Celliwig
Encyclopedia
Celliwig, Kelliwic or Gelliwic, is perhaps the earliest named location for the court of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

. It may be translated as 'forest grove'.

Literary references

It is mentioned in the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen
Culhwch and Olwen
Culhwch and Olwen is a Welsh tale about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors that survives in only two manuscripts: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, ca. 1400, and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, ca. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose...

which may date from the 11th century. The story describes the court as being at Celliwig in Cernyw (the Welsh name for Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

), otherwise known as the kingdom of Dumnonia
Dumnonia
Dumnonia is the Latinised name for the Brythonic kingdom in sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries, located in the farther parts of the south-west peninsula of Great Britain...

. The hall is guarded by Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr
Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr
; "Brave Grey Mighty Grasp," is a hero, warrior and porter in tradition and Arthurian mythology, in which he appears as a knight in Arthur's retinue and chief gatekeeper of his court...

, Arthur's porter, and Culhwch has difficulty gaining entrance due to the special laws that restrict entry once a feast has begun. Though there is no description of the place the implications of the story are of great wealth and splendour.

The story describes Arthur's warriors at the court in depth and says that: "From here, one of his Warband, Drem, could see a gnat as far away as Scotland; while another, Medyr, could shoot an arrow through the legs of a wren in Ireland!"

Some of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein (or Welsh Triads
Welsh Triads
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...

) mention Arthur and "Three Tribal Thrones of the Island of Britain" and locate one of his courts at Celliwig:
"Arthur as Chief Prince in Celliwig in Cernyw, and Bishop Bytwini as Chief Bishop, and Caradog Freichfras as Chief Elder."


Caradoc
Caradoc
Caradoc Vreichvras Arm) was a semi-legendary ancestor to the kings of Gwent. He lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is remembered in Arthurian legend as a Knight of the Round Table as Carados Briefbras ....

 was his chief elder at this court and that Bishop Bytwini or Bedwin was chief bishop. This is one of the early triads found in Peniarth MS 54 reflecting information recorded before Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...

. The same triad goes on to say Arthur's other courts were at Mynyw and Pen Rhionydd
Pen Rhionydd
Pen Rhionydd is named as the location of King Arthur's northern court in a Welsh triad found in Peniarth MS 54, containing pre-Galfridian traditions:...

. The triads also state that at Celliwig Mordred
Mordred
Mordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...

 struck Gwenhwyfar a blow. This may have led to the Battle of Camlann
Battle of Camlann
The Battle of Camlann is best known as the final battle of King Arthur, where he either died in battle, or was fatally wounded fighting his enemy Mordred.-Historicity:...

. The early Welsh poem Pa gŵr yw'r porthor? may also mention the court.

Celliwig was also known to the Cornish as well, as it appears as Kyllywyc in the Cornish-language
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...

 play Beunans Ke, written perhaps around 1500.

In the Iolo Manuscripts (1843), a corpus of pseudo-medieval Welsh texts by the renowned literary forger and inventor of tradition Iolo Morganwg
Iolo Morganwg
Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg , was an influential Welsh antiquarian, poet, collector, and literary forger. He was widely considered a leading collector and expert on medieval Welsh literature in his day, but after his death it was revealed that he had forged a...

 (1747–1826), Celliwig is referred as the former site of the "throne of Cornwall" but the text adds that it is now at Caervynyddawg (Caerfynyddog), a site which is otherwise unattested.

Location

A Celliwig is attested in Cornwall in 1312 but manuscript sources are unclear about its location. A 1302 Cornish legal record mentions a 'Thomas de Kellewik' though his place of origin is unknown. Celliwig was identified by some Cornish antiquaries from 1816 onwards with Callington. Their influence gave Callington its modern name in Common Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...

. Another suggestion at the time was Kelliwith. Other suggested locations include Gweek
Gweek
Gweek is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three miles east of Helston. The civil parish was created from part of the parish of Constantine by boundary revision in 1986...

 Wood, and on the coast at Tintagel
Tintagel
Tintagel is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The population of the parish is 1,820 people, and the area of the parish is ....

 Barras Nose or Willapark. Rachel Bromwich
Rachel Bromwich
Rachel Bromwich was a British scholar. Her focus was on medieval Welsh literature, and was Emeritus Reader in Celtic Languages and Literature at the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge until her death...

, the latest editor of the Welsh Triads, matched it to Kelly Rounds
Kelly Rounds
Kelly Rounds, or Castle Killibury is an Iron Age hill fort in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated beside the A39 trunk road approximately two miles east of Wadebridge....

, a hill fort in the Cornish parish of Egloshayle.. This had already been suggested by Charles Henderson
Charles G. Henderson
Charles Gordon Henderson was a historian and antiquarian of Cornwall.Charles Henderson's only quarrel with Cornwall was that it had given him no more than a quarter of his blood. His father, Major J. S. Henderson, was half Scottish and half of the Irish family of Newenham: his mother was a...

 in the Cornish Church Guide (1925) (p. 87). Intriguingly, the Ravenna Cosmography
Ravenna Cosmography
The Ravenna Cosmography was compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around AD 700. It consists of a list of place-names covering the world from India to Ireland. Textual evidence indicates that the author frequently used maps as his source....

 identifies a major regional Roman-era settlement as Nemetostatio in central Dumnonia
Dumnonia
Dumnonia is the Latinised name for the Brythonic kingdom in sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries, located in the farther parts of the south-west peninsula of Great Britain...

 ( identified with North Tawton
North Tawton
North Tawton is a small town in Devon, England, situated on the river Taw.-History:The Romans crossed the River Taw at what is now Newland Mill, a little outside the present town, and established a succession of military camps there over the years...

, Devon) which would translate from Latin as 'The Outpost of the Sacred Grove(s)'.. Not far away from the modern Cornish border is the village of Kelly
Kelly, Devon
Kelly is a small village in west Devon, England.The village church is largely Perpendicular of the 15th century but the chancel is earlier than the rest of the building, perhaps 14th century, and the south chancel aisle has windows of 1710 though in the Perpendicular style.Kelly House is mid 18th...

 in Devon which takes it name from an ancient local family, attested as far back as the 11th century.

Outside Cornwall

However there are also a number of places called Cernyw or containing that name in Wales, e.g. the place name Coedkernew
Coedkernew
Coedkernew is a community in the south west of the city of Newport, South Wales, in the Marshfield ward.The parish is bounded by Percoed reen to the south, Nant-y-Selsig to the southwest, and Pound Hill to the west. The northern boundary is formed from Gwern-y-cleppa to junction 28 of the M4, then...

 (Coed Cernyw) in Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...

. So it has been suggested that this court might be the hillfort of Llanmelin
Llanvair Discoed
Llanvair Discoed is a small village in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales, 6 miles west of Chepstow and 10 miles east of Newport.-History:The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Lamecare'. The name means Mary's church under the wood . The 'd' at the start of Discoed only appears...

, near Caerwent
Caerwent
Caerwent is a village and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located about five miles west of Chepstow and eleven miles east of Newport, and was founded by the Romans as the market town of Venta Silurum, an important settlement of the Brythonic Silures tribe. The modern village is built...

. As Caradog is connected to the Kingdom of Gwent this might support this idea. There is also a farm called Gelliweg on the Llŷn peninsula
Llyn Peninsula
The Llŷn Peninsula extends into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the modern county and historic region of Gwynedd. The name is thought to be of Irish origin, and to have the same root Laigin in Irish as the word Leinster...

 in Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

 which one pair of Arthurian researchers and writers, Steven Blake and Scott Lloyd, argue may be the location.

Celliwic as a fictional place

Those who argue that Arthur is a mythic figure also suggest this court is entirely fictional, just like his most famous court Camelot
Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world...

. Given the name means "forest grove... it may have originally been envisaged as somewhere Otherworldly (sacred groves being common in Celtic myth) and only later might a specific location have been ascribed to it."

See also

  • Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend
    Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend
    The following is a list and assessment of sites and places associated with King Arthur and the Arthurian legend in general. Given the lack of concrete historical knowledge about one of the most potent figures in British mythology, it is unlikely that any definitive conclusions about the claims for...

  • Historical basis for King Arthur
    Historical basis for King Arthur
    The historical basis of King Arthur is a source of considerable debate among historians. The first datable mention of King Arthur in a historical context comes from a Latin text of the 9th century - more than three centuries after his supposed floruit in 5th to early 6th century Sub-Roman Britain...

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