Priest and King System: Celts in Ireland

Author: Compiled by Time-Life Books, Inc., Translated by Li Shaoming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Despite his fame, King Laoiaru was a melancholic man. For some time, he had overheard whispers among his courtiers about the imminent arrival of a new religion. This news unsettled Laoiaru. He knew his realm had some immunity to foreign influences, but he also understood that caution was paramount, and one must never be complacent. The king summoned a man named Lucet Mel into the palace. Mel was a Celtic priest, favored by the king, and a man of great influence. Laoiaru ordered him to cast a divination to determine the auspiciousness or inauspiciousness of this stranger. Mel bowed deeply before his sovereign and returned to his residence. From his satchel, he took a raw dog's liver, placed it in his mouth, and began to chew. After chewing for a sufficient time, he spat it out onto the stone slab inside his door. Then, performing a ritual to invoke the gods, he inquired about the future. That night, he slept with his hands covering his cheeks, while his deputy kept watch with wide eyes, ensuring no disturbance during his journey into the underworld. The next morning, Lucet Mel awoke without unease. In a dream, he felt "a foreign way of life" was approaching Ireland. Tara would be conquered by another nation, a land "unknown before, practicing a language that was cumbersome, brought from distant shores." This language was powerful and unstoppable. "Kings who adopt it shall die, and the people who follow it shall be ensnared. All gods shall be destroyed, and all crafts shall be ruined. Once this teaching takes hold, it shall endure for all generations." The Priest and the King: Celtic Ireland is one of the titles in Time-Life Books' world history series Living in Ancient Times for you. This volume recounts the legends of Christianity's arrival in Ireland and tells many equally captivating stories. Turning the pages, we