The story of our family...for my sons



Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Lady of the Lake and Robin Hood...cool stuff


This is in addition to the other story I had on Richard de Vere.

Raymond de Vere, Count of Anjou, a.k.a. Rainfroi de Vere, b.c. 705, married, in 733, Melusine de Lusina. She was the daughter of Elinas, King of the Picts, b. c. 690, and Bruithina MacBrude, b. c. 700, and, thus, was a princess of the Southern Picts of Alba. Her totem tribal badge was the Dragon, hence the fairytale connotations. The Dragon Motif was depicted in 1200 AD. on the seal of Hugh de Vere, whilst the Blue Boar, a Druidic caste badge, was [n.b.] derived from the family of Raymond de Vere.

Their son was Count Maelo de Vere, b. c. 735, commander of Emperor Charlemagne's army. From Maelo's own marriage to Charlemagne's sister, Bertha Martel, sprang a succession of Earls of Genney. Maelo's brother was Roland, for whom "Song of Roland" was written.

In the Arthurian and Magdalene traditions of the Ladies of the Lake, Melusine was a fountain fey - an enchantress of the Underwood. Her fountain at Verrières en Forez was called Lusina - meaning Light-bringer - from which derived the name of the Royal House of Lusignan - the Crusader Kings of Jerusalem. The Fount of Melusine was said to be located deep within a thicket wood in Anjou. She was also known as Melusina, Melouziana de Scythes, Maelasanu, and The Dragon Princess.

Melusina, The Dragon Princess

In the 12th Century, Melusine's descendant, Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford, and legal pretender to the Earldom of Huntingdon, was appointed as King Richard's steward of the forest lands of Fitzooth. As Lord of the Greenwood, and titular Herne of the Wild Hunt, he was a popular people's champion , and, as a result, he was outlawed for taking up arms against King John. It was he who, subsequently styled Robin Fitzooth, became the prototype for the popular tales of Robin Hood.

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