Folklor in History

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Folklore in History

Author(s): Margaret A. MurraySource: Folklore, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Jun., 1955), pp. 257-266Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1258267

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o l kh oreTRANSACTIONS OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY

VOL. LXVI JUNE 1955 [No. 2

FOLKLORE IN HISTORY

(PresidentialAddressdeliveredbeforethe Society at the Annual General

Meetingon March I6th, 1955)BY MARGARET A. MURRAY

IN studying Folklore in History, it is necessary to take History intoaccount. And it must be remembered hat Folklore can becomeHistory,and History Folklore.

Accordingto Geoffreyof Monmouth he history of Englandbeginswiththe invasion by Brutus and his band of Trojans. Brutus started fromGreece, i.e. the Eastern Mediterranean,

passed throughthe Straits of

Gibraltar,then sailednorth till he came to the Loire. The invaderstriedto take possessionof the country, but findingthe inhabitants too strongfor them, they crossedthe Channel and landed at Totnes in Devon, i.e.West Country. They were influencedby an oracle which Brutus hadobtained from the goddess Diana that they should settle in an islandinhabited by giants. Albion was at that time inhabitedonly by a fewgiants. It should be noted that Brutus and his followerswent westwardon landing, and it is from the West Country and Wales that all ourlegends of giants and ogres come.

Corineus,one of Brutus'scompanions,becomesking of Cornwall. " Itwas a diversion to him to encounter the giants, who were in greaternumberthere than in all the other provinces." One detestable monsternamed Goamagotwas twelve cubits (18 ft.) high; he could pull up anoak with " one shake ". Single combat, in the formof a wrestlingmatch(Cornwallwas always famous for its wrestlers), took place betweenCorineusand Goamagot. The giant broke three of Corineus'sribs, then

Corineus hrew Goamagotover his shoulder,ran with him to the edge ofthe cliff and cast him down on the rocksbelow.

There are other legends about giants in the West Country; I quotehere only two. In the legend of Childe Horn, a Saracen (i.e. Eastern

R 257



258 Folklore in History

Mediterranean) invasion enters the country, led by a giant, who kills

Horn's father, and is himself killed by Horn. Then Havelok the Dane,

when in Cornwall, kills a horrible Pictish (i.e foreign) giant who is aboutto marry the very unwilling Cornish princess.

All the stories point to the giants being in the West Country (or Wales)

only. They were invaders and foreigners, usually coming from the

Eastern Mediterranean. They are quite different from the Trolls and

giants of the North, who are usually supernatural beings. The West

Country giants not only come from the East, but they travel along the

ancient trade route which in later times was followed by the Phoenicians

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The legends suggest that some of these people settled in the West,

chiefly in Cornwall. In our native folklore the western giants were of the

type known as Ogres, and ogres were always cannibals.The typical appearance of these people was probably handed down

orally, and has now become stereotyped. The Ogre was not only verytall but big-boned as well. He had a broad face with coarse features,high cheek-bones, lumpy nose, wide mouth with large teeth, and hisbeard was coarse, stright and straggly. These are all characteristics ofthe moujik of Southern Russia (pl. II a, b). If such a moujik is slightly



Folklore in History 259caricatured and given a sinister expression, he would represent the

Perfect Ogre. And it must be remembered that even as late as Roman

times the Scythian or Southern Russian was a cannibal. Our nurseryrhymes emphasise this custom, as for instance, " Robin-a-Bobbin, the

big-bellied Ben ", who ate " all the good people ". The Beanstalk Ogrehad three heads, and it is interesting to note that as late as the sixteenth

century the South Russians were credited with worshipping a three-

headed god (pl. III). The South Russians belonged to the Ugrian race,and it is tempting to see in Ugrian the origin of our word Ogre.

I suggest that in these legends there are traces of two distinct invasions

from the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean. The first was of thesavage barbarous Scythians, who made a small settlement but did not

spread. The second was of Brutus and the Trojans, who exterminated

the previous settlers, and have left a few traces in the language as well as

in tradition.

There is the third invasion from the Eastern Mediterranean, the record

of which is so overlaid with folklore that it is difficult to see the solid facts

on which the tradition rests. This is the coming of the Christian mission-

aries disguised under the legend of Joseph of Arimathea and the HolyGrail.

It is a historical fact that the first Christian missionaries to the British

Isles came to Ireland, and the west of England and Scotland, and founded

the British Church. They must have come by the ancient trade routedirect by sea from the Mediterranean.

Kiot is said by Wolfram von Eschenbach to have been the first todiscover the story of the coming of the Grail, which was in an Arabic

manuscriptat

Toledo,and he had to learn

Arabicin

order to translate it.Robert de Borron (c. 1350) gives the earliest record extant in his poemYospeh of Aromathea. He recounts the various adventures of Joseph andhis companions bringing the Grail, first to Egypt and then to Britain.'

The Legend. Joseph and his friends leave Jerusalem and go to Bethanyand the country of Damascus and reach Sarras. European scholars have

always looked for Sarras in the neighbourhood of Damascus, and failingto find it have jumped to the conclusion that the place-names arefictitious and therefore that the whole

storyis fictitious.

If, however, theold trade route from Jerusalem to Egypt is followed it will lead throughthe Gebel Damashq (country of Damascus), that strip of desert which

1 For the full discussion of the subject see my article,"

Egyptian Elements inthe Grail Romance ", in Ancient Egypt, 1916, pp. 1-14, 54-69. I am indebted tothat great Arabic scholar, Sir Thomas Arnold, for the identification of the Arabicpersonal names.



260 Folklore in Historylies between Suez and the southernpart of the Delta. Here on the east

side of the habitable country is that spring of water which has been

sacred from time immemorial,for it was there that R8, the Sun-god,washed his face daily, there that the Pharaoh had to wash as part of his

installation ceremonies,and there that, according to Christianlegend,the Virginwashed the clothes of the infant Christ. Crossing he head of

the Delta to the west side, there are three villages still called Sarras. Of

these Sarrasal-Liyanehappearsto be the town mentioned in the legend.The King of Sarras was named Evalach, and he was at war with

Tholome Cerastre, king of Babylon. All the personal names in the

legend can be identifiedas Arabic; the place-namescan be identifiedasbeing chiefly in the Delta. The mediaeval Europeanform of the Arabic

Ibn (son of) being Ave or Avi (as in Averroesand Avicena) Evalach can

be Ibn al-Ukht, " Son of the Sister ", a not unlikelyname as emphas-

ising the matrilineal descentwhich was probablystill practisedin Egypt.Tholome is clearly Ptolemy, and Babylon is the Europeanizedfrom of

Bablun, the capital of Egypt in late Roman times until the conquest bythe Arabs,who foundedthe modernCairo. Theplace-namesof the legend

can be identified, especially those where battles were fought, for theysurvive in small and insignificant villages. I give one example out of

many. The importantstrategictown of Valashim survives in the villageof Barashim. Another point to notice is that Tholome's subjects and

army are always called Egyptians.Much of the ritual of the Grail still survives in the Coptic ritual. In

the legend the Grail was enclosed in a receptacle and covered with a

" plateyne ". One of the newly baptized ventured to raise the plateyneand look

inside,and was

immediatelystruck with blindness. But

bysincerepenitenceand the use of a magicointment he recoveredhis sight.Eye-diseases, especially ophthalmia, are common in Egypt, and were

always attributed to the wrath of God, and until the British introducedscientific treatment of disease, magic ointments found a ready sale.

In a Coptic church no lay person may enter the sanctuary, which isreserved for the priests only. At the Eucharist the chalice is enclosedin a decoratedbox without a lid (pl. IVa, b),the cup beinghiddenunderamat ofstiffenedcanvascoveredwith muslin,in otherwords a "

plateyne ",a necessity in a land of flies. This chalice box is a unique feature inChristianritual, found only among the Copts. There are other featuresof Copticritual which approximateto that of the Grail.

One of the incidents in the war between Evalach is the single combatbetween the young princeNasciens and a giant called Ferreyn,in which



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Nasciens kills his opponent. The name Ferreyn is obviously a variantof Faral6n, the Arabic form of Pharaoh. In Egyptian folklore Pharaoh

is always a giant and, being a pagan, he is also a wicked enchanter, andis therefore very rightly killed by the Christian prince. It should benoticed that here again is a giant in the Eastern Mediterranean. AfterEvalach defeats and kills Tholome, the little body of Christians leave

Egypt to carry the Gospel to Britain, bringing the Grail with them. Onthe way the ships are scattered by storm and Evalach, now called by his

baptismal name of Mordrayns, is cast upon a Turning Island. This is a

magical island which pulls itself out of the water twice a day. I take

this to be a description of the Atlantic tide made by a person accustomedonly to the almost tideless Eastern Mediterranean. Joseph brings not

only the Grail but his staff which, when planted, becomes the miraculousthorn which flowers only at Christmas. After a short stay, Galahad,son of Joseph, returns to Egypt to become King of Sarras.

The date of the story can be fixed only approximately. Egypt waschristianized very early, possibly in the first century, for according totradition it was St. Mark who was the missionary to Egypt. It is, how-

ever, more likely that an organized company of missionaries would comein the third century, when there were possibly already small groups ofChristians in the country, for the British Church was established in theWest at least three centuries before Augustine came from Rome. The

legend of the early missions would return to Egypt with accretions, andthere obviously received other accretions. Then after the Arab conquestof Egypt the characters were given Arabic names, and in that guise cameto Europe. There is a corroboration of this dating from an English

legendof a

Christian prince from Constantinople coming as a missionaryto the West Country. He is said to have planted his staff which becamea tree. The exact date of his coming is given as 71I, which is the year ofthe final conquest of Spain by the Moslems.

There is an interesting piece of folklore in the Bible, which was certainlyhistorical. This is the episode of the Witch of Endor. It was just beforethe disastrous battle of Gilboa, and Saul seems to have been thoroughlydisheartened. Samuel was dead and Abiathar had gone off with theephod to

David,and

thoughSaul tried all the

other legitimate means oflearning the future, " the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams,nor by Urim, nor by prophets ". He then had recourse to a woman whohad a familiar spirit, what the modern spiritualist calls a " control ".He told the woman he wished to see Samuel. Unfortunately her methodof incantation is not given, but she must have done something for she




said, " I saw gods ascending out of the earth ", and then, " An old man

cometh up covered with a mantle." It is clear that Saul saw nothing,

but he at once jumped to the conclusion that it was Samuel. One mustremember that he was exhausted by fatigue and want of food, and in a

highly nervous state before a battle, so that the conversation between

Saul and Samuel is not necessarily authentic. What to me is the

interesting point is the method of incantation, which was probably the

same as practised in ancient Egypt and is still done in North Africa. In

Egypt the magician took a bowl of black bronze in which was engraveda figure of the god Anubis (pl. V). The bowl was filled with clear water,

on which was floated some fine oil; this gives a reflecting but not glitter-ing surface. The actual seer was a boy under puberty; he gazed into

the bowl, while the magician burned incense and chanted monotonously.The boy would then see Anubis enter and spread carpets and preparethrones for the great gods, who then came in, sat on the thrones and

answered the magician's questions. In Morocco the liquid used is ink,which like the oil in a black bowl gives a good reflecting surface without

glitter. The seer is again a young boy, who looks into the ink-pool and

sees first servants erecting a pavilion and preparing a throne and thencomes the Sultan, who sets himself on the throne and answers the

magicians' questions. In the case of the Witch of Endor, she was her

own seer, she saw the attendants arrive first; then came the principal

personage, an old man covered with a mantle, who answered the questions.There was nothing but Saul's own excited fancy to show that this was

really Samuel. In those days the result of a battle depended entirelyon the spirit of the leader. Saul went into that battle completely dis-

couraged,with a

presentiment and prophecy of failure.The belief that God in person led his people in battle is very ancient

it is probably connected with the idea of the divinity of the King. An

early example is when Moses told the Israelites not to go up against the

Amalekites " for the Lord is not among you. But they presumed to

go up. But the ark of the Lord departed not out of the camp. Then

the Amalekites and Canaanites came down and smote them and beat

them down " (Num. xiv). The interesting point here is the fact thatthere was

nothingin the ark but the tables of stone. These must

thenbe regarded as Beth-el, the House of God, the object in which the Deitywas indwelling.

In later times an emblem of God was used, and this may be the originof the standard. Even now one of our regiments has the Lamb and

Flag as the emblem on their colours.



Folklore in History 263

Joan of Arc's banner was of white cloth fringed with silk. In the

centre was the King of Heaven with a figureof the world and an angel

on each side. She valued her bannerforty times more than her sword.Yet her swordwas magical,havingbeenmiraculously ound in the church

of St. Catherineof Fierbois.

When the Deity was not present in person or in emblem, there were

often supernaturalhelpersin battle.At the second battle of Barnet, when Edward IV won the decisive

victory over Henry VI, and Warwickthe King-makerwas killed, a mist

came up, which was of the utmost value to Edward'sarmy. This was

popularly regardedas being due to the magic of FriarBungay, who wasa supporterof the Yorkists.

In 1651, the night before the decisive battle of Worcester, Colonel

Lindsay claims that he accompaniedCromwell nto a wood at midnight,and there they encountereda big black man, with whom Cromwellwenta little apart. They conversedtogether, but Lindsay could not hear all

they said except that Cromwellwas trying to persuadethe black man to

give him fourteen, while the black man insisted on seven. FinallyCromwellhad to

consent, though unwillingly to seven. The next dayCromwellwon the battle of Worcester, and that day seven years afterhe died in the midst of a tremendousthunder-storm. The account was

published after the Restoration, and is clearly a piece of Royalistpropaganda, but the interesting point is that it was expected to be

believed seriously.

Supernatural helpers have been known in modern times. The greatnational hero of Serbia is a mediaevalprince,MarkoKralyevitch (King's

son)who will

appear ridingon his Sharatz

(piebald horse)to

help hiscountry in her time of need. In the Balkan War of 1912 Serbia foughtTurkey for the possession of Macedonia. On one occasion a force ofSerbianswere orderedto attack the strong fortressof Prilep heldby theTurks. An eye-witness gives an account of this battle. " Our infantrywas orderedto make a forced march on the eve of that battle. Theywere to wait at the foot of the mount of Prilep, on which stood theCastle of Marko, for the effect of the artillery. They were especiallycautioned

against stormingthe fort until

theyreceived the order from

the Commander-in-Chief.During the early morning the infantry keptquiet, but at the first cannon-shotswe noticed an effervescenceamongour troops, and soon after we heard them shouting frantically and sawthem running like wolves straight to the Castle of Marko KralyevitchI could hear the voice of our CaptainAgatonovitch commandingthem




to stop and await the General's order. When the immediate commanderssaw that discipline proved futile, they essayed in vain to appeal to their

reason. In a little while our artillery ceased firing, lest they should killtheir own comrades, who were now crossing bayonets with the Turkish

infantry. A few minutes later we saw the Serbian national colours

floating on the donjon of Marko Kralyevitch's castle. A parade wasordered. I praised my heroes for their brave conduct, but reproachedthem bitterly for their disobedience. At my last admonishing words, Iheard from thousands of soldiers, 'Kralyevitch Marko commanded us allthe time " FORWARD ". Did you not see him on his Sharatz?' " (WoislavM.

Petrovitch,Hero

Tales and Legends of the Serbians, translated by C.Miyatovitch, p. 64, note).

Those of us who have an intimate recollection of the 1914-18 warcannot forget the Retreat from Mons and the story, believed by thousandsof our own people, of the angels who protected our men. Less known

though equally credited were the White Cavalry of Bethune who, thoughseen only by the Germans, caused them to retreat hastily.

PORTENTS AND OMENS

The belief in portents and omens seems to be inherent in the human

race, and at one time was certainly held as a matter of religious faithHerodotus (vi. 27) makes this definite statement, " The deity is wont to

give some previous warning when any great calamities are about tobefall any city or nation." This is the Pagan view ; Henry of Huntingdonhas the same opinion but expresses it in Christian phraseology. " The

great Creator-himself invisible-graciously condescends to instruct our

ignorant minds concerning what is about to happen by visible appear-ances, and sometimes in very deed gives us a sign from heaven." (Actsof Stephen, p. 348.) These signs from heaven were usually comets orthe aurora. All the classical historians and our own old chroniclers arefull of instances of these terrible portents. Henry of Huntingdonrecords that in 729 " two portentous comets appeared near the sun, one

preceding its rising, the other following its setting, presaging, as it were,dreadful calamities to both east and west. The comets turned their

blazing tails towards the north. They remained visible for nearly afortnight. At which time the Saracens spread destruction far and widein France and Spain; but not long afterwards they met in the samecountry the fate their impiety deserved ".

In io66, according to Matthew of Westminster (p. 564), "a large



PLATE III

THREE-HEADED GOD OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA

From Olaus Magnus, Comnpendious History

of the Goths, A.D. 1555



PLATE IV

(a)

(b)

COPTIC CHALICE BOXES. WHEN IN USE THE CHALICE

IS ENTIRELY HIDDEN



PLATE V

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Folklore in History 265comet of a blood-red colour with long hair appeared at the beginning of

this year ". This is the comet which is depicted in the Bayeux tapestry

(p.VI).The aurora, when seen far south, would certainly be regarded as a

sign of terror. Henry of Huntingdon (Acts of Stephen, p. 347) gives an

eye-witness account of a fine display which he saw before the disastrous

rebellion in Northumberland (1138). " So stupendous was this calamitythat not only makind trembled at it, but the heavens betokened it as

something awful. Shortly before it began, a large quarter of the heavens

was seen to emit fiery sparks like a furnace, and balls of fire of wonder-

ful brightness, like sparks of live coal, short through the air. I myselfwitnessed the northern hemisphere in a flame, and saw with my own

eyes luminous flakes floating densely in the blazing air. This visible

appearance of a flaming sky portended either a great effusion of blood

or denoted the burning of towns and villages."Two modern occurrences of the aurora would certainly have been taken

as portents of war in ancient times. (I) Early in 1939 there was displaysof the aurora seen as far south as London. (2) On three successive nights

just before the Pearl Harbour disaster, the aurora was seen in the UnitedStates as far south as Cleveland, Ohio.

PERSONAL OMENS

The best known of these omens is of William the Conqueror, who fellas he landed, and rose with his hands covered with mud, when a soldier

pointed out, " Behold, the land is in your hand " (Matt. West, p. 559).Henry of

Huntingdonrecords several omens which

precededsome of

the exciting incidents in King Stephen's career. The most interestingoccurred on Candlemas Day, 1140. " While mass was being celebratedat dawn of day, and the king, as is the order and office of the festival,was holding a candle of wax in his hand, it was suddenly extinguished,the candle as it is said being broken short; but retaining it in his hand,it was stuck together again and re-lighted, a token that for his sins heshould be deprived of his crown, but on his repentance, through God's

mercy, he should be wonderfully and gloriously recover it. For, inasmuchas he still held the candle in his hand, although broken, that was a signthat he should not resign the crown nor lose the name of king."

There was a terrible omen at the coronation of Henry VI, for thecrown fell from his head.

A great number of omens, all pointing to his fate, are recorded after



266 Folklore in Historythe death of Charles I. The most significant was that when going to his

coronation he had to pass a bust of himself, and as he passed the blood

of a wounded falcon fell on the neck of the bust.A certain amount of folklore is gathering round Queen Victoria. Her

luck in fine weather was phenomenal. It was said that whenever she

appeared officially in public it was always fine; that even if it was a

wet day, the rain would always hold off while she was " on view ".

Many people believed, and stated their belief openly, that the fine

weather and the peace and prosperity of her reign, showed that she

received special favour from the Almighty.

There were several omens at the beginning of the reign of Edward VIIIwhich were noticed at the time, merely as current news in the daily papersbut were regarded with misgiving by many people. To give only one

instance: On the occasion of his driving in state to open his first Parlia-

ment, great preparations were made. Traffic was diverted along the route,

and hundreds of police were on duty to control the expected crowds. But

that day the rain came down in sheets : I have seldom seen such heavyrain lasting almost all day. The king was obliged to go in a closed motor,

and there were few people who ventured to stand in that downpour.To anyone who remembered the " royal weather " of Queen Victoria

and Edward VII, and believed that to have been granted as a specialfavour of God, the omen was certainly unpropitious. Though the

Coronation Day of Queen Elizabeth II was rainy, many people expressedsatisfaction that a gleam of sunshine greeted Her Majesty as she steppedout of the door of Westminster Abbey.

In this paper by its very title I have had to take most of my information

frombooks,

for we are too near toevents which will become history

to

realise what folklore underlies them. But folklore is a living thing, it is

always with us, and therefore may have effect on even the greatestevents of history.

Folklor in History

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