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account of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain that mentions the annihilation of the Celtic populations in those areas that became England. The work also speaks of the mass migration of British Celts to other lands. Arthur Wade-Evans makes an assertion, echoed by some other scholars, that De Excidio was not written by Gildas but by an anonymous monk born in the year of the battle of Badon (ca. a.d. 518) and designated “Auctor Badonicus.”
[I] Deirdre of the Sorrows. Daughter of Felim Mac Dall, a chieftain of Ulster. Cathbad cast her horoscope at birth and foretold she would become the fairest of all women in Ireland. On hearing this the Ulster king Conchobhar Mac Nessa insists that she will marry him when she comes of age. However, the horoscope adds that because of her only death and ruin would come on the land.
When she grows to marrying age, she finds she is not in love with the elderly Conchobhar but with Naoise, son of Usna, a hero of the Red Branch. They elope, with Naoise’s two brothers as companions, and flee to Alba. The years go by and Conchobhar sends Fergus Mac Roth to them, saying that he has forgiven them. Deirdre foresees their doom but Naoise believes that he can trust Fergus Mac Roth. They return to Emain Macha, the capital of Ulster.
Conchobhar gives the order to attack the hostel of the Red Branch where they are staying, and Naoise and his brothers are killed. Deirdre is now forced to wed Conchobhar and remains his unwilling wife, never smiling, for a year. Angered, Conchobhar gives her to Eoghan Mac Durthacht, who was the warrior who killed Naoise. With her hands bound to prevent her escaping, Deirdre contrives to throw herself from Eoghan’s chariot and dash her head against a rock, which kills her. From her grave a pine grows and from Naoise’s grave grows another pine. They intertwine over the graves and nothing can part them. Deirdre’s story is one of the great love stories from the myths.
[I] Fair shape. Daughter of Morgan, king of the Land of Wonder, and his wife, Coinchend, a terrible warrior woman. Imprisoned by her parents in a tower, she is rescued by Art, son of Conn, who slays her parents and takes her back to Ireland to wed.
The story of the Great Flood occurs in the legends of many lands. We find the world destroyed and a human being who has
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