Happy Keltik New Year's Eve: October Tales, Part 3 of 3

Dear JSMT Members, Alumni, & Friends:

For the third and final installment of my “October Tales” series, I’d like to present a story that has captivated my imagination since the late 1980s, which saw me fall in love with my Keltik heritage! J Every culture has a foundational legend or cycle of legends – stories that explain how and why the culture was founded, and by whom. Such stories exemplify the values and beliefs of the people who transmit them from one generation to the next. For medieval Britons, their foundational legend is grounded in the classical poetry of Homer and Virgil, as can be seen from the story of Brutus the Trojan, the legendary first King of Britain, as retold below.

The Legend of Brutus the Trojan

By Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867)

Excerpted from The Age of Chivalry (1858) – Chapter II: “The Mythical History of England”

Note: In honor of the KeltiK New Year (which falls on November 1), we present the legend of Brutus the Trojan – an exiled prince who eventually became King Brutus I Felix of Britain.  The legendary migration of the Trojan exiles from Greece to Britain is supposed to have taken place around 1100 BCE.

        The illustrious poet, [John] Milton, in his History of England, is the author whom we chiefly follow in this chapter. According to the earliest accounts, Albion, a giant, and son of Neptune, a contemporary of Hercules, ruled over the island, to which he gave his name. Presuming to oppose the progress of Hercules in his western march, he was slain by him. Milton gives more regard to the story of Brutus, the Trojan, which, he says, is supported by “descents of ancestry long continued, laws and exploits not plainly seeming to be borrowed or devised, which on the common belief have wrought no small impression; defended by many, denied utterly by few.” The principal authority is Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose history, written in the twelfth century, purports to be a translation of a history of Britain brought over from the opposite shore of France, which, under the name of Brittany, was chiefly peopled by natives of Britain who, from time to time, emigrated thither, driven from their own country by the inroads of the Picts and Scots.

        Brutus was the son of Silvius, and he of Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, whose flight from Troy and settlement in Italy are narrated in Stories of Gods and Heroes. Brutus, at the age of fifteen, attending his father to the chase, unfortunately killed him with an arrow. Banished therefore by his kindred, he sought refuge in that part of Greece where Helenus, with a band of Trojan exiles, had become established. But Helenus was now dead, and the descendants of the Trojans were oppressed by Pandrasus, the king of the country. Brutus, being kindly received among them, so throve in virtue and in arms as to win the regard of all the eminent of the land above all others of his age. In consequence of this, the Trojans not only began to hope, but secretly to persuade him to lead them the way to liberty. To encourage them, they had the promise of help from Assaracus, a noble Greek youth, whose mother was a Trojan. He had suffered wrong at the hands of the king, and for that reason he more willingly cast in his lot with the Trojan exiles.

        Choosing a fit opportunity, Brutus with his countrymen withdrew to the woods and hills, as the safest place from which to expostulate, and sent this message to Pandrasus: “That the Trojans, holding it unworthy of their ancestors to serve in a foreign land, had retreated to the woods, choosing rather a savage life than a slavish one. If that displeased him, then, with his leave, they would depart to some other country.” Pandrasus, not expecting so bold a message from the sons of captives, went in pursuit of them, with such forces as he could gather, and met them on the banks of the Achelous, where Brutus got the advantage and took the king captive. The result was that the terms demanded by the Trojans were granted; the king gave his daughter Imogen in marriage to Brutus and furnished shipping, money, and fit provision for them all to depart from the land.

        The marriage being solemnized, and shipping from all parts got together, the Trojans, in a fleet of no less than three hundred and twenty sail, betook themselves to the sea. On the third day, they arrived at a certain island, which they found destitute of inhabitants, though there were appearances of former habitation, and among the ruins a temple of Diana. Brutus, here performing sacrifice at the shrine of the goddess, invoked an oracle for his guidance, in these lines:

“Goddess of shades, and huntress, who at will

Walks on the rolling sphere, and through the deep;

On thy third realm, the Earth, look now, and tell

What land, what seat of rest, thou bids me seek;

What certain seat where I may worship thee

For aye, with temples vowed and virgin choirs.”

To whom, sleeping before the altar, Diana in a vision thus answered:

“Brutus! Far to the west, in the ocean wide,

Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land there lies,

Seat-girt it lies, where giants dwelt of old;

Now, void, it fits thy people; thither bend

Thy course; there shall thou find a lasting seat;

There to thy sons another Troy shall rise,

And kings be born of these, whose dreaded might

Shall awe the world, and conquer nations bold.”

        Brutus, guided now, as he thought, by divine direction, sped his course towards the west, and, arriving at a place on the Tyrrhenian Sea, found there the descendants of certain Trojans who, with Antenor, came into Italy, of whom Corineus was the chief. These joined company, and the ships pursued their way till they arrived at the mouth of the river Loire, in France, where the expedition landed, with a view to a settlement; but [they] were so rudely assaulted by the inhabitants that they put to sea again and arrived at a part of the coast of Britain, now called Devonshire, where Brutus felt convinced that he had found the promised end of his voyage, landed his colony, and took possession.

        The island, not yet Britain, but Albion, was in a manner desert and inhospitable, occupied only by a remnant of the giant race whose excessive force and tyranny had destroyed the others. The Trojans encountered these and extirpated them, Corineus, in particular, signalizing himself by his exploits against them; from whom Cornwall takes its name, for that region fell to his lot, and there the hugest giants dwelt, lurking in rocks and caves, till Corineus rid the land of them. Brutus built his capital city and called it Troja Nova (New Troy), changed in time to Trinovantum, now London; and, having governed the isle 24 years, died, leaving three sons, Locrinus, Albanactus, and Camber. Locrinus had the middle part [England], Camber the west, called Cambria [Wales] from him, and Albanactus Albany, now Scotland.

Webliography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutus_of_Troy = A summary article on Brutus the Trojan, the legendary founder of the Kingdom of Britain
• http://www.bartleby.com/182/ = The Age of Chivalry: Legends of King Arthur by Thomas Bulfinch (1858)
• http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/gem/index.htm = History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth (1136)

Illustration of Brutus the Trojan from a fifteenth-century manuscript. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

October Tales: Part 2 of 3 -- United Nations Day

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the James Scholar Media Team:

In part two of my three-part series of “October Tales,” we celebrate the 69^th birthday of the United Nations. On this date in 1945, the U.N. Charter was signed by the founding members in San Francisco. The ideals enshrined in the U.N. Charter, however, were far from new. The framers of the charter took inspiration from many sources, including the United States Constitution (drafted in 1787) and the Law of Great Peace (the constitution of the Iroquois League of Native American nations, which was adopted in 1142). Democracy, the rule of law, and peacemaking are universal values that have sprung forth in many times and climes around the globe – not only in ancient Greece and Rome, but also in protohistoric North America. Here, then, are the preambles to these three founding documents, which form a golden chain of freedom, linking the past to the present and the future of the human race.

Opening Articles of the Iroquois Constitution (1142)

Spoken by the Prophet Deganawidah and His Chief Disciples, Hiawatha (Chief Orator) and Jikonhsaseh (Mother of Nations)

1. I am Dekanawidah and with the Five Nations' Confederate Lords I plant the Tree of Great Peace. I plant it in your territory, Adodarhoh, and the Onondaga Nation, in the territory of you who are Firekeepers. I name the tree the Tree of the Great Long Leaves. Under the shade of this Tree of the Great Peace we spread the soft white feathery down of the globe thistle as seats for you, Adodarhoh, and your cousin Lords. We place you upon those seats, spread soft with the feathery down of the globe thistle, there beneath the shade of the spreading branches of the Tree of Peace. There shall you sit and watch the Council Fire of the Confederacy of the Five Nations, and all the affairs of the Five Nations shall be transacted at this place before you, Adodarhoh, and your cousin Lords, by the Confederate Lords of the Five Nations.

2. Roots have spread out from the Tree of the Great Peace, one to the north, one to the east, one to the south and one to the west. The name of these roots is The Great White Roots and their nature is Peace and Strength. If any man or any nation outside the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the Great Peace and make known their disposition to the Lords of the Confederacy, they may trace the Roots to the Tree and if their minds are clean and they are obedient and promise to obey the wishes of the Confederate Council, they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves. We place at the top of the Tree of the Long Leaves an Eagle who is able to see afar. If he sees in the distance any evil approaching or any danger threatening he will at once warn the people of the Confederacy.

3. To you Adodarhoh, the Onondaga cousin Lords, I and the other Confederate Lords have entrusted the care taking and the watching of the Five Nations Council Fire. When there is any business to be transacted and the Confederate Council is not in session, a messenger shall be dispatched either to Adodarhoh, Hononwirehtonh or Skanawatih, Fire Keepers, or to their War Chiefs with a full statement of the case desired to be considered. Then shall Adodarhoh call his cousin (associate) Lords together and consider whether or not the case is of sufficient importance to demand the attention of the Confederate Council. If so, Adodarhoh shall dispatch messengers to summon all the Confederate Lords to assemble beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves. When the Lords are assembled the Council Fire shall be kindled, but not with chestnut wood1, and Adodarhoh shall formally open the Council. Then shall Adodarhoh and his cousin Lords, the Fire Keepers, announce the subject for discussion. The Smoke of the Confederate Council Fire shall ever ascend and pierce the sky so that other nations who may be allies may see the Council Fire of the Great Peace. Adodarhoh and his cousin Lords are entrusted with the Keeping of the Council Fire.

Preamble to the United States Constitution

Adopted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1787)

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Preamble to the United Nations Charter

Adopted in San Francisco, California (1945)

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED

·        * to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and

·        * to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and

·        * to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and

·        * to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

AND FOR THESE ENDS

·        * to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and

·        * to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and

·        * to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and

·        * to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,

HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS

Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.

Next week, the third and final installment of our “October Tales” series will be released – on the Keltik New Year’s Eve! J

Until then –

Rob

October 2014 Leadership Reflection

Leadership Reflection for October 2014

Leadership in the Home: Family Relationships

      In my writings about leadership, I usually expound on how we can exercise leadership through exerting a positive influence in our workplace, often with reference to great leaders of the past and present and the lessons that they have to teach us. I’m going to make a departure from this customary point of view by sharing something with you about how the way we exercise leadership at home – in our family relationships – can transform society in a positive way. In honor of Sweetest Day (coming up on Saturday, October 18^th), I’m going to expound on the medieval ideals of “courtly love” and how its practice changed how people thought about love and family relationships, both within and beyond their households.

        One major assumption behind the ideals of “courtly love” was the equal partnership of men and women in building a better society and handing down these chivalric values to future generations. In the egalitarian ideals of “courtly love,” we can glimpse a foregleam of the women’s rights movement that was spearheaded by such luminaries as Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) in the United Kingdom and Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) in the United States. The ideals promulgated by the troubadours of medieval Europe have ultimately led to the opening of leadership roles to women in many levels of society, 800 years later.

The Occitan Culture of Love

By Rob Chappell, M.A., JSMT Advisor

Reprinted (and Slightly Revised) from Cursus Honorum (Course of Honors) VII: 3 (October 2006)

        With Sweetest Day (the third Saturday in October) just around the corner, let’s take a few moments to reflect on where the Western world got its basic ideas about romantic love. An overview of this topic could fill an entire book, but in brief: our Western notions of romantic love really began to take shape in 12th-century Occitania, a once-autonomous region in southern France that included the French Pyrenees and the Riviera.

        The spark that lit the flame of the Occitan “Culture of Love” was its cosmopolitan outlook. Occitania was a multicultural melting pot during the High Middle Ages, and its vibrant society was rather progressive for its time. In 12th-century Occitania, for example, religious tolerance was extended to all Christians (both Catholics and Cathars), Jews, and Muslims; and women were allowed to own property, engage in commerce, enjoy literary activity, and rule sovereign territories on their own. Within this tolerant atmosphere, the arrival of new belief systems (such as Catharism) from Eastern Europe, the importation of sophisticated love poetry from the Arab world, and the recovery of Classical Latin texts on the ancient Roman art of love profoundly impacted all levels of Occitan society: the nobility, the newly emergent middle class, and the peasantry.

        A new breeze was blowing in this open-minded corner of Europe that would forever change the Western outlook on romantic love. Instead of treating women as property that could be carried off or bartered away at will, the “Culture of Love” placed women on an equal par with men. Gentlemen had to practice “courtly manners” to woo the ladies of their choice, and “being courtly” included such things as serenading ladies from beneath their windows and exchanging gifts as tokens of love on a regular basis. To be successful suitors, gentlemen also had to become well versed in the Seven Liberal Arts, undertake heroic deeds of chivalry, and compose love poetry!

        The “Culture of Love” and its lofty romantic ideals quickly spread to royal courts and noble households across Europe. A new generation of love poets – the French troubadours and German Minnesingers – introduced their audiences to the new ideals of courtly love by composing and performing versified stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The chivalrous characters in these popular stories modeled the “art of courtly love” and held forth a new set of ideals for people to emulate.

        The “Culture of Love” has been preserved for us in countless Latin and vernacular books and songs from the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Here are some links to online resources about the “Culture of Love” that is still influencing us today, eight centuries after its zenith in Occitania.

·        Courtly Love: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/140814/courtly-love à This article summarizes the origins and spread of the culture of courtly love in Occitania and how its ideals have influenced Western civilization ever since.

·        Dante’s La Vita Nuova (The New Life): http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/TheNewLife.htm – Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) narrates his own experience of courtly love with Beatrice Portinari in this autobiographical masterpiece, composed in both poetry and prose.

·        Eleanor of Aquitaine: http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/England/Angevin/Eleanor.html – Eleanor, originally Duchess of Aquitaine (1122-1204), became Queen of England, chief patron of the troubadours, and mother of King Richard the Lionhearted!

October Tales: Part 1 of 3

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the JSMT:

Today, I’m featuring the first of three “October Tales” for your enjoyment as Halloween is just two weeks away (and with it, the arrival of the Keltik New Year!). This week’s tale is not Keltik in origin – instead, it’s a Continental tale that originated in Scandinavia and then migrated across the English Channel to England, where it was written down in epic verse by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, sometime during the 8^th century CE.

Bulfinch’s Mythology

By Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867)

Volume III: The Age of Chivalry (1913 Edition)

Beowulf

        1. Notable among the names of heroes of the British race is that of Beowulf, which appeals to all English-speaking people in a very special way, since he is the one hero in whose story we may see the ideals of our English forefathers before they left their Continental home to cross to the islands of Britain.

        2. Although this hero had distinguished himself by numerous feats of strength during his boyhood and early youth, it was as the deliverer of Hrothgar, king of Denmark, from the monster Grendel that he first gained wide renown. Grendel was half monster and half man, and had his abode in the fen-fastnesses in the vicinity of Hrothgar’s residence. Night after night he would steal into the king’s great palace called Heorot and slay sometimes as many as thirty at one time of the knights sleeping there.

        3. Beowulf put himself at the head of a selected band of warriors, went against the monster, and after a terrible fight slew it. The following night Grendel’s mother, a fiend scarcely less terrible than her son, carried off one of Hrothgar’s boldest thanes. Once more Beowulf went to the help of the Danish king, followed the she-monster to her lair at the bottom of a muddy lake in the midst of the swamp, and with his good sword Hrunting and his own muscular arms broke the sea-woman’s neck.

        4. Upon his return to his own country of the Geats, loaded with honors bestowed upon him by Hrothgar. Beowulf served the king of Geatland as the latter’s most trusted counsellor and champion. When, after many years, the king fell before an enemy, the Geats unanimously chose Beowulf for their new king. His fame as a warrior kept his country free from invasion, and his wisdom as a statesman increased its prosperity and happiness.

        5. In the fiftieth year of Beowulf’s reign, however, a great terror fell upon the land in the way of a monstrous fire-dragon, which flew forth by night from its den in the rocks, lighting up the blackness with its blazing breath, and burning houses and homesteads, men and cattle, with the flames from its mouth. When the news came to Beowulf that his people were suffering and dying, and that no warrior dared to risk his life in an effort to deliver the country from this deadly devastation, the aged king took up his shield and sword and went forth to his last fight. At the entrance of the dragon’s cave Beowulf raised his voice and shouted a furious defiance to the awesome guardian of the den. Roaring hideously and flapping his glowing wings together, the dragon rushed forth and half flew, half sprang, on Beowulf. Then began a fearful combat, which ended in Beowulf’s piercing the dragon’s scaly armor and inflicting a mortal wound, but alas! in himself being given a gash in the neck by his opponent’s poisoned fangs which resulted in his death. As he lay stretched on the ground, his head supported by Wiglaf, an honored warrior who had helped in the fight with the dragon, Beowulf roused himself to say, as he grasped Wiglaf’s hand:

        “Thou must now look to    the needs of the nation;

        Here dwell I no longer,    for Destiny calleth me!

        Bid thou my warriors    after my funeral pyre

        Build me a burial-cairn    high on the sea-cliff’s head;

        So that the seafarers    Beowulf’s Barrow

        Henceforth shall name it,    they who drive far and wide

        Over the mighty flood    their foamy keels.

        Thou art the last of all    the kindred of Wagmund!

        Wyrd has swept all my kin,    all the brave chiefs away!

        Now must I follow them!”

        6. These last words spoken, the king of the Geats, brave to seek danger and brave to look on death and Fate undaunted, fell back dead. According to his last desires, his followers gathered wood and piled it on the cliff-head. Upon this funeral pyre was laid Beowulf’s body and consumed to ashes. Then, upon the same cliff of Hronesness, was erected a huge burial cairn, widespread and lofty, to be known thereafter as Beowulf’s Barrow.

The Scandinavian warrior-hero Beowulf (fl. ca. 6th century CE) battles a fire-breathing dragon in this painting by J. R. Skelton (1908).  (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Next week, I’ll more October Tales to share in part two of this three-part series! :)

Merry Midterm Day!

Rob