'Why should 'knockers' be a German myth?'
Why indeed? I thought the traditional Cornish explanation was that Knockers
were ghostly Jews condemned to work the tin mines for eternity because they
were guilty of causing Christ's death. I wonder how the old the tradition
really is, but singling out the Jews as scapegoats and despised outsiders
was popular in the later middle ages and could easily have found its way
into contemporary folklore. It could of course be even older, an echo
perhaps of that myth linking the Phonecians with Cornish tin - for
Phonecian read Jew or possibly a real memory of the continental tin trade
during the Iron Age. Rich ground for speculation but nor a German Knocker
in sight.
And don't forget Edric the Wild, mythical Saxon lord, who with his fairy
wife and avenging army was reputed to live in the Shropshie lead mines. He
was - and might still be - waiting to save Britain from the wrongs inflicted
by the Normans. But he would also rap on the walls to tell the miners where
the best vein was. Sounds like another Knocker, but one with a bit of
pedigree.
John
|