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DRUIDISM

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 598 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DRUIDISM , the name usually given to the religious See also:

system of the See also:ancient inhabitants of See also:Gaul and the See also:British Islands. The word Druid (See also:Lat. druida) probably represents a Gaulish druid-s, Irish dr(i,. gen. sing. drisad. On the See also:analogy of Irish siii<suvid-s the word has been analysed into dru-vid-, " very knowing, See also:wise." The ancient Welsh See also:form of the word does not exist. Welsh derwydd and dryw are probably to be regarded as of See also:recent coinage, as also the See also:Breton forms drouiz, druz. The important See also:part played by the See also:oak in the religious cults of other countries suggests a connexion with See also:Greek See also:opus, oak, but this See also:etymology is rather in disfavour at the See also:present See also:time. We find in See also:Caesar the first and at the same time the most circumstantial See also:account of the See also:Druids to be met with in the classical writers. He tells us that all men of any See also:rank and dignity in Gaul were included among the Druids or the nobles. In other words, the Druids constituted the learned and the priestly class, and they were in addition the See also:chief expounders and guardians of the See also:law. We are, however, informed by Diodorus and See also:Strabo that this class was composed of Druids, bards and soothsayers. Hence Caesar seems to assign more extensive functions to the Druids than they actually possessed. The substance of Caesar's account is as follows. On those who refused to submit to their decisions they had the See also:power of inflicting severe penalties, of which See also:excommunication from society was the most dreaded.

As they were not a hereditary See also:

caste and enjoyed exemption from service in the See also:field as well as from See also:payment of taxes, See also:admission to the See also:order was eagerly sought after by the youth of Gaul. The course of training to which a novice had to submit was protracted, extending sometimes over twenty years. All instruction was communicated orally, but for See also:ordinary purposes they had a written See also:language in which they used the Greek characters. The See also:president of the order, whose See also:office was elective and who enjoyed the dignity for See also:life, had supreme authority among them. They taught that the soul was immortal. See also:Astrology, See also:geography, See also:physical See also:science and natural See also:theology were their favourite studies. See also:Britain was the headquarters of Druidism, but once every See also:year a See also:general See also:assembly of the order was held within the territories of the See also:Carnutes in Gaul. The Gauls were accustomed to offer human sacrifices, usually criminals. See also:Cicero remarks on the existence among the Gauls of See also:augurs or soothsayers, known by the name of Druids, with one of whom, Divitiacus, an Aeduan, he was acquainted. Diodorus informs us that a See also:sacrifice accept-able to the gods must be attended by a Druid, for they are the intermediaries. Before a See also:battle they often throw themselves between two armies to bring about See also:peace. They are said tohave had a See also:firm belief in the See also:immortality of the soul and in See also:metempsychosis, a fact which led several ancient writers to conclude that they had been influenced by the teaching of the Greek philosopher See also:Pythagoras.

A rescript of See also:

Augustus forbade See also:Roman citizens to practise druidical See also:rites. In Strabo we find the Druids still acting as arbiters in public and private matters, but they no longer See also:deal with cases of See also:murder. Under Tiberius the Druids were sup-pressed by a See also:decree of the See also:senate, but this had to be renewed by See also:Claudius in A.D. 54. In See also:Mela we find the Druids teaching in the depths of a See also:forest or in caverns. In See also:Pliny their activity is limited to the practice of See also:medicine and sorcery. According to this writer the Druids held the mistletoe in the highest veneration. Groves of oak were their chosen See also:retreat. Whatever See also:grew on that See also:tree was thought to be a See also:gift from See also:heaven, more especially the mistletoe. When thus found, the mistletoe was cut with a See also:golden See also:knife by a See also:priest clad in a See also:white robe, two white bulls being sacrificed on the spot. See also:Tacitus, in describing the attack made on the See also:island of See also:Mona (Anglesea) by the See also:Romans under Suetonius See also:Paulinus, represents the legionaries as being See also:awe-struck on landing by the See also:appearance of a See also:band of Druids, who, with hands uplifted towards heaven, poured forth terrible imprecations on the heads of the invaders. The courage of the Romans, however, soon overcame such fears; the Britons were put to See also:flight; and the groves of Mona, the See also:scene of many a sacrifice and bloody rite, were cut down.

After this the See also:

continental Druids disappear entirely, and are only referred to on very rare occasions. See also:Ausonius, for instance, apostrophizes the rhetorician Attius See also:Patera as sprung from a See also:race of Druids. When we turn to the British Islands we find, as we should expect, no traces of the Druids in See also:England and See also:Wales after the See also:conquest of Anglesea mentioned above, except in the See also:story of See also:Vortigern as recounted by See also:Nennius. After being excommunicated by Germanus the British See also:leader invites twelve Druids to assist him. These probably came from See also:North Britain. In Irish literature, however, the Druids are frequently mentioned, and their functions in the island seem to correspond fairly well to those of their Gaulish brethren described by classical writers. The functions of Caesar's Druids we here find distributed amongst Druids, bards and poets (fili), but even in very See also:early times the poet has usurped many of the duties of the Druid and finally supplants him with the spread of See also:Christianity. The following is the position of the Druid in the See also:pagan literature. The most important documents are contained in See also:MSS. of the 12th See also:century, but the texts themselves go back in large measure to about A.D. 700. In the heroic cycles the Druids do not appear to have formed any See also:corporation, nor do they seem to have been exempt from military service. Cathbu (Cathbad), the Druid connected with Conchobar, See also:king of See also:Ulster, in the older See also:cycle is accompanied by a number of youths (See also:loo according to the See also:oldest version) who are desirous of learning his See also:art, though what this consisted in we are not told.

The Druids are represented as being able to foretell the future and to perform magic. Before setting out on the See also:

great expedition against Ulster, Medb, See also:queen of See also:Connaught, goes to consult her Druid, and just before the famous heroine Derdriu (Deirdre) is See also:born, Cathbu prophesies what sort of a woman she will be. We may cite two instances of the magical skill of the Druids. The See also:hero See also:Cuchulinn has returned from the See also:land of the fairies after having been enticed thither by a See also:fairy-woman named Fand, whom he is now unable to forget. He is given a potion by some Druids, which banishes all memory of his recent adventures and which also rids his wife Emer of the pangs of See also:jealousy. More remarkable still is the story of Etain. This See also:lady, now the wife of Eochaid Airem, high king of See also:Ireland, was in a former existence the beloved of the See also:god Mider, who again seeks her love and carries her off. The king has recourse to his Druid Dolan, who requires a whole year to discover the haunt of the couple. This he accomplished by means of four wands of See also:yew inscribed with ogam characters. The following description of the band of Cathbu's Druids occurs in the epic See also:tale, the See also:Cattle-spoiling of Cualnge (Cooley) : " The attendant raises his eyes towards heaven and observes the clouds and answers the band around him. They all raise their eyes towards heaven, observe the clouds, and hurl spells against the elements, so that they arouse strife amongst them and clouds of See also:fire are driven towards the See also:camp of the men of Ireland." We are further told that at the See also:court of Conchobar no one had the right to speak before the Druids had spoken. In other texts the Druids are able to produce See also:insanity.

In the religious literature they are almost exclusively represented as magicians and diviners opposing the See also:

Christian missionaries, though we find two of them acting as tutors to the daughters of Laegaire, the high-king, at the coming of St See also:Patrick. They are represented as endeavouring to prevent the progress of St Patrick and St See also:Columba by raising clouds and mist. Before the battle of Culdremne (561) a Druid made an airbe drTiad (fence of See also:protection?) See also:round one of the armies, but what is precisely meant by the phrase is obscure. The Irish Druids seem to have had a See also:peculiar See also:tonsure. The word drtii is always used to render the Latin magus, and in one passage St Columba speaks of See also:Christ as his Druid. See D'See also:Arbois de Jubainville, See also:Les Druides et les dieux celtiques a forme d'animaux (See also:Paris, 1906), and Introduction d l'etude de la litterature celtique (Paris, 1883) ; P. W. Joyce, A Social See also:History of Ancient Ireland (See also:London, 1903). (E. C.

End of Article: DRUIDISM

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