The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 1 (of 4)
History
The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 1 (of 4)
Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Geology -- England -- Cornwall (County)
Lastly, it is observed by our annalists upon the foregoing history,
that after this bloody war, and unjust fact of King Uter’s, he never
had any tolerable success against his Saxon enemies; but in many
battles was worsted by them, and finally, some of them understanding
of a good spring or well of water, whereof he usually drank, they
secretly envenomed the same, so that afterwards the king, drinking his
customary draught thereof, soon after, with intolerable pains, died in
the fifteenth year of his reign, and the flower of his age, anno Dom.
515, fulfilling that saying in the Sacred Writings, “The same measure
that ye mete shall be measured to you again, brimfull and running
over.” So that I shall conclude this history in the words of St. Paul,
“O the height of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out!”
After the death of King Uter Pendragon, his son and heir Arthur,
begotten as aforesaid, succeeded to his dominion of Britain, anno Dom.
515, but as others say 518. He is therefore rightly named by some
authors, Arthur Mab Uter Pendragon, viz. Arthur, the son of Uter
Pendragon. Which name Arthur is probably derived from the British
Arthou, a good or sharp pointed weapon. Of this King Arthur, long
before his birth, had Merlin prophecied to King Vortigern:
“Aper etenim Cornubiæ succursum præstabit [si non potius
erit] et colla eorum sub pedibus suis conculcabit, insulæ
oceani potestati ipsius subdentur; et Galicanos saltus
possidebit; tremebit Romulea Domus sevitiam ipsius; et
exitus ejus dubius erit; in ore populorum cœlebrabitur, et
actus ejus cibus erit narrantibus. Sex posteri ejus tenebunt
sceptrum,” &c.
Which in English amounts to this:
“That the boar of Cornwall shall bring aid and assistance,
and shall tread the necks of our enemies under his feet, the
islands of the ocean shall be subject to his power, and the
Gaulish forests he shall possess, the house of Romulus shall
tremble at his wrath. As for his death or end, it shall be
doubtful or uncertain. His name shall be celebrated by the
people, and his famous acts shall be food to those that do
relate them. Six of his lineage shall sway the sceptre,” &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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