SYMBOLS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND’S FOUR CYMRY TRIBES
WITH reference to the “Red Dragon on a black ground” borne on the Welsh standard, explained by Rev. Commander Roberts, R.N., in The National Message, No. 59, under heading “Enquirers Answered,” and quoted statement by Mr.William James that the Kimry in Italy “rose in arms and greeted their British cousins, when they saw it.” It is interesting to inquire who were the latter and what cognisances were borne on their standards?
In The National Message, No. 14, quoting from Davies’ “British Druids,” and his translations of old Welsh poems, the writer endeavoured to show that the “British cousins” of the “Kymry” in Wales were, according to the Welsh Bard, the four “Cymry,” or “Kymry” (the written Celtic “C” appears to be pronounced “K”) tribes, who inhabited the four dialectically different regions of Britain during the Roman occupation.
In the same article the writer recalled the fact that Caesar had noted the difference – then existing – between the people inhabiting South Wales and the other tribes. If this South Wales tribe of the primitive inhabitants – having the “Red Dragon on a black ground” as their cognisance – were a Japhetic survival, as seems probable, according to Caesar, the other tribes differed from them, and thus, having regard to the latter’s symbolic cognisances, it may be possible to reconcile the seemingly conflicting views.
According to the ancient Welsh Bard, these four tribes were the Cymry, Eingyl, Gwyddyl, Prydyn, speaking four different dialects of the Celtic language, and then inhabiting the following regions:
1) Cymry -North Wales and north-westwards to the River Clyde in Scotland.
2) Angles – North-east England.
3) Gwyddelians – Comprising the Gaelic-speaking Caledonians of Alba and Ulladh (Ulster); the Scoti of Ulster and Argyle; and the Milesians in Ireland, speaking Erse, said by some authorities to be a dialect of the still more ancient Gaelic.
4) Brythons – Similar to the Cymry of North Wales,of Belgic origin inhabiting South England, and according to the Welsh Bard, North Britain, or northern Pictavia.
The Saxons, under Hengist and Horsa, though defeated at first, by Vortimer, established themselves during Vortigern’s reign, circa A.D. 445. Their cognisance was “a prancing white horse on a field,” and they are stated to have been of Celtic origin by James Logan, R.SA (Scot.), in “The Scottish Gael.”
Now, with reference to the cognisances of some of the above tribes, the following passage from the “History of Ancient Caledonia,” p.107, describing a battle between the Caledonians and Britons (sic), seems significant:-
“The well-known flag of the King of Britain (the Red Dragon) was hoisted, and then the green pine tree branch, with the bloody (sic) hand of the McDonalds, and the Red Lion, went up.”
The latter cognisance -the “rampant Red Lion on a golden field” – is distinctly Judaic, rather than Japhetic.
Turning now to “Eire Ard, Inis na Righ,” by J.S. (p.61), the author, giving an account of the Milesian invasion of Ireland, quotes the following by Canon Bourke:
“On landing, the ex-Queen Scota unfurled the sacred banner (on which, it is said, were the serpent and the rod of Moses).The battle of Sliabh Mis (in Co.Kerry) followed; the Danaans were defeated, but Scota (with Fas and two Druids) was slain. Stones with Ogham inscriptions were erected over the graves of the slain. Within the past thirty years the stones – those of Scota and Fas – have been discovered, and the inscriptions have been read and explained by William Williams, of Dungarvan.”
Whether ex-Queen Scota accompanied the Erse-speaking Gaal Sciot Iber on the occasion of their invasion of Ireland from Galicia, Spain, circa 1000 B.C., according to O’Conor’s Chronology in the “Chronicles of Eri,” in which she does not appear to figure, or the Gaelic speaking Scoti – seemingly the Scottish invasion mentioned by O’Flaherty – one thousand years later (i.e., “about 1,200 years after the Exodus” – Scots Barons’ “Letter to Pope John XXII,” 1320), also from Galicia, Spain, is immaterial, the point being that the sacred cognisance, said to have been borne on ex-Queen Scota’s standard, was a Mosaic and not a Japhetic one! This cognisance – “the serpent on Moses’ rod” (cf John 3:14) – was described, in an article published last year by the Irish Times, as the oldest now known in Irish history, but the writer omitted all reference to “David’s Harp” (with or without the female figure), and the “Right Red Hand” of Ulster, and of Eirin, when Ulster’s kings were Ard Righs! These cognisances also are not Japhetic.
With reference to the derivation and meaning of the words Celt and Celtic, the following sentence in Punic (or Libyan, according to Bochart), Irish (Erse), and English, is suggestive of its original true meaning, and its translation into Hebrew – akin to Punic – may disclose a connection.
It occurs in “Eire Are, Inis na Righ” (p. 11 ):
Punic: “Celt urn co mu cro lueni!”
Irish: “Celtuaim c’a macro luanil”
English:“Hide not from me the children of my loins!”
Webster’s “International Dictionary’s” reference to Celt confirms the English meaning “hide,” but explains that the Celts were (apparently) so named by Greek and Roman writers because they lived hidden in woods and coverts!
Having regard to the Continental history of the Celtic tribes and the sentence above quoted, may not the name “Celt” have been given by themselves to the Greeks and Romans, indicating that they considered themselves the “hidden,” and thus “Lost Tribes”?
With reference to this suggested derivation of the word “Celt” (pronounced Kelt), Rev. Commander Roberts comments:
“Cheldai” may also contain the etymological derivation of Chelt, Celt, a people, who recognised that their ancestor came originally from Chaldea, ‘Abraham the Celt.’ In the Gaelic, Ceille De (pronounced Keille De) means the servant of God.”
