Even the most cursory wander across Anglesey reveals its rich past.
An abundance of menhirs, cairns and megaliths is concentrated within its borders. The landscape is marked with the remains of fortresses and other settlements. Some belong to the Romans or Iron Age Celts; others are much older.
Here are place-names lifted from legend. From the Mabinogion, there's Aber Alaw, where Branwen died of grief upon her return from Ireland. Her cairn Bedd Branwen can still be seen near Llanddeusant, right where we'd expect it to be, on the banks of the River Alaw.
Dig a little deeper and Anglesey's importance in Pagan history becomes even more apparent. Still called Ynys Môn in Welsh, this island was the ancient home of the Druids.
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Comments
Link suggesting that Môn before the Romans was Menapii.
It's also the theory of Norman Mongan in "Menapia Quest".
The influent druids were very probably Menapians druids.
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Ah! Yes, true story. It's been a while since I read it. Perhaps I'll join you with a re-read.
If there was a conversion on any significant scale we must recall that Ireland was several kingdoms and the poltics of one would differ from the poltics of others, and poltics were very fluid, so purely poltical conversions would not last.
I'd heard, but forgotten that, many years ago. Thank you for the reminder. It does seem that the early Christian Church, at least in Eire, was Druidic. I wonder if it was a political or spiritual conversion.
Thanks, Jo. That's next book on the reading list after I finish my present one. What is worth noting in connection with what you say is that the Irish church used the druidic tonsure,in which the hair was shaven at the front. This does indicate that the Christians did not see the druidic tradition as totally inimical to what they stood for.
You REALLY should read Thomas Cahill's 'How the Irish Saved Civilisation'. He basically argues that the Druids in Ireland converted en masse to Christianity, and that the Church there was basically the Druidic network - and admin etc - under another name. When the Vandals sacked Rome, followed by the Huns et al, then it was the Irish Church which effectively became the temporary centre of Christianity around the world. They were able to provide all of the documentation later, when the Roman Church was ready to rebuild.
I'm no expert here, so I can't judge how credible Cahill's evidence and arguments are, but it sounds like something you could really get your teeth into.
That's interesting stuff.
But today when reflecting on Ynys Mon and the fate of the Druids I realized how the Romans shot themselves in the foot with the massacre. In slaughtering Druids they destroyed/damaged the most intellectually vigorous form of paganism at that time. Graeco-Roman paganism was intellectually bankrupt, but Druidism was strong and could ask questions, and it posed an alternative to the most vigorous pagan thought system at the time, Philosophy. Thus they cleared the way for the Christian faith, which they also disliked, to spread across Europe. This is not to say that I approve the massacre, as the Christian God cannot be served by murder [though the inquisition tried to do it, but they served the clerical power structure.]
Note how intellectually vigorous Irish Christianity was. Is this to do with clerics having to hone their minds in discussions with the Druids, who were strong in Erin?
At least two of my branches end up in Ireland too - though I suppose I'm looking at that like a historian, rather than a normal human being. The branches quite patently ended up here!
Yes, I frequently encounter British people wandering around Ireland (before that was a seriously bad thing). There are legends about Arthur and Merlin going. Gildas was lodged there for a while to. Lots of Welsh saints, in fact, had some time in the monasteries of Eire. Plus you get hints from the divine legends, like St Dwynwyn (not at all to be mistaken for the Welsh deity of precisely the same name and aspect and just about everything else), who was being abused by Maelgwn Gwynedd, so she walked on water across to Ireland to escape him.
I've not actually looked, but I'm certain I'm going to find British druids cropping up in the Irish Annals.
I did not know that Welsh legends chimed in with my theory about druids surviving the Roman atrocity. British pagans could cross to Ireland and seek druidic ministry/training, and some druids may have made the opposite journey as Rome's grip began to fail.
The idea of people crossing the Irish Sea appeals to me: it's how half my genes arrived here.
That would make a lot of sense. It also chimes well with the Welsh legends, both of its bards and its priests. There's a lot of them where people cross back and forth over the Irish Sea. You're probably onto something.