BRITANNIA

 

The early Celtic people believed that the spirit of the land was peronified by the Goddess of Sovereignty, who bore the same name as the land she represented.

The physical appearance of teh Goddess often reflected the landscape and its current state. In the winter months she appeared as a dirty weather-wonr hag, with hair of lichen and arms and legs that resembled the bare limbs of trees. In the spring and summer shbe became a fertile, radiant beauty.

In many of theold tales, Sovereignity would first appear in her repulsive guise and test the would-be king. If she deemed him worthy of her, she would transform into her floral beauty of spring. The king's first duty was to the land, and upon taking the crown the king underwent a solemn ceremony in which he was bound in a sacred marriage to the land--a vow that the welfare of all depended upon. As the story of the Fisher King illustrartes, if the king failed his responsibilities or was wounded, Sovereignty would transorm to her loathly guise, the land would become barren and all would suffer until the king was healed or replaced (most often the latter resolved the matter).



The Irish Sovereignty, Eriu (Ireland), appears in an early Irish story in which Connof the Hundred Battles finds himself in the Otherworld court of Lug (which in many ways parallels the court of the Fisher King). Here, a young woman bore a golden cup and was called the Sovereignty of Ireland. In the stories, Peredur (approximately thirteenth-century Welsh) and Perlesvaus (thirtheenth-century Frency) the Grail bearer appear as both the beautiful maid and repulsive crone. In light of this, it seems logical to assume that the fiture who bears the Grail in the home of the Fisher King is the Sovereignty of Britain, sometimes called Brigit, Brigantia, or Britannia. Elaine, daughter of the Fisher King, is occasionally assigned the role of Grail bearer, and may have symbolically represented the goddess of the land.



Britain continues the tradition of having a female figure personify the land (or more recently, the British Empire). Today, she is embodied in the image of Britannia, who is depicted with a helmet, shield and trident).







Ferguson, Anna-Marie. "Keeper of Words." 1995 Llewellyn Publications. St. Paul, Minnesota. (239)

 

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