Ricatus was a possible 11th-century king of Cornwall, although recent scholarship has cast doubt on his existence. [1] If he existed, Ricatus may have been the penultimate Cornish king. [2]
Ricatus was a possible 11th-century king of Cornwall, although recent scholarship has cast doubt on his existence. [1] If he existed, Ricatus may have been the penultimate Cornish king. [2]
The primary evidence for a king of this name is the medieval Penzance Market Cross which now stands in the grounds of Penlee House in Penzance, Cornwall, England, UK. [3] R. A. Stewart Macalister in his Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum published in 1949 stated that an inscription in a panel on the side of the cross read REGIS RICATI CRUX, translating to "Cross of King Ricatus". [1] [4]
The cross dates to around 1050 AD, [1] or as early as 1007. [5] Writing about it in 1986, Charles Thomas said that because of this late date, Ricatus could have been little more than a local ruler around Land's End. [6] However, Thomas describes the cross in greater detail in his later book on post Roman inscriptions in Western Britain, And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? (1994). In this work, he describes the inscription as having "lettering so grotesque as to be unintelligible", and he relegates Macalister's reading to a footnote, where he says that it "is impossible to follow", adding that "an eleventh-century Cornish king would need a lot of explaining." [1] Philip Payton, in his Cornwall: A History (2004) acknowledges this, but says there was "perhaps a semblance, an echo, an assertion of Cornish kingly independence" in the far west of Cornwall less than a century before the Norman Conquest. [7]
In 1998 Thomas examined the cross again in detail and stated that the inscription actually reads RECGISI CRUX or RAEGISI CRUX meaning "the cross of Recgisi or Raegisi", [8] an Old English personal name, unrecorded elsewhere, which Thomas ascribes to the donor or benefactor of the land (a graveyard) on which the cross was originally erected. [5]
The 11th/12th century Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen refers to "Gormant the son of Ricca", saying that he was "Arthur's brother by his mother's side; the Penhynev of Cornwall was his father", a parallel to later stories of Gorlois of Cornwall. [9] This Ricca may possibly refer to Ricatus; it also occurs as a variant name for Rhitta Gawr, a giant of Welsh folklore. [10] The title Penhynev or Pennhynef means 'chief elder', [10] and the first triad of Peniarth 54 uses the same title for Caradawg Vreichvras as Arthur's chief elder at Celliwig, Cornwall. [11]
The sixteenth-century Cornish language drama Beunans Meriasek ('The Life of St Meriasek') at lines 2463–65 mentions four Cornish kings. The second is called Pygys, which may be a misreading for an earlier Rygys, the Cornish form of Ricatus. [12]
In 1980 Mullion School, Mullion, Cornwall named one of its houses, Ricat, after King Ricatus.
Culhwch, in Welsh mythology, is the son of Cilydd son of Celyddon and Goleuddydd, a cousin of Arthur and the protagonist of the story Culhwch and Olwen. In this tale the etymology of Culhwch is explained as "sow run", but this is likely to be folk etymology. According to the narrative, Culhwch is born to his maddened mother Goleuddydd after she is frightened by a herd of swine. The swineherd finds Culhwch in the pigs' run, and takes him back to his father Cilydd. Culhwch is described as being "of gentle lineage".
In the Matter of Britain, Igraine is the mother of King Arthur. Igraine is also known in Latin as Igerna, in Welsh as Eigr, in French as Ygraine, in Le Morte d'Arthur as Ygrayne—often modernised as Igraine or Igreine—and in Parzival as Arnive. She becomes the wife of Uther Pendragon, after the death of her first husband, Gorlois.
Culhwch and Olwen is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, c. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales.
The Battle of Camlann is the legendary final battle of King Arthur, in which Arthur either died or was fatally wounded while fighting either with or against Mordred, who also perished. The original legend of Camlann, inspired by a purportedly historical event said to have taken place in Britain in 537, appears only in vague mentions found in several medieval Welsh texts dating since around the 10th century. The battle's much more detailed depictions have emerged since the 12th century, generally based on that of a catastrophic conflict described in the pseudo-chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae. The further greatly embellished variants originate from the later French chivalric romance tradition in which it became known as the Battle of Salisbury. These include the telling in Le Morte d'Arthur that remains popular today.
In Arthurian legend, Gorlois of Tintagel, Duke of Cornwall, is the first husband of Igraine, whose second husband is Uther Pendragon. Gorlois's name first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. A vassal of Ambrosius Aurelianus, his arrival at the Battle of Kaerconan ensures the defeat of Hengist. In Wace's Roman de Brut, when Hengist's son Octa and his cousin Ossa rebel, Gorlois helps Uther defeat them at York.
The Welsh Triads are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness; for example, "Three things not easily restrained, the flow of a torrent, the flight of an arrow, and the tongue of a fool."
The history of Cornwall goes back to the Paleolithic, but in this period Cornwall only had sporadic visits by groups of humans. Continuous occupation started around 10,000 years ago after the end of the last ice age. When recorded history started in the first century BCE, the spoken language was Common Brittonic, and that would develop into Southwestern Brittonic and then the Cornish language. Cornwall was part of the territory of the tribe of the Dumnonii that included modern-day Devon and parts of Somerset. After a period of Roman rule, Cornwall reverted to rule by independent Romano-British leaders and continued to have a close relationship with Brittany and Wales as well as southern Ireland, which neighboured across the Celtic Sea. After the collapse of Dumnonia, the remaining territory of Cornwall came into conflict with neighbouring Wessex.
Twrch Trwyth (Welsh pronunciation: [tuːɾχ tɾʊɨθ]; also Trwyd, Troynt (MSS.HK); Troit (MSS.C1 D G Q); or Terit (MSS. C2 L)) is an enchanted wild boar in the Matter of Britain great story cycle that King Arthur or his men pursued with the aid of Arthur's dog Cavall (Welsh: Cafall, Latin: Cabal).
Gwenhwyfach was a sister of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) in medieval Welsh Arthurian legend. The tradition surrounding her is preserved in fragmentary form in two Welsh Triads and the Mabinogi tale of Culhwch and Olwen.
Gilbert Hunter Doble was an Anglican priest and Cornish historian and hagiographer.
Celliwig, Kelliwic or Gelliwic is perhaps the earliest named location for the court of King Arthur. It may be translated as 'forest grove'.
Sanddef Pryd Angel is a figure of Welsh tradition. He usually figures as a warrior of King Arthur's court, and is distinguished by his great beauty, which gives him his epithet Pryd or Bryd Angel.
King Gwrfoddw was the King of Ergyng, a south-east Welsh kingdom of the early medieval period. He usurped the throne from Gwrgan ap Cynfyn.
King Arthur's family grew throughout the centuries with King Arthur's legend. Many of the legendary members of this mythical king's family became leading characters of mythical tales in their own right.
Carnwennan, or Carnwenhau, was the dagger of King Arthur in the Welsh Arthurian legends.
Penlee House is a museum and art gallery located in the town of Penzance in Cornwall, and is home to a great many paintings by members of the Newlyn School, including many by Stanhope Forbes, Norman Garstin, Walter Langley and Lamorna Birch. Penlee House is currently operated by Penzance Town Council in association with Cornwall Council. Its most well-known painting is The Rain It Raineth Every Day by Norman Garstin who lived for many years in Wellington Terrace, on the edge of the park.
Caradoc Vreichvras was a semi-legendary ancestor to the kings of Gwent. He may have lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is remembered in the Matter of Britain as a Knight of the Round Table, under the names King Carados and Carados Briefbras.
Amlawdd Wledig was a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain. The Welsh title [G]wledig, archaically Gwledic or Guletic and Latinised Guleticus, is defined as follows: "lord, king, prince, ruler; term applied to a number of early British rulers and princes who were prominent in the defence of Britain about the time of the Roman withdrawal; (possibly) commander of the native militia ".
Ricca may refer to:
Robert Williams (1810–1881) was a Welsh Anglican clergyman and Celtic scholar.
