Character interactions continue on a continental scale. Merowech the Frank and his sons, one-off characters, are ambushed by Rufinus' Bacauda band, now working for the anonymous King of a wonderful city. Outlaws become militia. Brigands become scouts for civilization against the barbarians. Gratillonius works good for all Armorica. Slaves bought to be sacrificed are rescued and freed. Wotan will have to be satisfied with animals - like Taranis when, earlier, Gratillonius had refused to sacrifice Rufinus. We project the Gods so we can tame them. The Three will wreak havoc but will then withdraw. What is happening now at the end of the Age of the Fish? (I began this paragraph with Merowech and did not expect to end it with the Three and the end of an age.)
Section 3 is about two Queens and a princess at the seaside. The incoming tide destroying Dahut's sandcastle, which she calls "Ys," symbolizes or summarizes the plot of the Tetralogy.
In Section 4, Gratillonius' granaries counteract the effects of poor harvests so that, if it is Taranis Who sends rainstorms, lightning and hail, then his attempted vengeance does not succeed and the King continues his triumph. Wind shrieks when Corentinus visits Gratillonius and keens when the Kings offers to pay for a Mass for Maximus. The two men plan the settlement of veterans in Armorica, then Queen Bodilis arrives to inform Gratillonius that Queen Quinipilis is dying.
The main theme of the Tetralogy is change.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And "Merowech" reminded me of the eponymous ancestor of the Merovingian dynasty, whose founder, Clovis I, began his rule over parts of ex-Roman Gaul in 480. Clovis went on to comuer all of Gaul before he died in 511.
Significantly, Clovis and his Franks began as Wotan worshiping pagans, not Arians. Their conversion to Catholic Christianity had enormous consequences in history.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yup, the earlier conversion of the Goths and other Eastern Germanic groups like the Vandals to Arianism did have profound historical consequences.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
For one thing, a big reason why the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and the Vandals in N. Africa were so short lived being the friction between Arian rulers and the Catholic majority. And the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania wasn't much better, for similar reasons.
Ad astra! Sean
Though by the time of the Moorish invasion, the Visigoths had converted to Catholicism and their language was probably extinct, and they spoke proto-Romance like everyone else on the peninsula except the Basques.
So we can't blame those factors for the way the Visigothic monarchy collapsed.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I have to agree, there were other factors which contributed to the ignominious Visigothic collapse. Such as plain old stupidity and incompetence.
Ad astra! Sean
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