Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war… — William Shakespeare from Julius Caesar

About twenty years ago, I picked up Pictish Warrior AD 297-841, written by Paul Wagner and Angus Konstam. They pointed out the strong possibility that the historical Picts of the Dark Ages used dogs in warfare. I thought that was pretty cool.

I never encountered the topic of ‘Pictish war-dogs’ again, and even that Osprey book was destroyed in the Flood of 2012. However, there is fairly strong evidence of the use of dogs in warfare by Celtic peoples going back to the days of the Roman Republic. This is covered in David Karunanithy’s Dogs of War. An article by him on Irish war-dogs can be found here.

So, last summer I was rereading “Worms of the Earth” for the fiftieth time, since I was supposed to discuss it as a member of a panel at Howard Days 2022. This passage leapt out at me:

“My people look to me [said Bran]; if I fail them—if I fail even one—even the lowest of my people, who will aid them? To whom shall they turn? By the gods, I’ll answer the gibes of these Roman dogs with black shaft and trenchant steel!”

“And the chief with the plumes?” Grom meant the governor [Titus Sulla] and his gutturals thrummed with the blood-lust. “He dies?” He flicked out a length of steel.

Bran scowled. “Easier said than done. [Titus Sulla] dies—but how may I reach him? By day his German guards keep at his back; by night they stand at door and window. He has many enemies, Romans as well as barbarians. Many a Briton would gladly slit his throat.”

Grom seized Bran’s garment, stammering as fierce eagerness broke the bonds of his inarticulate nature.

“Let me go, master! My life is worth nothing. I will cut him down in the midst of his warriors!”

Bran smiled fiercely and clapped his hand on the stunted giant’s shoulder with a force that would have felled a lesser man.

“Nay, old war-dog, I have too much need of thee! You shall not throw your life away uselessly.”

Of course, just because Bran called his henchman a “war-dog” doesn’t prove anything. For one thing, Robert E. Howard’s Picts are a race entirely separate from the Celts. They possess a different language, culture and physiognomy. In fact, the Picts and the ancestors of the Celts—according to REH—hold a blood-feud against each other stretching back to the days of Atlantis. The historical Picts that Wagner and Konstam referred to were only loosely connected to the Howardian Picts, at best.

Another possibility is that Bran is referencing the war-dogs of other cultures, not the Picts. Beside the probable use of war-dogs by the Insular Celts, the Roman army used mastiffs—descended from the famous Molossian breed—fairly extensively in combat. Whether Shakespeare was aware of that when he penned the line that heads this article, I know not.

There is also the negative evidence of REH’s “Kings of the Night”. In it, we have Picts, Gaels, Brythonic Celts and Romans all equipped for a stand-up battle. None use war-dogs.

When all is said and done, we can’t really know what Howard/BMM was referring to. Still, I’d like to think that Howard’s Picts unleashed their semi-feral canines upon invaders now and then.

As a final bit of DMR Blog added value, check out the scene from “Worms of the Earth” as illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith and Tim Conrad.