The Anathemata
Mabinog’s Liturgy (continued)
Now there was a survey!1
Oh, long, long, long before the maid of Falaisea brought forth her Devil’s baban, Gwilim Domesday—who thought no shame to ask what is shame to say.2
You see, sister, we are conversant with the annals and are read in Imago Mundi,b in the chronicle of the Saeson,3 in Prosperc and in Isidore,d and will, moreover, hear you in Martianus Capella,e on the sweet nuptuals of Philologia—
you in y’r stockings of blue!
Where did you pick ’em up, Marged? in Maridunumf market
or were they salvaged from the cindered booths of Ruthin,4
or wand-wove are they by the conjurer of Arfon,g or was you
in Dociau5 Swansea with a môrleidr6 black, or did you win’ em
from the white Gynt7 of Iwerddon?
We know you get about!
David Jones notes
1 Nut, Nudd or Nodens, equates with Lludd, who became ‘King Lud’ the eponym of London. See Adventure of Lludd and LIefeIys: ‘And a while thereafter Lludd had the Island measured in its length and in its breadth and at Oxford he found the point of centre.’ Nudd’s son, Edern, a demi-god in Celtic myth, became fitz Nut, the magician, in the Romances.
2 The A. S. Chronicle on the character of the Conqueror and the nature of the Great Survey of 1086, says that ‘he (William) thought it no shame to do what is shameful to tell’.
3 Saeson, saess-on, ae as ah+eh, said as a monosyllable, both esses sibilant, accent on first syllable; the English people.
4 The sack of Ruthin (rith-in) on the eve of the great Fair of St Matthew, in 1400, signalled the Glyn Dŵr revolt. So that the words ‘Ruthin Fair’ have certain proverbial connotations, comparable to e.g. the words ‘Drogheda’ or ‘Bunker Hill’.
5 Dociau, dok-yi, docks.
6 môrieidr, morr-lie-derr, accent on first syllable; viking; môr, sea, from latro.
7 Gynt, gint, g hard, from gentes, Scandinavians.
Iwerddon, ee-wer-thon, Ireland. Norwegians were called ‘White Heathen’, Danes ‘Black Heathen’.
additional notes
The original text has an image facing this page: He Frees the Waters. Unfinished wood-engraving, 1931. I have not been able to find an adequate reproduction.
DJ note 4: Drogheda: The Siege of Drogheda took place in 1649 at the outset of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The town of Drogheda in eastern Ireland was held by the Irish Catholic Confederation and English Royalists when it was besieged and stormed by English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell.
Bunker Hill: The Battle of Bunker Hill was a battle fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. The losses suffered by the British troops gave encouragement to the colonies, demonstrating that inexperienced militiamen were able to stand up to regular army troops in a pitched battle.
The three instances given in this note are all examples of victories achieved by the oppressed over the oppressors of their own country. ’Tis robbery, is Empire.
DJ note 6: latro: brigand, plunderer (Latin).
a William the Conqueror was born at Falaise, Normandy. His mother, Herleva, was the daughter of Fulbert of Falaise; Fulbert may have been a tanner or embalmer. baban is Welsh for baby.
b The Imago Mundo of Honorius Augustodunensis, a twelfth century scholar.
c The fifth century Augustinian Prosper of Aquitaine.
d The sixth century scholar Isidore of Seville.
e The fifth century writer Martianus Capella. The ‘sweet nuptials of Philologia’ was one of his most popular writings.
f Maridunum: Carmarthen.
g Merlin.
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