Other than in Mallory's Morte d'Arthur and the KAP books, there is no other reference that I can find to this name.

Since moving to and living in the Isle of Man, I have taken an interest in the history and folklore of the island, but I have not seen any reference to Pomitain anywhere. The island was known to the Romans as Mona and is known as Ellan Vannin in gaelic. Its is also described as the Isle of Mannanan.

So where does Pomitain come from? How certain are we that it refers to the Isle of Man at all.

My searches have not helped me find a definitive answer to this. Can anyone help?

Thanks

Damon

Interesting question. It does appear in Malory, ch. XLIV, I believe. It was given as a gift to Sir Palomides (I think) by Galahaut.

I suppose the name is Norman/French, as Malory was. "Pomitains" is one of the three famous Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire. Could that be a connection?

Not definitive at all, I'm afraid. :(

Interesting. I didn't know about the monastery. I'll take a look at that.

Cheers

A sailing friend of mine took an extended trip to the Isle of Man in '96 or '97 and brought back a ton of photographs, charts and reference material. This, coupled with the evocative name of "Pomitaine" on the Pendragon Map, inspired me to map the island and write its background for my Pendragon Campaign. Though that was quite a while ago and I've lost most of my old material, I still have the map. Pomitaine was ruled by a Duke who gave his defiance to the young Arthur. One of my PKs convinced the rest of the group to try and wrest the island from its traitorous ruler and bring it into Arthur's fold. The Duke was an honorable and honest man, he just didn't believe this jumped up scullery knave was material for a High King, you see. The PKs (five knights who called themselves the Knights of the Fist) challenged the Duke's champions to combat
to prove Arthur's right to rule. To make a long story short, the Knights of the Fist won, Pomitaine became part of Arthur's Britain and one of the PKs wooed and wed the old Duke's rather unworldly daughter to become the Duke himself upon the old man's death about seven years later. I wish I still had the information that led to my map, but it was onboard my sloop when she flooded and was destroyed....

Other than in Mallory's Morte d'Arthur and the KAP books, there is no other reference that I can find to this name.

Since moving to and living in the Isle of Man, I have taken an interest in the history and folklore of the island, but I have not seen any reference to Pomitain anywhere. The island was known to the Romans as Mona and is known as Ellan Vannin in gaelic. Its is also described as the Isle of Mannanan.

So where does Pomitain come from? How certain are we that it refers to the Isle of Man at all.

My searches have not helped me find a definitive answer to this. Can anyone help?



I can.
It was assigned by me to the island of Mann.

Thanks Greg.

Most of what I know of the IoM's history is post Viking settlement.

Prior to that it was a typical celtic settlement with a penchant for Stone crosses. These are dotted all round the island. There are a couple of iron age forts but since the romans never got this far, there is very little in terms of records.

I'm not sure whether christianity preceeded or came with the vikings.

From that respect, it is a bit of a blank page if you want to do anything in Pendragon.

Most of what I know of the IoM's history is post Viking settlement.

Prior to that it was a typical celtic settlement with a penchant for Stone crosses. These are dotted all round the island. There are a couple of iron age forts but since the romans never got this far, there is very little in terms of records.

I'm not sure whether Christianity preceded or came with the vikings.

From that respect, it is a bit of a blank page if you want to do anything in Pendragon.



Post viking is still in our time frame.
Surely Christianity did not come with the Vikings but before and/or after

I've read some of it, and there are adventures lying there waiting us.
I invite you to write them up in context and send them in!
Please!

I set one of my first adventures on pomitain., with galeholt! it was cool! ;)

In case anyone is still reading this thread.....

Came across this site by accident after the same question as originally posed on here occurred to me. For anyone considering beefing up the Pomitain setting with some historical information, the following may be of use:-

1. Mann was indeed Christian before the vikings and has numerous "keeils" - Celtic monastic cells similar to the one lived in by St. Toirdealbhach in "The Once & Future King". The vikings brought paganism but later converted and there are some very nice carved slate crosses with both pagan and Christian motifs [see The Viking Age in the Isle of Man by D. M. Wilson]

2. From 1079-1266 Man was ruled by a Christian but Scandinavian ["viking" if you like] dynasty whose deeds are recorded in the Chronicon Manniae et Insularum. [Chronicle of Man and the Isles] "The Isles" means originally the whole of the Hebrides plus the Kintyre peninsula, which counted as an island. In the latter part of this period the Hebrides were gradually lost to more celtic rulers, the outer Hebrides and Skye being the last to be lost.

3. Key features of the kingdom in that period would be the beginnings of the castles at Peel and Castle Rushen, which still survive, the establishment of a bishopric [of "Sodor and Man" - still extant] with a fortified residence at Bishopscourt [also still standing] , a monastery at Rushen Abbey and a nunnery at Douglas. The arms of the king of Man are recorded as those of the present Manx flag and are also found on the hilt of the medieval Manx sword of state, but an emblem of a viking ship also seems to have been used.

4. If you want an idea of what knights in the kingdom of Man and the Isles might have looked at, get images of the Lewis chessmen. They are dated to the later 12th century, at a time when the isle of Lewis was part of the Manx kingdom.

5. Legend has it that Man's name derived from Mannanan Mac Lir, the Irish god of the sea. As recorded in Manx folk tales, he appears not as a god but as a great wizard who could hide the island in mist when enemies approached but was eventually driven out by St Patrick.

6. Legend also has it that the first viking king of Man was King Orry [Ree Gorree in Gaelic, deriving from Old Norse Godred, the name of several historical Scandinavian kings of Man]. On landing an old crone asked where he came from; he ppointed to the milky way and replied that it was his road.

Hope that provides some local colour. If you can get a British Ordnance Survey map of the island it will give you the locations of the places I have mentioned; but note that before modern times Douglas [the current capital] was much smaller and the capital was Castletown

Adam,

Thank you.

Indeed christianity arrived over from Ireland, where else?

More information can be found on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_man amd here http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fim/fim05.htm

Other than in Mallory's Morte d'Arthur and the KAP books, there is no other reference that I can find to this name.
So where does Pomitain come from?


Pomitain is the Malory's translation of Pometame (Pometeme, Poncannie),the land of king Marsile in the French Prose Tristan. It was given as a gift to Marsille by Galehaut. The only information about this land: it's an island !

I think Greg chooses Man to identify Pometame/Pomitain because it seems logical with his identification of Surluse (Sorelois) and the Isles...