Sovereignty goddess is a scholarly term, almost exclusively used in Celtic studies (although parallels for the idea have been claimed in other traditions, usually under the label hieros gamos).[1] The term denotes a goddess who, personifying a territory, confers sovereignty upon a king by marrying or having sex with him. Some narratives of this type correspond to folk-tale motif D732, the Loathly Lady, in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index. This trope has been identified as 'one of the best-known and most frequently studied thematic elements of Celtic myth'.[2][3][4][5] It has also, however, been criticised in recent research for leading to "an attempt to prove that every strong female character in medieval Welsh and Irish tales is a souvenir of a Celtic sovereignty goddess".[6]
- ^ James MacKillop, A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), s.v. Sovereignty, Lady.
- ^ Victoria Simmons, 'Sovereignty Myth', in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ed. by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005), s.v.
- ^ Cf. Proinsias Mac Cana, ‘Aspects of the theme of king and goddess in Irish literature’, Études Celtiques, 7 (1955-56), 76-114, 356-413 and 8 (1958-9), 59-65.
- ^ Cf. J. Doan, 'Sovereignty Aspects in the Roles of Women in Medieval Irish and Welsh Society', Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium, 5 (1985), 87-102.
- ^ Breatnach, R. A. (1953). "The Lady and the King a Theme of Irish Literature". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 42 (167): 321–336. JSTOR 30098456.
- ^ Sessle, Erica J. (1994). "Exploring the Limitations of the Sovereignty Goddess through the Role of Rhiannon". Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium. 14: 9–13. JSTOR 20557270.