Traditions of Glastonbury

The book is called Traditions of Glastonbury because Glastonbury England is abundantly filled with traditions pertaining to Glastonbury’s historical role in the birth of Christianity.

Joseph of Arimathaea, an honorable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. (Mark 15:43)

Mary, the mother of Jesus, had an uncle named Joseph. Joseph of Arimathaea is his title in the Bible but Joseph had another title, Joseph de Marmore, meaning Joseph of the Great Lord or as the British would say, Lord Joseph. This makes sense in that he was a descendant of King David. Joseph of Arimathaea was the Kinsman Redeemer for Mary when her husband Joseph had died. This meant that for Jesus, his great uncle Joseph of Arimathaea would become his legal guardian. Joseph was a rich man, very likely a Roman Senator in charge of Rome’s mining interests in Britain. It’s likely too that Joseph was able to go ‘boldly before Pilate’ because of his political and economical status. Frequently, for long periods of time, Joseph had set sail for the British Isles to attend to his mining operations. Jesus traveled with His uncle Joseph to these mining sites at least once according to the traditions.

Apparently, sometime after the death of Mary’s husband Joseph, Mary and Jesus went with their uncle Joseph of Arimathaea on one of his mining trips to Britain with the intentions of making a new home there. There’s also reason to believe that prior to heading toward the British Isles, Jesus had just returned from India. Now the motivation in going to Glastonbury may have been that it was the center of the Druidic faith. It’s likely there was a Druidic University nearby where Jesus may have attended or contributed some of His time. When they arrived, they were greeted by the town’s people who knew Jesus and Joseph from earlier visits. They stayed in the village while Jesus and His uncle built a wattle hut similar to the homes of the nearby village. Upon completion of their new home, Jesus dedicated the house to his mother. Jesus probably went on other journeys with His uncle while Mary stayed in England, but Jesus and Mary would find themselves back in their homeland in time for Jesus’ ministry.

E. Raymond Capt points to an interesting question using scripture: Consider the passage, And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up... and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him... And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? (Luke 4:16-22) Two things strike us here. The usage of the expression, where he had been brought up, implies that while Jesus had spent His childhood in Nazareth He had not continued to live there. His more recent days had been spent elsewhere. This impression is strengthened by the fact that His hearers ask the question, Is not this Joseph’s son?, almost as though they were in doubt as to His identity.

We also read that they asked, Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? (Matthew 13:55-56) Was Jesus such a stranger to them that the people could not refer to Him by name, but only by His relationship to other members of His family whose identity was not in doubt?

While on the cross, Jesus entrusted his mother to his beloved disciple John. Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. (John 19:27) In this verse, the word home is not in the original text but added by the translators. After the resurrection and the Lord’s ascent to heaven, the persecution against the followers of Christ intensified. Among the Romans and in the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathaea was a rich and powerful man. Considering this, it seems likely that John went to Joseph for help and protection; aside from the fact that he was her uncle.

According to traditions and supported by many historical documents (i.e. the Ecclesiastical Annals by Cardinal Caesar Baronius, A.D.1538-1609, and the Acts of Magdalen by Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mayence, A.D. 766-856, just to name two), Joseph of Arimathaea with Mary and some of the disciples were cast adrift without sails or oars off the coast of Caesarea by the Jewish Sanhedrin. The currents carried them to Cyrene where they acquired sails, oars and more refugees as they themselves were. From Cyrene they sailed to Marseilles, France where their journey continued on land to the Atlantic coastline of Morlaix. From Morlaix they sailed to England. There Joseph and his companions met with the king of Britain, King Arviragus, who granted them twelve hides (1900 acres) of tax free land in the same area that Joseph and Jesus had earlier built the house for Mary.

Joseph of Arimathaea in A.D. 37 was the first man to arrive in the British Isles preaching the Good News of the Gospel (gospel means good news). He brought with him into Britain two small vials and a cup. Droplets of the precious blood of our Lord was in one vial and His sweat was in the other. The cup is the famed Holy Grail. The national religion at this time was of the Druidic faith and since the Druid philosophy was so very similar to the Hebrews, like Yesu as one of the names of their Triune God, the new wine of Christianity was easily welcomed. Not long after Joseph arrived in Britain, Christianity became the national religion, but it wasn’t called Christianity. It was then called the Culdee Church, which basically meant Judean refugees. It wasn’t like Britain had to familiarize themselves with a new religion. This was basically the same religion in a new phase with a new name. This happened almost 500 years before the Roman Catholic Evangelist, St. Augustine came to Britain and was given credit as the man who Christianized the Isles.

The Culdee Church were the Protestants of the British Isles 1500 years before the Protestant Reformation began with Martin Luther on continental Europe. In Thomas Bulfinch’s book of mythology, he writes of the Culdee Church saying: "In these respects and in others the Culdees departed from the established rules of the Romish church, and consequently were deemed heretical. The consequence was that as the power of the latter advanced that of the Culdees was enfeebled. It was not, however, till the thirteenth century that the communities of the Culdees were suppressed and the members dispersed. They still continued to labor as individuals, and resisted the inroads of Papal usurpation as they best might till the light of the Reformation dawned on the world." The Protestant Reformation branched off of Catholicism. The Culdees were true to God’s Word from the beginning.

It was in the year A.D. 48 when Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus died. After her death, a larger wattle building, about 60 feet by 26 feet was built over and around her wattle home. Mary was buried beneath the floor of this building which became known by several names: Lignea Basilica, Vetusta Ecclesia, Ealdechurche, Old Church, Culdee Church and the Church of the Refugees. It was also called St. Mary’s Chapel as well as St. Joseph’s Chapel because after the death of Joseph (July 27, A.D. 82), he too was buried in a crypt beneath the building. Not only that, but it was also known as the Tomb of the Saints since many of the early pioneering disciples are buried there. Roman Catholicism didn’t begin until after A.D. 300, and many Catholics, before the tradition of the Feast of Assumption, which came a few centuries later, called this precious site Our Lady’s Dowry. The Culdee Church was the first Christian church in the world, established between A.D.39-41. Historians who know this area call this place the most hallowed ground on earth. The first Christian church in Rome dates to the year A.D. 56, established by Linus, the son of Britain’s King Caradoc.

THOSE savage ROMANS
Against Brits, Celts, Druids,
and Christians

My objective in this section is to show that the people of the British Isles weren’t the savages history records them to be. Although the Romans practically ruled the known world for the first few centuries after The Crucifixion, they only surpassed the Isles of the West in their ambition to extend the borders of their empire. However, the only stronghold the Romans had in Britain was the Southern portion and they were never able to completely take that portion in war. Perhaps if they did, instead of the English language being the so-called universal language, it would have probably joined the list of dead languages.

After hearing one his armies were forced to retreat, Julius Caesar turned his troops toward the British Isles. On August 5th, B.C. 55, Caesar began his campaign against Britain. Fifty-five days later Caesar too is forced to retreat. On May 10th, B.C. 54, Caesar again tries to take Britain. The war ends on September 10th, B.C. 54 with Caesar failing worse than his first attempt. A treaty was signed and the British people had gained Rome’s respect as they could walk the streets of Rome freely. Ninety-seven years passed before another Roman tried to take Britain.

Just a little side-note here: I find it very interesting that Caesar’s second attempt to take Britain lasted from May to September. I already mentioned earlier references to September, such as the letter ‘A’ in the alphabet and the pattern of the Passover. The last five months of mankind and time as we know it will be while the Anti-Christ is among us. I see here another pattern of the Anti-Christ with Julius Caesar’s second attempt.

Julius was succeeded by Augustus (a.k.a. Octavian), who was succeeded by Tiberius, who was succeeded by Caligula. Caligula, who wasn’t always playing with a full deck, aspired to take Britain. When he and his army arrived on the shores of Britain, after seeing an army poised against them, Caligula decided it would be better if they just collected the spoils of the ocean. Caligula then ordered his army to follow his lead as he picked up items like drift wood, sea shells and sea weed. Leaving the British army in tears laughing, Caligula and his men returned to Rome with their spoils. They arrived in Rome on Caligula’s birthday, August 31st, A.D.40. Adorned with victorious spoils from the sea, he and his army were given a grand triumphal parade. On January 24th he was assassinated at the age of twenty-nine. (twenty-nine in Biblical numerics symbolizes departure) Claudius, who was then fifty years old, succeeded Caligula.

Going back to Brutus and following his bloodline through his son Kamber, it brings us to Bran Fendigaid. Bran was the king of the Welsh Silures. He stepped down as king to become the Arch Druid for the college of Siluria after being the first of royalty converted to Christianity by Joseph of Arimathea. His son Caradoc then became the King of Siluria. (The following list of genealogy is taken from R.W. Morgan’s book, St. Paul In Britain, who got it from the Pantiliwydd Manuscripts of Llansannor.)

Caradoc or Caractacus as the Romans called him, was also the first cousin of King Arviragus the son of King Cunobelinus, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare, who ruled the Silures in England. Caradoc had completed his education from the Druidic Cor of CaerLeon-On-Usk. The Circle of Druidic Knowledge, which he completed, required twenty years to master. The Druidic colleges taught the finer concepts of astronomy, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, public speaking and poetry. They had the best schools and many of the Romans went or sent their children to be educated by the Druidic Universities.

In A.D. 42 Claudius issued a decree stating that anyone who accepted the Druidic or The Way faith had committed a capital offense punishable by death. With this decree, he ordered the destruction of Christianized Britain including its finer institutions and libraries. Claudius Caesar had his heart set on controlling Britain. He wanted to put an end to the controversy over the Roman’s way of worship and imperialism raised by the Druids and followers of The Way.

When the Roman soldiers found out they were to invade Britain, a mutiny broke out. The soldiers remembered the terrible loss against the Brits ninety years ago and shouted, "We will march anywhere in the world, but not out of it." Claudius then sent his minister named Narcissus to persuade them to fight. Narcissus was a eunuch, so when he said to the soldiers that he himself would lead them into battle against the Brits, he struck a chord in the pride of the soldiers. They were then motivated to go to war.

Another side-note here: Abraham was called out from his homeland by the Lord to go to the land of Canaan. Moses also left the lifestyle he had as an Egyptian to live the more simpler and humble life as a shepherd in the land of Midian. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13) The word ‘Church’ comes from the Greek word ‘Ekklesia,’ which is a compound of the two words: ek = out (from) and kaleo = to call; meaning, ‘to call out.’ The tribes of Israel in Britain were considered ‘outside of the world’ by the Romans. True Christians separate themselves from the ways and worries of the world. They’re strangers just visiting this planet to do the Lord’s work. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)

Caradoc was elected to the position of Pendragon or Military Dictator to organize the defense against the Roman armies. King Arviragus showed his support to Caradoc by casting the first vote. This act by King Arviragus meant that he would rally the countrymen of his kingdom to follow Caradoc into war. During war, the Pendragon was the top man in the country and Caradoc would not disappoint the people. For two days Caradoc and his men fought bravely against the armies of Rome’s finest generals. It was Britain against the world and Britain was holding its ground. That is until Claudius ordered into battle a bunch of elephants with his second and fourteenth legions to counter the British chariots. Caradoc lost that battle and a few days later lost another.

Shortly after Caradoc’s second defeat, a treaty was made between the two powers called the Claudian Treaty. This treaty basically said that after Britain paid a certain amount of tribute, Rome would protect Britain and guarantee that the British people could keep their land, laws and government. Claudius Caesar then gave his daughter named Venus Julia or as the British records show, Venissa to King Arviragus for his bride. They were married in Rome during the six months of peace between the two powers in A.D. 45. Meanwhile in Britain, Caradoc’s sister, Gladys (Celtic for Princess), who by the way is said to have been another convert of Joseph of Arimathaea, was also married about the same time. Ironically, she married one of the generals of the Roman army fighting against her brother. His name was Aulus Plautius and her name was changed to Pomponia. History knows her as Pomponia Graecina Plautius.

Two years later, hostilities started breaking out again and General Plautius was recalled back to Rome where his wife would be tried for embracing foreign superstitions. King Arviragus and his wife along with King Caradoc went to Rome for the trial. Pomponia was pronounced innocent and the two kings with Venissa returned to Britain.

Tensions increased and shortly after their arrival home, they found themselves once again in an all out war against the Romans. This time the heads of the two opposing powers were in-laws and Rome sent practically everything they had against the Britons. For seven years the war went on; sometimes in Rome’s favor, sometimes in Britain’s but overall, Rome was making little progress in trying to possess the southern portion of Britain. The war ended first with the Roman army taking the wife and daughter of Caradoc. Then, when Caradoc sought refuge with Aregwedd, or Aricia, the Queen of Brigantes, he too was taken while sleeping on a full stomach. Seeking vengeance for this afterwards, King Arviragus sent some of his troops over to the Queen to trash her kingdom.

Defeated by betrayal, Caradoc was taken to Rome in chains where millions of Romans gathered to see the famous Briton warrior paraded to Caesar. Delivered before the emperor’s tribunal, Caradoc gave his famous speech:

"Had my government in Britain been directed solely with a view to the preservation of my hereditary domains, or the aggrandizement of my own family, I might long since have entered this city an ally, not a prisoner; nor would you have disdained for a friend a king descended from illustrious ancestors, and the dictator of many nations. My present condition, stripped of it’s former majesty, is as adverse to myself as it is a cause of triumph to you. What then? I was lord of men, horses, arms, wealth: what wonder if at your dictation I refused to resign them? Does it follow, that because the Romans aspire to universal dominion, every nation is to accept the vassalage they would impose? I am now in your power - betrayed, not conquered. Had I, like others, yielded without resistance, where would have been the name of Caradoc? Where your glory? Oblivion would have buried both in the same tomb. Bid me live, I shall survive forever in history one example at least of Roman clemency."

Among the other British royalty held captive were Caradoc’s three sons, another daughter, his father Bran and one of Caradoc’s brothers. Usually when the Romans captured their enemies, they humiliated them with a barbaric torture and execution. The higher the social rank of their captives, the more humiliating the torture. However, for some divine reason after Caradoc’s speech, his whole family was released and Caradoc was confined to the city of Rome for seven years. He also agreed not to personally raise a weapon against Rome. During this time, Caradoc’s son Cyllinus took over the king’s throne in Britain while Arviragus fought off the best of Rome’s legions.

In the Annals of Tacitcus (12:38-38), Tacitcus describes the conflict between Rome and Britain while Caradoc was confined to Rome: "In Britain, after captivity of Caradoc, the Romans were repeatedly defeated and put to rout by the single state of the Silures alone."

Caradoc’s daughter Gladys stayed with him while in Rome and found favor with the emperor’s family. They adopted her in A.D. 52 as one of their own; changing her name from Gladys to Claudia after Claudius. She was married to a Roman senator in A.D. 53 named Rufus Pudens Pudentius. Rufus had also been the personal aid to Aulus Plautius who married Claudia’s Aunt. Caradoc’s parole was finished in A.D. 59. Before returning to Britain, he gave the Palace of Britain located in Rome to his daughter Claudia and her husband Rufus.

Isabel Hill Elder, in her book, Celt, Druid and Culdee writes: "Caradoc, it is said, while a prisoner at Rome, was converted to Christianity by St. Paul, and it is to his children, Linus and Claudia, and his son-in-law Pudens, that St. Paul sends greetings in his second letter to Timothy." Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen. (2Timothy 4:21-22)

During Caradoc’s confinement, the Roman’s persecution of the Christians took on a new zeal when the Emperor Claudius was succeeded by the Emperor Nero. Between Rome and Britain, the harder Rome pressed, the worse they were defeated, causing Rome to resort to some really vicious tactics. This led to the historical Menai Massacre just two years after Caradoc’s return to Britain. It’s amazing that Caradoc kept his word with Rome through all the blood-shed. In this massacre, Rome’s soldiers indiscriminately butchered in cold blood anyone they came upon; priests, women, children, the young and elderly alike were killed without mercy. The Romans also destroyed the homes, libraries and places of worship. However, when Queen Boadicea was publicly whipped and her two daughters publicly raped, this caused Britain and the Queen to retaliate with a furious frenzy. Now the Silures would be joined by at least three other British tribes. The Roman soldiers were soon overwhelmed by the determination of the vengeful British. This became known as the Boadicean war.

Queen Boadicea, the new Pendragon had rallied nearly a quarter of a million Brits and allies against the Romans. 80,000 Romans perished in the several battles leading to the battle at London. London was an international merchant port where many Roman legions were based. Again, the Romans were overwhelmed by the determined Brits and another 40,000 Romans perished in London.

The war came to an end in A.D. 62 after Queen Boadicea, fearing capture, committed suicide on the battlefield. To the amazement of both the Romans and the British, by the highly, gloriously valiant reputation that the Queen had established for herself in these battles, they immediately ceased fire and a peace treaty was signed. As one Roman historian writes: "Every peace with the British was a signature of (Rome’s) defeat."

Between A.D. 43 and A.D. 86, sixty major battles against the Romans had been fought on British soil. In A.D. 86, the Roman commander Agricola was frustrated by the determination of the British warriors and concluded with the same realization as Julius Caesar, that fighting the British was a futile and costly ambition. Another peace treaty was signed giving the British their native freedoms and kingly prerogatives. In A.D. 120, the Emperor Hadrian had the treaty revised allowing the Romans to keep some military bases in Britain.

For two hundred years after the Treaty of Agricola, there had been a relative peace between the Romans and the British, but the Roman’s persecution of Christians continued on the continent. In A.D. 156, in the face of all this persecution by the Romans, King Lucius nationalizes the faith of the Christians by proclaiming Britain a Christian nation by royal decree. Britain was the first nation to make such a proclamation. Again, this is still almost 350 years before St. Augustine got credit for Christianizing Britain.

During this time of relative peace between the two powers, some of Rome’s Emperors had been making their residence in Britain. In the year A.D. 287, Carausius, the Admiral of the Roman fleet landed in Northern Britain and marched to the city of York proclaiming himself to be the Emperor of Rome. He was assassinated in York seven years later by his minister Allectus, who reigned afterward for two years. Allectus was killed in battle against the forces of Constantius Chlorus. Constantius Chlorus was the Emperor of Gaul (France), Spain and Britain and after the fall of Allectus, proclaimed himself Emperor of Rome also.

Meanwhile, back in Rome, confusion and despair had taken hold of the people. It was one revolution after another between groups claiming the right to the throne of Caesar. With each revolution, another self-proclaimed Emperor was getting assassinated. Rome was reaching its climax to self-destruction. When Diocletian stepped up to the throne he tried to revive Roman patriotism. He made Maximian his co-ruler and the two of them set out to destroy all that was Christian. It was the worse campaign of Christian persecution than all the prior persecutions combined. The wave of spilled Christian blood went across Europe and reached the shores of Britain eighteen years later.

In A.D. 300, Diocletian’s forces went against Britain while Maximian’s forces continued to wreak havoc across the continent. The British casualties were beyond number. Towns, universities, libraries and churches, several precious sites destroyed by Roman hatred, greed and ignorance. Nevertheless, the victorious Emperor Constantius had driven the Diocletian forces off the British Isles by the year A.D. 302.

After the war against Diocletian and his army, Constantine assisted his mother, Empress Helen in restoring the churches and universities which had been damaged or destroyed in the conflict. A few years later, in A.D. 306, Constantine’s father, the Emperor Constantius Chlorus died in York where he was buried. Afterwards, Constantine declared himself the Emperor of the Roman Empire, along with being the Emperor of Gaul, Spain and Britain. He then continued to help rebuilding for another six years before gathering an army of mostly British warriors to go against Maximian’s army. Sailing with his men to meet Maximian’s forces in Rome, Constantine’s army would soon find themselves in the thick of battle on the banks of the Tiber. There Constantine was victorious. Both Diocletian and Maximian were no longer a threat to Christianity. After that victory, Constantine and his men marched to Rome where he was met with much applause. He proclaimed himself once again the Emperor of Rome and his first act was to declare Rome a Christian nation.

George F. Jowett sums up the British and Roman conflict quite well in his book, The Drama of the Lost Disciples: "As we sum up the picture one may well exclaim, What a paradox!

The first Christian church founded at Rome by the British royal family! The same family under Arviragus are the first to be given the sign of the Cross (by Joseph of Arimathea) for their emblem. In order, their descendants under Lucius nationalized the faith in Britain and planted the sign of the Cross for the first time on coinage; the grand-daughter of Lucius, Princess Helen of Colchester, preserving the faith in her homeland, her husband smashing the Diocletian persecution and, finally, her illustrious son, backed with a British army, conquering the city of Rome; Constantine, a Briton, nationalizing the faith in Rome. What irony of fate! The Romans who first set out to destroy Britain and Christianity are finally converted to the faith, nationalized in Christ by the same British, with a Briton reigning on the Imperial throne and British warriors defending the faith where, for three hundred years, persecution of the Christian had prevailed.

From Emperor Constantine, who wore Judah’s sign of the lion, began the Byzantine Dynasty.

Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment. (Isaiah 41:1) And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. (Isaiah 66:19)

In the tree of Constantine’s genealogy, the Lion of Judah continues to rule nations. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver. (Psalm 60:7 & 108:8) The royal families of the British Isles particularly in the first 500 years of Christendom, have done more for the cause of Christ than any nation afterwards. The Good News spread all over Europe so rapidly because the British royal families had the resources and passion, to go out to where they knew there would be some of Israel’s lost sheep.

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