Britain

Britain is the name of the large island to the north-west of mainland Europe. To the west of Britain is Ireland. Though currently divided into England, Scotland and Wales in modern day, the island has been home to many kingdoms throughout its long history that culminates into today's United Kingdom (which includes Northern Ireland). As well as proven history, a great deal of mythology surrounds the island, its peoples and its origins. Not all accounts agree (either on historacity nor on mythological origins), leading to a wealth of materials on the subject and conflated mythologies from different cultures and religions.
Britain is also known as: Britannia | Albion | Myrddin's Precinct
== Origins of Britain ==
=== King Albion ===
Once, Britain was referred to by the name "Myrddin's Precinct", which was before the land was ever populated (Myrddin being Merlin, though possibly not the same Merlin of Arthurian lore but a predecessor, and this name is from the White Book of Rhydderch). Before human settlement, the original occupants were giants. In Christian mythology, these giants were descendents of Ham, a son of Noah, arriving on the island from Africa. The king of these giants was named "Albion" and son of sea-god, known as Poseidon by the Greeks, and namesake of the island. He ruled the giants for a significant tenure before he was called upon by his brothers to aid them in battle against Hercules, the demi-god son of Zeus. Thus, Albion travelled through Gaul (modern day France) to meet his brothers in Liguria (modern day part of north-west Italy). Here, Hercules was bound to his tenth task (the legends of Hercules can be found on the Greek Mythology Wiki. This specifically relates to the Twelve Labours of Hercules) wherein he had travelled to the island of Erytheia and stole the unique cattle of Geryon (another giant) and on his way back to Mycenae, he travelled through Liguria. Here is where Albion met up with his brother Dercynus and the brothers, and the Ligurian army, challenged Hercules and his own army. When Hercules' army ran out of arrows, Hercules prayed to his father, Zeus, who sent a shower of stones that they used as missiles instead, allowing them to slay the Ligurians and the giants, including Albion. Following the death of Albion, the number of giants in Britain diminished, but they lived on for hundreds of years, especially in the region of what would become CornwallPage 3, Chapter 1: The Giants, . The giants, thanks to their supernatural strength and stature, were able to build Stonehenge as a monument to their success, and the many standing stones in Cornwall were erected during the twilight years of the giants' presencePage 4, Chapter 1: The Giants, .
===Princess Albina===
Another myth for the origins on the island's name "Albion" is that it derives from a Princess Albina. She came to the unpopulated island, accompanied by fifty other women, as they had been banished from their homeland as husband-killers. They were all sisters and daughters of Diocletian, King of Syria. Without human men, they, instead, mated with demons and the giants were their offspringPage 2, Chapter 1: The Giants, .
=== Brutus of Troy ===
alt=Photograph of the Brutus Stone as seen in modern day Totnes.|left|thumb|Brutus Stone as seen in Totnes today.
The founder of Troy, Dardanus, can be conflated with Dara, the grandson of Judah, giving rise to the possibility that Troy was founded by descendent of IsraelPage 15, Chapter 2: The Ancient Britons, . When the city of Troy fell to the Greeks, Aeneas, one of the leaders of Troy, escaped with his companions and travelled to Italy. The Trojans founded a settlement there and from them descended the Romans. The son of Aeneas was Ascanius and his son was a man named Silvius. A soothsayer made a prediction that Silvius and his wife would both be killed by their own son - thus, the birth of Brutus resulted in his mother's demise and later in life, Brutus accidentally killed his own father, Silvius, with an arrow while hunting. Because of this act, Brutus was banished from Italy.
Brutus travelled to Greece, where he found the enslaved descendents of Troy and he rallied them in rebellion against King Pandrasus. The king allowed Brutus and the Trojans to leave Greece and they set sail across the Mediterranean until they found a seemingly deserted island. There, they discovered an abandoned temple of Diana (Artemis) and she came to Brutus in a dream to guide him to a large island to the north-west. She told him that the giants that once ruled the land were on the verge of extinction and Brutus' Trojans could find a new home there. She promised that he could father a dynasty of the most powerful kings on Earth. Thus, they travelled the sea until they reached Gibraltar, where they chance encountered more Torjan descendentsPage 7, Chapter 2: The Ancient Britons, . The leader of this group was Corineus and his tribe joined Brutus, and so together they marched through Gaul, where they founded the city of Tours. They continued on until they finally reached the island that would become known as 'Britain', renamed after Brutus himself. The first settlement they created in this new land, Brutus named Totnes, which he declared from atop of a rock to his people. That rock became imbued with the essence of Brutus, becoming the Brutus Stone.
However, some of the remaining giants took offence to the immigrants and attacked Brutus' settlement, but were repelled. One of them, named Gogmagog, wrestled with Corineus, but was thrown from a cliff to his demise by the human. Brutus made Corineus lord of the south-western land, which was named after him as CornwallPage 8, Chapter 2: The Ancient Britons, .
==== London's Founding ====
The now British explored the land and settled on a location to establish their capital. They named it Troia Nova (New Troy). This name was later corrupted into the name "Trinovantum", which eventually changed further into London - the name that the city possesses today. Brutus created an altar here that was for use in praising Diana, in gratitude for guiding him to this land. This altar eventually became known as the London Stone. So long as the London Stone is secure, London shall forever flourish.
=== Lost Tribes of Israel ===
Later in the history of Britain, lost tribes of Israel, displaced by the Assyrians, reached Britain and were taken into the line of kingship of Brutus' descendentsPage 9, Chapter 2: The Ancient Britons, . This tribe was one of the twelve tribes os Israel, descendents of Jacob, who originally escaped from captivity in Egypt thanks to Moses, and were united under David and Solomon, but afterwards split apart (for more information on this, see the Book of Samuel/Second Book of Samuel on the Bible Wiki). The sourthern kingdom of Judah centered on Jerusalem, while the northern kingdom was dubbed Israel. However, the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III invaded the northern kingdom and exiled the populace - rendering them the 'lost tribes', one of which supposedly came to Britain and assumed the thronePage 13, Chapter 2: The Ancient Britons, . Possibly, this lost tribe followed in the footsteps of Brutus deliberately, if Dardanus, founder of Troy, is considered the same person as Dara, grandson of Judah.
=== Anglo-Saxons-Jutes ===
The British would be displaced by the invasions of ther Germanic tribes; the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The remnants of the Celts clung on in the peoples of Wales, Cumbria, Strathclyde, Cornwall and the BretonsPage 10, Chapter 2: The Ancient Britons, .
== Origins of Pictland ==
The generations following Brutus ruled over the whole island, including the northern-most lands. However, the lands north of the Clyde-Forth line eventually separated and became known as Pictland. The Picts originated in Scythia in the first century, under a man named Sodric. They first occupied the Orkney Islands before they entered the mainland. The then British king, descendent of Brutus, named Marius battled the Picts and slew Sodric himself. A treaty was drawn up that forced the Picts to settle Caithness, an uninhabited land, commencing peace between the British and the Picts for a time.
Despite the limitations of Caithness, the Picts grew in number and their domain stretched to accommodate them. In the fifth century, Drust, son of Erp, king of the Picts, lived for one-hundred years and took part in a hundred battles. They constantly warred with their southerly neighbours, who were ruled by Rome, raiding British lands for resources. They used curragh, small boats, to raid the Yorkshire coastline. Constantius Caesar formed a force of scout-ships, which were nicknamed 'Pictae' because they looked like the Pictish curragh boats. This all came to a halt when Pictland was invaded from by the ScotsPage 16, Chapter 3: The Picts, Geoffrey Ashe, .
== Origins of Scotland ==
According to legend, the Scots' origins exist in the distant land of Scythia. A banished noble travelled to Egypt with an entourage, where he went on to marry the pharoah's daughter, Scotta. However, when the Egyptian army was drowned in the parting of the Red Sea by the Israelites, the Egyptians feared that the Scythians would take advantage of the situation to seize control of the land, so they were forced to leave. The leader took up a new name, Scotti, based on his wife's name, and the group left and wandered the land for forty-two years, eventually finding Gibraltar and settled in southern Spain. The descendants of these Scythians lived in Spain for over a thousand years before they migrated and settled again, this time in Ireland. From their place in northern Ireland, they moved to the islands to their north, to the west of Pictland. This kingdom became known as Dál Riata (today Argyll)Page 18, Chapter 4: The Scots, . A conflicting origin story tells that the Picts tried to attract women from Britain, but were rejected. They instead travelled to Ireland, where they were able to marry Irish women instead and this mix became the Scots, before they then founded Dál RiataPage 19, Chapter 4: The Scots, .
=== Attacks on Britain ===
The Scots of Ireland raided the lands of Britain, especially areas tethered to the Irish Sea, but also settled there, bringing with them knowledge of Ogham, the early Irish writing system, especially in areas of Wales and Cornwall. The first settlers of Dál Riata were sons of the Scot king Erc, with this new kingdom falling to his son Fergus. Dál Riata was ruled from the rocky citadel of Dunadd, in the Kintyre peninsula. Aside from warbands, the growth of Dál Riata rooted upon the founding of the monastary of Iona by St Columbia, which spread Christianity throughout the Scots, then into Pictland and the northern England.
==Origins of England==
Mythology and history align with the origins of the English; they are of Germanic heritage of three predominant cultures - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The lands that these three cultures eventually occupied would become the foundation for England, but they did not simply displace the native Britons, rather they were assimilated into this new English domain. Those that rejected the invaders would fight and die, or flee to Wales or north to ScotlandPage 21, Chapter 5: The English, . Mythology does allow for the notion that these Germanic tribes themselves are one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, like the native Britons. One avenue for the belief is that their tribe settled for a time in what is today the Crimea, before travelling across EuropePage 22, Chapter 5: The English, .
== Origins of Ireland ==
Though a separate entity to Britain, Irish mythology is nonetheless is an integral component to the Matter of Britain and many myths are intertwined between cultures and shared histories.
==References==
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