Ys
Encyclopedia
Ys also spelled Is or Kêr-Is in Breton
, and Ker-Ys in French
(ker means city in Breton), is a mythical city that was built on the coast of Brittany
and later swallowed by the ocean. Most versions of the legend place the city in the Douarnenez Bay.
by Gradlon
(Gralon in Breton
), King of Cornouaille
(Kerne in Breton), upon the request of his daughter Dahut
(also called Ahes), who loved the sea.
In others, Ys was founded more than 2000 years before Gradlon's reign in a then-dry location off the current coast of the Bay of Douarnenez, but the Breton coast had slowly given way to the sea so that Ys was under it at each high tide when Gradlon's reign began.
To protect Ys from inundation, a dike was built with a gate that was opened for ships during low tide. The one key that opened the gate was held by the king.
One day, a knight dressed in red came to Ys. Dahut asked him to come with her, and one night, he agreed. A storm broke out in the middle of the night and the waves could be heard smashing against the gate and the bronze walls. Dahut said to the knight: "Let the storm rage. The gates of the city are strong, and it is King Gradlon, my father, who owns the only key, attached to his neck." The knight replied: "Your father the king sleeps. You can now easily take his key." Dahut stole the key from her father and gave it to the knight, who was none other than the devil. The devil, or, in another version of the story, a wine-besotted Dahut herself, then opened the gate.
Because the gate was open during storm and at high tide, a wave as high as a mountain collapsed on Ys. King Gradlon and his daughter climbed on Morvarc'h, his magical horse. Saint Winwaloe approached them and told Gradlon: "Push back the demon sitting behind you!" Gradlon initially refused, but he finally gave in and pushed his daughter into the sea. The sea swallowed Dahut, who became a mermaid or morgen.
Gradlon took refuge in Quimper, which became his new capital. An equestrian statue of Gradlon still stands between the spires of the Cathedral of Saint Corentin in Quimper. It is said that the bells of the churches of Ys can still be heard in the sea calm. A legend says that when Paris
will be swallowed, the city of Ys will rise up from under the waves: Pa vo beuzet Paris, Ec'h adsavo Ker Is (Par-Is meaning "similar to Ys" in Breton ).
This history is also sometimes viewed as the victory of Christianity
over druidism, as Gradlon was converted by Saint Winwaloe. Dahut and most inhabitants of Ys were worshippers of Celtic gods
. However, another Breton folktale asserts that Gradlon met, spoke with and consoled the last Druid
in Brittany
, and oversaw his pagan burial, before building a chapel in his sacred grove.
The legend of Ys was confined to the folk of Brittany until 1839, when T. Hersart de la Villemarqué published a collection of popular songs collected from oral tradition
, the Barzaz Breizh. The collection achieved a wide distribution and brought Breton folk culture into European awareness. In the second edition, the poem 'Livaden Geris' ('The Submersion of Ker-Is') appeared. The same basic story elements are present, but in this version the holy man is instead St. Corentin
. It appears that elements of the text of this version were adapted from the medieval Welsh poem 'Seithennin' about the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod, a very similar Welsh legend about a land that disappeared beneath the ocean as a result of human error. In this version, Dahut steals the key at the incitement of a lover. Also, here the element of Dahut as a mermaid or morgen
has appeared as the last verses of the song refer to a fisherman seeing a mermaid combing her hair and singing a sad song.
Emile Souvestre
's Le Foyer Breton also played a great part in making the legend widely known, and many 19th century English tellings of the story are closely derived from the Foyer Bretons tale "Keris". In Souvestre's telling, the character of the Devil disguised as a man with a red beard has appeared.
E. V. Luminais
' painting Flight of King Gradlon, depicting Gradlon's escape from Ys, scored a success at the Salon
of 1884.
Le roi d'Ys
, an opera by the French
composer
Édouard Lalo
which premiered in 1888, transforms the story significantly, replacing the figure of Dahut with Margared, whose motive for opening the gates (with the aid of her own betrothed Karnac) is her jealousy at Rozenn's marriage to Mylio (characters who are also inventions of Lalo).
Also inspired by the story of Ys is Claude Debussy
's La cathédrale engloutie
, found in his first book of Preludes
(published 1910). This is a prelude
intended to evoke the atmosphere of the legend by its sound.
in "The Demoiselle d'Ys", one of the stories in The King in Yellow
, Chambers' best-known work. Poul Anderson
and his wife Karen Anderson
dealt with the legend in their The King of Ys tetralogy. Sunken City of Ys is also mentioned in "Sword of Destiny", a book, which is a part of "The Witcher"
Saga, written by Andrzej Sapkowski
.
A. S. Byatt
's novel Possession: A Romance
, which won the Booker Prize in 1990, makes frequent reference to Breton myth and legend, including the story of Ys.
Harpist/singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom
released an album in 2006 called Ys
.
The Japanese game studio Falcom have a series of games called Ys, with the first game released in 1987.
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
, and Ker-Ys in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(ker means city in Breton), is a mythical city that was built on the coast of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and later swallowed by the ocean. Most versions of the legend place the city in the Douarnenez Bay.
Origins
According to some versions of the legend, Ys was built below sea levelSea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
by Gradlon
Gradlon
Gradlon the Great was a semi-legendary 5th century "king" of Cornouaille who became the hero of many Breton folk stories. The most famous of these legends is the story of the sunken city of Ys. He is supposed to have been the son of Conan Meriadoc.-Gradlon and Malgven :According to some legends,...
(Gralon in Breton
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
), King of Cornouaille
Cornouaille
Cornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. The name is identical to the French name for the Duchy of Cornwall, since the area was settled by migrant princes from Cornwall...
(Kerne in Breton), upon the request of his daughter Dahut
Dahut
Dahut , also called Ahes, was a magician and a princess of Cornouaille present in several Breton legends.-Dahut's birth:...
(also called Ahes), who loved the sea.
In others, Ys was founded more than 2000 years before Gradlon's reign in a then-dry location off the current coast of the Bay of Douarnenez, but the Breton coast had slowly given way to the sea so that Ys was under it at each high tide when Gradlon's reign began.
To protect Ys from inundation, a dike was built with a gate that was opened for ships during low tide. The one key that opened the gate was held by the king.
Fall
Ys was the most beautiful and impressive city in the world, but quickly became a city of sin under the influence of Dahut. She organized orgies and had the habit of killing her lovers when morning broke. Saint Winwaloe decried the corruption of Ys and warned of God's wrath and punishment, but was ignored by Dahut and the populace.One day, a knight dressed in red came to Ys. Dahut asked him to come with her, and one night, he agreed. A storm broke out in the middle of the night and the waves could be heard smashing against the gate and the bronze walls. Dahut said to the knight: "Let the storm rage. The gates of the city are strong, and it is King Gradlon, my father, who owns the only key, attached to his neck." The knight replied: "Your father the king sleeps. You can now easily take his key." Dahut stole the key from her father and gave it to the knight, who was none other than the devil. The devil, or, in another version of the story, a wine-besotted Dahut herself, then opened the gate.
Because the gate was open during storm and at high tide, a wave as high as a mountain collapsed on Ys. King Gradlon and his daughter climbed on Morvarc'h, his magical horse. Saint Winwaloe approached them and told Gradlon: "Push back the demon sitting behind you!" Gradlon initially refused, but he finally gave in and pushed his daughter into the sea. The sea swallowed Dahut, who became a mermaid or morgen.
Gradlon took refuge in Quimper, which became his new capital. An equestrian statue of Gradlon still stands between the spires of the Cathedral of Saint Corentin in Quimper. It is said that the bells of the churches of Ys can still be heard in the sea calm. A legend says that when Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
will be swallowed, the city of Ys will rise up from under the waves: Pa vo beuzet Paris, Ec'h adsavo Ker Is (Par-Is meaning "similar to Ys" in Breton ).
This history is also sometimes viewed as the victory of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
over druidism, as Gradlon was converted by Saint Winwaloe. Dahut and most inhabitants of Ys were worshippers of Celtic gods
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
. However, another Breton folktale asserts that Gradlon met, spoke with and consoled the last Druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, and oversaw his pagan burial, before building a chapel in his sacred grove.
Development of the legend
The earliest known version of the story of Ys appears in 1637, in Albert Le Grand's Vie des Saincts de la Bretagne Armorique. This version already contains the basic elements: Dahut, King Gradlon's wicked daughter, steals the key to the gates and opens the city to the sea; only Gradlon, being warned by a holy man (in this version St. Gwenole), escapes. In this version, Dahut steals the key herself.The legend of Ys was confined to the folk of Brittany until 1839, when T. Hersart de la Villemarqué published a collection of popular songs collected from oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
, the Barzaz Breizh. The collection achieved a wide distribution and brought Breton folk culture into European awareness. In the second edition, the poem 'Livaden Geris' ('The Submersion of Ker-Is') appeared. The same basic story elements are present, but in this version the holy man is instead St. Corentin
Corentin
Corentin is a name of Breton origin. It is the name of a saint, Corentin of Quimper. It can also refer to:Places*St. Corentin's Cathedral, Quimper*Corentin Celton *Corentin Cariou People*Corentin Corre, Breton cyclist...
. It appears that elements of the text of this version were adapted from the medieval Welsh poem 'Seithennin' about the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod, a very similar Welsh legend about a land that disappeared beneath the ocean as a result of human error. In this version, Dahut steals the key at the incitement of a lover. Also, here the element of Dahut as a mermaid or morgen
Morgen
A morgen was a unit of measurement of land in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the Dutch colonies, including South Africa and Taiwan. The size of a morgen varies from 1/2 to 2½ acres, which equals approximately 0.2 to 1 ha...
has appeared as the last verses of the song refer to a fisherman seeing a mermaid combing her hair and singing a sad song.
Emile Souvestre
Émile Souvestre
Émile Souvestre was a French novelist who was a native of Morlaix, Finistère.He was the son of a civil engineer and was educated at the college of Pontivy, with the intention of following his father's career by entering the Polytechnic School...
's Le Foyer Breton also played a great part in making the legend widely known, and many 19th century English tellings of the story are closely derived from the Foyer Bretons tale "Keris". In Souvestre's telling, the character of the Devil disguised as a man with a red beard has appeared.
Adaptations in the arts
Several famous artistic adaptations of the Ys legend appeared in the late 19th and early 20th century.E. V. Luminais
E. V. Luminais
Évariste Vital Luminais was a French painter. He was born in Nantes on October 13, 1821. He died in Paris in 1896.Son of Clara and Rene Luminais, he was born into a family of parliamentarians and lawyers. His family, aware of his talent, sent him to Paris to study with the painter and sculptor...
' painting Flight of King Gradlon, depicting Gradlon's escape from Ys, scored a success at the Salon
Paris Salon
The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...
of 1884.
Le roi d'Ys
Le roi d'Ys
is an opera in three acts and five tableaux by the French composer Édouard Lalo, to a libretto by Édouard Blau, based on the old Breton legend of the drowned city of Ys, which was, according to the legend, the capital of the kingdom of Cornouaille. It premiered at the Opéra Comique in Paris on 7...
, an opera by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Édouard Lalo
Édouard Lalo
Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo was a French composer.-Biography:Lalo was born in Lille , in northernmost France. He attended that city's music conservatory in his youth. Then, beginning at age 16, Lalo studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Berlioz's old enemy François Antoine Habeneck...
which premiered in 1888, transforms the story significantly, replacing the figure of Dahut with Margared, whose motive for opening the gates (with the aid of her own betrothed Karnac) is her jealousy at Rozenn's marriage to Mylio (characters who are also inventions of Lalo).
Also inspired by the story of Ys is Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
's La cathédrale engloutie
La cathédrale engloutie
La cathédrale engloutie is a prelude written by the French composer Claude Debussy for solo piano. It was published in 1910 as the tenth prelude in Debussy’s first of two volumes of twelve piano preludes each...
, found in his first book of Preludes
Preludes (Debussy)
Claude Debussy's Préludes are two sets of pieces for solo piano. They are divided into two separate livres, or books, of twelve preludes each. Unlike previous collections of preludes, like those of JS Bach and Chopin, Debussy's do not follow a strict pattern of key signatures.Each book was written...
(published 1910). This is a prelude
Prelude (music)
A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
intended to evoke the atmosphere of the legend by its sound.
Ys in popular culture
The legend of Ys has been used repeatedly in fantasy fiction, prominently by Robert W. ChambersRobert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
in "The Demoiselle d'Ys", one of the stories in The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
, Chambers' best-known work. Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
and his wife Karen Anderson
Karen Kruse Anderson
Karen Kruse Anderson is the widow and sometime co-author of Poul Anderson, and mother-in-law of writer Greg Bear.She is noted as the first person to use the term filk music in print. She also wrote the first published science fiction haiku , "Six Haiku"...
dealt with the legend in their The King of Ys tetralogy. Sunken City of Ys is also mentioned in "Sword of Destiny", a book, which is a part of "The Witcher"
The Witcher
The Witcher, or , by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski is a cult series of fantasy short stories and five novels about the witcher Geralt of Rivia...
Saga, written by Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski, born 21 June 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy writer. He is best known for his best-selling book series The Witcher.-Biography:...
.
A. S. Byatt
A. S. Byatt
Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner...
's novel Possession: A Romance
Possession: A Romance
Possession: A Romance is a 1990 bestselling novel by British writer A. S. Byatt. It is a winner of the Man Booker Prize.Part historical as well as contemporary fiction, the title Possession refers to issues of ownership and independence between lovers, the practice of collecting historically...
, which won the Booker Prize in 1990, makes frequent reference to Breton myth and legend, including the story of Ys.
Harpist/singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom is an American harpist, pianist and singer-songwriter from Nevada City, California.- Early life :Newsom grew up in the small town of Nevada City, California...
released an album in 2006 called Ys
Ys (album)
Ys is the second album by Joanna Newsom. It was released by Drag City on November 14, 2006 to widespread critical acclaim. The album was named after the city of Ys, which according to myth was built on the coast of Brittany and later swallowed by the ocean...
.
The Japanese game studio Falcom have a series of games called Ys, with the first game released in 1987.
See also
- Iram of the PillarsIram of the PillarsIram of the Pillars , also called Aram, Iram, Irum, Irem, Erum, Wabar, Ubar, or the City of a Thousand Pillars, is a lost city on the Arabian Peninsula.-Introduction:Ubar, a name of a region or a name of a people, was mentioned in ancient records, and was spoken of in folk...
- Hyperborea
- ThuleThuleThule Greek: Θούλη, Thoulē), also spelled Thula, Thila, or Thyïlea, is, in classical European literature and maps, a region in the far north. Though often considered to be an island in antiquity, modern interpretations of what was meant by Thule often identify it as Norway. Other interpretations...
- AtlantisAtlantisAtlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
- El DoradoEl DoradoEl Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
- Shamballa
- RocabarraighRocabarraighRocabarra or Rocabarraigh is a phantom island or rock in Scottish Gaelic myth, which is supposed to appear three times, the last being at the end of the world.The name confusingly has also been used to refer to Rockall, a real rock in the North Atlantic...
Further reading
- Guyot, Charles. The Legend of the City of Ys, Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1979.
- MacKillop, James. Myths and Legends of the Celts, London ; New York : Penguin Global, 2005, pp. 299–302. ISBN 978-0-14-101794-5.