''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with
Arthur
Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more w ...
and his warriors: a complete version in the
Red Book of Hergest
The ''Red Book of Hergest'' ( cy, Llyfr Coch Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111) is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preserv ...
, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the
White Book of Rhydderch
The White Book of Rhydderch (Welsh: ''Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch'', National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 4-5) is one of the most notable and celebrated surviving manuscripts in Welsh. Mostly written in southwest Wales in the middle of the 14th century ...
, 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
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
' 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
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie; 19 May 1812 – 15 January 1895), later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English aristocrat who is best known as the first publisher in modern print format of the '' Mabinogion'', the earliest prose l ...
included this tale among those she collected under the title ''The
Mabinogion
The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...
''.
Synopsis
Culhwch
Culhwch (, with the final consonant sounding like Scottish "loch"), in Welsh mythology, is the son of Cilydd son of Celyddon and Goleuddydd, a cousin of Arthur and the protagonist of the story '' Culhwch and Olwen'' (the earliest of the medie ...
's father,
King Cilydd son of Celyddon, loses his wife
Goleuddydd after a difficult childbirth. When he remarries, the young Culhwch rejects his stepmother's attempt to pair him with his new stepsister. Offended, the new queen puts a curse on him so that he can marry no one besides the beautiful
Olwen
In Welsh mythology, Olwen (or Olwyn) is the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden and cousin of Goreu. She is the heroine of the story ''Culhwch and Olwen'' in the Mabinogion. Her father is fated to die if she ever marries, so when Culhwch (sometimes ...
, daughter of the
giant
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...
Ysbaddaden Pencawr. Though he has never seen her, Culhwch becomes infatuated with her, but his father warns him that he will never find her without the aid of his famous cousin
Arthur
Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more w ...
. The young man immediately sets off to seek his kinsman. He finds him at his court in
Celliwig Celliwig, Kelliwic or Gelliwic is perhaps the earliest named location for the court of King Arthur. It may be translated as 'forest grove'.
Literary references
It is mentioned in the Welsh tale '' Culhwch and Olwen'' whose manuscript dates from the ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...
.

Arthur agrees to lend help in whatever capacity Culhwch asks, save the lending of his sword
Caledfwlch and other named armaments, or his wife. He sends not only six of his finest warriors (
Cai,
Bedwyr,
Gwalchmei,
Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd,
Menw son of Tairgwaedd, Cynddylig Gyfarwydd), but a huge list of personages of various skills (including
Gwynn ap Nudd) recruited to join Culhwch in his search for Olwen. The group meets some relatives of Culhwch's that know Olwen and agree to arrange a meeting. Olwen is receptive to Culhwch's attraction, but she cannot marry him unless her father Ysbaddaden "Chief Giant" agrees, and he, unable to survive past his daughter's wedding, will not consent until Culhwch completes a series of about forty impossible-sounding tasks, including the obtaining of the basket/hamper of
Gwyddneu Garanhir, the hunt of
Ysgithyrwyn chief boar. The completion of only a few of these tasks is recorded and the giant is killed, leaving Olwen free to marry her lover.
Critical studies
The story is on one level a
folktale, belonging to the bridal quest "the giant's daughter" tale type
[ (more formally categorized as Six Go through the Whole World type, AT 513A). The accompanying motifs (the strange birth, the jealous stepmother, the hero falling in love with a stranger after hearing only her name, helpful animals, impossible tasks) reinforce this typing.][
;Frame story and lists
However, this bridal quest serves merely as a ]frame story
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
* Framing ( ...
for the rest of the events that form the in-story, where the title characters go largely unmentioned. The in-story is taken up by two long lists and the adventures of King Arthur and his men. One list is a roster of names, some two hundred of the greatest men, women, dogs, horses and swords in Arthur's kingdom recruited to aid Arthur's kinsman Culhwch in his bridal quest. The other is a list of "difficult tasks" or "marvels" (''pl.'' cy, anoethau, anoetheu), set upon Culhwch as requirements for his marriage to be approved by the bride's father Ysbaddaden. Included in the list are names taken from Irish legend, hagiography, and sometimes actual history.
;Boar-hunt theme
The fight against the terrible boar Twrch Trwyth
Twrch Trwyth (; also Trwyd, Troynt (MSS.''HK''); Troit (MSS.''C1 D G Q''); or Terit (MSS. ''C2 L'')) is an enchanted wild boar in the ''Matter of Britain'' great story cycle that King Arthur or his men pursued with the aid of Arthur's dog Cavall ...
certainly has antecedents in Celtic tradition, namely Arthur's boar-hunt with his hound Cafall Cavall (Middle cy, cauall RBH & WBR; modernized: ''Cafall''; ; '' la, Cabal'', var. ''Caball'' (ms.K)) was King Arthur's dog, used in the hunt for the great boar, Twrch Trwyth ( la, Troynt, Troit).
Cavall was Arthur's "favourite dog", and during ...
, whose footprint is discussed in the ''Mirabilia'' appended to the ''Historia Brittonum
''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British ( Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia B ...
''.
;Geographical content
The description of Culhwch riding on his horse is frequently mentioned for its vividness, and features of the Welsh landscape are narrated in ways that are reminiscent of Irish onomastic narratives.[ As for the passage where Culhwch is received by his uncle, King Arthur, at Celliwig, this is one of the earliest instances in literature or oral tradition of Arthur's court being assigned a specific location and a valuable source of comparison with the court of ]Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...
or Caerleon
Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Rom ...
as depicted in later Welsh, English, and continental Arthurian legends.
Cultural influence
Culhwch's horse-ride passage is reused in the 16th-century prose "parody" ''Araith Wgon'', as well as in 17th-century poetic adaptations of that work.
The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey
Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...
has pointed out the similarities between ''The Tale of Beren and Lúthien
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', one of the main cycles of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''legendarium
Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's Mythopoeia, mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher Tolkien, Christopher summarized in hi ...
'', and ''Culhwch and Olwen''.[Tom Shippey, ''The Road to Middle Earth'', pp. 193–194: "The hunting of the great wolf recalls the chase of the boar ]Twrch Trwyth
Twrch Trwyth (; also Trwyd, Troynt (MSS.''HK''); Troit (MSS.''C1 D G Q''); or Terit (MSS. ''C2 L'')) is an enchanted wild boar in the ''Matter of Britain'' great story cycle that King Arthur or his men pursued with the aid of Arthur's dog Cavall ...
in the Welsh ''Mabinogion'', while the motif of 'the hand in the wolf's mouth' is one of the most famous parts of the ''Prose Edda'', told of Fenris Wolf and the god Tyr; Huan recalls several faithful hounds of legend, Garm, Gelert, Cafall."
Adaptations
* The British painter/poet David Jones (1895–1974) wrote a poem called "The Hunt" based on the tale of ''Culwhch ac Olwen''. A fragment of a larger work, "The Hunt" takes place during the pursuit of the boar Twrch Trwyth by Arthur and the various war-bands of Celtic Britain and France.
* In 1988 Gwyn Thomas released a retelling of the story, ''Culhwch ac Olwen'', which was illustrated by Margaret Jones. ''Culhwch ac Olwen'' won the annual Tir na n-Og Award for Welsh language nonfiction in 1989.
* A shadow play
Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated cut-out figures (shadow puppets) which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim. The cut-o ...
adaptation of ''Culhwch and Olwen'' toured schools in Ceredigion
Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. C ...
during 2003. The show was created by Jim Williams and was supported by Theatr Felinfach.
* The tale of ''Culhwch and Olwen'' was adapted by Derek Webb in Welsh and English as a dramatic recreation for the reopening of Narberth Castle in Pembrokeshire in 2005.
* The Ballad of Sir Dinadan, the fifth book of Gerold Morris's The Squire's Tales series, features an adaptation of Culhwch's quest.
Explanatory notes
References
Sources
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External links
''Culhwch ac Olwen'' e-text
Article on ''Culhwch and Olwen'' on Celtic website Transceltic.com
bbc.co.uk – Wales – History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culhwch And Olwen
11th-century books
12th-century books
Arthurian literature in Welsh
Mabinogion
Medieval Welsh literature
Welsh mythology
Welsh-language literature
Taliesin
Pigs in literature