Peredur (,

Old Welsh Old Welsh () is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic around 550, ha ...

''Peretur'') is the name of a number of men from the boundaries of history and legend in

sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain, also called post-Roman Britain or Dark Age Britain, is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the founding of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The term was originally used to describe archae ...

. The Peredur who is most familiar to a modern audience is the character who made his entrance as a knight in the

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

ian world of

Middle Welsh Middle Welsh (, ) 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 (). Literature and history Middle Welsh is ...

prose literature.

Gwrgi and Peredur, sons of Eliffer

Gwrgi and Peredur are listed as sons of Eliffer (Old Welsh: ''Elidir'' or ''Eleuther'') "of the great warband" (''cascord maur'') and as sons of the Coeling dynasty in the

Harleian genealogies __NOTOC__ The Harleian genealogies are a collection of Old Welsh genealogies preserved in British Library, Harley MS 3859. Part of the Harleian Library, the manuscript, which also contains the '' Annales Cambriae'' (Recension A) and a version of ...

, making them first cousins of

Urien Urien ap Cynfarch Oer () or Urien Rheged (, Old Welsh: or , ) was a powerful sixth-century 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 o ...

.Koch, "Peredur fab Efrawg", pp. 1437–8. Likewise, a pedigree from Jesus College MS 20 includes Gwrgi and Peredur as brothers together with one Arthur ''penuchel''. Their principal claim to fame rests on their having fought in the Battle of Arfderydd. The ''

Annales Cambriae The (Latin for ''Annals of Wales'') is the title given to a complex of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales. The earliest is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th-century original; later ...

'' report that this battle (''bellum Armterid'') was fought in 573, but gives no further detail.Koch, "Arfderydd", pp. 82–3. A later expansion of the entry names Gwrgi and Peredur, both described as sons of Eliffer, as the chieftains on the victorious side and tells that

Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio (died c. 573) or Gwenddolau was a Brythonic king who ruled in Arfderydd (now Arthuret). This is in what is now south-west Scotland and north-west England in the area around Hadrian's Wall and Carlisle during the sub-Roman ...

was defeated and slain in the battle. Under the year 580, the ''Annales Cambriae'' record the deaths of Gwrgi (''Guurci'') and his brother Peredur (''Peretur''). These references give them a place as heroes in the

Hen Ogledd Hen Ogledd (), meaning the Old North, is the historical region that was inhabited by the Celtic Britons, Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands, alongside the fello ...

of the late 6th century. Further detail is supplied in later legendary traditions, notably those represented by the

Welsh Triads The Welsh Triads (, "Triads of the Island of Britain") are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a rhetorical form whereby o ...

(''Trioedd Ynys Prydein''). One listing the three "Horse-Burdens" of Britain relates that Gwrgi, Peredur, Dynod Bwr and Cynfelyn Drwsgl were carried by a horse called Corvan, which enabled them to watch the clouds of dust ("battle-fog") coming from Gwenddoleu and his (mounted) forces in the battle of Arfderydd. The circumstances in which Gwrgi and Peredur died are alluded to in a Triad which explains that they had one of "Three Faithless Warbands of the Island of Britain". Their warband abandoned them at Caer Greu on the day before a battle with Eda ''Glinmaur'' ("Great-Knee") and so they were slain. The Welsh Triads also refer to family relations. One on the "Three Fair Womb-Burdens" of Britain, preserved incompletely in Peniarth MS 47, suggests that Peredur and Gwrgi had a sister called Arddun, while a variant version in Peniarth MS 50 calls the third sibling Ceindrech Pen Asgell ("Wing-head") and names the mother Efrddyl verch Gynfarch. Peredur is said to have had a son by the name of Gwgon Gwron, called one of the three "Prostrate Chieftains" (''Lledyf Vnben'') because "they would not seek a dominion, which nobody could deny to them". Still further allusions are found in early Welsh poetry. The poem ''Ymddiddan Myrddin a Thaliesin'', which assumes the form of a dialogue between

Myrddin Wyllt Myrddin Wyllt (—"Myrddin the Wild", , ) is a figure in medieval Welsh legend. In Middle Welsh poetry he is accounted a chief bard, the speaker of several poems in The Black Book of Carmarthen and The Red Book of Hergest. He is called ''Wyl ...

(the prototype of

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

) and the poet

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 ...

, deals out praise to the brave "sons of Eliffer", saying that they did not avoid spears in the heat of battle. The apparent context is the battle of Arfderydd, where Myrddin fought as one of Gwenddoleu's warriors, went mad from terror and in this way, acquired the gift of prophecy (see also ''Vita Merlini'' below). For some unknown reason, however, the poem extends the number of sons to seven. A warrior called Peredur is also listed in one of the younger sections of ''

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 ...

'' (''awdl'' A.31), which shows him as one of the heroes to have died fighting in battle as a member of the warband of Mynyddog Mwynfawr, chieftain of the

Gododdin The Gododdin () were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britannia, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North (modern south-east Scotland and north-east England), in the sub-Roman period. Descendants of the Votadini, they are best known ...

in "the Old North". It has been argued that Peredur's appearance here may have been due to a tendency in the growth of the poem to draw personages known from such sources as the ''Annales Cambriae'' into the orbit of its subject matter, assuming he is the same Peredur.

Geoffrey of Monmouth's Peredurus

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 ...

, the author of the ''

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 ...

'', mentions a Peredur in his ''

Vita Merlini , or ''The Life of Merlin'', is a Latin poem in 1,529 hexameter lines written around the year 1150. Though doubts have in the past been raised about its authorship it is now widely believed to be by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It tells the story of Me ...

'' (''The Life of Merlin''), an account of

drawing heavily on narrative traditions about Myrddin Wyllt. In an early episode based clearly on the story of the Battle of Arfderydd, Peredur (''Peredurus'') is joined by his allies Merlin, king of the South Welsh, and Rhydderch Hael, king of the

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

ns, when he engages Gwenddoleu (''Guennolus''), king of Scotland, in a battle at an unnamed site. Merlin loses three brothers and driven mad from grief, takes refuge in the woods. Peredur is here presented as prince of the North Welsh (''dux Venedotorum'') rather than a ruler in the British North. In his earlier and more famous work, ''Historia regum Britanniae'', Geoffrey of Monmouth also used the name '' Peredurus'' for a legendary ruler of Britain who was the fifth and youngest son born to the legendary Morvidus, king of the Britons. He is said to have conspired with his brother Ingenius to capture and oust their brother Elidurus, locking him up in

Trinovantum Trinovantum is the name in medieval British legend that was given to London, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'', when it was founded by the exiled Troy, Trojan Brutus of Troy, Brutus, who called it ''Troia Nova'' ("N ...

. When the brothers divided the kingdom between them, Peredur became ruler over the part north of the Humber, including '

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...

ny' (Scotland), and following Elidurus' death, succeeded to the entire kingdom. In the same work, Geoffrey also includes one Peredur map Peridur among the leading magnates of the realm who attended King Arthur's plenary Court in the City of the Legion.

Peredur son of Efrawg (Middle Welsh Arthurian romance)

A Peredur is also the hero of the Welsh romance ''Peredur son of Efrawg'', where he claims the role performed by the Arthurian knight Percival in the works 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'' ...

and other non-Welsh sources.

Other

In the ''

Englynion y Beddau The ''Englynion y Beddau'' () 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 ...

'', another Peredur, called Peredur of Penweddig (a

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a Wales in the Early Middle Ages, medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divid ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...

), occurs as the father of the legendary hero Môr. In the syndicated U.S. comic strip ''

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full s ...

'', Sir Peredur The Rover is a notorious mercenary knight who is hired to fight Gawain in a contest of champions in a March 2021 story line. Peredur appears as a mythic archetype in Robert Holdstock's novel '' Mythago Wood''.

References

Primary sources

*''

'' (Recension A), ed. . *

, ed. . *

, ed. and tr.

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 ...

(1978, revised ed. 1991). ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1978. *'' Ymddiddan Myrddin a Thaliesin'', ed. A.O.H. Jarman and E.D. Jones, ''Llyfr du Caerfyrddin''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1982. *Geoffrey of Monmouth, ''Vita Merlini'', ed. and tr. Basil Clarke, ''The Life of Merlin''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1973. Translation reproduced online a
Celtic Literature Collective
*Geoffrey of Monmouth, ''Historia regum Britanniae'', ed. Acton Griscom and J.R. Ellis, ''The Historia regum Britanniæ of Geoffrey of Monmouth with contributions to the study of its place in early British history''. London, 1929; tr. Lewis Thorpe, ''Geoffrey of Monmouth. The History of the Kings of Britain''. London, 1966. *'' Peredur son of Efrawg'', ed. Glenys W. Goetinck, ''Historia Peredur vab Efrawc''. University of Wales, 1976. *''

'', ed. and tr. Thomas Jones, "The Black Book of Carmarthen 'Stanzas of the Graves'." ''

Proceedings of the British Academy The ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' is a series of academic volumes on subjects in the humanities and social sciences. The first volume was published in 1905. Up to 1991, the volumes (appearing annually from 1927) mostly consisted of the te ...

'' 53 (1967). pp. 97–137
External link

Secondary sources

* * * * *