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Afagddu
Morfran ( Middle Welsh: ''Moruran'' "cormorant"; literally "sea crow", from ''môr'', "sea", and ''brân'', "crow", from Common Brittonic *''mori-brannos'', as in French ''cormoran'' < L ''corvus marinus'') is a figure in Welsh mythology. Usually portrayed as a warrior under , he is noted for the darkness of his skin and his hideousness. He appears in the narratives about the bard Taliesin and in the Welsh Triads, where he is often contrasted with the angelically handsome Sanddef. |
Ceridwen
Ceridwen or Cerridwen ( ''Ke-RID-wen'') was an enchantress in Welsh medieval legend. She was the mother of a hideous son, Afagddu, and a beautiful daughter, Creirwy. Her husband was Tegid Foel and they lived near Bala Lake () in north Wales. Medieval Welsh poetry refers to her as possessing the cauldron of poetic inspiration ( Awen) and the Tale of Taliesin recounts her swallowing her servant Gwion Bach who is then reborn through her as the poet Taliesin. Ceridwen is regarded by many modern pagans as the Celtic goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration. Etymology Marged Haycock catalogues various forms of the name in the early texts and in less detail in her edition of the Taliesin poems These mainly occur in manuscripts which have been dated to the 13th century, though they may, of course, be using earlier forms or 13th century adaptations of earlier forms. ''The Black Book of Carmarthen'' gives ‘Kyrridven’. ''Peniarth 3'' gives ‘Kyrrytuen’, ''The Book of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tegid Foel
Tegid Foel is the husband of Ceridwen in Welsh mythology. His name rendered into English would be "Tacitus the Bald". In folklore, Tegid Foel is associated with Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) in Gwynedd and may have been the tutelary deity of that lake. Tegid Foel is known chiefly from the story of Taliesin's birth, first recorded in full in the 16th century but dating to a much earlier period. According to the story, he lived by Llyn Tegid in the region of Penllyn with his wife, the sorceress Ceridwen. Together they had two children, a beautiful daughter named Creirwy and a son Morfran, called Afagddu ("utter darkness") because of his dark skin and hideous looks. Tegid's name is mentioned several times in Welsh literature in the patronymic of his more famous son Mofran; it appears in the ''Mabinogion'' tales '' Culhwch and Olwen'' and ''The Dream of Rhonabwy'', and in Welsh Triads 24 and 41. Apart from Creirwy and Morfran the Welsh genealogies also name other children of Tegid. The ''V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creirwy
Creirwy () is a figure in the ''Mabinogion'' and the '' Hanes Taliesin'' (the story of Taliesin's life), daughter of the enchantress Ceridwen and Tegid Foel ("Tacitus the Bald"). The Welsh Triads name her one of the three most beautiful maids of the Isle of Britain. Born in Penllyn in Powys, Wales, Creirwy (also known as ''Llywy'') has a dark, hideous brother named Morfran and a foster brother, Gwion Bach (who would become the bard Taliesin). She does not appear in the stories about Afagddu and Taliesin. Interpretation as a goddess Celtic researcher Edward Davies deemed Creirwy "the Proserpine of the British Druids"—also comparing her mother Ceridwen to Ceres of Roman myth.''The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids'' [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Welsh
Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg). Literature and history Middle Welsh is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the '' Mabinogion'', although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of most of the manuscripts of Welsh law. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. Phonology The phonology of Middle Welsh is quite similar to that of modern Welsh, with only a few differences. The letter ''u'', which today represents in North Western Welsh dialects and in South Welsh and North East Welsh dialects, represented the close central rounded vowel in Middle Welsh. The diphthong ''aw'' is found in unstressed final syllables in Middle Welsh, while in Modern Welsh it ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salmon Of Knowledge
The Salmon of Knowledge ( ga, An Bradán Feasa) is a creature in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology, sometimes identified with Fintan mac Bóchra, who was known as "The Wise" and was once transformed into a salmon. Fenian Cycle The Salmon story figures prominently in '' The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn'', which recounts the early adventures of Fionn mac Cumhaill. In the story, an ordinary salmon ate nine hazelnuts that fell into the Well of Wisdom (''an Tobar Segais'') from nine hazel trees that surrounded the well. By this act, the salmon gained all the world's knowledge. The first person to eat of its flesh would in turn gain this knowledge. The poet Finn Eces (or Finegas) spent seven years fishing for this salmon. Finally Finn caught the salmon and gave the fish to Fionn, his servant and son of Cumhaill, with instructions to cook it but on no account eat any of it. Fionn cooked the salmon, turning it over and over, but when he touched the fish with his thumb to see if it was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Englynion Y Beddau
The ''Englynion y Beddau'' ( en, The Stanzas or Verses of the Graves) is a Middle Welsh verse catalogue listing the resting places (''beddau'') of legendary heroes. It consists of a series of ''englynion'', or short stanzas in quantitative meter, and survives in a number of manuscripts. The collection is thought to be considerably older than its earliest manuscript, the 13th-century Black Book of Carmarthen, and provides an important early glimpse at medieval Welsh heroic tradition and topographical folklore. Transmission The stanzas, or more specifically, englynion, are transmitted in four classes of medieval Welsh manuscripts and later transcripts. The earliest, best known and most reliable version of the text is the collection of 73 englynion preserved in the Black Book of Carmarthen.Jones, "Black Book," p. 98. The first 69 stanzas were copied in the first quarter of the 13th century, while the last four were added at a later stage, probably in the same century. Five further en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr
Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr ("Cynddelw the Great Poet"; wlm, Kyndelw Brydyt or ; 1155–1200), was the court poet of Madog ap Maredudd, Owain Gwynedd (Owen the Great), and Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, and one of the most prominent Welsh poets of the 12th century. Cynddelw began his career as court poet to Madog ap Maredudd, Prince of Powys. At Madog's death in 1160, Cynddelw wrote the following elegy: While Madog lived there was no man Dared ravage his fair borders Yet nought of all he held Esteemed he his save by God's might… If my noble lord were alive Gwynedd would not now be encamped in the heart of Edeyrnion. Cynddelw composed poems for a number of the later rulers of Powys, now divided into two parts, such as Owain Cyfeiliog and Gwenwynwyn. He also composed poems addressed to the rulers of Gwynedd and Deheubarth, and notably poems addressed to Owain Gwynedd and to his son Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd and later to Rhys ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth and to the young Llywelyn t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rachel Bromwich
Rachel Bromwich (30 July 1915 – 15 December 2010) born Rachel Sheldon Amos, was a British scholar. Her focus was on medieval Welsh literature, and she taught Celtic Languages and Literature in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge, from 1945 to 1976. Among her most important contributions to the study of Welsh literature is ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein'', her edition of the Welsh Triads. Early life and education Bromwich was born Rachel Sheldon Amos in Hove, Sussex (some obituaries said Brighton), in 1915, and spent her early childhood in Egypt. Her father, Maurice Amos, was an English legal expert who served as international law adviser to the Egyptian government; her mother, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff Amos, was Scottish. The Amos family were Quakers. The family moved frequently before settling in Cumbria in 1925. In 1934 Rachel Amos attended Newnham College, Cambridge, where she studied the Anglo-Saxon language before shifting departments to focus on Middle We ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dream Of Rhonabwy
''The Dream of Rhonabwy'' ( cy, Breuddwyd Rhonabwy) is a Middle Welsh prose tale. Set during the reign of Madog ap Maredudd, prince of Powys (died 1160), its composition is typically dated to somewhere between the late 12th through the late 14th century. It survives in only one manuscript, the Red Book of Hergest, and has been associated with the '' Mabinogion'' since its publication by Lady Charlotte Guest in the 19th century. A diplomatic version of the text is published by the University of Wales Press as ''Breuddwyt Ronabwy'', edited by Grafton Melville Richards, first published in 1948. The bulk of the narrative describes a dream vision experienced by its central character, Rhonabwy, a retainer of Madog, in which he visits the time of King Arthur. The text seems to use the fictional trope of time travel. Narrative The frame story tells that Madog sends Rhonabwy and two companions to find the prince's rebellious brother Iorwerth. One night during the pursuit they seek shelt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Camlann
The Battle of Camlann ( cy, Gwaith Camlan or ''Brwydr Camlan'') is the legendary final battle of King Arthur, in which Arthur either died or was fatally wounded while fighting either with or against Mordred, who also perished. The original legend of Camlann, inspired by a purportedly historical event said to have taken place in the early 6th-century Britain, appears only in vague mentions found in several medieval Welsh texts dating since around the 10th century. The battle's much more detailed depictions have emerged since the 12th century, generally based on that of a catastrophic conflict described in the pseudo-chronicle ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. The further greatly embellished variants originate from the later French chivalric romance tradition, in which it became known as the Battle of Salisbury, and include the 15th-century telling in '' Le Morte d'Arthur'' that remains popular today. Etymology The name may derive from a Brittonic ''*Cambo-landa'' ("crooked/twist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culhwch And Olwen
''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, c. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales. Overview Dating The prevailing view among scholars was that the present version of the text was composed by the 11th century, making it perhaps the earliest Arthurian tale and one of Wales' earliest extant prose texts,The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation, ed. James J. Wilhelm. 1994. 25. but a 2005 reassessment by linguist Simon Rodway dates it to the latter half of the 12th century. The title is a later invention and does not occur in early manuscripts. Editions Lady Charlotte Guest included this tale among those she collected under the title ''The Mabinogion''. Synopsis Culhwch's father, King Cilydd son of Celydd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceredig Ap Gwallawg
Ceretic of Elmet (or Ceredig ap Gwallog) was the last king of Elmet, a Britonnic kingdom that existed in the West Yorkshire area of Northern England in sub-Roman Britain. Bede records that Hilda of Whitby (born 614), a member of the Deiran royal family, was taken to the court of King Ceretic, after fleeing from the Northumbrian usurper, Æthelfrith of Bernicia. Bede describes Ceretic as "King of the Britons", perhaps meaning just the Britons of that area. When Edwin of Deira returned to power in 617, Ceretic was expelled, supposedly due to complicity in the poisoning of Hilda's father, and his kingdom was annexed to the Kingdom of Northumbria. He is probably the Ceretic whose death is recorded in the '' Annales Cambriae'' in 616 (which should be corrected to 617 or soon afterwards).J. Morris (ed.), ''Nennius, British History, and the Welsh Annals'' (Phillimore, 1980), p. 86: ''616 an: Ceretic obiit.'' He is generally thought to be identical to Ceredig ap Gwallog, a ' Man o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
