Maundeville as abounding in fierce dogs, and in Albion, where we still retain memories of the Dog Days, it will be shown to be probable that sacred dogs were maintained near London at the mysteriously named Isle of Dogs. Until the past fifty years the traditions of this island at Barking were so uncanny that the site remained inviolate and unbuilt over. Whence, I think, it may originally have been a _kennel_ or _Cynopolis_, where the _kuons_ of the Cantians or Candians were religiously maintained.[134]

We shall deal more fully with the cult and symbolism of the dog in a future chapter ent.i.tled "The Hound of Heaven". Not only in England, but also in Ireland, place-names having reference to the dog are so persistent that Sir J. Rhys surmised the dog was originally a totem in that country.

In connection with _chuyn_, the Irish for dog, it may be noted that one of the t.i.tles of St. Patrick--whence all Irishmen are known as Paddies--was Taljean or Talchon, and moreover that Crete was alternatively known to the ancients as Telchinea. In Cornish and in Welsh _tal_ meant high; in old English it meant valiant, whence Shakespeare says, "Thou'rt a _tall_ fellow"; in the Mediterranean the Maltese _twil_; Arabic _twil_ meant _tall_ and hence we may conclude that the present predominant meaning of our _tall_ was once far spread, Talchon meaning either _tall geon_ or _tall chein_, _i.e._, dog-headed giant Christopher.

The outer inscription around Fig. 18 is described as "altogether barbarous and obscure," but as far as can be deciphered the remaining words--"a corruption of Hebrew and Greek--signify 'the sun or star has shone'".[135] I have already suggested a connection between _John_, _geon_, _chien_, _s.h.i.+ne_, _shone_, _sheen_, and _sun_.

It is probable that not only the literature of the saints but also many of the national traditions of our own and other lands arose from the misinterpretation of the symbolic signs and figures which preceded writing. The "diabolical idols" of Britain, as Gildas admitted, far exceeded those in Egypt; similarly in Crete, the fantastic hieroglyphics not yet read or understood far out-Egypted Egypt. The Christian Fathers fell foul with Gnostic philosophers for the supposed insult of representing Christ on the Cross with the head of an a.s.s; but it is quite likely that the Gnostic intention--the a.s.s being the symbol of meekness--was to portray Christ's meekness, and that no insult was intended. A notable instance of the way in which ignorant and facetious aliens misconstrued the meaning of national or tribal emblems has been preserved in the dialogue of a globe-trotting Greek who lived in the second century of the present era. The incident, as self-recorded by the chatty but unintelligent Greek, is Englished by Sir John Rhys as follows: "The Celts call Heracles in the language of their country Ogmios, and they make very strange representations of the G.o.d. With them he is an extremely old man, with a bald forehead and his few remaining hairs quite grey; his skin is wrinkled and embrowned by the sun to that degree of swarthiness which is characteristic of men who have grown old in a seafaring life: in fact, you would fancy him rather to be a Charon or j.a.petus, one of the dwellers in Tartarus, or anybody rather than Heracles. But although he is of this description he is, nevertheless, attired like Heracles, for he has on him the lion's skin, and he has a club in his right hand; he is duly equipped with a quiver, and his left hand displays a bow stretched out: in these respects he is quite Heracles. It struck me, then, that the Celts took such liberties with the appearance of Heracles in order to insult the G.o.ds of the Greeks and avenge themselves on him in their painting, because he once made a raid on their territory, when in search of the herds of Geryon he harra.s.sed most of the western peoples. I have not, however, mentioned the most whimsical part of the picture, for this old man Heracles draws after him a great number of men bound by their ears, and the bonds are slender cords wrought of gold and amber, like necklaces of the most beautiful make; and although they are dragged on by such weak ties, they never try to run away, though they could easily do it: nor do they at all resist or struggle against them, planting their feet in the ground and throwing their weight back in the direction contrary to that in which they are being led. Quite the reverse: they follow with joyful countenance in a merry mood, and praising him who leads them pressing on one and all, and slackening their chains in their eagerness to proceed: in fact, they look like men who would be grieved should they be set free. But that which seemed to me the most absurd thing of all I will not hesitate also to tell you: the painter, you see, had nowhere to fix the ends of the cords, since the right hand of the G.o.d held the club and his left the bow; so he pierced the tip of his tongue, and represented the people as drawn on from it, and the G.o.d turns a smiling countenance towards those whom he is leading. Now I stood a long time looking at these things, and wondered, perplexed and indignant. But a certain Celt standing by, who knew something about our ways, as he showed by speaking good Greek--a man who was quite a philosopher, I take it, in local matters--said to me, 'Stranger, I will tell you the secret of the painting, for you seem very much troubled about it. We Celts do not consider the power of speech to be Hermes, as you Greeks do, but we represent it by means of Heracles, because he is much stronger than Hermes. Nor should you wonder at his being represented as an old man, for the power of words is wont to show its perfection in the aged; for your poets are no doubt right when they say that the thoughts of young men turn with every wind, and that age has something wiser to tell us than youth. And so it is that honey pours from the tongue of that Nestor of yours, and the Trojan orators speak with one voice of the delicacy of the lily, a voice well covered, so to say, with bloom; for the bloom of flowers, if my memory does not fail me, has the term lilies applied to it. So if this old man Heracles, by the power of speech, draws men after him, tied to his tongue by their ears, you have no reason to wonder, as you must be aware of the close connection between the ears and the tongue. Nor is there any injury done him by this latter being pierced; for I remember, said he, learning while among you some comic iambics, to the effect that all chattering fellows have the tongue bored at the tip. In a word, we Celts are of opinion that Heracles himself performed everything by the power of words, as he was a wise fellow, and that most of his compulsion was effected by persuasion. His weapons, I take it, are his utterances, which are sharp and well-aimed, swift to pierce the mind; and you too say that words have wings.' Thus far the Celt."[136]

The moral of this incident may be applied to the svastika cross, an ubiquitous symbol or trade-mark which Andrew Lang surmised might after all have merely been "a bit of natural ornament". The sign of the cross will be more fully considered subsequently, but meanwhile one may regard the svastika as the trade-mark of Troy. The Cornish for _cross_ was _treus_, and among the ancients the cross was the symbol of truce.[137]

The Sanscrit name _svastika_ is composed of _su_, meaning soft, gentle, pleasing, or propitious, and _asti_ (Greek _esto_), meaning _being_. It was universally the symbol of the Good Being or St. Albion, or St. All Well; it retains its meaning in its name, and was the counterpart to the Dove which symbolisms Innocence, Peace, Simplicity, and Goodwill. There is no doubt that the two emblems were the insignia of the prehistoric Giants, t.i.tans, or followers of the Good Sun or s.h.i.+ne, or Suns.h.i.+ne, men who trekked from one or several centres, to India, Tartary, China, and j.a.pan. Moreover, these trekkers whom we shall trace in America and Polynesia, were seafaring and not overland folk, otherwise we should not find the Cyclopean buildings with their concomitant symbols in Africa, Mexico, Peru, and the islands of the Pacific.

The svastika in its simpler form is the cross of St. Andrew, Scotch Hender or Hendrie. In British the epithet _hen_ meant _old_ or _ancient_, so that the cross of _Hen drie_ is verbally the cross of old or ancient Drew, Droia, or Troy. This is also historically true, for the svastika has been found under the ruins of the ten or dozen Troys which occupy the immemorial site near Smyrna.

Our legends state that Bru or Brut, after tarrying awhile at Alba in Etruria, travelled by sea into Gaul, where he founded the city of Tours.

Thence after sundry bickers with the Gauls he pa.s.sed onward into Britain which acquired its name from Brute, its first Duke or Leader. We shall connote Britannia, whose first official portraits are here given, with the Cretan G.o.ddess Britomart, which meant in Greek "sweet maiden". One of these Britannia figures has her finger to her lips, or head, in seemingly the same att.i.tude as the consort of the Giant Dog, and the interpretation is probably identical with that placed by Dr. Walsh upon that gnostic jewel. "Among the Egyptians," he says, "it was deemed impossible to wors.h.i.+p the deity in a manner worthy by words, adopting the sentiments of Plato--that it was difficult to find the nature of the Maker and Father of the Universe, or to convey an idea of him to the people by a verbal description--and they imagined therefore the deity Harpocrates who presided over silence and was always represented as inculcating it by holding his finger on his lips". We know from Caesar that secrecy was a predominant feature of the Drui or Druidic system, and for this custom the reasons are thus given in a Bardic triad: "The Three necessary but reluctant duties of the bards of the Isle of Britain: Secrecy, for the sake of peace and the public good; invective lamentation demanded by justice; and the unsheathing of the sword against the lawless and the predatory".

Britain is in Welsh Prydain, and, according to some Welsh scholars, the root of Prydain is discovered in the epithet _pryd_, which signifies _precious_, _dear_, _fair_, or _beautiful_. This, a.s.sumed Thomas, "was at a very early date accepted as a surname in the British royal family of the island".[138] I think this Welsh scholar was right and that not only Britomart the "sweet maiden," but also St. Bride, "the Mary of the Gael," were the archetypes of Britannia; St. Bride is alternatively St.

Brighit, whence, in all probability, the adjective _bright_. At Brightlingsea in Ess.e.x is a Sindry or _Sin derry_ island(?); in the West of England many villages have a so-called 'sentry field,' and undoubtedly these were originally the saintuaries, centres, and sanctuaries of the districts. To take sentry meant originally to seek refuge, and the primary meaning of _terrible_ was _sacred_. Thus we find even in mediaeval times, Westminster alluded to by monkish writers as a _locus terribilis_ or sacred place. The moots or courts at Brightlingsea were known as Brodhulls, whence it would appear that the Moothill or Toothill of elsewhere was known occasionally as a Brod or Brutus Hill.

Some of the Britannias on page 120 have the aspect of young men rather than maidens, and there is no doubt that Brut was regarded as androginous or indeterminately as youth or maiden. We shall trace him or her at Broadstairs, a corruption of Bridestow, at Bradwell, at Bradport, at Bridlington, and in very many more directions. From Pryd come probably the words _pride_, _prude_, and _proud_, and in the opinion of our neighbours these qualities are among our national defects. Claiming a proud descent we are admittedly a _dour_ people, and our neighbours deem us _triste_, yet, nevertheless trustworthy, and inclined to truce.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 19.--From _An Essay on Medals_ (Pinkerton, J.).]

On the s.h.i.+eld of one of the first Britannias is a bull's head, whence it may be a.s.sumed the bull was anciently as nowadays a.s.sociated with John Bull. At British festivals our predecessors used to antic in the guise of a bull, and the bull-headed actor was ent.i.tled "The Broad". The bull was intimately connected with Crete; Britomart was the Lady of All Creatures, and seemingly the _brutes_ in general were named either after her or Brut. The British word for bull was _tarw_, the Spanish is _toro_; in Etruria we find the City of Turin or Torino using as its cognisance a rampant bull; and I have little doubt that the fabulous Minotaur was a physical brute actually maintained in the terrible recesses of some yet-to-be-discovered labyrinth. The subterranean mausoleums of the Sacred Bulls of Egypt are among the greatest of the great monuments of that country; the bull-fights of Spain were almost without doubt the direct descendants of sacred festivals, wherein the slaying of the Mithraic Bull was dramatically presented, but in Crete itself the bull-fights seem to have been amicable gymnastic games wherein the most marvellous feats of agility were displayed.

Ill.u.s.trations of these graceful and intrepid performances are still extant on Cretan frieze and vase, the colours being as fresh to-day as when laid on 3000 years ago.

In Britain the national sport seems to have been bull-baiting, and the dogs a.s.sociated with that pastime presumably were bull-dogs. Doggedness is one of the ingrained qualities of our race; of recent years the bull-dog has been promoted into symbolic evidence of our tenacity and doggedness. Our mariners are sea-_dogs_, and the modern bards vouch us to be in general boys of the bull-dog breed. The mascot bull-dogs in the shops at this moment serve the same end as the mascot emblems and mysterious hieroglyphics of the ancients, and the Egyptian who carried a scarabaeus or an Eye of Horus, acted without doubt from the same simple, homely impulse as drives the modern Englishman to hang up the picture of a repulsive animal subscribed, "What we have we'll hold".

The prehistoric dog or jackal symbolised not tenacity or courage, but the maker of tracks, for the well-authenticated reason that dogs were considered the best guides to practicable courses in the wilderness.

Bull-headed men and dog-headed men are represented constantly in Cretan Art, and these in all likelihood symbolised the primeval bull-dogs who trekked into so many of the wild and trackless places of the world.

The Welsh have a saying, "Tra Mor, Tra Brython," which means, "as long as there is sea so long will there be Britons". Centuries ago, Diodorus of Sicily mentioned the Kelts as "having an immemorial taste for foreign expeditions and adventurous wars, and he goes on to describe them as 'irritable, prompt to fight, in other respects simple and guileless,'

thus, according with Strabo, who sums up the Celtic temperament as being simple and spontaneous, willingly taking in hand the cause of the oppressed".[139]

Diodorus also mentions the Kelts as clothed sometimes "in tissues of variegated colours," which calls to mind the tartans of the Alban McAlpines, Ians, Jocks, Sanders, Hendries, and others of that ilk.

The dictionaries define the name Andrew as meaning _a man_, whence _androgynous_ and _anthropology_; in Cornish _antrou_ meant _lord_ or _master_, and these early McAndrews were doubtless masterly, tyrannical, dour, derring-doers, inconceivably daring in der-doing. To _try_ means make an effort, and we speak proverbially of "working like a Trojan".

The corollary is that tired feeling which must have sorely tried the tyros or young recruits. After daring and trying and tiring, these dour men eventually turned _adre_, which is Cornish for _homeward_. Whether their hearts were turned Troy-ward in the _aegean_ or to some small unsung British _tre_ or Troynovant, who can tell? "I am now in Jerusalem where Christ was born," wrote a modern argonaut to his mother, but, he added, "I wish I were in Wigan where I was born."

FOOTNOTES:

[86] Taylor, Rev. T., _The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall_, p.

27.

[87] Morris-Jones, Sir J., _Y. Cymmrodor_, xxvii., p. 240.

[88] Margoliouth, M., _The Jews in Great Britain_, p. 33.

[89] As bearing upon this statement I reprint in the Appendix to the present volume a very remarkable extract from _Britain and the Gael_ (Wm. Beal), 1860.

[90] Wilkes, Anna, _Ireland: Ur of the Chaldees_, p. 6.

[91] Introduction to Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_ (Everyman's Library).

[92] Plutarch, _De Defectu Oraculorum_, xvii.

[93] Eckenstein, L., _Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes_, p. 70.

[94] Clodd, E., _Tom t.i.t Tot_, p. 131.

[95] Mackenzie, D. A., _Myths of Crete and Pre-h.e.l.lenic Europe_, p. 326.

[96] _Cf._ Poste, B., _Britannic Researches_, p. 220.

[97] _Y Cymmrodor_, xxviii.

[98] Triad 4.

[99] "The notion that the Albanian is a mere mixture of Greek and Turkish has long been superseded by the conviction that though mixed it is essentially a separate language. The doctrine also that it is of recent introduction into Europe has been similarly abandoned. There is every reason for believing that as Thunmann suggested, it was, at dawn of history, spoken in the countries where it is spoken at the present moment."--Latham, R. G., _Varieties of Man_, p. 552.

[100] Rhys, J., _Celtic Britain_.

[101] The same root may be behind _deruish_ or _dervish_.

[102] Gordon, E. O., _Prehistoric London_, p. 127.

[103] Virgil, _aeneid_, 79, 80, 81.

[104] _Cornish Feasts and Folklore_, p. 119.

[105] Malory, viii.

[106] I question the current supposition that this is a corruption of _chy an woon_ or "house on the hill".

[107] Beal, W., _Britain and the Gael_, p. 22.