Cath Palug
Cath Palug, also Cath Paluc, Cath Balug, Cath Balwg, Chapalu, Capalu, or Capalus, literally "Palug's cat", or maybe from the Welsh 'palug,' meaning 'clawing,' was a monstrous cat in French and Welsh legend. It was said to haunt the Isle of Anglesey, and to have killed and eaten nine score warriors.
Welsh writings
- Trioedd Ynys Prydain / The Welsh Triads written in the end of the XIIIth century. A little black cat born at Llanveir is found. It grows and and becomes one of the three plagues of the isle of Anglesey. The Welsh Triads (Trioedd Ynys Prydain) make it the offspring of an enormous sow, Henwen, and claim that at birth it was thrown into the sea to drown. Surviving, it instead swam to Anglesey where the sons of Palug raised it, not realizing its deadly potential. [1]
- Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin / The Black Book of Carmarthen.[2], written before 1250. The Cath Palug comes from the sea, it wreaked havoc and devastated the land until slain by Cai (Sir Kay or Keu.
French writings
The french versions relate a battle between King Arthur himself and the Chapalu. Sometimes the beast wins, sometimes King Arthur wins.
- La Bataille Loquifer/ The battle of Loquifer, written in 1170 by Graindor de Brie. In this manuscript the Cath Palug is the issue of the rape of the fairie Brunehaut and Gringalet the luiton. Gringalet is also the name of the horse of Gauvain. This might explain the description of the chapalus : the body of a horse, the head of a cat with red eyes. [3] sometimes it's precised it has the claws of a dragon and the tail of a lion.
- Li Romanz des Franceis / The roman of the french, written in the XIIth century by André de Coutance, satiric poem where the author tries to provoke the english by insulting the memory of King Arthur :Que boté fu par Capalu, Li reis Artur en la palu : that kicked (on the ass) by Chapalu, King Arthur(was)in the swamps. The poem explains that the Chapalu after killing Arthur swam to England and became king in his place.
- Galeran de Bretagne / Galeran of Brittain, written in the XIIIth century and inspired by Li Romanz des Franceis [4]
- L’Estoire de Merlin/ The story of Merlin, written in the XIIIth century. A man fishing in the lake of Le Bourget promisses that his first take wil be dedicated to god, but he doesn't. Then he fishes a little black cat at his third throw, he takes it home and it becomes a giant cat. This gant cat kills the whole fisher's family, the fisher himself and any voyager comming nearby the lake. It is finaly killed by King Arthur.
- Ogier de Danemarche / Ogier the Dane.[5], probably inspired by The battle of Loquifer, the fight between king Arthur and the Chapalu is considered as a way to liberate the Chapalu from a curse. When it losts the battle the Chapalu becomes a humain called Benoit(blessed).
German writings
- Manuel und Amande partial saved middle german poem written between 1170 and the XIIIth century. Describes the Chapalu as a catlike fish.
Representation
The fight between King Arthur and Cath Palug is figurated on a moisaic in the Cathedral of Otranto[6]
Localisation
The french tradition associates it with the Mont du Chat in the Savoie region of France, near Lake Geneva, where Arthur was defeated by the Cat in a battle fought in a swamp (pallu) near that mountain.
The welsh tradition gives as localisation the Isle of Anglesey but born at Llanveir.
The Cath Palug is always localised nearby water ; lake of Bourget and Lake of Geneva in France, the sea in Wales.
References
- Bromwich, Rachel (ed), Trioedd Ynys Prydain (Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1964), Triad 23: Three Powerful Swineherds of the Island of Britain.
External links
Notes
 | This article relating to a Celtic myth or legend is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a fantasy-related character is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- ^ Bromwich, Rachel (ed), Trioedd Ynys Prydain (Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1964), Triad 23: Three Powerful Swineherds of the Island of Britain.
- ^ "The Black Book of Carmarthen". National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
- ^ Carolyne Larrington, King Arthur's enchantresses Morgan and her sisters in Arthurian tradition, London New York, I.B. Tauris, 2006 (ISBN 978-1-845-11113-7)
- ^ Terry, Patricia; Nancy Vine (1993). The Romance of the Rose or Guillaume De Dole. U of Pennsylvania P. ISBN 0-8122-1388-2
- ^ The article Holger Danske in Nordisk familjebok (1909)
- ^ Helmut Nickel, « About Palug's cat and the mosaic of Otranto » dans Arthurian Interpretations, vol. 3, No. 2, sommer 1989, p. 96-105