by Kris Kennedy
* * *
Moralltach has a long and august history. First owned by the sea-god Manannán mac Lir, it was passed to Aengus, son of The Dagda and Boann, and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann—a god.
* * *
Aengus eventually gave Moralltach to his foster-son Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, along with a second sword of less power, the Beagalltach (Little Fury). But we won’t speak of small furies here.
* * *
Moralltach—and Diarmuid—had a pretty good run. In addition to being a demigod, Diarmuid was a member of the Fianna of Irish myth.
* * *
BLACK PEARL
I know, right?
* * *
No pirates in this tale, but although I made up a black pearl sitting in the hilt of Moralltach, black pearls existed in Ireland and were highly prized.
* * *
They come from a freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritafera margaritafera. They can live for a hundred years or more, and if a bit of sand gets inside, they spin layers of nacre (the inner lining of their shell) around it, just like an oyster. The nacre can be any color: from white to lavender to pure black.
* * *
MEDIEVAL SONG
Trouvères
Cassia speaks of trouvères. This is the term used for poet-composers and singers in the north of Europe—in the south, they were called troubadours.
* * *
Well-known trouvères included such men as Guiot de Provins and Chrétien de Troyes, who lived in the last decades of the twelfth century, when Forbidden Warrior is set.
* * *
Their works were sometimes recited, sometimes sung, and their work was elevated, definitely aristocratic. They might wander, but more often, they were patronized by, and performed at, various courts of the noble class.
* * *
Cassia’s Song
The song Cassis sung for Máel was an actual song from an actual trouvère, Guiot de Provins. He was a court poet patronized by many nobles across Europe, including our friend, King Richard the Lionheart.
* * *
The lines Cassia sung:
Las! toz jors la desir,
Et ades voi ma mort,
Et si ne puis morir.
* * *
Translated:
Alas! for ever I desire her
And always see my death
And cannot die.
* * *
Goliards
* * *
Cassia also mentions songs by a Goliard clerk. The Goliards were students and clerics who wandered Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries.
* * *
The Goliard songs were in Latin and ferociously secular. No rarified, unrequited love or religious tracts here. Their topics covered the gamut of real life, from songs of of drinking to eulogies on the joys of hedonism.
* * *
A Capella Singing
Cassia sung for Máel, and I thought you might like to hear how medieval song actually sounded—or might have sounded.
* * *
The a cappella song of the middle ages was quite beautiful, often haunting, always evocative.
* * *
I’ve grabbed you three links.
* * *
Prepare to be evoked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSHkoqfO-Cs
I don’t think this is an actual medieval song, although it might be. I also don’t know if medieval singers would run the scales quite as much as this talented singer, but whether or no, it’s a nice beautiful example of a capella singing that has a medieval vibe.
* * *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5cgFgXYChU&list=PLhRQjELVG0LjW6yxurSenGH86LQTifht9
Recreated from an actual song from 1265, women’s voices
* * *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJEZ4ODUuk4
This one couldn’t be more contemporary of Forbidden Warrior—it was written by King Richard the Lionheart during his captivity in the castle of the Holy Roman Emperor.
* * *
Who knows, maybe the king composed it on the day of Cassia’s wedding joust, while she sat, despairing, aching over a love that was forbidden and a lover she thought would never arrive. Until he did.
* * *
Stop by the website for more Author’s Notes on all the stories!