Tristan and Iseult is a love story that a harper, or minstrel, tells at Camelot, the court of King Arthur. Tristan, nephew of King Marc of Cornwall, slays an Irish knight in a duel, thus averting a war. Later Tristan, shipwrecked in Ireland, kills a dragon that is scorching the countryside, and is forgiven for his victory over the Irish champion knight. He brings home the princess Iseult (Isolde, Isolt, Ysolt) to be the bride of King Marc in order to cement the peace between their two countries. But on the trip back to Cornwall, Tristan and Iseult fall passionately in love. Though Iseult becomes queen of Cornwall, the love affair continues until they are betrayed to King Marc. She is rescued from burning at the stake by Tristan wearing leper’s clothes, and they escape to live in the forest. In the end Marc forgives his queen and Tristan is banished. Then he comes to Arthur’s court and becomes a knight of the Round Table. When he dies, Iseult arrives too late to see him, and she dies of a broken heart. King Marc buries them together, and hazel and honeysuckle plants spring from the ground over their hearts and twine together over their grave.

There are many variations of this enduring love story.

From the Back Cover :
The first complete English edition, brilliantly translated….Throughout it retains the beauty and sense of fatality that have made it one of legendary literature’s most fascinating tales.” — Time

A tale of chivalry and doomed, transcendent love. The Romance of Tristan and Iseult is one of the most resonant works of Western literature, as well as the basis for our enduring idea of romance. The story of the Cornish knight and the Irish princess who meet by deception, fall in love by magic, and pursue that love in defiance of heavenly and earthly law has inspired artists from Matthew Arnold to Richard Wagner. But nowhere has it been retold with greater eloquence and dignity than in Joseph Bedier’s edition, which weaves several medieval sources into a seamless whole, elegantly translated by Hilaire Belloc and Paul Rosenfeld.

“A powerful rendition, an incomparable tale.”

– The New York Times

In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth by JP Mallory : This book takes a multidisciplinary approach in the quest to find the origins of the Indo-Europeans with the main focus on the extrapolated language of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and archaeology. Some of the basics of Indo-European theory are presented, and while no direct proof exists that a Proto-Indo-European culture existed, it is the only cohesive theory which explains the similarity in languages, cultures, and myths throughout Europe and Asia. Mallory suggests paleolinguistics supports the idea that the languages of Europe and Asia which resemble each other did not spring up independently of one another and it is not likely that the civilizations that sustained them did either. The fact that most of the languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India are linked has been established on a pretty solid basis.

Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. They were spoken across western Europe in ancient times, but are now limited to a few enclaves in the British Isles and on the peninsula of Brittany in France. There are four main groups of Celtic languages, of which the first two are now long extinct:

*Gaulish and its close relatives, Lepontic, Noric, and Galatian. These languages were once spoken in a wide arc from France to Turkey and from the Netherlands to northern Italy.
*Celtiberian, anciently spoken in Aragon and elsewhere in Spain.
*Goidelic, including Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, and Shelta.
*Brythonic, including Welsh, Breton, Cornish, Cumbric, the hypothetical Ivernic, and possibly Pictish.

The separation of these groups probably occurred well before 1000 BC, possibly with an early split of an Insular Celtic branch. The early Celts are commonly associated with the archaeological Urnfield culture.

Indo-European, family of languages having more speakers than any other language family. It is estimated that approximately half the world’s population speaks an Indo-European tongue as a first language. The Indo-European family is so named because at one time its individual members were prevalent mainly in an area between and including India and Europe, although not all languages spoken in this region were Indo-European. Today, however, the Indo-European languages have spread to every continent and a number of islands. It should be stressed that the term Indo-European describes language only and is not used scientifically in an ethnic or cultural sense. The languages classified as Indo-European are sufficiently similar to form one major linguistic division.

The characteristics Indo-European languages share with respect to vocabulary and grammar have led many scholars to postulate that they are all descended from an original parent language, called Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to have been spoken some time before 4000 B.C., perhaps before 8000 B.C. or earlier. Since there are no written records of Proto-Indo-European, it apparently was in use before writing was known to its speakers. Even its existence is an assumption, although a plausible one and the only really satisfactory explanation of the common features of the modern Indo-European languages. There has been much speculation as to the region where the speakers of Proto-Indo-European first lived and the nature of their culture, but nothing definite is known. One theory of the origin of the individual Indo-European languages suggests that as the ancient speakers of Proto-Indo-European migrated or moved away from each other, losing contact, their language broke up into a number of tongues. These tongues later also split up still further, eventually giving rise to the many modern Indo-European languages.” - The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Of course, language and “race” aren’t necessarily connected at all, i.e. the Indo-European group in western China was the Tocharians. Tocharian is an extinct Indo-European language which stands by itself as one of the twelve major groups in the IE language family. It was not discovered until the turn of this century, as a result of archaeological expeditions to Chinese Turkestan. There is evidence both from mummies and Chinese writings that many of them had blond or red hair and blue eyes. This suggests the possibility that they were part of an early Indo-European migration that ended in what is now the Tarim Basin in western China. (Asian scholars tend to think the migration happened in the other direction, towards the west.) The Tocharians, living along the Silk Road, seem to have played a part in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China as they had contacts with the Chinese and Persians, and Turkic, Indian and Iranian tribes. [Aside: I’ve also noticed that many Tibetan depictions of Buddha show a blue-eyed figure, and I had always wondered about this.] Mallory has also written a book about these people : The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West, which you might also consider getting your hands on.

In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth is a valuable contribution to a fascinating field. This book is a must for anyone wishing to gain insight into the subject. You will learn something from this book, no matter how much you know or don’t know. Just don’t expect to learn it all on the first run.

Cormac MacAirt on “Leadership”

Be not too wise, nor too foolish,
be not too conceited, nor too diffident,
be not too haughty, nor too humble,
be not too talkative, nor too silent
be not too hard, nor too feeble.
for:
If you be too wise, one will expect too much of you;
if you be too foolish, you will be deceived;
if you be too conceited, you will be thought vexatious;
if you be too humble, you will be without honor;
if you be too talkative, you will not be heeded;
if you be too silent, you will not be regarded;
if you be too hard, you will be broken;
if you be too feeble, you will be crushed.

“It is through these habits,” adds Cormac,
“That the young become old and kingly warriors.”

Cormac, portrayed by Irish poets and historians as one of the greatest of the Irish high kings, is particularly famed for his achievements in culture and for the personal qualities he brought to governing. In the words of a later historian he was, “wise, learned, valiant and mild, not given causelessly to be bloody as many of his ancestors were; he reigned majestically and magnificently.” Thomas Cleary’s highly readable contemporary English translation of The Counsels of Cormac brings the legendary king’s sage advice to present-day readers. From a to-the-point chapter outlining the “traditional prescription for a chieftain” to a charming discourse on “what is fitting for a chieftain and an alehouse” (a Celtic version of how to create a productive and pleasurable workplace), The Counsels of Cormac is perfect for those seeking to enhance their own leadership abilities, learn from the wisdom of the past, and connect with the roots of Celtic civilization.