The arguments set forth in this article are somewhat speculative, so they aren't suitable as an h2g2 Entry without further research, but they are interesting, so I'm publishing them here.

Sword, spear, stone and cauldron: these are the four treasures of Ireland. Originating in the myths of ancient Ireland, they have appeared in places as diverse as the legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, the coronation throne of the British Monarch and the humble pack of playing cards, as well as possible appearances in the works of JK Rowling. They are worth looking into in more detail.

One of the oldest pieces of Irish literature is called 'The Book of the Taking of Ireland' (Lebor Gabála Érenn), often known as the 'The Book of Invasions'. It is ostensibly a history of Ireland, and was written down by monks in the 11th Century, but the history is a curious mix of narrative and myth, and since it is recorded nowhere else, there is no way of telling whether any of it is genuine or all completely invented. There is also an obvious attempt in certain parts of it to overlay a Christian theme onto the pagan myths, presumably the work of the monks.

One section of the Book of Invasions talks about a race of people who invaded Ireland called the Tuatha Dé Danann, literally, the tribes of the goddess Danu¹. They came to Ireland from another place, the 'Northern Isles', and brought with them four treasures. These treasures are interesting, because they somehow got absorbed into the folklore of Europe and appear in all sorts of unusual places.

A Failias tucadh in Lia Fail fil i Temrig, no geissidh fo cach rig no gebidh Erinn. A Goirias tucad in tlegh bi ic Lug: ni geibtha cath frisin ti a mbid laim. A Findias tucadh claidhim Nuadad: ni thernadh nech uadha; o dobertha as a intig bodba, ni gcbtha fris. A Muirias tucad coiri in Dagda: ni theigidh damh dimdhach uad.

Macalister's translation:

From Failias was brought the Lia Fail which is in Temair, and which used to utter a cry under every king that should take Ireland. From Goirius was brought the spear which Lug had: battle would never go against him who had it in hand. From Findias was brought the sword of Nuadu: no man would escape from it; when it was drawn from its battle-scabbard, there was no resisting it. From Muirias was brought the cauldron of The Dagda; no company would go from it unsatisfied.


- Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister (1870 - 1950)

Some have associated these treasures with the four elements - the spear with air, the sword with fire, the cauldron with water and the stone with earth, but these associations were not made in the ancient myths.

King Arthur was a mythical king of England from British folklore. Although the story was first recorded in Anglo-Saxon, which was the language of the Germanic invaders of the 4th to 5th Centuries, the legends themselves seem to have come from the Celtic background of the native Britons who lived in England before the coming of the Angles and Saxons.

The most important items in the story of Arthur were two swords and a stone. The first sword, normally not given a name, was stuck in the stone up to the hilt. Only the true king could pull the sword from the stone. Here we have the stone capable of recognising the true king. This is obviously a version of the Lia Fáil.

Arthur also had a different sword, called Excalibur, which was given to him by a lady in a lake. The name Excalibur seems to come from the Welsh, Caledfwlch, which seems to have come from the Irish Caladbolg, the sword of Fergus. Whether this is the same sword as the sword of Nuada is not clear. (Note that "bolg" also appears in the name of a famous spear, the Gáe Bolg, Cúchulainn's spear.)

The story of the Holy Grail has so infused Western Literature that most people are aware of it without knowing exactly what it is. The original story of the Grail was a piece of fiction - a mystical story about a knight of Arthur's court who strayed from the path of right and was punished for it. This story was one of the first pieces of fiction written specifically for the new class of society, the knighthood, in about the year 1000 AD. It was very popular and was much copied, the same story being told over again in slightly different variations by different authors.

Grail scholars are still arguing about the dating of the various grail stories, but it is generally accepted that the first was the unfinished one by Chrétien de Troyes. In this, the wandering knight is called Percival. He comes to a castle late in the evening and stays the night. The castle is the court of the Fisher King, who is an invalid. They hold a feast and some strange things happen at the feast. First, Percival is given a present of a fine sword. Next, a procession goes past, led by a boy carrying a spear, the tip of which produces drips of blood. Next in the procession was a girl carrying a 'grail' - the author uses an obscure word, but it appears to be some sort of bowl or food vessel. Everyone waits expectantly for Percival to ask what these are for, but he is unsure of himself and keeps silent. If he had spoken, the spell would have been lifted and the Fisher King cured. Later in the tale, the secret of the grail is revealed: it contains a communion host - the consecrated bread of the Christian communion ceremony - and this alone is enough to feed another character of the story who never appears, the father of the Fisher King.

The story clearly contains three of the Four Treasures of Ireland, although we have no idea how Chrétien got hold of them: the sword given to Percival, the spear that drips blood and the vessel that contains a nourishing food. Only the stone is absent: but we've already encountered it elsewhere in the story of Arthur's court.

Another early Grail story is interesting - that of Wolfram Von Eschenbach. In his story, the Grail is not a food vessel but a stone, and it gives everlasting life. This seems to be another echo of the missing Stone of Fal.

In later Grail stories, the Grail was transformed from a food bowl into a drinking cup, and became confused with Christian stories about Christ. It became the cup containing the blood of Christ. But it certainly seems to have started out as one of the Four Treasures. In these, the spear becomes the spear that the Roman soldier used to pierce the side of Christ as he died on the cross. So another of the treasures has been Christianised.

The Tarot card deck is a favourite of mystics and modern witches. They use it for divination. This appears to be a modern use, dating only as far back as the 18th Century. The tarot deck is much older, and was designed for playing card games. There are two sections, the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits: Swords, Cups, Batons or Staffs, and Pentacles. These clearly match the Four Treasures: The Baton or Staff is similar to a spear, the cup is the cauldron - the pentacle looks like a coin or a gem; it's not exactly a stone but near enough. And the sword is a sword.

The origin of the Tarot deck is unknown. It certainly doesn't come from Ireland or anywhere close to it, but somehow the four Treasures have been enshrined in it.

The modern deck of cards with its four suits, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds and Spades, evolved from the Tarot deck, so it too includes the Four Treasures:

Sword --> Sword --> Spades

Spear --> Batons --> Clubs

Cauldron --> Cup --> Hearts

Stone --> Pentacle --> Diamond

This seems reasonable - the Spade looks like a very fat sword, and in fact the word spade is Italian - it means sword. The change from Cup to Heart is odd - there's no apparent connection, until we think back to the Holy Grail - the cup that held the blood of Christ. Suddenly the Heart as a Cup makes sense.

The Harry Potter world draws heavily on mythology, and there are many significant items in it, including the three 'Deathly Hallows', the four items belonging to the founders of Hogwarts School of Wizardry, and the seven 'horcruxes' which contain parts of the soul of the evil Lord Voldemort. This is not the place to list them all, but among them are the Cup of Hufflepuff, the Stone of Resurrection and the Sword of Gryffindor, which clearly correspond to the three of the four Celtic symbols. Arguably, the Elder Wand, another important symbol in Harry Potter, is the spear.

Perhaps the most unusual story of the Treasures is that of the Stone of Fal (in Irish, Lia Fáil). The Book of Invasions says it 'screamed under the true king'. This isn't very explanatory, but it suggests some sort of a 'true king detector'.

There are two stones still in existence that claim to be the actual Lia Fáil. The first is in Tara, County Meath, Ireland, which is the traditional site of the High Kings of Ireland. This stone is a tall one, and certainly not something that anybody could sit on. Tradition has it that in the initiation ceremony of the king, he would jump over the stone - quite a feat considering its height. The stone would cry out when the true king jumped over it. Presumably, the fake kings would cry out as they failed to clear the stone.

The other tradition says that the Lia Fail was brought to Scotland when the Irish invaded Scotland in the 5th to 8th Centuries, and became the throne of the Kings of Scotland. The history of this stone is told elsewhere, under the Stone of Destiny. It is now situated in Westminster Abbey under the coronation throne of the Monarch of the United Kingdom. Or possibly not.

Gnomon

25.09.08 Front Page

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