Llefelys (

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 ...

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

''Llevelys'', ''Lleuelys'', ''Llefelis'') is a character in

Welsh mythology Welsh mythology (also commonly known as ''Y Chwedlau'', meaning "The Legends") consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of t ...

appearing in the medieval Welsh tale '' Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys''. In the tale, Llefelys is king of

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

while his brother

Lludd Lludd Llaw Ereint ("Lludd of the Silver Hand") son of Beli Mawr, is a legendary hero from Welsh mythology. As Nudd Llaw Ereint (the earlier form of his name, cognate of the Irish mythology, Irish Nuada Airgetlám, derived from the pre-Roman Celti ...

is king of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. The tale appears in the

Red Book of Hergest Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secon ...

and 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 language, Welsh. Mostly written in southwest Wales in the middle of ...

, the source texts for the ''

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () is a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created –1410, as well as a few earlier frag ...

'', and embedded into various versions of the ''

Brut y Brenhinedd ''Brut y Brenhinedd'' ("Chronicle of the Kings") is a collection of variant Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. About 60 versions survive, with the earliest dating to the mid-13th century. Adapt ...

'', the Welsh adaptation of

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 ...

's ''

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 ...

''.

Etymology

The name Llefelys seems to have been derived from Cligueillus (also spelled Digueillus and Eligueillus in various manuscripts), a character found in

's famous pseudo-history ''

'', which was early on translated into Welsh as the ''

''. Geoffrey makes Cligueillus/Digueillus/Eligueillus the father of Heli and grandfather of Lud, (the prototype of Lludd), Cassibellaunus, and

Nennius Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...

. In the Welsh ''Brut y Brenhinedd'', Geoffrey's Heli son of Cligueillus becomes Beli son Manogan, a figure already known to Welsh audiences due to the influence of the 9th-century ''

Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' () is a purported history of early Britain written around 828 that survives in numerous recensions from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Brittonum'' is commonly attributed to Nennius, as some recensions ha ...

''. Beli is the father of Lludd, Caswallawn, and Nennwy, and Llefelys is added as a fourth son. As such Cligueillus/Llefelys may have been displaced from his position as Beli's father once the well-known figure of Beli was chosen to replace the otherwise unknown Heli. Geoffrey's ''Cligueillus'' / ''Digueillus'' may be a corruption of the Old Welsh name ''Higuel'' (specifically, the 10th century AD king ''Higuel (Howel/Houuel) Bonus'' – i.e.

Hywel Dda Hywel ap Cadell, commonly known as Hywel Dda, which translates to Howel the Good in English, was a Welsh king who ruled the southern Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth and eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllw ...

– mentioned in one of Geoffrey's sources, 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 ...

'', now Modern Welsh ''Hywel''. An alternate theory is that the name Llefelys is a compound, with the first element deriving from '' Lleu'' (the name is usually written as ''Lleuelis'' in the Red Book and White Book texts). Lleu is a major figure in the Fourth Branch of the

Mabinogi The ''Mabinogion'' () is a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created –1410, as well as a few earlier frag ...

, and is counterpart to the Irish mythological figure

Lugh Lugh or Lug (; ) is a figure in Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group of supernatural beings, Lugh is portrayed as a warrior, a king, a master craftsman and a saviour.Olmsted, Garrett. ''The Gods of the Celts and the I ...

and the

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

god

Lugus Lugus (sometimes Lugos or Lug) is a Celtic god whose worship is attested in the epigraphic record. No depictions of the god are known. Lugus perhaps also appears in Ancient Rome, Roman sources and medieval Insular Celts, Insular mythology. Va ...

. Lludd is also probably related to an earlier pan-Celtic figure, represented by the Irish Nuada and the British Nodens, via the earlier form Nudd. Elements of ''Lludd and Llefelys'' bear some similarity with the Irish story of Nuada and Lugh, particularly the narrative ''

Cath Maige Tuired ''Cath Maige Tuired'' (modern spelling: ''Cath Maighe Tuireadh''; ) is the name of two saga texts of the Mythological Cycle of Irish mythology. It refers to two separate battles in Connacht: the first in the territory of Conmhaícne Cúile Tu ...

''. Like Llefelys, Lugh is dispossessed while the kingdom (in this case

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

) is ruled by his kinsman Nuada. Eventually the kingdom is beset by oppressors and both fertility and the food supply are affected, but Lugh returns to overcome the oppression with his vast skill and knowledge.

Role

In the '' Lludd and Llefelys'' narrative,

inherits the kingship of Britain from his father, Beli, and shortly thereafter helps his brother Llefelys marry the king's daughter of France. Llefelys becomes King of France, but Lludd must soon request his aid when Britain is beset by three menaces: the Coraniaid, a mysterious people who can hear everything; a terrible scream that is heard every May Eve, terrifying the people and causing pregnant women to miscarry; and the continual disappearance of the provisions of the king's court. Llefelys provides his brother with solutions to each problem. He advises Lludd to mix a

potion A potion is a liquid "that contains medicine, poison, or something that is supposed to have magic powers." It derives from the Latin word ''potio'' which refers to a drink or the act of drinking. The term philtre is also used, often specifica ...

of crushed insects that will destroy the Coraniaid. The scream, he reveals, comes from two dragons fighting, so Lludd must set a trap for them and bury them beneath Dinas Emrys. The final problem is caused by an enchanter who puts Lludd's court to sleep; Lludd must defeat him in combat. Lludd makes good use of his brother's advice and overcomes each obstacle. Mention is made of the "short discussion of Lludd and Llefelys" (''ymarwar Llud a Llefelis'') in a poem called ''Ymarwar Llud Bychan'' from the

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 cont ...

and the same phrase is repeated in a poem by Llywelyn Fardd.Bartrum, Peter. ''A Welsh Classical Dictionary'', National Library of Wales, 1993, p. 417.

References

{{Celtic mythology (Welsh) Welsh mythology