| ISSN 1357-4442 | Editor: Simon Denison |
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| ESSAY |
There was more to Druidism in Gaul and Britain than mistletoe and beards, says Jane Webster
At the time of the Gallic War, Julius Caesar described the Druids as a religious élite responsible for judicial issues and education. (Gallic War 6.13-14). This is not, however, the image that sticks in our minds. Most of us think of the Druids as bearded mystics with a penchant for mistletoe. We can trace this portrait back to numerous 1st century writers, including Pliny, Lucan and Mela. Pliny's Natural History (XVI 249) contains a famous description of the Gallic Druids:
The Druids - for so their magicians are called - hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree that bears it . . . They call the mistletoe by a name meaning, in their language, the all-healing. Having made preparation for sacrifice, and a banquet beneath the trees, they bring thither two white bulls, whose horns are bound then for the first time. Clad in a white robe, the priest ascends the tree and cuts the mistletoe with a gold sickle, and it is received by others in a white cloak. Then they kill the victims, praying that the god will render this gift of his propitious to those to whom he has granted it.
Pliny and other 1st century writers portray the Druids as faintly preposterous mystics, who have lost their power and present no real threat to Rome. Their accounts have shaped today's popular `Getafix' image of the Druids as medicine men. In dismissing the Druids so easily, however, have we become victims of Roman spin-doctoring? In other words, 1st century writers may have been keen to foster a particular image of the post-conquest Druids, but is it an accurate portrait?
Augustus, Tiberius and Claudius all issued edicts to curb Druidic activity, suggesting its continuing strength and its perceived threat to Rome. What were the Romans afraid of? The answer lies in a passage from Tacitus (Histories 4.54), who mentions the Druids' use of prophecy possibly to incite unrest during the Civilis revolt of AD69-70:
But it was above all the burning of the Capitol that had driven men to the belief that the empire's days were numbered. They reflected that Rome had been captured by the Gauls in the past, but as the house of Jupiter remained inviolate, the empire had survived. Now, however, fate had ordained this fire as a sign of the gods' anger, and of the passing of world dominion to the nations north of the Alps. Such at any rate was the message proclaimed by the idle superstition of Druidism.
In colonial societies throughout history, prophets have been at the centre of dissenting movements. Many of these have taken the form of `revitalization' or `end of the world' protest: the belief that following a catyclism, pre-conquest society will be re-born. The 19th century Ghost Dance among the Plains Indians of North America, movingly depicted in Dee Brown's Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, was one movement of this type. Revitalisation movements were prompted by the sense that an old order was disappearing forever, and members of indigenous élites frequently played a central role in their development.
Perhaps the Druids - members of a religious élite whose power was eroded by conquest - became prophets of rebellion, and for this reason, incurred the special enmity of Rome? In these terms, Tacitus' account of the Druidic prophecy of the fall of Rome can be seen in a new light. The same may be said for his description of Suetonius Paullinus's assault on the British Druidic stronghold on Anglesey in AD60 (Annals 13.40):
On the beach stood the adverse array, a serried mass of arms and men, with women flitting between the ranks. In the style of Furies, in robes of deathly black and with dishevelled hair, they brandished their torches; while a circle of Druids, lifting their hands to heaven and showering imprecations, struck the troops with such an awe at the extraordinary spectacle that, as though their limbs were paralysed, they exposed their bodies to wounds without an attempt at movement.
Looking at this passage afresh, we can see something previously overlooked: the religious fanaticism of the desperate. Perhaps this may best be understood by seeing the post-conquest Druids not as harmless mystics, who rapidly lost what little power they had in the aftermath of conquest, but rather as the freedom fighters of the Roman west?
Dr Jane Webster is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Leicester
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