Archaic England Part 27

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 190.--From _Symbolism of the East and West_ (Aynsley, Mrs. Murray).]

Five miles N.-E. of Abury there stands on the summit of a commanding hill the natural great fortress known as Barbury Castle, surrounded by the remains of numerous banks and ditches. The name Barbara--a duplication of Bar--is in its Cretan form Varvary, and it was seemingly the Iberian or Ivernian equivalent of "Very G.o.d of Very G.o.d," otherwise Father of Fathers, or Abracadabra. In Britain, and particularly in Ireland, children still play a game ent.i.tled, The Town of Barbarie, which is thus described: "Some boys line up in a row, one of whom is called the prince. Two others get out on the road and join hands and represent the town of Barbarie. One of the boys from the row then comes up to the pair, walks around them and asks--

Will you surrender, will you surrender The town of Barbarie?

They answer--

We won't surrender, we won't surrender, The town of Barbarie.

Being unsuccessful, he goes back to the prince and tells him that they won't surrender. The prince then says--

Take one of my good soldiers.

This is done, and the whole row of boys are brought up one after the other till the town is taken by their parting the joined hands of the pair who represent the town of Barbarie."[371]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 191.--From _The Cross: Heathen and Christian_ (Brock, M.).]

It will be remarked that Barbarie is represented by a _pair_, which is suggestive of the Dioscuri or Heavenly Twins, and on referring to the life of St. Barbara we find her recorded as the daughter of Dioscorus, and as having been born at Heliopolis, or the city of the sun. The Dioscuri--those far-famed heroes Castor and Pollux--were said to have been born out of an egg laid by Leda the Swan: elsewhere the Dioscuri were known as the Cabiri, a term which is radically _abiri_. It is probable that St. Barbara was once represented with the emblems of the two Dioscuri or Cabiri, for one of her "tortures" is said to have been that she should be hanged between two forked trees. These two trees were doubtless two sprigs such as shown in Fig. 191 or two flowering pillars between which the Virgin was extended Andrew-wise in benediction. The next torture recorded of St. Barbara was the scorching of her sides with burning lamps, from which we may deduce that the Virgin was once depicted with two great lights on either side. Next, St. Barbara's oppressors made her strongly to be beaten, "and hurted her head with a mallet": the Slav deity Peroon was always depicted with a mallet, and the hammer or axe was practically a universal symbol of _Power_. As already noted, Peroon, the G.o.d with a mallet, has been equated by some scholars with Varuna of India; in Etruria the G.o.d of Death was generally represented with a great hammer, and the mallet with which St. Barbara was "hurted" may be further equated with the celebrated Hammer of Thor.

The gigantic hammer cut into the hillside at Tours, and a.s.sociated in popular estimation with Charles Martel, in view of the name Tours is far more likely to have been the hammer of Thor, who, as we have seen, was a.s.signed to Troy.

We are told that St. Barbara's father imprisoned his daughter within a high and strong _tour_, _tor_, or _tower_, that no man should see her because of her great beauty: this incident is common alike to fairy-tale--notably at Tory Island--and hagiology, and one meets persistently with the peerless princess imprisoned in a peel, broch, or tower. In Fig. 192 is represented a so-called Trinity of Evil, but in all probability this is a faithful reproduction of the Iberian Aber or Aubrey, _i.e._, the trindod seated upon his symbolic _tor_, _tower_, or _broch_. The strokes at the toes, like the more accentuated lines from the fingers of Fig. 193, denoted the streaming light, and when we read that one of the exquisite tortures inflicted upon St. George was the thrusting of poisoned thorns into his finger-nails it is a reasonable conclusion that St. George was likewise represented with rayed fingers.

The feast of St. Ibar in Hibernia is held upon 23rd April or _Aperil_, which is also St. George's Day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 192.--The Trinity of Evil. From a French Miniature of the XIII. Cent.

FIG. 193.--G.o.d the Father Wearing a Lozenge-Shaped Nimbus. Miniature of the XIV. Cent. Italian Ma.n.u.script in the Bibliotheque Royale.

From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

St. Barbara, we are told, was marvellously carried on a stone into a high mountain, on which _two_ shepherds kept their sheep, "the which saw her fly"; and it is apparent in all directions that Barbara was peculiarly identified with the Two-One Twain or Pair. Barbara is popularly contracted into Babs or Bab, and the little Barbara or Babette may probably be identified with the Babchild of Kent. The coin here ill.u.s.trated was unearthed at the village of Babchild, known also as Bacchild, and its centre evidently represents the world _pap_, Pope, _paab_, or _baba_: in Christian Art the All Father is represented as a Pope, and as twin Popes, and likewise as a two-faced Person.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 194.--British. From Akerman.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 195.--G.o.d the Father, the Creator, as an Old Man and a Pope. From a French stained gla.s.s window of the XVI. cent. From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

There is little doubt that the pre-Christian Pope was sometimes represented as a mother and child, and it was probably the discovery of one of these images or pictures that started the horrible scandal of Pope Joan or Papesse Jeanne. It is said that this accomplished but unhappy lady occupied the papal-chair for a period of two years five months under the t.i.tle of John the _Eighth_, but having publicly become the mother of a little son her life ended in infamy and ill odour. To commemorate this shocking and incredible event a monument representing the Papess with her baby was, we are told, erected on the actual spot which was accordingly declared accursed to all ages: but as the incident thus memorised occurred as long ago as the ninth century, it is more probable that the statue was the source of the story and not _vice versa_. According to some accounts Joan was baptised Hagnes which is the feminine form of Hagon or Acon: others said her name was Margaret, and that she was the daughter of an English missionary who had left England to preach to the Saxons. At the time of the Reformation Germany seized with avidity upon the scandal as being useful for propaganda purposes, and with that delicacy of touch for which the Lutherans were distinguished, embroidered the tale with characteristic embellishments.

According to Baring-Gould the stout Germans, not relishing the notion of Joan being a daughter of the Fatherland, palmed her off on England, but "I have little doubt myself," he adds, "that Pope Joan is an impersonification of the great wh.o.r.e of Babylon seated on the Seven Hills":[372] on the contrary, I think she was more probably a personification of the Consort of St. Peter the Rock, and the Keeper of the Keys of Heaven's Gate. Among Joan's sobriquets was Jutt, which is believed to have been "a nickname surely!": more seemingly Jutt was a Latinised form of Kud, Ked, Kate, or Chad, and Engelheim, or _Angel Home_, the alleged birth-place of Jutt, was either entirely mystical, or perhaps Anglesea, if not Engel Land.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 196.--The Divine Persons Distinct. A French Miniature of the XVI. Cent. From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 197.--The Three Divine Persons Fused One into the Other. From a Spanish Miniature of the XIII. Cent. From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 198.--From _An Essay on Ancient Coins, Medals, and Gems_ (Walsh, R.).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 199.--From _The Gnostics and their Remains_ (King, C. W.).]

The father of Jutt's child was said to have been Satan himself, who, on the occasion of the birth, was seen and heard fluttering overhead, crowing and chanting in an unmusical voice:--

Papa pater patrum, Pap.i.s.sae pandito partum Et tibi tunc eadem de corpore quando recedam.

This description would seem to have been derived from some ancient picture in which the Papa was represented either as a fluttering or chanting c.o.c.k, or as c.o.c.kheaded. Such representations were common among the Gnostics, and the legend, _papa-pater-patrum_, Father, Father of Fathers, is curiously suggestive of Barbara or Varvary: in the Gnostic emblem here reproduced is the counterpart to the c.o.c.k-headed deity, and the reverse is obviously Vera, Una, or the naked Truth.

Gretchen, the German for Margaret, being _Great Jane_, will account for Pope Joan, and Gerberta, another of her names is radically Berta: Bertha, or Peratha, among the Germans is equated with Perchta, and translated "Bright One," or the "Shining One": the same roots are found in St. Cuth_bert_, or _Cudbright_ as he becomes in Kirkcudbrightshire.

The child of Papesse Jeanne, Gerberta, Hagnes or Jutt was deemed to be Antichrist: according to other accounts the mother of the feared and antic.i.p.ated Antichrist was a very aged woman, of race unknown, called Fort Juda. Fort Juda was probably _Strong Judy_, Judy, the wife of Punch, being evidently a form of the very aged wife of Pan, the goat-headed symbol of Gott.[373] As Peter was the Janitor of the Gate, so Kate or Ked was similarly connected with the _Gate_ which is the same word as Gott or Goat: the Gnostic _G.o.d_ here represented is a seven-goat solar wheel.

The horns and head of the goat still figure in representations of Old Nick, and there is no doubt that the horns of the crescent moon, under the form of Io, the heifer, were particularly worshipped at Byzantium: this City of the Golden Horn, now known as Constantinople, to which it will be remembered the British Chronicles a.s.sign our origin, was founded by a colony of Greeks from Megara, and in Scandinavia it is still known as Megalopolis, or the City of Michael; its ancient name Byzantium will probably prove to have been connected with _byzan_ or _bosen_, the bosses or paps, and Pera, the Christian district which borders the Bosphorus, may be connoted with Epeur.

Fig. 200, reproduced from a Byzantine bronze pound weight, is supposed to represent "two military saints," but it more probably portrays the celestial pair, Micah and Maggie. Their bucklers are designed in the form of marguerites or marigolds; the A under the right hand figure is Alpha, whence we may perhaps equate this saint with Alpha, the consort of Noah. The spear-head under the other Invictus is the "Broad" arrow of Britain, and the meaning of this spear-head or arrow of Broad will be subsequently considered. It will be noticed that the stars which form the background are the triple dots, and the five-fruited tree is in all probability the Tree of Alpha, Aleph, or _Life_. Why _five_ was identified with _vif_ or _vive_, _i.e._, life, I am unable to surmise, but that it was thus connected will become apparent as we proceed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 200.--From the British Museum's _Guide to Early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 201.--British. From _The Silver Coins of England_ (Hawkins, E.).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 202.--Bronze Reliquary Cross, XII. Cent. (No.

559). From the British Museum's _Guide to Early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 203.--From _A Collection of 500 Facsimiles of the Watermarks used by Early Papermakers_ (1840).]

The Arabic form of Constantinople is Kustantiniya, which compares curiously with Kystennyns, one of the old variants of the Cornish village named Constantine. There is a markedly Byzantine style about the group of British coins here reproduced, and Nos. 45 and 46 manifestly ill.u.s.trate the Dioscuri, Twins, or Cabiri. The Greek word for _brothers_ or twins is _adelphi_, and as according to Bryant the Semitic _ad_ or _ada_ meant first we may translate _adelphi_ into First Elphi or First Fay-ther. The head of No. 49, which is obviously an heraldic or symbolic figure, consists of the three circles, intricate symbolism underlies the Byzantine reliquary cross here ill.u.s.trated, and the same fantastic system is behind the Gnostic paper-mark represented on Fig. 203. In this it will be noted the eyes are represented by what are seemingly two feathers: the feather was a symbol of the Father, and will be noted in the Alephant emblem ill.u.s.trated on page 160.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 204.--The Trinity, in Combat with Behemoth and Leviathan. From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

In Fig. 204 the Celestial Invictus is depicted as a Trinity; three feathers are the emblem of the British Prince of Wales, and there is evidently some recondite meaning in the legend that St. Barbara insisted upon her father making three windows in a certain building on the grounds that "_three_ windows lighten all the world and all creatures".

Upon Dioscorus inquiring of his daughter why she had upset his arrangements for two windows, Barbara's reply is reported to have been: "These three fenestras or windows betoken clearly the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the which be three persons and One Very G.o.d". The word _person_ is radically the same as _appear_ and _appearance_, and the portrayal of the Supreme Power as One, Two, or Three seems evidently to have been merely a matter of inclination: Queen Vera or Virtue may be regarded as One or as the Three Graces or Virtues. The mythic mother of St. David is said to have been Gwen of the Three Paps, and this St. Gwen Tierbron, or Queen of the Three b.r.e.a.s.t.s, may be equated with the Lady Triamour, and with the patron of Llandrindod or St. _triune dad_ Wells.

On the horse ornament ill.u.s.trated _ante_ (No. 14, Fig. 134, p. 286), three hearts are represented: on Fig. 205 three circles, together with a palm branch,[374] a.s.sociated with the national horse.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 205.--British. From Barthelemy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 206.--Decoration on British chalk drum. From _A Guide to Antiquities of Bronze Age_ (B.M.).]

The emblems on page 499 depict two flying wheels, and likewise Three-in-One: near St. Just in Cornwall used to be three interlaced stone circles, and the phenomenon of three circles is noticeable elsewhere; there is little doubt, says Westropp, that in the three rings of Dunainy on the Knockainy Hill the triad of G.o.ds, Eogabal, Feri, and Aine, were supposed to dwell.[375]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 207.--Temple at Abury. From _The Celtic Druids_ (Higgens, G.).]

Avebury consists of two circles within one, and that "Avereberie" was regarded as the great periphery may be concluded from the name _Avereberie_ which is equivalent to periphery, Varvary, or Barbara. The bird emblem existing at _Farr_ is suggestive that the county of Forfar was once inhabited by worshippers of Varvara, Barbara, the Fair of Fairs, or Fire of Fires.

Having set his labourers to work, the legend continues that Barbara's father departed thence and went into a far country, where he long sojourned: the Greeks used the word _barbaroi_ to mean not ruffians but those who lived or came from _abroad_; the same sense is born by the Hebrew word _obr_, and it is to this root that anthropologists a.s.sign the name _Hebrew_ which they interpret as meaning men who came from _abroad_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 208.--From _The Celtic Druids_ (Higgens, G.).]

It is noteworthy that, according to Herodotus, the messengers of the Hyperboreans who came from abroad, _i.e._, _barbaroi_, were ent.i.tled by the Delians, "_Perpherees_" and held in great honour:[376] the inverted commas are original, whence it would seem that _perpheree_ was a local p.r.o.nunciation of _hyperboreae_.

The general impression is that the Hebrew, or _Ebrea_ as the Italians spell it, derived his t.i.tle from _Abra_ham whose name means Father of a Mult.i.tude. At _Hebron_ Abraham, the son of Terah, entertained three Elves or Angels: "He saw three and worshipped one":[377] at Hebron Abram bought a piece of land from a merchant named Ephron,[378] and I cannot believe that Ephron really meant, as we are told, _of a calf_; it is more probable that he derived his t.i.tle from Hebron where Ephron was evidently a landowner. Tacitus records a tradition that the Hebrews were originally "natives of the Isle of Crete,"[379] and my suggestion that the Jews were the Jous gains somewhat from the fact that York--a notorious seat of ancient Jewry--was originally known as Eborac.u.m or Eboracon. Our chroniclers state that York was founded by a King Ebrauc, the Archbishop of York signs himself to-day "Ebor," and the river Eure used at one time to be known as the Ebor: the Spanish river Ebro was sometimes referred to as the Iber.[380]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 209.--From _The Everyday Book_ (Hone, W.).]

An interesting example of the Cabiri or Adelphi once existed at the Kentish village of Biddenden where the embossed seven-spiked ladies here ill.u.s.trated, known as the Biddenden Maids, used to be impressed on cakes which were distributed in the village church on Easter Sunday. This custom was connected with a charity consisting of "twenty acres of land called the Bread and Cheese Land lying in _five_ pieces given by persons unknown, the rent to be distributed among the poor of this parish". The name of the two maidens is stated to have been Preston, and that this was alternatively a name for Biddenden is somewhat confirmed by an adjacent Broadstone, Fairbourne, and Bardinlea. Whether it is permissible here to read Bardinlea as Bard's meadow I do not know, but considered in connection with the local charity from five pieces of land it is curious to find that according to the laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud, the different functionaries of the Bardic Gorsedd had a right each to _five_ acres of land in virtue of their office, were ent.i.tled to maintenance wherever they went, had freedom from taxes, no person was to wear a naked weapon in their presence, and their word was always paramount.[381] In view of this ordinance it almost looks as though the charitable five acres at Biddenden were the survival of some such privileged survival.