3611
Online museum and repository for historical and ancestral knowledge.
Stone statues on Boa Island (Irish: Badhbha, meaning “scald-crow”), lower Lough Erne; county Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.
The larger figure dates to the 5th century AD and is two-faced, which seems to tie it to the Roman liminal deity Janus; possible evidence that aspects of Roman religion were being adopted in Ireland. The smaller figure was brought over from nearby Lustymore Island and appears to be a “Sheela-na-Gig” (Irish: Síle na gCíoch; “Cecilia of the Breasts”). These were lewd and grotesque representations of women, which became common in Ireland during the medieval period. The origin and function of these strange statues is unknown, though there are various theories that attempt to explain the Sheela-na-Gigs: Some think them related to an ancient fertility cult. A more likely theory is that the trend was imported from France and England by the Normans, and that the statues represent demonic succubi, meant to function as a warning against lasciviousness.
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Iron mount portraying a warrior or chieftain with long braided hair and characteristic drooping moustache. Found near Cirencester (formerly Corinium Dobunnorum), in Gloucester, England; 1st century B.C. or AD. 🏴
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Arthur crushes the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Badon; art by Peter Dennis. 🏴⚔️🏴
The Battle of Badon was the feat that made Arthur a legend. After decades of war between Saxon invaders and native Romano-Britons, Arthur led the Britons of the Kingdom of Dumnonia (in England’s West Country) to a resounding victory that put an end to the war. The battle was mentioned by notable historians like Gildas, Bede, and Nennius, while the Annals of Wales record it in the year AD 516. Modern scholarship has favored AD 493 as a more likely date.
Not many details of the battle are known. The question as to the location of the battle, for example, remains unsolved. What’s knowable from the various accounts is that the Saxons had been brutally conquering Britain and were suddenly checked by the Britons in a battle where they suffered mass casualties. Some sources refer to the conflict as a “siege”, but it’s unclear which side was the besieged. From Nennius’ account (and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s) we get the detail that Arthur bore the image of the Virgin Mary on his shield —named Pridwen by Monmouth— during the battle, while the Annals of Wales differ and say it was the cross of Christ. Welsh tradition identifies Arthur’s antagonist as Osla Gyllellfawr (“Osla of the big knife”), who might be identifiable as the Jutish king Octa of Kent. The Dream of Rhonabwy portrays Arthur more concerned with playing a game of Celtic chess (gwyddbwyll) against one of his own men prior to the battle. The Saxons request a truce and Arthur grants it. The tale thus implies that the subsequent battle was a result of a violation of said truce.
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La Seña Bermeja (“The Scarlet Flag”); flag of the Spanish city of Zamora. 🇪🇸
Eight red stripes memorialize the Lusitanian hero Viriathus, representing the eight battles he won against Roman armies trying to conquer Iberia (148-139 B.C.) The green stripe was awarded by king Ferdinand II of Aragón (and V of Castile) in recognition for aid rendered to him by the people of the city at the 1476 Battle of Toro during the War of Castilian Succession.
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Bronze brooch depicting a horse and rider, found near Cirencester, England; 1st century AD. 🏴
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The ruins of Duntulm Castle, on the Trotternish Peninsula; Isle of Skye, Scotland. 🏴
Duntulm (Gaelic: Dùn Thuilm) dates back to the late 14th or early 15th century. It was probably built by the powerful McLeod clan of Lewis. After centuries of brutal clan warfare on Skye, Trotternish came under control of the McDonald clan of Sleat during the 16th century. Trotternish had been the last part of Scotland remaining as a living space for the once powerful Clan McNicol, who were entirely dispossessed and reduced to vassalage by the McLeods. It’s likely that after centuries of McLeod domination, the McNicols viewed the McDonalds as liberators. In subsequent years, the McNicols proved faithful and assiduous followers of the McDonalds, fighting alongside them in all their conflicts. Duntulm itself became an important seat for chiefs of the clan McDonald of Skye, who significantly improved it during the 17th century. The castle was finally abandoned in the year 1732.
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The Tarentaise Valley; Savoy, France. ⚜️🇫🇷 The valley has taken its name from the ancient Gallic town of Darantasia, which is now known as Moûtiers.
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St. Patrick preaches to Irish kings; stained glass in Carlow Cathedral, Ireland. 🇮🇪 Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all.
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Bronze enameled brooch found among the remains of a crannóg (lake dwelling) in Ballinderry Lake, county Offaly, Ireland; 7th century AD. 🇮🇪
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King Pelagius of Asturias; art by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau. 🇪🇸
The primary sources indicate that Pelagius was of Visigothic ancestry, and that he was elected as leader (“princeps”) by the native Astures people of northern Spain. He thus founded the Kingdom of Asturias, after refusing to submit to the Muslim conquerors who’d destroyed the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo, then destroying an army that was sent against him at the AD 722 Battle of Covadonga. Tradition holds that the remnants of the Muslim army who escaped were destroyed by a rockfall in the mountains of Cantabria while attempting to return homeward. Pelagius was left undisturbed to consolidate his kingdom, so that in subsequent generations the reconquista could be carried out in earnest.
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Bronze statuette of a stag found at a Gallic settlement near Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer, in Zell am See, Austria; 3rd or 2nd century B.C. 🇦🇹
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The river Boyne, in county Meath, Ireland. 🇮🇪
The river Boyne was recorded as Buvinda by the Greek geographer Ptolemy, likely reflecting a Celtic name that in Old Irish would be rendered Bó Fhinn, meaning “white cow”. The Boyne valley is replete with ritual assemblages from the remotest past —including Brú na Boinne and the Hill of Tara— and the river itself always teemed with myth and lore. One of the better known stories comes from the Dindsenchas or “Lore of Places”. It tells of Boann and her curiosity toward the sacred Well of Segais, also known as “Connla’s Well”, which harbored all the wisdom and knowledge in the world. The nine hazel trees of Crimhall the Sage surrounded it, dropping their nuts into the well, where they’d be eaten by Fintán, the famed Salmon of Knowledge. No one could visit the well save Boann’s husband Nechtán, but one day she defied this prohibition and visited the well, walking around it three times. The well then burst forth in a flood, drowning Boann and carving a valley all the way to the sea. The river Boyne was thus formed, taking it’s name from the unfortunate Boann. Later on, The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn tells of how the bard Finn Eces caught the elusive salmon Fintán in the river, and of how his pupil, the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, obtained the mystical knowledge after accidentally consuming some of the fish while cooking it for him.
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The Kirkburn Sword, found in a Celtic warrior’s burial in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England; 3rd it 2nd century B.C. 🏴 Artistic reconstruction in second image and modern semi-replica in third.
The sword is considered a masterpiece and has been described as the finest iron age sword in all of Europe. The iron sword came with a composite iron and bronze scabbard, while the handle guard was made of horn. The entire assemblage was decorated in La Tène style and encrusted with red glass beads. Uniquely in the Celtic world, in this part of Britain swords were usually strapped around the warrior’s back to be drawn from behind, rather than the typical usage from the hip. The warrior buried at Kirkburn was accompanied by a pig (for feasting in the afterlife), and three javelins had been thrown or thrust into his chest at the moment of burial. This strange gesture might indicate that he’d died of natural causes and his people were trying to remedy that by giving him as close to a warrior’s death as possible.
East Yorkshire is notable in archaeology for its rich La Tène assemblages and chariot burials, often in square barrows, referred to as the Arras Culture. The people of the Arras Culture have been identified as Gallic colonists, and Romans sources even recorded the presence of the Parisi tribe there; apparently the same people who inhabited the Seine river area of France and gave their name to the current capital. It would seem that they’d been settled in Yorkshire by the native Britons of the area to serve as mercenaries specializing in chariot warfare and weapon-smithing.
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Gold ring decorated in La Tène style; 4th century B.C. From a private collection; found near Regensburg, in Bavaria, Germany. 🇩🇪
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Aerial view of Loch na Bo and the Laich of Moray, near Lhanbryde, Scotland. 🏴
The Laich of Moray is the name given to the rich agricultural plains lying between the river Spey and the Muckle Burn (a tributary of the river Findhorn). The whole region —including the plains to the west stretching all the way to Inverness— was formerly called Magh Fortrenn in Gaelic, meaning “Plain of (the Kingdom of) Foirtriu”.
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“Le Dôme aux Dragons” (“The dragon dome”). Bronze fitting for a chariot with La Tène style decoration, from the Gallic cemetery of La Fosse Cotheret, in the Val d’Oise department of France; 3rd century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷
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Iron chains and shackles recovered from Llyn Cerrig Bach lake, on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales; 1st century B.C. 🏴
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Bronze disk of unknown purpose decorated in La Tène style, found at Monasterevin, in county Kildare, Ireland. 🇮🇪
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The adventures of Roussel de Bailleul; how a band of French knights almost succeded in reviving a Gallic state (i.e. Galatia) in Anatolia. ⚜️🇫🇷🇬🇷🇹🇷
Roussel de Bailleul was a medieval French knight who’d taken part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy, driving out Muslim invaders. He later went to Constantinople to help the Eastern Roman (i.e. “Byzantine”) Empire fight against the Seljuq Turks. Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes unwisely divided his forces before the 1071 Battle of Manzikert, where he was decisively defeated by the Seljuqs, and also captured and utterly humiliated. De Bailleul and his 3,000 French companions were among the units detached prior to the engagement, and so had not participated in the battle. Two years later, De Bailleul was dispatched to reconquer central Anatolia from the Turks. He successfully took Galatia and parts of Lycaonia, but then rebelled and set up an independent state. A Byzantine army sent to crush him was defeated at the Battle of the Zampos Bridge, and the French captured the commander and kaisar John Doukas, as well as his son Andronikos (the latter had betrayed and abandoned emperor Romanos at Manzikert, contributing to the disaster). De Bailleul then sacked Chrysopolis just opposite Constantinople and installed his prisoner, Doukas, as a puppet emperor. The rival emperor, Doukas’ nephew Michael VII, turned to the Turkish enemy for help. The Seljuq general Artuq was hired to attack De Bailleul and did so, defeating him through overwhelming numbers in a battle near Malagina and taking both him and John Doukas as prisoners. De Bailleul was ransomed by his wife and returned to Galatia, from where he continued to conquer territory in Anatolia (shown with green Rs on the map). The Byzantines sent another army against him in 1075, which succeeded in capturing him through treachery. He was released shortly afterward and brought back into Byzantine service. He helped capture the rebel official Nikephoritzes in the year 1078, but died shortly thereafter. Some years later, relatives of De Ballieul migrated from France to England, and from there to Scotland, where they became the renown Balliol clan. The Scottish throne would even be occupied by two members of the House of Balliol, John and Edward.
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Remarkably well preserved leather shoe, from the Celtic salt-mining settlement at Dürnberg-Hallein, in Salzburg state, Austria; 6th century B.C. 🇦🇹
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Remains of the walls and defensive ditch of Contrebia Leukade, an ancient Celtiberian settlement near Aguilar del Río Alhama, in La Rioja province, Spain. 🇪🇸
The massive defensive ditch was carved into the bedrock of a mountain. In spite of these impressive defenses, the city —which remained loyal to Rome during the revolt of the Roman general Quintus Sertorius— was taken by the same Sertorius after a 44 day siege in the year 76 B.C. The city remained inhabited until the 2nd century AD, when the inhabitants abandoned it and scattered. A new settlement was built there in the 7th century, during Visigothic rule. This settlement lasted less than two centuries, again being abandoned after a short time under Islamic rule. More than likely its abandonment —and those of many other settlements in the region— had something to do with the devastating defeat suffered by the Islamic Banu Qasi dynasty at the hands of the Christian kingdoms of Asturias and Pamplona at the Second Battle of Albelda (year 859).
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Late 5th century B.C. cup decorated in La Tène style with gold overlay, from the burial of a Gallic chieftain near Schwarzenbach, in Saarland, Germany. 🇩🇪
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River Spey with Cairngorm mountains in the background; Badenoch and Strathspey, Scotland. 🏴
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Bronze torc decorated in La Tène style, discovered in the burial of a Gallic chieftain near Manre, in the Ardennes department of France; 2nd century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷
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Pictish stone featuring musicians and a dog, from Tower of Lethendy near Blairgowrie, in Gowrie, Scotland; 8th century AD. 🏴
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La Tène style sword and scabbard found somewhere in Austria; 5th or 4th century B.C. 🇦🇹 From a private collection.
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Bronze ceremonial helmet decorated with three circular loops, found among the ruins of a Gallic sanctuary in Tintignac à Naves, in the Corrèze department of France; 2nd or 1st century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷 Artist’s reconstruction shown on the right.
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Bronze mount for a shield-boss decorated in La Tène style with a triskele, found among the hoard of items buried at Tal-y-llyn, in Gwynedd, Wales; 1st century AD. 🏴
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