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“And this vast confederacy of peoples shall rout the Saxon foe and banish him from the land.” Both Cynan and Cadwaladr are invoked to help in the struggle.
Constantine II (a.d. 900–942), High King of Alba, is mentioned as the leading force behind this alliance; Owain of Cumbria, Olaf of Dublin, Aralt of Man and the Isles, Hywel Dda of Wales, Donnchadh of Ireland, and Cynan of Cornwall must all have played their part.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says Athelstan made his way north to face this formidable alliance. The skirmishing took several days. A defector from the Celtic alliance saved Athelstan’s life by revealing the plans for a night attack on Athelstan’s tent. A Saxon bishop was killed in this foray. Both Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic sources say it was fought over a two-day period. The English army suffered severely—two of Athelstan’s cousins, Alfric and Athelwin, were slain. But the Celts and their allies were finally defeated. No longer would the supremacy of the isle of Britain between Celt and Saxon be in contention.
[W] A thirteenth century text, “The Chronicle of the Princes” (of Wales), from a.d. 664. It ends in 1164.
[I] “The Frenzy of Sweeney.” Suibhne was a warrior of the Dál Riada who was driven insane by the injuries he sustained at the battle of Moira. He took off on a mad flight through the wild places of Ireland in search of peace of mind. The tale is a powerful image of a frenzied mind. And Suibhne returns to a oneness with nature. It became a common motif for poets to compose nature poetry in the name of Suibhne for several centuries. The Suibhne here is obviously cognate with the story of Suibhne Geilt, a king cursed by St. Ronán who assumed the characteristics of a bird, leaping from tree to tree. Suibhne Geilt (or Mad Suibhne) had his counterpart in the Welsh Myrddin Wyllt.
The bull is a symbol of strength and virility and also wealth in many cultures. This is also so in the Celtic cultures and especially in Irish myth, where the epic of the Táin Bó Cuailgne, the war fought over the Brown Bull of Cuailgne, is one of the most famous and prominent expressions of this. The Book of the Dun Cow describes a tabhfheis, or bull feast, in ancient Ireland associated with the election of a High King. A druid would eat the flesh of a bull and drink its blood. He was then put to sleep by four other druids,
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