Edern ap Nudd (; Old or ') was a

knight of the Round Table The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...

in Arthur's court in early Arthurian tradition. As the son of Nudd (the ''Nu'', ''Nut'' or ''Nuc'' of Old French,

Arthurian romance The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

), he is the brother of

Gwyn Gwyn or Gwynn may refer to: People * Gwyn (name), includes a list of people with the given name or surname Gwyn, including variants such as Gwynn and Gwynne Fictional or mythological characters * Gwyn ap Nudd, in Welsh mythology * Gwynn (Sluggy F ...

, Creiddylad, and Owain ap Nudd. In French romances, he is sometimes made the king of a separate realm. As St Edern, he has two churches dedicated to him in Wales.

Etymology

The Welsh name Edern comes from a Brittonic borrowing of Latin ''Aeternus'', meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal".

Appearances

In ''

Culhwch ac Olwen Culhwch (, with the final consonant sounding like Scottish "loch"), in Welsh mythology, is the son of Cilydd, Cilydd son of Celyddon and Goleuddydd, a cousin of King Arthur, Arthur and the protagonist of the story ''Culhwch and Olwen'' (the earli ...

'', Edern is named as one of Arthur's knights in a list of his retinue, but plays no part in the narrative. Edern also appears in '' The Dream of Rhonabwy'' (a late medieval Welsh Arthurian romance) in which he commands a "pure black troop" of Danish soldiers allied to Arthur against the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

. He is named one of Arthur's foremost counsellors during the battle.

''Geraint son of Erbin''

Edern plays a more important role in ''Geraint son of Erbin'' (a Welsh adaptation of

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...

' romance ''

Erec et Enide ''Erec and Enide'' () is the first of Chrétien de Troyes' five Romance (heroic literature), romance poems, completed around 1170. It is one of three completed works by the author. ''Erec and Enide'' tells the story of the marriage of the titula ...

''), in which he and two companions, a beautiful lady and a whip-brandishing dwarf, come across Gwenhwyfar, one of her handmaidens and the knight

Geraint ab Erbin Geraint ( ) is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a valiant warrior possibly related to the historical Geraint, an early 8th-century king of Dumnonia. It is also the name of a 6th-century Dumnonian saint king from Briton h ...

in a forest. The handmaiden is sent to discover Edern's identity, but is rebuked and struck by the dwarf. Geraint also goes and suffers the same fate, but chooses to spare the dwarf's life and retreats. Seeking his adversary, Geraint heads to a "walled town", where a great tournament is annually held. Edern, champion of the tournament for two years running, challenges Geraint to

joust Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...

. Initially, Edern has the upper hand but by the end of the duel, he suffers vicious wounds at Geraint's hand and begs for mercy. Geraint allows Edern to keep his life on the condition that he rides to Arthur's court to make amends for his insult. Edern accepts the condition, and reveals his name to his rival. Edern later rides to Arthur's court where his apology is accepted by Gwenhwyfar. Heavily injured, he is treated by

Morgan Tud Morgan le Fay (; Welsh and Cornish: Morgen; with ''le Fay'' being garbled French ''la Fée'', thus meaning 'Morgan the Fairy'), alternatively known as Morgan ''n''a, Morgain ''a/e Morgant ''e Morg ''a''ne, Morgayn ''e Morgein ''e and Morgu ...

, the chief physician of the court. Upon his recovery, he is chosen to accompany Geraint to the kingdom of Geraint's father, Erbin.

Appearances as Yder

Outside Welsh-language writing, Edern is first seen in

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

Historia Regum Britanniae (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a fictitious account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings o ...

as ''Hiderus filius Nu'', a knight of King Arthur's who fought in his Gallic campaign. The poet

Wace Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his car ...

, in his adaptation of the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' called the ''

Roman de Brut The ''Brut'' or ''Roman de Brut'' (completed 1155) by the poet Wace is a loose and expanded translation in almost 15,000 lines of Norman-French verse of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin '' History of the Kings of Britain''. It was formerly known ...

'', renders the name as ''Yder fils Nu(t)''. The Prose ''Merlin'' has Edern as Ydiers, king of Cornwall, who is one of seven British kings who fight Arthur, before joining forces with him during the Saxon invasion. There is also an Anglo-Norman '' Romanz du reis Yder''. However, Yder's "fame was too small to inspire later writers or visual artists. The only time he may have been immortalised is on the famous archivolt (1120–40) at

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, which shows a knight called Isdernus in a scene with King Arthur (Artus de Bretania), the captive queen Guinloie or Guenevere (Winlogee) and possibly Durmart (Burmaltus)."Willem P. Gerritsen and Anthony G. van Melle, ''A Dictionary of Medieval Heroes'', trans. by Tanis Guest (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1998), p. 302.

Saint

Edern is the patron saint of two churches in Wales: St Edern's Church, Bodedern, in Anglesey, and the church in the village of

Edern, Gwynedd Edern, formerly known as ''Edeyrn'', is a village and until 1939 a civil parish, in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It is about 1 km southwest of the larger village of Morfa Nefyn, near Caernarfon Bay on the north coast of the Llŷn Peninsu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:EDERN, AP NUDD Arthurian characters Welsh mythology