#kentigern

(Thanks to an anonymous person, who gave me a link to the Philological Museum, I was able to have a look at how King Lot presented in the Scottish narrative by Hector Boece. Kudos to him/her. Link is HERE)

Lot introduced. In Boece's work, Lot is a Pict, rather than a Northern Briton from Hen Ogledd/The Old North. Keep in mind this Chronicle has a Pro-Scottish bent, hence the appropriation of Lot and his family as Pictish. You may now imagine Gawain and co. being heavily tattooed.

The alliance of Lot, Conranus and Aurelius

After the triumph over the Saxons, Lot is wed to Anna, Aurelius' sister, and fathers Valvanus (Gawain), Mordred and Thametes (Teneu). Geoffrey of Monmouth himself flip flops on whether Anna was a sister of Arthur or a sister of Uther and Aurelius. Boece elected to go with "Sister of Aurelius and Uther" to frame the injustice Arthur and the Britons commit regarding Mordred's eligibility to the Throne.

Uther sires Arthur, in which Boece emphasizes it's illegitimacy. The treachery towards the Scots and Picts begins here.

Due to his sons being cheated out of succession, Lot allies with the Saxon King Occa (Octa/Osla Gyllelvawr, Hengist's son and Rowena's brother)

Lot breaks off with the Saxons and Occa retaliates as a result.

Lot pushes for him and his sons for succession, presumably under an old Celtic system similar to Tanistry. Sadly, Racism gets in the way.

Because of the Saxons, Arthur makes a deal with Lot: The next successor after him will be Mordred. Also, Mordred's marriage. Huh, that's weird. You'd think it would be Gawain, since he is usually portrayed as the eldest. Perhaps he's not in Boece, since Mordred is always mentioned first before Gawain?

Lot vs. Colgern

Years later, King Lot sadly dies offscreen. :( And the Mordred drama ensues because, again, racism. Arthur breaks the treaty and designates Constantine of Cornwall as heir to the throne, etc. etc. And that's it for King Lot in Boece's chronicle. The following three entries are some interesting tidbits Boece included as part of his narrative:

King Brude, one of Lot's nephews, succeeds the Pictish Throne. By which brother, unknown. It ought to be Auguselus, but Eugenius is King of the Scots and Urien and Ywain aren't part of this narrative, so...

The story of Thametes/Teneu and St. Kentigern/Mungo.

Lothian retains it's name to the present day, in memory of King Lot

King Lot got a peculiar sidegrade here compared to in Historia, still having lost the "King of Norway" element (as he is now a pict), as well not having a role in the endgame - unlike in Didot Percrval and AMA - having died early so that Mordred is King of the Picts when it all goes down.

In exchange, more emphasis is place on the political intrigue and struggles: Lot's role in both Aurelius and Arthur's wars against the Saxons, his fight to have his family maintain their rights to the throne despite Briton resistance to the idea, etc.

Personally, I do love the idea of Lot and the Orkney bros being Norse/Pictish/Briton mixed race (and maybe, Urien and Augusel as well). Also, the idea of Mordred having a hand in government long before the Revolt, being in-charge of Lothian, Orkney and the Picts. It gives him something cool to do since Mordred lacks a lot of noteworthy adventures, enhance the flaws (percieved or otherwise) about Arthur's rule and helps contrast him with Gawain, who I've complained before about how he should be a responsible King in the French narratives, rather than the adventurer-hero he, and his fellow Round Table Knights, have been pigeonholed into by the French writers.

Link to Part I: HERE

Link to Part II: HERE

On 13th January 614, St Kentigern Mungo died , and was buried at his church in Clas-gu which later become Glasgow.

Saint Kentigern has been venerated for many centuries as one of the apostles of Scotland and patron-saint of Glasgow. He is best known in Scotland as Mungo, which means "darling", or "beloved one". Unfortunately, very little genuine information on this 6th-century saint has survived. His later life was composed by a Cistercian monk, Jocelyn of Furness, late in the 12th century, but earlier traditions about the saint are more authentic.

The future saint was born in about 518 or 528 in Culross in Scotland. His mother was the holy princess Theneva, (Enoch) who is also venerated as patron-saint of Glasgow, who's father Loth, King of Gododdin (modern day East Lothian) - was thrown out for being pregnant with Mungo after an illicit encounter with her cousin, King Owain of North Rheged (now part of Galloway). Her furious father had her tied to a chariot and launched off Traprain Law.

Amazingly she and the unborn baby survived and her father, now believing she was a witch, set her adrift in a coracle without oars up the River Forth.

His early life was shaped by St Serf who ran a monastery at Culross and rescued his mother and cared for her and the young boy who he affectionately called Mungo, meaning 'dear'.

Aged 25 Mungo began his missionary work on the banks of the River Clyde and built his church close to where the Clyde and the Molendinar Burn merge - this later became Glasgow Cathedral.

He was exiled during AD565 when anti-Christian King Morken of Strathclyde drove him away - he travelled through Cumbria and settled for some time in Wales before completing a pilgrimage to Rome. By the 570s a new king, Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde, overthrew King Morken and invited St Mungo back to become Archbishop of Strathclyde. His church on the Moledinar became the focus of a large community that became known as Clas-gu or 'family'.

He died on Sunday 13 January 614. He was buried close by his church, and today his tomb lies in the centre of the Lower Choir of Glasgow Cathedral.

In order to become a Saint, it was necessary to prove that the candidate had performed miracles during their life - St Mungo was supposed to have performed four immortalised in this poem:

Here is the bird that never flew

Here is the tree that never grew

Here is the bell that never rang

Here is the fish that never swam

Today the bird, the tree, the bell and the fish form the four elements of the crest of Glasgow City Council.

I've only really fleshed out three in my head, which I'm justifying with the smaller number of students! I do need to work out a few more.

Safdar is an old rival of Godric's who specialises in duelling. He has very little interest in magic outside of that, but he's skilled enough that he's the only person Godric has never beaten in a duel. He mainly teaches older students due to his quick temper and high standards, but is occasionally pressed into service to help teach basic classes. He joined the staff when Godric asked him, partly to defend innocents, and partly for the opportunity to regularly duel Godric.

Anwen is an older witch in her early sixties who teaches Astronomy. The students all adore her, and she's very good with the younger ones especially. She had never duelled in her life before Rowena asked her to help teach at Hogwarts, but she's picked up enough to be able to defend them until help arrives.

it’s my theory of what was the ONLY CLUE to Robert Galbraith’s true identity that JK Rowling hid in the text of The Cuckoo’s Calling

most of the places in the Strike Series are real: all the restaurants in the Silkworm, the quirky places in Career of Evil’s road trip, Robin’s hometown of Masham and nearby Harrogate

I started looking them all up, because the series is great travel porn -- “look at all these interesting details in the real world”

BUT

there are a few places in The Cuckoo’s Calling that aren’t real. The nightclub Uzi, the fancy shop Vashti, and........... Kentigern Gardens, where Lula Landry lives

so I googled “Kentigern”

and the first result is SAINT MUNGO (x)

“In Wales and England, this saint is known by his birth and baptismal name Kentigern.

Particularly in Scotland, he is known by the pet name Mungo.”

That’s right, Harry Potter fans -- the first crime scene in the first Strike Book is named after the same person as St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in the HP Series

from the HP Wikia:

“The hospital was founded by famous Healer Mungo Bonham in the 1600s.[1]  Mungo Bonham could have been named after Saint Mungo, aka Saint Kentigern, the patron saint of Glasgow.[2] His pregnant mother was abandoned by her family before his birth. He is considered the first bishop of Scotland.”