Tea at Trianon: Celtic Warriors and Celtic Feasts

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Celtic Warriors and Celtic Feasts

From Ancient History:

Another problem with any study of the Celts is the lack of written sources produced by themselves. These largely illiterate tribes stored and passed on their culture orally, especially through learned druids. Consequently, besides scarce short inscriptions and the physical finds of archaeology, we must rely on Greco-Roman writers for much of the details of Celtic warfare and life in general. Naturally, the Romans were the ultimate victors and so sources like Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars may be invaluable but they were not designed to record Celtic culture for posterity. Nor were these classical writers free from bias, misunderstanding and perpetuating stereotypes. When the 1st-century BCE writer Strabo noted of the Celts that "the whole race…is madly fond of war, high-spirited and quick to battle" (in Cunliffe, 213), was he accurately depicting an enemy or making the warriors of his own culture seem even more successful for conquering such a valiant foe? Nevertheless, classical authors are invaluable, and the Celts were well-known to them not only as an enemy but also later as mercenaries in Punic, Greek and Roman armies. (Read more.)

Also from Ancient History:

Feasts were an important part of ancient Celtic culture, and items used in them such as spits, cauldrons, and flagons have been excavated from burial sites across Europe. These finds of feast paraphernalia date from the 12th century BCE and into the period of the Roman Empire. Celtic feasts were held to commemorate and celebrate important dates in the religious calendar and to celebrate community successes such as building new defences or constructing a new building. A famous secular feast was the Feast of Tara (feis Temro), held from antiquity to the 6th century CE to celebrate the inauguration of a new Irish High King at Tara in County Meath. Feasts might also celebrate marriages, victories in war, and successful raids against rival neighbouring tribes or commiserate relatives when a loved one had passed to the Otherworld. (Read more.)