The nine sorceresses or nine sisters are a recurring element in Arthurian legend in variants of the popular nine maidens theme from world mythologies. Their most important appearances are in Geoffrey of Monmouth's introduction of Avalon and the character that would later become Morgan le Fay, and as the central motif of Peredur's story in the Peredur son of Efrawg part of the Mabinogion.
九个女巫或九个姐妹是亚瑟王传说中反复出现的元素，是世界神话中流行的九个少女主题的变体。 他们最重要的出现是在蒙茅斯的杰佛里的介绍阿瓦隆和人物，后来成为摩根勒费伊，并作为中心主题的 Peredur 的故事的儿子埃夫罗格部分马宾诺吉安。
【The maidens of Annwfn and the witches of Ystawingun Annwfn 的少女和伊斯塔温云的女巫】
In Preiddeu Annwfn, the nine virgin priestesses of the otherworldy island of Annwfn (Annwn, the Welsh version of the Celtic Otherworld) guard a magic cauldron, and their magic abilities seem to include fire-breathing.[1] A raid by Arthur and his warband either steals[2] or destroys the cauldron,[3] but what happens to the maidens of Annwfn is not mentioned. The motif of nine supernatural women appears also in some other tales of the Celtic Otherworld,[4] possibly derived from sisterhoods of priestesses of the old Celtic Religion.[5]
在 Preiddeu Annwfn，来自另一个世界的 Annwfn 的9个处女祭司守卫着一个神奇的大锅，她们的魔法能力似乎包括喷火。 亚瑟和他的战友们的一次突袭要么偷走了火炬，要么摧毁了火炬塔，但是没有提到 Annwfn 少女们的遭遇。 9个超自然女人的主题也出现在其他一些关于凯尔特异世界的故事中，[4]可能来源于古凯尔特宗教的女祭司的姐妹会。 [5]
The nine witches of Ystawingun (Ystavingun) are mentioned in a single line of the poem Pa Gur yv y Porthaur (around 1100), where the feat of slaying them in this highland is listed among the greatest achievements of Cai (Sir Kay in later tradition). Ystawingun is unidentified but might be associated with Stanton Moor and its stone circle known as "Nine Ladies"[6] or with Porthsgiwed.[1] According to John and Caitlin Matthews, the women whose killing Cai is credited with in Pa Gur are in fact the same as the pagan priestesses from Preiddeu Annwfn.[7]
Ystawingun 的九个女巫(Ystavingun)在诗歌《 Pa Gur yv y Porthaur 》(大约1100年)的一行中被提及，在这个高地杀死她们的壮举被列为蔡(后来传说中的凯爵士)最伟大的成就之一。 伊斯塔温根身份不明，但可能与斯坦顿摩尔和它的石圈被称为“九位女士”[6]或波斯吉维德有关。 [1]根据约翰和凯特琳马修斯的说法，在 Pa Gur 杀害蔡的女人实际上和来自 Preiddeu Annwfn 的异教女祭司是一样的。 [7]
Scholars like Norris J. Lacy and John T. Koch make an additional (besides Preiddeu Annwfn) connection also to the nine witch sisters and their mother in the 7th-century Breton lai Vita Prima Samsonis.[8][9] Her description resembles that of the Irish goddess Mórrígan.[10] In this work, Saint Samson of Dol encounters just one of the sisters, a wild-looking wicked witch (malefica) calling herself Theomacha (Enemy of God), as she was flying through a forest on the island of Loire and attacking one of his young deacons. Samson calls for her to repent and convert, but she refuses and tells him she wishes to do nothing but evil as she did her whole life. After that Theomacha attempts to flee, but Samson commands her to stay in place, rendering her utterly immobile in the air, and offers her last final chance but she proves to be beyond salvation. Samson then proceeds to pray for such utterly irredeemable woman's destruction; as soon as he finishes his prayer, she drops down dead.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
诺里斯 · j · 莱西(Norris j. Lacy)和约翰 · t · 科赫(John t. Koch)等学者还对7世纪布雷顿 · 莱 · 维塔 · 普里马桑索尼(Breton lai Vita Prima Samsonis)笔下的九个女巫姐妹和她们的母亲做出了额外的联系(除了普里德 ·。 [8][9]她的描述类似于爱尔兰女神 m rr 甘。 [10]在这部作品中，多尔的圣参孙遇到了其中一个姐妹，一个长相凶恶的野女巫(玛丽菲卡) ，自称 Theomacha (上帝的敌人) ，当时她正飞越卢瓦尔河岛上的一片森林，攻击他的一个年轻执事。 参孙要她悔改改变，但她拒绝了，并告诉他，她希望什么都不做，但邪恶，因为她的整个生活。 在那之后，西奥玛查试图逃跑，但是参孙命令她呆在原地，使她在空中完全不能移动，并给了她最后的机会，但是她被证明是无法得到救赎的。 然后，参孙继续为这个完全不可救药的女人的毁灭而祈祷; 一旦他完成了他的祈祷，她就倒地而死。
【The sisters of Avalon 阿瓦隆的姐妹们】
Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12-century Vita Merlini introduces the magical island of Avalon, the paradisal "Isle of Apples", as ruled by the nine entirely benevolent enchantress-sisters, known as great healers and capable of shape-shifting and other magic: Morgen, Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe, and either Thiten and Thiton or two sisters both named Thitis of whom one of them distinguished as "best known for her cither".[17] The sisters receive the dying Arthur from Taliesin, delivered to them in a hope they can revive him.[4] Their beautiful, wise and powerful queen, Morgen, would later evolve into Morgan le Fay, Arthur's own sister in later Arthurian tradition, who herself takes the dying Arthur to Avalon.[18] The other eight sisters appear only in this text and never return in any known works by other medieval authors.
蒙茅斯的杰佛里12世纪的维塔梅里尼介绍了神奇的阿瓦隆岛，天堂般的“苹果岛” ，由9个完全慈善的女巫姐妹统治，被称为伟大的治疗师和能力的变形和其他魔法: Morgen，Moronoe，马佐伊，Gliten，Glitonea，Gliton，Tyronoe，或者是 Thiten 和 Thiton 姐妹或两个姐妹都命名为蒂蒂斯其中一个她们杰出的“最知名的她的兄弟”。 [17]姐妹们从 Taliesin 接待了垂死的亚瑟，并把他交给她们，希望她们能让他复活。 他们美丽、睿智、强大的女王，Morgen，后来演变成摩根 · 勒费伊，后来成为亚瑟王的妹妹，她自己带着垂死的亚瑟王去了阿瓦隆。 [18]其他八姐妹只出现在这本书中，而且从未出现在其他中世纪作家的任何已知作品中。
It is very possible that the author was inspired, besides the stories such as Preiddeu Annwfn,[19] by an ancient Roman description of the island Sein off the coast of Brittany,[20] depicted by the 1st century geographer Pomponius Mela as being ruled by nine virgin priestesses wielding incredible magic powers.[21] Other possible connections involve the Greek mythology figures of Circe, Medea, and the nine muses (most of the sisters have Greek-style names).[22] Geoffrey's Avalon is also connected to Annwn; Morgen is even called "goddess of Annwn" in an early manuscript.[23]
除了像 Preiddeu Annwfn 这样的故事之外，作者很有可能是受到了古罗马人对布列塔尼海岸外的盛岛的描述的启发，1世纪的地理学家 Pomponius Mela 描绘了这样一幅画面: 九个拥有不可思议的魔力的处女祭司统治着这个岛屿。 [21]其他可能的联系还包括希腊神话中瑟西、美狄亚和九位缪斯女神的形象(大多数姐妹的名字都是希腊风格的)。 杰弗里的《阿瓦隆》也与 Annwn 有关，在早期的手稿中，Morgen 甚至被称为“安诺女神”。
【The sorceresses of Caer Lloyw 劳埃德的女巫们】
The nine make their final[20] written appearance in the Peredur son of Efrawg part of the Mabinogion, wherein Peredur (a variant of Percival) faces many opponents throughout the course of the story. However, his real enemies are eventually revealed as the Gwiddonod Caerloyw - the malignant Nine Witches of Caer Lloyw (or Caerloyw, literally the Castle of Glow in English,[24] or the "Shining Fortress",[25] later identified as Gloucester), also known as the Nine Sorceresses of Gloucester. Here they are fearsome mistresses of warfare and magic who terrorize Britain and whose evil deeds are responsible for ravaging his uncle's kingdom. It is a variant of an Arthurian Grail tale in which, instead of questing for the Grail, the hero takes part in ridding the land of the plague (gormes[26]) of evil witches that must be destroyed.[27][28] The witches, a group of black-clad "maiden-hags",[29] actually enter the story as Peredur's opponents-turned-benefactors, even giving him the same powers as they have when he spends time in their home,[30][31] but the central theme is his eventual unenthusiastic revenge on them for having previously harmed his relatives.[32][33] Peredur himself vanquishes only the chief witch, and only forced to do so after giving them three chances to yield,[34] but this act breaks the magic of their spells[35] and Arthur and his men slaughter the rest without mercy and with such swiftness that not a single one escapes alive.
这九个人最后出现在马宾诺吉翁埃夫罗格部落的儿子佩雷多身上，在整个故事过程中，佩雷多(珀西瓦尔的一个变种)面临着许多反对者。 然而，他真正的敌人最终被揭露为 Gwiddonod Caerloyw ——恶毒的九名劳埃德女巫(或 Caerloyw，英文字面意思是辉光城堡[24]或“闪亮城堡” ，后来确定为格洛斯特[25]) ，也被称为格洛斯特的九个女巫。 在这里，他们是战争和魔法的可怕情妇，统治着英国，他们的邪恶行径摧毁了他叔叔的王国。 它是亚瑟王圣杯故事的一个变体，在这个故事中，英雄没有寻找圣杯，而是参与了铲除那些必须被消灭的邪恶女巫的瘟疫(gormes [26])。 [27][28]女巫们，一群身着黑衣的“少女巫婆” ，实际上是作为佩列多的对手转变成的恩人出现在故事中的，甚至给了他和他们一样的权力，当他花时间在他们家里的时候，但是故事的中心主题是他最终对他们冷淡的报复，因为他们之前伤害了他的亲戚。 佩列多本人只击败了首席巫师，而且只是在给了他们三次屈服的机会之后才被迫这么做的，但是这一行为破坏了他们的魔法，亚瑟和他的手下毫不留情地、迅速地屠杀了其余的人，没有一个人能活着逃脱。
Relatively early on during his adventures, Peredur comes upon a mountain castle, the lady of which tells him how the surrounding lands have been conquered and laid to waste by the terrifying nine sorceresses, with powers too great for anyone to stop them,[36] and that one is coming to take the castle the very next morning. But Peredur offers to help, and at dawn he fiercely attacks and subdues the arriving enchantress with a blow that shatters her helmet. He is just about to slay her but stops when she begs forgiveness; after obtaining permission from the lady of the castle, he agrees to spare her life if she promises to return to her land and that she and her sisters would never trouble the dominion of his hostess (Peredur regularly gives quarter to his defeated enemies through the course of the tale, including Kai and various other knights). He then sets off with the now befriended sorceress back to her palace at Caer Lloyw in the journey that itself is not described. Peredur stays at the Witches' Court (Llys Gwiddonod) for three weeks, being tutored by them until he finishes his training, and then he is sent off by their lady principal on his way with the horse and weapons of his choice.[37][38][39]
在他冒险的早期，Peredur 来到了一座山上的城堡，城堡的女主人告诉他周围的土地是如何被可怕的九个女巫征服并摧毁的，她们的力量强大到没有人能够阻止她们，第二天早上就有一个女巫要来攻占城堡。 但是 Peredur 提供了帮助，黎明时分，他猛烈地攻击并制服了到来的女巫，一拳打碎了她的头盔。 他正要杀死她，但是当她乞求原谅时，他停了下来; 在得到城堡女主人的允许后，他同意饶她一命，只要她答应回到自己的土地上，而且她和她的姐妹们永远不会麻烦他的女主人的统治(在整个故事过程中，Peredur 经常给他的战败的敌人留下地方，包括 Kai 和其他各种骑士)。 然后他和现在已经成为朋友的女巫一起回到她在劳埃德的宫殿，这次旅行本身并没有被描述。 Peredur 在女巫院(Llys Gwiddonod 饰)住了三个星期，在他完成训练之前由他们辅导，然后他被他们的女校长送走，带着他自己选择的马和武器。 [38][39]
During the grand finale at the original[note 1] end of the tale, however, Peredur learns that a mysterious severed head (replacing the Grail in this story[42][43][44]), which he had witnessed before meeting the sorceresses, belonged to one his cousins. His foster-sister accuses the witches for the murder of his cousin and for having cursed and lamed of his uncle (an unnamed king of the realm, here a Fisher King figure), and tells Peredur that he is predestined to be their avenger. Peredur and his elder companion Gwalchmei (Gawain) decide to summon Arthur's warband to join them in this labour, and he leads them to Caer Lloyw to deal with the sorceresses.[45][46][47] During the ensuing showdown, the witches attack and Peredur watches the seemingly invincible leader of the enchantresses defeat Arthur's warriors one by one, as Peredur keeps pleading for her to desist and stop the fighting and give up but she does not listen; only after she kills the third one, Peredur finally enters the strife himself and swiftly strikes her down with a single powerful blow. With her dying breath, she cries out to the other witches they are doomed as Peredur was prophesied as the slayer of them all, and orders the other witches to getaway; however Arthur and the others rush and chase after the fleeing women until every last one is overtaken and put to the sword.[34][42][48][49][50]
然而，在故事最初的结尾(注1) ，Peredur 了解到一个神秘的头颅(取代了故事中的圣杯) ，这是他在遇见女巫之前亲眼目睹的，属于他的一个表亲。 他的养妹指控女巫谋杀了他的表妹，并诅咒了他的叔叔(一个不知名的国王，在这里是一个渔夫王的形象) ，并告诉 Peredur 他注定要成为他们的复仇者。 Peredur 和他的老伙伴 Gwalchmei (高文)决定召唤亚瑟的战友加入他们的行列，他带领他们到卡尔劳埃德去对付女巫们。 在接下来的摊牌中，女巫们开始进攻，佩列都看着这位似乎不可战胜的女巫首领一个接一个地打败了亚瑟的勇士们，佩列都一直恳求她停止战斗，放弃，但她不听; 只有在她杀死了第三个女巫之后，佩列都才最终亲自进入战斗，并迅速用一记有力的打击将她击倒。 随着她最后一口气，她向其他女巫喊出她们注定要死的预言，Peredur 被预言为杀死她们所有人的凶手，并命令其他女巫离开; 然而，亚瑟和其他女巫追赶着逃跑的女人，直到最后一个被追上并处于刀剑之下。 [48][49][50]
The narrative does not actually say how many witches are gathered for the final battle at Caer Loyw when they are wiped out, and there might be more than the nine from the first encounter between them and Perodur; according to John Rhys it is suggested "they must have mustered in a great force," possibly along with (unmentioned) "numerous allies of the other sex."[24] In any case, Peredur's duty of vengeance was fulfilled and he is celebrated as hero for his role in freeing the kingdom of the great scourge of witchcraft - and, with the sorceresses now annihilated, Peredur himself becomes the last keeper of their magic secrets.[37] However, what happened to his uncle after the victory is left untold.[39][51] Urban T. Holmes Jr. assumed that with the witches' death the king was freed from their enchantments,[52] conversely Arthur Edward Waite assumed that the king was not healed and it was all in vain.[53]
故事并没有真正说明有多少巫师在凯尔罗耀的最后战役中被消灭，而且可能不只是他们和佩罗杜尔第一次遭遇时的九个巫师; 根据约翰 · 里斯(John Rhys)的说法，故事暗示“他们一定集结了一支强大的军队” ，可能还有(未提及的)“许多其他性别的盟友” [24]无论如何，Peredur 完成了复仇的任务，他因为在解放这个王国的巫术大祸害中所起的作用而被誉为英雄——随着女巫们被消灭，Peredur 本人也成为了他们魔法秘密的最后保管人。 [37]然而，胜利之后他叔叔发生了什么事还不得而知。 小厄本 · t · 霍姆斯(Urban t. Holmes jr.)认为，随着女巫们的死亡，国王将从她们的魔法中解脱出来，而亚瑟 · 爱德华 · 韦特(Arthur Edward Waite)则认为国王没有得到医治，一切都是徒劳的。 [53]
As in the cases of the above stories of Samson and Cai, this romance may be an echo of an otherwise unrecorded extermination of local Celtic pagan cults by Christians during the 5th and 6th centuries, as it is considered by Flint F. Johnson;[54][55][56] Dhira B. Mahoney speculated the witches may "represent the supporters of an older order trying to regain control of the system."[57] Elsewhere in the Mabinogion, the tale of Culhwch and Olwen likewise features the motif of Arthur's attack on Caer Loyw, but in this case the defenders of the castle are male.[24] Arthur also hunts down Orddu (the Black Witch) and kills her by slicing her in half after she repeatedly beats his men who first struggle to defeat her, reminiscent of how Peredur dispatched of the witch queen of Caer Lloyw.[1][58][59] Furthermore, parts of the story parallel how the Irish mythological hero Cú Chulainn is taught combat by the warrior woman Scáthach after he overcomes and threatens her; Cú Chulainn also defeats Scáthach's rival Aífe, sparing her life but raping her, and many years later comes to fight and kill their son of this union.[24][60] Norma Lorre Goodrich connects the motif with "magical warrior rites in Scotland" and links the witches' leader to the figure of Queen Morgan le Fay, a sorcerous half-sister of Arthur.[61] According to Roger Sherman Loomis, it is possible that the author either indeed had Morgan in mind for the gwiddon or that both he and Geoffrey were taking from the same sources in earlier tradition.[26]
就像以上关于参孙和蔡的故事一样，这段传奇故事可能是对5世纪和6世纪基督徒对当地凯尔特异教徒的灭绝的一种回应，否则就没有记录。弗林特 · f · 约翰逊(Flint f. Johnson)认为，女巫可能“代表了一个旧秩序的支持者，他们试图重新控制这个系统。” 在 Mabinogion 的其他地方，基尔胡赫与奥尔文的故事同样以亚瑟攻击凯尔 · 洛伊为主题，但在这个案例中，城堡的守卫者是男性。 [24]亚瑟还追捕黑女巫奥尔杜(Orddu，黑女巫) ，在她反复殴打第一个试图打败她的手下之后，将她砍成两半杀死了她，这让人想起贝列都是如何杀死卡尔劳埃德的女巫王后的。 此外，故事的某些部分还类似于爱尔兰神话英雄 c · 楚兰在征服并威胁她之后，如何被一位女战士 sc · 塔赫教导如何战斗; c · 楚兰还击败了 sc · 塔赫的对手 a · fe，饶恕了她的性命，但强奸了她，许多年后，他们开始战斗并杀死了这段婚姻的儿子。 诺玛 · 洛尔 · 古德里奇将这个主题与“苏格兰的魔法战士仪式”联系起来，并将女巫的领袖与亚瑟王的同父异母的巫师妹妹摩根 · 勒费伊女王联系起来。 [61]根据罗杰 · 谢尔曼 · 卢米斯的说法，有可能提交人心目中的确有摩根对 gwiddon 的看法，或者他和杰弗里都是从早期传统中的同一来源取材。
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