The Dog and the Wolf

by Poul Anderson

  Fox and hare: Within living memory in Ireland, it was believed unlucky if either of these animals crossed one’s path. Galway fishermen bound for their boats would often turn home.

  Lúg’s Chariot, etc: It is not known what constellations the Irish and other Celts actually invented. We do know that, while ancient mariners hugged the coasts as much as possible, the Mediterranean civilizations had developed means of measuring the altitudes of heavenly bodies with some precision, and so estimating latitude. The voyages made by more primitive sailors such as the Irish and Saxons show that they must have possessed a similar capability, perhaps learned from the Romans.

  Corbilo: Mentioned by Strabo as an important maritime city of Gaul, it seems to have occupied the site of present-day St. Nazaire. About the end of the fourth century, when its circumstances must have been much reduced, it was taken over by Saxons, presumably laeti but evidently with effective autonomy, since they were not converted for another one or two hundred years.

  The hour between dog and wolf: This French phrase for twilight, “l‘heure entre chien et loup, ” may have ancient origins.

  Torna Èces: According to legend, this greatest of the ancient poets was foster-father to both Niall and Conual, and lamented them both after their deaths. The implied lifespan is great, but not impossible.

  XVIII

  Sanctuary: This issue was an early one in that conflict between Church and state which was to dominate Western history for centuries and shape much of the new civilization. At the time of our story, a bishop was virtually sovereign with respect to ecclesiastical matters within his (religious) diocese, and had great temporal authority and influence as well. The Pope was only primus inter pares, the final arbiter of disputes between bishops but otherwise with little power unique to his office.

  Arelate: Aries. The date when it supplanted Trier is not known exactly, but 404 is a reasonable guess.

  Exorcism: Corentinus’s opinion may not seem canonical to a modern Catholic, but it should be remembered that in the fifth century much doctrine was still unformulated, while disagreements and heresies were rife. Moreover, Dahut’s case may have been unique in demonology.

  Milk: Children were nursed for a long time by modern standards, well after they began to take solid foods—which were not pressed on them in the manner of today. Lactation does in fact often inhibit impregnation.

  Danastris: The River Dniester.

  Danuvius: The River Danube. It seems likely that the Goths did not slow themselves by much plundering along the way, but pushed on to catch the Romans ill-prepared in Italy,

  XIX

  Terms of enlistment: These are attested, and help show how desperate the situation was.

  Niall’s successor: According to the Irish chronicles, he was Nath I (or Nathi or Dathi), a fierce warrior who perished in 428 when struck by lightning on an expedition into the Alps. This is almost surely a copyist’s error for “Alba,” Scotland or England. His successor in turn was Niall’s son Laègare, in whose reign St. Patrick began his mission.

  Gesocribate: Virtually nothing is known of this city. Even its location is uncertain, though at or near the site of Brest. Its oblivion indicates that it was probably rather small, and may well have been repeatedly sacked until at last it was abandoned.

  Crossbow: Little is known about the ancient form of this weapon. Apparently it was drawn by hand rather than wound like the medieval arbalest, but by the fifth century it may sometimes have possessed a pawl. Given sufficient pull, arrows can certainly penetrate mail. Although the rate of discharge is low, the crossbow has an advantage in requiring less skill, hence less training, than the straight bow does.

  Holy Georgios: St. George, patron of soldiers. While the cult of saints had not yet approached its medieval intensity, unless perhaps in Egypt, the idea of their intercession, implicit in Scripture, was taking hold widely. No doubt the evangelization of the rural Empire strengthened it. Pagan halidoms were rededicated to specific saints, and people continued to seek help there.

  XX

  Scythia: At this time it was a rather vague designation; but the Alani, an Iranian people with some Altaic admixture, originated north of the Caspian Sea and spread into the steppes of Russia. Some eventually reached Germanic lands and there joined in the Völkerwanderung.

  Moguntiacum: Mainz.

  XXI

  Vorgium Carhaix.

  Brains: Galen, in the second century, taught that the brain is the seat of consciousness, and his medical works became canonical, although doubtless the uneducated in the fifth century clung to older concepts.

  Durocortorum: Reims.

  Samarobriva: Amiens.

  Nemetacum: Arras.

  Turnacum: Tournay.

  Eboracum (or Eburacum): York.

  Constantinus: Today called Constantine III or Constantine the Usurper. Virtually nothing is known about the events leading up to his try for the purple, except the names of his predecessors Marcus and Gratian, and that the latter reigned for four months (which implies that the former was no more durable). Constantine’s origin is equally obscure. Little has been recorded of his character, and that by hostile writers. He is said to have been a common soldier, but this can scarcely mean that he was when the legions hailed him. We have supplied him with a career that brought him up from the ranks. The fact that he had two sons who took an active part in his campaigns gives a clue to his age at the time. A tradition holds that he was himself a son of Magnus Maximus, who had become a folk hero among the Britons (at least, in the West; see Roma Mater). This seems implausible to us, but perhaps there was some more distant kinship, such as Maximus’s wife having been Constantine’s aunt.

  Saxon and Scotian: Unlettered, ferocious, and impulsive though they were, the barbarian leaders cannot often have been stupid. Else the migration of whole tribes could not have happened. Spies, scouts, talkative traders, and other such sources must have given them some idea of what was going on in those parts of the Empire that interested them. The Romans can hardly ever have been able to keep events secret. Even the huge alliance that crossed the Rhine at the end of 406 would have had intelligence of what to expect.

  Gesoriacum: Boulogne (not to be confused with Gesocribate).

  Pyrenaei Mountains: The Pyrenees.

  XXII

  Lemovicium: Limoges. Earlier it was Augustoritum but in the fourth century, like so many other cities, it came to be called after the tribe in whose ancient territory it lay.

  The Feast of Lug: As we have observed before, the preharvest festival known in Ireland as Lugnasad and in England as Lammas has long been fixed at 1 August. (The customs we mention were Irish until recent times and must have been of very old Celtic origin.) We hypothesize that, like other such dates, this one was established with Christianity and the Roman calendar, and that originally it was determined by the moon.

  Salaun: Breton form of the name “Salomon,” which belonged to the legendary first King of Brittany. We shall have more to say about him later in these notes.

  XXIII

  The Armorican revolt of 407: Nothing is really known about the circumstances. The chronicles say merely that Roman officials were expelled and independence declared; they attribute this to Bacaudae. That seems absurd if taken literally. There could not have been that many outlaws, nor would they have been well enough organized, nor does it appear likely they would have refrained from massacring those they looked on as oppressors. “Bacaudae” must be essentially a swear word, though perhaps with more meaning where it comes to things that happened elsewhere or later. We think our reconstruction of events that year in Armorica is plausible. Of course, all the details are fictional.

  Pictavum Poitiers. The older name was Limonum. The Pictones of Gaul were not related to the Picts of Alba, “Picti” being a name bestowed by the Romans on the latter, the “painted people.” However, apparently some tribes related to them did live in Gaul and Ireland as well as Scotland.

  Prince (Latin princeps): Originally
an honorific, meaning “first,” applied to various persons such as the first senator on the censor’s list in the Republic (princeps senatus), later under the Empire as a title of various civil and military officials. Thus in our period it did not yet connote superiority or royal blood. Still, Armoricans might very naturally apply it to the associate and prospective successor of the man they regarded as their Duke (dux “leader,” especially a military leader, though this inevitably gave him command over certain civil functions as well).

  Hawking: Falconry was practiced by the Romans, albeit the slight and vague mentions of it that we have from them, and the lack of artistic representations, indicate that it had nothing like the popularity it gained during the Middle Ages.

  Gelding: Given the lack of what we consider basic prophylaxis, the death rate among new castrates—at least, human ones—was extremely high. Moreover, Roman law forbade the operation on citizens. Eunuchs were either prisoners of war or, oftener, imported from abroad, especially Persia. In consequence, they were expensive. The restrictions were later lifted.

  XXIV

  The Race of Sena: Raz de Sein, between the island and the mainland.

  Garrison in Britain: Virtually nothing is known for certain, but there is some reason to suppose Constantine left a few soldiers behind—much too few to be effective, as the course of events shows.

  British’Armorican alliance: Obviously this did not come to pass in 407, but there is mention (date not deducible, reliability somewhat questionable) of joint action against the Germans in Gaul, and more than this may have taken place. If so, it was probably after 410, when Honorius’s rescript gave the Britons leave to defend themselves.

  Caletes: A tribe occupying what is now, approximately, Seine-Maritime.

  Sequana: The River Seine. Apparently the revolt in Gaul reached at least this far; and areas farther off had their own uprisings.

  Rotomagus: Rouen.

  Beltane: We use this variant spelling to indicate a difference between the languages of the insular and the Continental Celts.

  Infantry: There was no possibility of re-creating anything like the old Roman legions, and the military future for almost the next thousand years belonged to the heavy cavalryman. The independent Gauls could scarcely raise such a corps either; at best, they may have developed some reasonably good light horse. The bulk of their forces must have been foot. Still, given training and equipment, these could meet the Germans and the seaborne raiders on equal terms.

  The Gallic revolt: One should beware of identifying the many different rebellions in the ancient world with any revolution in the modern, such as the American, French, Russian, or Philippine, to name just four widely divergent examples. Each case in the period of our story and earlier was probably unique too. Nothing is really known about the Gallic instance. By analogy with events in Britain, we suppose that ancient tribalism awoke and asserted itself among people who had despaired of Rome. In both countries there appears also to have been a certain amount of nascent nationalism, though it never developed into anything as strong as the modern form.

  West Island: Ushant (hypothetical; its name in Roman times is unknown).

  XXV

  Wotan: This god appears to have been originally a conductor of the dead like Hermes or Mercury, with whom the Romans therefore identified him. We suppose that in the fifth century he had not yet gained those other, overshadowing attributes we know of in his late version, Odin of the viking era.

  The moon: It was full on 30 December 407 (Gregorian calendar).

  The exorcism: This is not the present-day formula, which is of rather recent origin. There does not seem to have been a standard one in the fifth century; ours is conjectural.

  The aftermath: In 408 Stilicho married his daughter Thermantia to Honorius, but soon afterward the machinations of his rivals achieved their purpose. He was accused of treasonous dealings with Alaric the Visigoth, his troops mutinied, and he was assassinated in August of that year. There followed such a wave of anti-German feeling and persecution that the soldiers of that origin and their families went over to Alaric. He marched on Rome, and only an exorbitant payment turned him from it. The next year he came back and set up a puppet emperor whom the Senate perforce acknowledged but quickly thereafter disowned. Alaric returned in 410, captured and sacked Rome, and was on his way through Italy to invade North Africa when he died.

  Meanwhile Constantine III established himself in Arles and, defeating forces sent against him by Honorius, wrung from the government the consulship of 409 and recognition as an Imperial colleague; he and his older son proclaimed themselves Augusti. He defended the Rhine frontier rather ably and brought the Germans who had invaded Gaul under a measure of control. Intrigues and attacks led to his overthrow in 411. He surrendered to Honorius, who, repudiating a guarantee of safety, had him executed.

  The year 410 was also when Honorius sent his famous rescript to the Britons, granting them the right to organize their own defenses because the help for which they appealed would not be forthcoming. It appears they were temporarily victorious about the middle of the century and this is the seed from which the Arthurian legend sprang. Germans continued to enter Roman territory on the Continent and founded independent kingdoms in it, the Burgundians as early as 413. The Huns, sometimes allies of the Empire, became more and more often its ravishers.

  Nevertheless a chronicle declares that in or about 417 the Romans regained Armorica and other secessionist parts of Gaul. No details are given. It seems probable to us that, if this did happen, the submission was nominal, the result of a mutually advantageous compromise, and that the Armoricans retained essential autonomy. Honorius could not very well punish an uprising which had, after all, been against the usurper Constantine; nor could he have spared troops to occupy the region and compel subservience. (He died unlamented in 423.) There is mention of later revolts of “Bacaudae” in various areas, but these may have been incidents of jacquerie.

  According to the Breton accounts, Salaun (Salomon) reigned as king from 421 to 435; he abolished the Roman practice of selling children into slavery to pay taxes, but was killed by pagans who resented his efforts to Christianize the country. If this can be trusted, and it looks no more unreliable than the Mediterranean sources, it bears out the idea of a free Armorica. Still more does an extant roll of the nations that sent men to join Aetius in his historic battle against the Huns, 451. “The Armoricans” are listed like any others, implying that they were sovereign allies.

  Equally suggestive is the heavy immigration from Britain in this and the subsequent century. It would scarcely have gone in the direction of more oppression and less security. Of course, it resulted in the flooding of the small native population. Armorica became known as Breizh (Bretagne in French, Brittany in English) and the Celtic language still spoken there is of southwestern British origin. A few traditions survive from ancient times—among mem, perhaps, the story of Ys.

  AFTERWORD

  The Breton folk tell many different tales about the sunken city of Ys, its king, and his daughter. Bearing in mind that these often disagree, let us give a synopsis of the basic medieval story.

  Grallon (sometimes rendered “Gradlon”) was ruler of Cornouaille, along the southwestern shore of Brittany, with his seat at Quimper, which some say he helped found. Once he took a great fleet overseas and made war on Malgven, Queen of the North. In conquering her country he also won her heart, as she did his. They started off together for his home, but terrible weather kept them at sea for a year. During this time Malgven bore a girl child, and died in so doing. When the heartbroken Grallon finally returned, he could deny nothing to his daughter Dahut (in some versions, Ahes). She grew up beautiful and evil.

  While hunting, Grallon met a hermit, Corentin, who lived in the forest. This man was miraculously nourished; each day he drew a fish from the water, ate half, and threw the other half back, whereupon it became whole and alive again. However, it was his wisdom that most impressed the king. Grallon pe
rsuaded Corentin to join him in Quimper, and there the holy man won the people over to righteous ways. Other legends maintain that he was the actual founder or co-founder of the city, and its first bishop.

  Dahut felt oppressed by the piety all around her, and begged her father to give her a place of her own. He built Ys on the shore—Ys of the hundred towers, walled against the waters that forever threatened its splendor. Hung upon his breast, Grallon kept the silver key that alone could unlock the sea gate. Otherwise he gave Dahut free rein and turned a blind eye to her wickedness.

  Led by her, Ys became altogether iniquitous. The rich ground down the poor, gave themselves to licentious pleasures, forgot their duty to God, and even blasphemed Him. Dahut herself took a different lover every night, and in the morning had him cast to his death in the sea.

  Another holy man, St. Guénolé, was stirred to enter the city and plead with the people to mend their ways. For a while he did succeed in frightening many into reform; but the baneful influence of Dahut was too strong, and they drifted back into sin.

  At last God determined to destroy Ys, and gave the Devil leave to carry out the mission. Taking the guise of a handsome young man, he sought Dahut in her palace and was soon welcomed into her bed. Him she did not have killed. Rather, she fell wildly in love. He demanded, as a sign of her affection, that she bring him the key Grallon bore. Dahut stole it while the king was asleep and gave it to her lover. The night was wild with storm. He slipped out and unlocked the gate. The sea raged in and overwhelmed Ys.