Druidism’s rival faiths were all introduced by the Romans, and for a time Mithraism was a genuine threat to Christianity, while other Gods, like Mercury and Isis, also continued to be worshipped, but Christianity was by far the most successful of the imports. It had even swept through Ireland, carried there by Patrick (Padraig) a British Christian who was supposed to have used the clover-leaf to teach the doctrine of the Trinity. The Saxons extirpated Christianity from the parts of Britain they captured, so the English had to wait another hundred years for St Augustine of Canterbury to reintroduce the faith into Lloegyr (now England). That Augustinian Christianity was different from the earlier Celtic forms; Easter was celebrated on a different day and, instead of using the Druidic tonsure that shaved the front part of the head, the new Christians made the more familiar bald circle on the crown of the head. As in The Winter King I have deliberately introduced some anachronisms. The Arthurian legends are fiendishly complex, mainly because they include all kinds of different stories, many of which, like the tale of Tristan and Iseult, started as quite independent tales and only slowly became incorporated in the much larger Arthurian saga. I did once intend to leave out all the later accretions, but that would have denied me, among many other things, Merlin and Lancelot, so I allowed romanticism to prevail over pedantry. I confess that my inclusion of the word Camelot is a complete historical nonsense, for that name was not invented until the twelfth century so Derfel would never have heard it. Some characters, like Derfel, Ceinwyn, Culhwch, Gwenhwyvach, Gwydre, Amhar, Loholt, Dinas and Lavaine, dropped out of the stories over the centuries, to be replaced by new characters like Lancelot. Other names changed over the years; Nimue became Vivien, Cei became Kay, and Peredur Perceval. The earliest names are Welsh and they can be difficult, but, with the exceptions of Excalibur (for Caledfwlch) and Guinevere (for Gwenhwyfar), I have largely preferred them because they reflect the milieu of fifth-century Britain. The Arthurian legends are Welsh tales and Arthur is an ancestor of the Welsh, while his enemies, like Cerdic and Aelle, were the people who would come to be known as the English, and it seemed right to stress the Welsh origins of the stories. Not that I can pretend that the Warlord trilogy is in any way an accurate history of those years; it is not even an attempt at such a history, merely another variation on a fantastic and complicated saga that has come to us from a barbaric age, yet it still enthralls us because it is so replete with heroism, romance and tragedy.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
ADE — Mistress to Lancelot
AELLE — A Saxon king
AGRICOLA — Warlord of Gwent, who serves King Tewdric
AILLEANN — Once Arthur’s mistress, mother of his twin sons Amhar and Loholt
AMHAR — Bastard son of Arthur and Ailleann
ARTHUR — Warlord of Dumnonia, guardian of Mordred
BALIN — One of Arthur’s warriors
BAN — Once King of Benoic (a kingdom in Brittany), father of Lancelot
BEDWIN — Bishop in Dumnonia and chief councillor
BORS — Lancelot’s cousin, his champion
BROCHVAEL — King of Powys after Arthur’s time
BYRTHIG — Edling (Crown Prince) of Gwynedd, later King
CADOC — A Christian bishop, reputed saint, a recluse
CADWALLON — King of Gwynedd
CADWY — Rebellious prince in Isca
CALLYN — Champion of Kernow
CAVAN — Derfel’s second-in-command
CEI — Arthur’s childhood companion, now one of his warriors
CEINWYN — Princess of Powys, sister of Cuneglas
CERDIC — A Saxon king
CULHWYCH — Arthur’s cousin, one of his warriors
CUNEGLAS — King of Powys, son of Gorfyddyd
CYTHRYN — Dumnonian magistrate, a councillor
DERFEL CADARN — The narrator, born a Saxon, one of Arthur’s warriors, later a monk
DIAN — Derfel’s youngest daughter
DINAS — A Silurian Druid, twin to Lavaine
DIWRNACH — Irish King of Lleyn, a country formerly called Henis Wyren
EACHERN — One of Derfel’s spearmen
ELAINE — Lancelot’s mother, widowed wife of Ban
EMRYS — Bishop in Dumnonia, succeeds Bedwin
ERCE — Derfel’s mother, also called Enna
GALAHAD — Lancelot’s half-brother, a Prince of (lost) Benoic
GORFYDDYD — King of Powys killed at Lugg Vale, father to Cuneglas and Ceinwyn
GUINEVERE — Arthur’s wife
GUNDLEUS — Once King of Siluria, killed after Lugg Vale
GWENHWYVACH — Guinevere’s sister, a Princess of (lost) Henis Wyren
GWLYDDYN — Servant to Merlin
GWYDRE — Son of Arthur and Guinevere
HELLEDD — Cuneglas’s wife, Queen of Powys
HYGWYDD — Arthur’s servant
IGRAINE — Queen of Powys after Arthur’s time, married to Brochvael
IORWETH — Druid of Powys
ISEULT — Queen of Kernow, married to Mark
ISSA — One of Derfel’s spearmen, later his second-in-command
LANCELOT — Exiled King of Benoic
LANVAL — One of Arthur’s warriors
LAVAINE — A Silurian Druid, twin to Dinas
LEODEGAN — Exiled King of Henis Wyren, father to Guinevere and Gwenhwyvach
LIGESSAC — Traitor in exile
LOHOLT — Arthur’s bastard son, twin to Amhar
LUNETE — Once Derfel’s lover, now an attendant to Guinevere
MALAINE — Druid in Powys
MALLA — Sagramor’s Saxon wife
MARK — King of Kernow, father of Tristan
MELWAS — Exiled King of the Belgac
MERLIN — The chief Druid of Dumnonia
MEURIG — Edling (Crown Prince) of Ciwent, later King
MORDRED — King of Dumnonia, son of Norwenna
MORFANS — ‘The Ugly’, one of Arthur’s warriors
MORGAN — Arthur’s elder sister, once Merlin’s chief priestess
MORWENNA — Derfel’s eldest daughter
NABUR — Christian magistrate in Durnovaria
NIMUE — Merlin’s lover and chief priestess
NORWENNA — Mordred’s mother, killed by Gundleus
OENGUS MAC AIREM — Irish King of Demetia, a land once called Dyfed
PEREDUR — Son to Lancelot and Ade
PYRLIG — Derfel’s bard
RALLA — Merlin’s servant, married to Gwlyddyn
SAGRAMOR — Arthur’s Numidian commander, Lord of the Stones
SANSUM — Bishop in Dumnonia, later Derfel’s superior at Dinnewrac
SCARACH — Issa’s wife
SEREN — Derfel’s second daughter
TANABURS — A Silurian Druid, killed by Derfel after Lugg Vale
TEWDRIC — King of Gwent, father of Meurig, later a Christian recluse
TRISTAN — Edling (Crown Prince) of Kernow, son of Mark
TUDWAL — Novice monk at Dinnewrac
UTHER — The dead High King of Dumnonia, Mordred’s grandfather
Copyright © 1997 by Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Libraries
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law
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