The Hollow Hills - Mary Stewart [201]
Ambrosius' Wall. This is the Wansdyke, or Woden's Dyke, so called by the Saxons, who saw it as the work of the gods. It ran from Newbury to the Severn, and parts of it are still traceable. It was probably built some time between 450 and 475 A.D., so I have ascribed it to Ambrosius.
Caer Bannog. This name, old Celtic for "the castle of the peaks," is my own interpretation of the various names -- Carbonek, Corbenic, Caer Benoic, etc. -- given to the castle where the youth finds the Grail.
There is a Celtic legend in which Arthur carries off a cauldron (magic vessel or grail) and a wonderful sword from Nuadda or Llyd, King of the Otherworld.
Cei and Bedwyr. They are Arthur's companions in legend. Cei was Ector's son and became Arthur's seneschal. Bedwyr's name was later mediaevalized to Bedivere, but in his relationship with Arthur he seems to be the original of Lancelot. Hence the reference to the guenfawyvar (white shadow: Guinevere) which falls between the boys on page 342.
Cador of Cornwall. When Arthur died without issue, we are told that he left his kingdom to Cador's son.
Morgause. On the subject of Arthur's unwitting incest with his sister, there is a rich confusion of legend. The most usual story is that he lay with his half-sister Morgause, wife (or mistress) of Lot, and begot Mordred, who was eventually his downfall. His own sister Morgan, or Morgian, became "Morgan le Fay," the enchantress. Morgause is said to have borne four sons to Lot, who later were to become Arthur's devoted followers. This seemed unlikely if Arthur had lain with her when she was Lot's wife, so I have taken my own way through the confusion of the stories, with the suggestion that after leaving the court Morgause will lose no time in taking her sister's place as Lot's queen. I believe there was in the fifth century a nunnery near Caer Eidyn (Edinburgh) in Lothian to which Morgian could have retired. This could be the "house of witches" or "wise women" of legend, and it is tempting to suppose that Morgian and her nuns came from there to take Arthur away and nurse him after his last battle against Mordred at Camlann.
Coel, King of Rheged, is the original of the Old King Cole of the nursery rhymes. We are told that Hueil, one of the nineteen sons of Caw of Strathclyde, was much disliked by Arthur. Another of the sons, Gildas the monk, seems to have returned this dislike. It is he who, in 540 A.D., wrote The Loss and Conquest of Britain, without once mentioning Arthur by name, though he refers to the Battle of Badon Hill, the last of Arthur's twelve great battles, in which he broke the Saxon power. From the tone of Gildas' book it is to be inferred that, if Arthur was a Christian at all, his Christianity went no further than lip-service. At any rate he was no friend to the monks.
Caliburn is the most pronounceable of the names for Arthur's sword, which was later romanticized as Excalibur. White was Arthur's colour; his white hound, Cabal, has a place in legend. Canrith means "white phantom."
It will be seen from these necessarily sketchy notes that any given episode of my story may -- to quote Geoffrey Ashe again -- "be taken as fact or imagination or religious allegory or all three at once." In this, if in nothing else, it is wholly true to its time.
-- M.S.
November 1970 -- November 1972
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary Stewart, one of the most popular novelists writing today, was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England. Her father was a clergyman of the Church of England, her mother a descendant of the first New Zealand pioneers.
After boarding-school, she received a B.A. with first class honours in English Language and Literature from Durham University and went on for her M.A. Later she returned to her own University as a Lecturer in English. She married a geologist, F. H. Stewart, who is now Regius Professor of Geology at Edinburgh University and a Fellow of the Royal Society.