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Taliesin
Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Britons (Celtic people), Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the ''Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three kings. Taliesin means "shining brow" in Welsh. In 1960, Ifor Williams identified eleven of the medieval poems ascribed to Taliesin as possibly originating as early as the sixth century, and so possibly being composed by a historical Taliesin. The bulk of this work praises King Urien Rheged, Urien of Rheged and his son Owain mab Urien, although several of the poems indicate that Taliesin also served as court bard to King Brochfael Ysgithrog of kingdom of Powys, Powys and his successor Cynan Garwyn, either before or during his time at Urien's court. Some of the events to which the poems refer, such as the Battle of Arfderydd (), are referred to in other sources. John T. Koch argues that the descri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Taliesin
The Book of Taliesin () is one of the most famous of Middle Welsh manuscripts, dating from the first half of the 14th century though many of the fifty-six poems it preserves are taken to originate in the 10th century or before. The volume contains some of the oldest poems in Welsh, possibly but not certainly dating back to the sixth century and to a real poet called Taliesin. Date and provenance of the manuscript The manuscript, known as Peniarth MS 2 and kept at the National Library of Wales, is incomplete, having lost a number of its original leaves including the first. It was named ''Llyfr Taliessin'' in the seventeenth century by Edward Lhuyd and hence is known in English as "The Book of Taliesin". The palaeographer John Gwenogvryn Evans dated the ''Book of Taliesin'' to around 1275, but Daniel Huws dated it to the first quarter of the fourteenth century, and the fourteenth-century dating is generally accepted. The Book of Taliesin was one of the collection of manusc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urien Rheged
Urien ap Cynfarch Oer () or Urien Rheged (, Old Welsh: or , ) was a powerful sixth-century Common Brittonic, Brittonic-speaking figure who was possibly the ruler of the territory or kingdom known as Rheged. He is one of the best-known and best documented of the Ancient Britons, British figures of the 'Yr Hen Ogledd, Old North'. His kingdom was most likely centred around the Solway Firth. According to the ''Historia Brittonum'' (), Urien gained the decisive advantage in a conflict against the Anglo-Saxons in northern Britain led an alliance with three other kings: Rhydderch Hen, Gwallog ap Llênog, and Morcant Bulc, Morgan. The alliance led by Urien penned the Anglo-Saxons in at Lindisfarne, though this siege came to an abrupt end when Urien was murdered on the orders of his erstwhile ally Morgan. The most secure evidence for his existence comes the ''Historia Brittonum'' and eight Panegyric, praise-poems in Middle Welsh dedicated to him surviving in a Book of Taliesin, four ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Misfortunes Of Elphin
''The Misfortunes of Elphin'' is an 1829 short historical romance by Thomas Love Peacock, set in 6th century Wales, which recounts the adventures of the bard Taliesin, the princes Elphin ap Gwythno and Seithenyn ap Seithyn, and King Arthur. Peacock researched his story from early Welsh materials, many of them untranslated at the time; he included many loose translations from bardic poetry, as well as original poems such as "The War-Song of Dinas Vawr". He also worked into it much satire of the Tory attitudes of his own time. ''Elphin'' has been highly praised for its sustained comic irony, and by some critics is considered the finest Arthurian literary work of the Romantic period. Synopsis At the start of the 6th century Caredigion is ruled by king Gwythno Garanhir, and his subordinate Prince Seithenyn ap Seithyn is in charge of the embankments that protect the plain of Gwaelod in Caredigion from the sea. One of Seithenyn's officials, Teithrin ap Tathral, discover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elffin Ap Gwyddno
:''The variant spelling 'Elphin' may refer to Saint Elphin, the town of Elphin, County Roscommon, Ireland or the Diocese of Elphin, cathedral in Sligo Town, Co. Sligo, Ireland. Elphin is also a village in Sutherland, Scotland.'' In Welsh mythology, Elffin ap Gwyddno ( Welsh, also Elphin) was a son of Gwyddno Garanhir, 'Lord of Ceredigion'. The earliest example of the name occurs in several of the mythological poems attributed to Taliesin in the ''Book of Taliesin''. The date of their composition is uncertain but probably predates the Norman conquest. Several late medieval compositions refer to Elffin and Taliesin in more detail. Hanes Taliesin The legend of Elffin's association with Taliesin is given at its fullest in the late medieval prose text ''Ystorya Taliesin'', the earliest redaction of the tale known as Hanes Taliesin. In that tale Elffin was extremely unlucky. Gwyddno sent him to a salmon weir and had him fish. Instead of catching salmon, Elffin found a baby boy and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maelgwn Gwynedd
Maelgwn Gwynedd (; died c. 547)Based on Phillimore's (1888) reconstruction of the dating of the '' Annales Cambriae'' (A Text). was King of Gwynedd during the early 6th century. Surviving records suggest he held a pre-eminent position among the Brythonic kings in Wales and their allies in the " Old North" along the Scottish coast. Maelgwn was a generous supporter of Christianity, funding the foundation of churches throughout Wales and even far beyond the bounds of his own kingdom. Nonetheless, his principal legacy today is the scathing account of his behavior recorded in ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'' by Gildas, who considered Maelgwn a usurper and reprobate. The son of Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion and great-grandson of Cunedda, Maelgwn was buried on '' Ynys Seiriol'' (now known as Puffin Island in English), off the eastern tip of Anglesey, having died of the " yellow plague"; quite probably the arrival of Plague of Justinian in Britain. Name ''Maelgwn'' (IPA: / ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gwyddno Garanhir
Gwyddno Garanhir was the supposed ruler of a sunken land off the coast of Wales, known as Cantre'r Gwaelod. He was the father of Elffin ap Gwyddno, the foster-father of the famous Welsh poet Taliesin in the legendary account given in the late medieval ''Chwedl Taliesin'' (''Ystoria Taliesin''/''Hanes Taliesin''; "The Tale of Taliesin"). Legend The basket of Gwyddno Garanhir is one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain. According to tradition, Gwyddno was the lord of ''Cantre'r Gwaelod'' () in what is now Cardigan Bay. His chief fortress was said to have been ''Caer Wyddno'' (), located somewhere to the north-west of modern-day Aberystwyth. The whole kingdom was protected from the sea by floodgates, which had to be shut before high tide. One day the keeper of the floodgates, Seithenyn, was drunk and failed to close them, with the result that the sea rushed in and covered the land. Kingdom Stories of the drowned lands of Gwyddno appear to have arisen from the identif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elis Gruffydd
Elis Gruffydd (1490–1552), sometimes known as "The soldier of Calais", was a Welsh chronicler, transcriber, and translator. He is known foremost for his massive chronicle ''Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd'' (''Chronicle of the Six Ages''), which covers the history of the world from the beginning of Adam and Eve up to the year 1552 and contains the earliest text of the ''Tale of Taliesin''."Elis Gruffudd's Chronicle". llgc.org.uk (8 December 2010). Retrieved on 5 November 2011. He is also well known for his eyewitness account of England's 1543 war with France in his journal transcribed in ''Elis Gruffydd and the 1544 'Enterprise' of Paris and Boulogue''. His presence on the battlefield has given insight into the development of protests against the campaign. Thomas Jones says "despite his long years of service in France and London, ruffyddwas deeply interested in the oral traditions and written literature of his native land. He quotes Welsh englynion and proverbs, records a few folk-tale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talhaearn Tad Awen
Talhaearn Tad Awen (''fl'' mid-6th century), was, according to medieval Welsh sources, a celebrated British poet of the sub-Roman period. He ranks as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, named poets to have composed and performed in Welsh. The better known poets Aneirin and Taliesin, who may have been slightly younger contemporaries, also belong to this early generation, the first of those known to modern scholars as the '' Cynfeirdd'' ("first poets"). Whereas medieval Welsh manuscripts preserve verse composed by or otherwise ascribed to the latter two figures, no such work survives for Talhaearn and in fact, his former fame seems to have largely vanished by the later Middle Ages. ''Historia Brittonum'' An interpolated passage in the ''Historia Brittonum'' (9th century) describes him as a famous poet, along with Aneirin, Taliesin and two lesser known figures, Blwchfardd and Cian: :''Tunc Talhaern Tat Aguen in poemate claruit, et Neirin, et Taliessin, et Bluchbard, et Cian q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Y Gododdin
''Y Gododdin'' () is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Brittonic kingdom of Gododdin and its allies who, according to the conventional interpretation, died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a place named '' Catraeth'' in about AD 600. It is traditionally ascribed to the bard Aneirin and survives only in one manuscript, the " Book of Aneirin". The Book of Aneirin manuscript is from the later 13th century, but ''Y Gododdin'' has been dated to between the 7th and the early 11th centuries. The text is partly written in Middle Welsh orthography and partly in Old Welsh. The early date would place its oral composition soon after the battle, presumably in the ''Hen Ogledd'' ("Old North"); as such it would have originated in the Cumbric dialect of Common Brittonic.Elliott (2005), p. 583. Others consider it the work of a poet from Wales in the 9th, 10th, or 11th century. Even a 9th-century date would make it one of the oldest surv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynan Garwyn
Cynan Garwyn was king of Powys in the north-east and east of Wales, who flourished in the second half of the 6th century. Little reliable information exists which can be used to reconstruct the background and career of the historical figure. Available materials include early Welsh poetry, genealogies and hagiography, which are often late and of uncertain value. Putative biography He is thought to have been a son of his predecessor Brochwel Ysgithrog and the father of Selyf Sarffgadau, who may have succeeded him. Later Welsh genealogies trace his lineage to Cadell Ddyrnllug. His epithet Garwyn, possibly Carwyn, has been explained as meaning either "of the White Thigh" or "of the White Chariot". Cynan may be the same person as Aurelius Caninus, one of the Welsh tyrants who are fiercely criticised by the mid-6th-century cleric Gildas in his ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'', but there is also a possibility that the latter refers to Cynin ap Millo, a relative of Cynan's. Cyn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rheged
Rheged () was one of the kingdoms of the ('Old North'), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and bardic sources, although its borders are not described in any of them. Archaeological work from 2012 onwards on a site in Galloway in Scotland is interpreted by the excavators as showing that it is a royal centre of Rheged. Rheged possibly extended into Lancashire and other parts of northern England. In some sources, Rheged is intimately associated with the king Urien Rheged and his family. Its inhabitants spoke Cumbric, a Brittonic dialect closely related to Old Welsh. Etymology The origin of the name ''Rheged'' has been described as "problematic". One Brittonic-language solution is that the name may be a compound of ''rö-'', a prefix meaning "great", and ''cę:d'' meaning "wood, forest" (cf. Welsh ''coed'') although the expected form in Welsh wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Literature Of Wales (Welsh Language)
Welsh-language literature () has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. The earliest Welsh literature was poetry, which was extremely intricate in form from its earliest known examples, a tradition sustained today. Poetry was followed by the first British prose literature in the 11th century (such as that contained in the Mabinogion). Welsh-language literature has repeatedly played a major part in the self-assertion of Wales and its people. It continues to be held in the highest regard, as evidenced by the size and enthusiasm of the audiences attending the annual National Eisteddfod of Wales (''Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru''), probably the largest amateur arts festival in Europe, which crowns the literary prize winners in a dignified ceremony. Middle Ages The mediaeval period had three chronological stages of poetry: The earliest poets (Cynfeirdd), Poets of the Princes, and the Poets of Nobi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
