Ron:
I think that if you take a look at the Irish evidence--placelore,
annals, saints' lives, etc.--you'll find that yews were an integral part of
the lore and landscape, prior to the arrival of Gerald of Wales. And there
really is no need to rely on Graves.
Here's something from a fairly basic source, Anne Ross' _Pagan
Celtic Britain_ which also mentions Denmark:
"Other sacred trees mentioned in early Irish contexts are Tortu's
Tree (an ash),
/Eo Rosa ( a yew), /Eo Mugna (a yew). and the Tree of Dath/i (an
ash).
Assemblies were held under these venerated trees, and it was tabu to
damage them
in any way. Bile, the name used for sacred trees, may perhaps occur
in place
names as Bilum in Denmark, and certainly Bilem in France. The Irish
goddess/queen Medb, possesses her own bile, Bile Meidbe, and the
bird and the
squirrel which were supposed to live one on either of her shoulders
are likewise
tree dwellers." p 60-61
Incidentally, some of the earliest Irish monasteries--for example Magh Bile
or Moville, where Colum cille studied--include "bile" in their names. As
Ross notes, a bile could be a tree other than a yew--it was the term for the
tree at the sacral/ritual center of the tribe and was identified with both
the tribe and its leader. To strike at or damage the bile of a tribe was a
crime (see Fergus Kelly, _Early Irish Laws_). The site of the bile was often
also the site of a holy well. Such sites were routinely adopted by
Christians seeking to build monasteries in Ireland (see Lisa Bitel, _Isle of
the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland_
which has a chapter on the attitudes of the monks and their criteria in
choosing sites). Ireland also has many placenames incorporating "e/o."
(_Irish Place Names_ by P.W. Joyce was written for a popular audience but
it's reliable.) In the sixth century when 30 Saxon monks fled the island of
Britain, Colman founded a monastery for them at Magh E/o--plain of the
yew--from which the modern county Mayo is named.
"The supernatural heroine of the early Irish tale, Aislinge Oenguso
["Dream of O/engus--translation of this tale can be found in Gantz, _Early
Irish Myths and Sagas_ ], is named Caer Ibormeith, 'Yew Berry.' [Ibor or
Iubhar is the alternate Irish word for "yew."] In the tragic story of the
death of two lovers, Baile and Aillinn, a yew tree is described as grown
from one grave and an apple tree from the other, and the form of the heads
of the lovers appeared in the tops of the trees." p. 64, Ross
On page 89, Ross quotes from Stokes (1895) in note 46, from the
Rennes Dindshenchas, Revue Celtique, xvi: 277. (BTW, the Rennes Dindsenchas
is a medieval compilation of placelore in metrical form.)
"The Tree of Ross and the Tree of Mugna and the Ancient Tree of
Dath-i and the
branching Tree of Uisnech and the Ancient Tree of Tortu - five trees
are those.
"The Tree of Ross is a yew... a king's wheel, a prince's right... a
straight firm
tree, a firm strong god. (dia dronbalc).
"Now the branchy tree of Belach Dath/i is an ash...
"Now the tree of Mugna is an oak... three crops it bore every year,
ie. appels,
goodly, marvelous, and nuts, round, blood red, and acorns, brown,
ridgy.
"The Tree of Tortu is an ash...
"Due northward fell the Ash of Uisnech."
These five trees, in the "Settling of the Manor of Tara" are said to
correspond to the five provinces of Ireland. One of the primary
dynasties--the E/oghanachta of Munster--can be translated as "People of the
Yew" and their origin legend of how they came to take over the site of
Cashel includes the seeing of a vision of a flagstone (the stone used in
inauguration ceremonies) and a yew tree.
Yew is, as I posted elsewhere, one of the trees associated with the
tree-version of ogham.
What I'm trying to point out is that yews are found throughout Irish
lore and landscape in sources that predate Gerald and the Danes--and are
certainly more reliable than Graves. What I've cited is the tip of the
iceberg,
Francine Nicholson
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