The subtitle for this topic is misleading, for the Faan (also called the Fae) in what is now France do not seem to have opposed the Celts. The Faan were a Mesopotamian people who had settled in the area during the fifth millennium, and the Celts were Caucasians from Scythia (see 'Origin of the Celts'). Evidence in the Marne valley shows that integration occurred at an early date, and Wales is still peopled by a Faan/Celtic mix, descendants of central European Celts who had moved north from what is now France around 500 B.C. The integrated people of Britain took the old Faan name of 'Prydaan', but they had many Celtic attributes.
The Gaels were looking at Ireland as early as 800 B.C. These people had not arrived via central Europe like their cousins in France, but had taken a Mediterranean route, picking up an Egyptian princess on their travels. They included among them descendants of a man named 'Black Mil', whose black hair must have been noticeable among his predominantly red haired neighbours. Mil's brother Ith travelled to the island on a reconnaissance mission. It had been settled by Athenians from Greece who were relatives of the Faan. The dominant people of their kind upon the island, they had adopted the Faan religion and (like the British Faan) called themselves 'extra Fae' or 'Fae Rhy' (Faery). However, they retained a Mediterranean aggression in defending their land. They killed Ith, thereby absolving the Gaels of any obligation to approach them diplomatically.
Incensed, the Gaels invaded. The Bronze Age Athenians were no match for Iron Age Caucasians in open battle. But during the carnage, something happened that filled the Gaels with remorse. A Faery queen named Eire, the only one of her kind to welcome Ith, had been killed. Sadly the conquerors named their new home 'Ileann Eireaan', the Island of Eire, and the Island of Eire it has been ever since.
Their rage against her people was unaffected, however, and the Gaels began to hunt down their vanquished foe. Fortunately, this savagery was halted when the fugitives dried up their cattle and ruined their land. A truce was declared. Some of the Faery who were part Briton decided to leave. They are called 'Lleuanaan', perhaps because of their Lleuaaniaid ancestry (see 'Arthur'). But the full blooded Athenians decided to stay. The Gaels promised to leave them alone if they lived as refugees in their chamber tombs. They must have lived more or less in hiding (or at least in avoidance of the Gaels) for fully eight centuries, because a peace was not made between the two peoples until around the time of Christ. Pookha rebels of the Faery preyed upon the Gaels at night. There must have been problems with Celts in Britain too, for the guerrilla war was fought on both islands.
The man who changed everything in Ireland was Cuchulainn. A descendant of the Faery king Lleu (see 'The United Kingdom') and son of a Gaelic princess who lived with the Faery, he was 'given' to the Gaels of Uillaid in the sense that it was it his geise (duty imposed by another's mention of the word) to defend them at any cost. Because he was a man of war, he forged a peace that will never end and a love that will never die. Because he was a Gael, he brought the Faery back into their own and created what Ireland is today.
In the north of Britain the last migration of Gaels arrived via Ireland, where they had taken wives from among the Scots, descendants of the aforementioned Egyptian princess. Some of this last migration (the Miathians) integrated with the Prydaan, while in the farthest northern reaches others (the Caledonians) integrated with the Atecotti ('very old ones'), the original inhabitants who had long ago been Volsungrs from Scandinavia. The combined people were called 'Picts' by the Romans and 'Cruithne' by the Scots. Both words mean 'painted', but a Roman account says that the paint was under the skin, i.e. tattooing.
Not long before the Roman empire occupied Britain, Belgic Celts (part Germanic and part central European Celt) invaded in the southeast, forcing the Faan/Celtic people westward, where they built fortresses on man made islands. The unintegrated Faan probably retreated into the forest and were saved when the Romans wiped out the Belgic Celts. The invaders reached Ireland, however, where they have been confused with the Fir Bolg (see 'The United Kingdom').
In the second century A.D. the Romans planned to invade Ireland. By this time the Ui Niall dynasty had become High Kings on the island, and the Scots of Dalriada in Ireland had journeyed to what is now called Scotland, to unite with the Picts and eventually take them over. The Romans were prevented from invading Ireland by the High King's personal army, led by the Volsungr hero Finn McCuill.
The Ui Nialls, who took over much of Ireland, swore in their High King with a ceremony that symbolized the peace between the Caucasians and the little people. During this ceremony, the High King stood with one foot upon the hide of a red bull and the other upon the Faery coronation stone, standing as a bridge uniting the two. The Gaels acknowledged the stone's geissidh to the king of Ireland, i.e. its significance as an expression of his geise to rule well, and it stood as a reminder to him, calling out to him in spirit. By this time the Faery were asking the Gaels for help with their own conflicts, and many people were of mixed descent. Amid all the advantages of peace, the Caucasians discovered that the two cultures were incompatible regarding one issue, and that was the institution of the geise. The Faery controlled themselves, not each other, and refused to be bound by this extreme measure, which had been necessitated by Caucasian warfare. For the first time the Gaels had to make a concession.
Converts from the wizards of the Faan were among the earliest Christians, and their Church dates from as early as 37 A.D. The teachings of Jesus greatly resembled those of the Zoroastrian magi; the wizards were the magi of the north, and may have been joined by some of the Ephraimite magi, who were Zoroastrians. The wizards' high council made the revolutionary decision to convert to Christianity. The entire organization of the wizardry became the administration of their Church, which was associated with the Coptic Church.
From its inception, the administrative network of the Roman Church was modelled upon that of the wizards, who had been influential in northern Italy, and this became powerful after the reign of Constantine. The Romans had never been coercive unless their political rule was opposed, at which time they slaughtered all rebels. They made a famous exception of Christianity, which they persecuted until they finally succumbed to its persuasion. I can only assume that the ex-wizards dominating the early Church were both discreet and tenacious. Before the Roman Church triumphed after the death of Constantine, it did not adopt a rivalrous attitude toward the Coptics, for the two organizations genuinely shared a common cause in those days, which would not be corroded until the Roman Church was taken over by Goths in the fourth century A.D.
When the Celtic Druids opposed Christianity, monks of the wizard tradition became missionaries to the Celts. The most famous were St. Columba, St. Patrick and St. David. Their courage and dedication earned them undying love in the nations which they converted. When the Roman Church became Gothic, the wizards' network was adopted in Germanic nations where Faan society had been broken down. But when Franks took over the Roman Church, the inheritors of the wizard tradition would be replaced as the new rulers rejected Coptic influences.
a touch of Faery humour
Scota
graphic courtesy of Blockade Runner Jewelry
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