I had to write a ballad in Pictish for my current work in progress, Merlin’s Shadow. The problem is that we don’t know what language, exactly, the Picts spoke. Many scholars think it was related to Gaelic, while my daughter, Adele, is of the persuasion they spoke a Germanic language older than English, and this[…]
I ran across a fun news article about Cornwall’s mid-summer Golowan Festival, which has its strongest representation in Penzance. (If you want to get a taste of the culture of Cornwall, make sure you watch the video as well.) So what was the theme of this year’s Golowan Festival in Penzance? Well… it was the[…]
This post is Part 2 of a series. Click here to read “Who Was Merlin? — Part 1“. So the question remains: Was Merlin a Druid? That is an open question. Certainly he was a bard, and therefore the question can be worded like this: How connected were the Bards to the Order Of Druids?[…]
This is a question that has fascinated people throughout the ages. I recently read an article on the BBC News website, titled “Merlin myths and links with Wales“. This article was prompted by the introduction of a new television series “Merlin – The Legend” (produced by the BBC, of course) about a young Merlin aiding[…]
For those fascinated by old legends, I ran across one I hadn’t heard of before, in a blog post about a 13th century legend of the founding of the English town of Grimsby. It is the story of Grim, from Denmark, who saved the life of the heir to the Danish throne and brought him[…]
I found some very interesting articles today regarding the Holy Grail and its possible location. Of course, no one knows for sure, but it is quite the question to ask, and academics are not without opinions, as we shall see. For my own fictional series based on the legends of King Arthur, I have decided[…]
Y Gododdin Those French Academics! What gall to point out that King Arthur wasn’t English! I can just see the French snearing down at King Arthur from their castle as he clip-clops by with a coconut-shell laden adviser. You can read the news article here. At least they didn’t claim he was French. Now that[…]
If you want to study King Arthur for yourself or your children, you can download a FREE e-book written by Brandenburg Studies. This is an Internet based study in PDF format that teaches all about King Arthur and asks these questions: Who was this legendary figure in history? Was he mythical? Was he real? You[…]
I have finally finished my design for Excalibur! Up to this point, I have been using for Excalibur a modified version of a dagger that I am going to smith for my daughter, Adele. And no, a longer version of a dagger doesn’t really make a good Excalibur. Not only did it have odd proportions,[…]
I was researching ancient Celtic coins and found a great site by John Hooker & Carin Perron. Through this website you have access to over 28,000 records and images of Celtic coins as indexed at the Oxford Institute of Archeology. Why am I researching this? It is because the characters in my book use coins.[…]