Cair Paravel's ruins

A prince discovers the truth about Narnia, its throne and its true ruler

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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by knightofnarnia » Sun Jun 04, 2017 3:05 pm

I've seen that castle they are building resdreamer and I have to say they work 35 hours don't have as much manpower has the lords of the time and not as many people knowing how to use only techniques of the time. They say a medival lord could have built it in 3 to 5 years.
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by EveningStar » Tue Feb 19, 2019 11:18 pm

Cair Paravel means "Castle of the Stand-in" and it has significance for Narnia even when in ruins. It was castle of the stand-in because Aslan decided to set human rulers over it when evil came into the world. They ruled in his name, a situation that only occurred to my knowledge once on earth when St. Stephen became King of Hungary without first getting the Pope's blessing. To make up for it, he gave the nation to the Virgin Mary and ruled it on her behalf as "His Apostolic Majesty." Which meant that Kings and Queens of Narnia that respected Aslan were Apostolic Kings and Queens.

As the sentinel and guardian of the mouth of the Great River leading inland from the Great Eastern Sea, it had an important job protecting the heartland of Narnia from invasion by sea. It also collected tariffs from nations without most favored nation trading status, and represented in a monument in the gardens the Throne of Aslan himself.

The design of the building reflected the state of wartime technology in Narnia, with crenelation and tall towers to enable archers to man the walls. It did not have a star-wall because the rock it sat on made it invulnerable to sappers, so there was no need to cover the base of the walls against digging.

As I am fond of telling tour groups, the terra cotta tiled ceiling over the great hall was supported by massive Alandran oaks, prized for their dense and rot-resistant wood. The large lanterns on either side of the main gate were cast from bronze captured from Jadis' army during the Battle at Beruna Ford. Each weighs in excess of 400 parkins and requires twelve good lads on the ropes to take them down and clean them once every five years. They are often referred to as Mariel and Cassandra, names that recently were found to be the two daughters of the Arkenlandish craftsman who designed them.
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by Ariel.of.Narnia » Wed Feb 20, 2019 1:09 am

What is the source of all this information, Star?
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by EveningStar » Wed Feb 20, 2019 12:00 pm

The origin of the name Cair Paravel is obvious in Latin. The information about the kingship of Hungary to those who study European History (bows politely) on an indepth level, especially about the Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich ("compromise") which made the newly-crowned emperor of Austria-Hungary dress up in traditional Hungarian robes and ride through town wearing the huge crown of St. Stephen to be crowned separately as His Apostolic Majesty.

Information about castle design ... well ... again, historic study.

As for the oak ceiling and large brass lanterns, I heard that on good faith from the faun that used to give tours before I started taking visitors through the property at two crescents a head. (sheepish badgerly grin).
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by Ariel.of.Narnia » Wed Feb 20, 2019 5:08 pm

I always did wonder what the etemology of “Paravel” was.
I rather think that Narnia’s rulership would have borne more similarity to Israel’s monarchy (a king under God rather than a king on behalf of God, which sounds more like the judges), but as this thread is about the Cair’s ruins, this is better left for discussion elsewhere.

Thanks for clarifying the details not given by Lewis. :)
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by Benisse » Fri Jan 20, 2023 5:57 am

According to Google search, here is another take on the origin of Cair Paravel's name:
" 'Cair Paravel' means “a lesser court” (Old English: 'caer' means 'court' and 'paravail' means 'lesser' or 'under.') This is probably a reference to the fact that the kings of Narnia are under Aslan.
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by Lily of Archenland » Fri Jan 20, 2023 10:24 pm

Huh, I hadn't heard that before! That's cool. :)
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by marmota-b » Sun Jan 22, 2023 5:03 pm

Benisse wrote:
Fri Jan 20, 2023 5:57 am
According to Google search, here is another take on the origin of Cair Paravel's name:
" 'Cair Paravel' means “a lesser court” (Old English: 'caer' means 'court' and 'paravail' means 'lesser' or 'under.') This is probably a reference to the fact that the kings of Narnia are under Aslan.
"

I'm going to be academically pedantic but - "Google search" is not a source. :-) Back searching it, I found the Narnia Wiki as the source. It gives no source itself, as is its wont. I'm a bit sceptical. My knowledge of Old English is unfortunately minimal, but I'm sure it can be confirmed or refuted through that somehow. :-)
ETA: Forgot to say - if it is the true translation, though, it would make a lot of sense.
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by Benisse » Tue Jan 24, 2023 9:13 pm

Thank you Marmota-B for tracing back the information I mentioned to Narnia Wiki. I appreciate your due diligence. So here are some more etymology notes.
According to Merriam Webster online:
"Etymology of paravail
Anglo-French paravale, from Old French par aval below, from par by + aval down, from a to + val valley"

Also, according to OxfordReference.com:
"Caer
QUICK REFERENCE
A Welsh word meaning ‘wall; fort, castle, citadel’ as employed in numerous place-names. Sometimes anglicized as Kaer. Entries relating to Caer are given letter by letter, whether ‘Caer’ is a separate word or a prefix."
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Re: Cair Paravel's ruins

Post by marmota-b » Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:32 am

Thanks for looking that up! So it's Middle English and Welsh, not Old English. :D Which is... about typical of the veracity of what the Narnia Wiki usually says. I could swear half the stuff up there is just someone's headcanon. (If anyone has the thoroughness and discretion of research that sort of thing requires, and the time, and would like to bring it up to the standards of other fandom Wikis, starting with sources, that would be awesome. I already have a gazillion other interests, unfortunately.)
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