The following notes will hopefully clarify some of the historical allusions John Montague uses in his poem "Madron" from "Conversations with David Jones." Throughout this piece he refers to Welsh mythology, Irish and French geography and historical happenings in Ireland.

Aisling a poetic representation of a vision

Patrick Sarsfield Patrick Sarsfield was born around 1655 and died in his thirties due to a wound incurred in battle. He was known for his ability to inspire allegiance in the Irish Jacobite war and was the most written about Irish rebel before Wolfe Tone. He is known to the Irish as "Father of the Nation" and united the Palesmen and the Gaels to fight against the English republic's redistribution of Irish land; his followers could be found among all classes of Irishmen. Since he died young, he never commanded the Irish army in battle or he may have surpassed the Duke of Marlborough to become the greatest soldier of his age.

Fuit Ilium they fled (Latin).

Fuseliers gunmen.

Madron a Welsh mother goddess. In Welsh mythology, Madron is the mother of Mabon--the miraculous child of light (equated often with Jesus) who was one of King Arthur's champions.

Tu es Petra, et you are stone, and (Latin)

Beauce A thinly populated flat limestone plain in the Ile-de-France region of northern-central France. The chief town in this fertile wheat-producing area is Chartres (see map). The connection between this region and Kildare (see map) is that both are agricultural centers.

Rhiannon In Welsh, Rhiannon means "Queen of the Unworld" and she appears in Welsh mythology in the first cycle of the Mabinogion. She rides horseback and her beauty is captivating, but no one can catch her. Pwyll, prince of Dyfed, asks for her name and she stops. They marry and then she is wrongfully accused by her husband of killing her son. A beast stole the child but the maids, to avoid responsibility, smeared the blood of an animal in the the child's room to make it appear as if Rhiannon killed him. Her pun