The Roman occupation of Britain lasted from 43CE to around 400. Before the Romans invaded, the druid priesthood was the undisputed power in the land. For the previous two or three centuries the druids had been a dominant force throughout what was then the Celtic world, which included France, the Netherlands and parts of Scandinavia as well as Britain.
History is written by the victors; this can make it hard to get a clear picture of the people on the losing side. When the Romans conquered the Celts and Ancient Britons, they gave unflattering descriptions of the druids. Some sources describe the druids as bloodthirsty barbarians who were addicted to human sacrifice. Others maintain that they were gentle and peaceful, and that they derived their authority from being in touch with nature.
There are a few things we can say for certain. Druids:
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held ceremonies in oak groves |
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saw mistletoe as a sacred plant with healing powers |
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practised divination and believed they could foretell the future |
Their powers of divination underpinned the druids' authority. Their supposed ability to foretell the future made the druids a vital source of information, equally able to advise the community on when to start the harvesting and the king on when to go to war. Like Arthur's adviser, Merlin, the druids wielded a power based on their superior insight into the workings of the universe.
Information about druid practices can also be gained from archaeological evidence. The Gundestrup Cauldron was preserved for 2000 years in a peat bog in Denmark. Intricately carved and made of solid silver, the cauldron looks like a classic piece of wizard's equipment. It seems to have been put in the bog as a form of sacrifice, after being used in ceremonies for many years. The carvings on the cauldron present a wild and hallucinatory panorama: there is a horned god; figures which are half human, half animal; and scenes of animal and perhaps human sacrifice.
More gruesome - and mysterious - evidence is supplied by Tollund Man. The body of Tollund Man was found in 1950 in a Danish peat bog, where - like the Gundestrup Cauldron - it had been preserved since the 1st century BCE. Tollund Man was about 40; he was stripped naked and garrotted before his body was laid to rest in the bog. Examination of his stomach contents found a wide variety of different grains, suggesting a ritual last meal. There were also traces of ergot, a highly toxic mould found on rye. If Tollund Man was the victim of ergot poisoning ('ergotism') he would have suffered convulsions and hallucinations. It may be that this ergot-induced trance state was part of a ritual sacrifice.
Tollund Man was not the only victim. Other bog bodies have been found in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland - and Britain. In 1984, a 2000-year-old body was found in a peat bog in Cheshire: Lindow Man. This time the signs of human sacrifice were unmistakable. Lindow Man had been struck on the head, strangled and had his throat cut, perhaps to drain the body of blood. He was young, fit and well-groomed, suggesting high social status. There was no ergot in his stomach; but there were traces of mistletoe, suggesting a definite druidical connection.
The druids' political authority was severely limited under Roman rule. However, druidical practices and Roman religion seem to have coexisted. In particular, the druidical arts of divination appear to have survived into the Roman era: one Romano-British burial site in Colchester has been found to contain equipment for a divining ritual. As the Roman Empire crumbled in the 5th century CE, it is not hard to see how men such as Merlin could have revived druidical practices.
Wizardry as we know it is deeply marked by druidical practices. But the druids themselves had roots in a truly ancient and mysterious form of magic: shamanism.
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