Teneu

In the first recorded hagiography of her son, her name is given as Thaney. which was commissioned by Bishop Jocelin of Glasgow and redacted later (circa 1185) by the monk Jocelyn of Furness (who claimed he rewrote it from an earlier Glasgow legend and an old Gaelic document), gives her name as Taneu; so does John Capgrave, printed 1516. Sometimes her name is given as Thameta or Thenelis. Alex Woolf has suggested that the character Teneu may have been derived from Danaë, mother of the classical hero Perseus in the Fabulae of Gaius Julius Hyginius. ==Legend==

Saint Teneu has been described as "Scotland's first recorded rape victim, battered woman and unmarried mother". Her son was conceived when the Welsh prince Owain mab Urien raped her. Owain was disguised as a woman, and after sexually assaulting the naïve princess, he confused her by saying: "Weep not, my sister, for I have not known thee as a man is used to know a virgin. Am I not a woman like thyself?" Upon discovering her pregnancy, her angry father King Lleuddun sentenced her to death and she was hurled from Traprain Law. Miraculously she survived the fall; when discovered alive at the foot of the cliff, Teneu was set adrift in a coracle and travelled across the Firth of Forth to Culross, where she was given shelter at the community of Saint Serf. There she gave birth to and raised her son Kentigern, whom Serf nicknamed Mungo, "very dear one". There are also Welsh legends about Teneu: ==Modern adaptations==

She is the subject of Kathleen Herbert's historical novel, Bride of the Spear, part of her Dark Ages of Britain trilogy, as Taniu, (1982, St Martin's Press), and of Nigel Tranter's historical novel Druid Sacrifice (1993, Hodder & Stoughton), as Thanea. In 2025 a new site-specific poetry play entitled Maiden Mother Mage was performed by actors at Culross Abbey and Glasgow Cathedral, written and directed by Rebecca Sharp. The work shows imagined versions of Thaney at three stages of life, speaking in the first person - as Maiden / Thaney, Mother / Teneu, Mage / Enoch. The book of Maiden Mother Mage is published by Matecznik Press. ==See also==