Francine
Measure up it most certainly does. Really delightful.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this message. The 7th
century (Magh Eo) reference is particularly valuable.
Thanks
Ron Hornsby
Burton upon Stather
----- Original Message -----
From: Francine Nicholson <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, October 04, 1999 05:49
Subject: RE: Yew trees in Denmark
> > From: Ron Hornsby [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> >
> > However, I am still hoping for some evidence. The
> > most interesting links suggested so far have been by:
> >
> How about these:
>
> >From one of the poems in the group attributed to the "mad" king,
> Suibhne (only someone mad would think of a full-grown yew as "little") :
>
> "'Yew, little yew, you are conspicuous in graveyards' --Kenneth Jackson,
> Studies in Early Celtic Nature Poetry (Cambridge UP, 1935) p12
>
> Just as each tribe had had its bile, such trees came to be associated with
> specific saints, especially the founder of the monastery that took over
the
> sacral site. Words attributed to Colum cille but actually dating to a few
> generations later:
>
> `This is the Yew of the Saints
> Would that I were set in its place there!
> On my left it was pleasant adornment
> When I entered into the Black Church'."
>
> Good source: A.T.Lucas, 'The Sacred Trees Of Ireland', Journal of the Cork
> Historical and Archaeological Soc. 68 (1963) pp16-54.
>
> The Annals of the Four Masters cites that in 1149 the Yew of Ciaran at
> Clonmacnois was large enough to shelter an entire flock of sheep--but
failed
> to protect them during a thunderstorm and, according to the annals, 113
were
> killed. So, while that entry may not predate Giraldus' observations, the
yew
> didn't grow that large in a couple of decades. The yew at the monastery at
> Newry (whose Irish name begins with Iubhar, a word for yew) was said to
have
> been planted by Patrick which made it inherently valuable; it was burned
in
> an attack in 1162.
>
> The name Cell Iubhar--church of the yew--was associated with six sites.
>
> The Laws of Hwyl Dda (tenth century) indicate that the Welsh similarly
> considered attacks on sacral yews to be a crime (A.W. Wade-Evans, Welsh
> Medieval Law (Oxford, 1909) pp108, 248). Destruction of 'A yew of a saint
is
> a pound in value' while destruction of a yew in a forest was a mere 15
> pence.
>
> One final bit: the churchyard yew at Llanerfyl is said to have sprouted
from
> a walking stake St. Erfyl left behind--not to be taken literally, of
course,
> but the story suggest that the folkloric link between saints and yews. I'm
> not sure of the date of the story, bit it may be worth following up on.
>
> Did I already mention the founding of the monastery of Magh Eo--Plain of
the
> Yew--in Ireland in the seventh century?
>
> Does any of that measure up?
>
> Francine Nicholson
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|