Gweith Gwen Ystrat
Encyclopedia
Gweith Gwen Ystrat
Gweith Gwen Ystrat (in English: The Battle of Gwen Ystrad, is a late Old Welsh or Middle Welsh heroic poem found uniquely in the Book of Taliesin
, where it forms part of the Canu Taliesin, a series of poems attributed to the 6th-century court poet of Rheged, Taliesin
. Put in the mouth of a first-person eyewitness, the poem glorifies a victory by Urien
, prince of Rheged, in which he led his warband in defence against a host of invaders at a site called Llech Gwen in Gwen Ystrad (Gwen valley). The heavy, prolonged fighting is said to have taken place since dawn at the entrance to a ford. Sir Ifor Williams
suggests that the personal name Gwên may lie behind the forms Llech Gwen and possibly Gwen Ystrad, but the site cannot be identified.
Urien's champions are described as the "men of Catraeth" (line 1), a place often equated with Catterick (North Yorkshire), and the enemy forces as the "men of Britain" (gwyr Prydein, line 6), who have come in large numbers to attack the land. Sir John Morris-Jones
and John T. Koch
prefer to emend Prydein to Prydyn "land of the Picts
". Ifor Williams offers some support for their identification as Picts, pointing out that the adversaries are envisaged as horsemen, to judge by the allusion to rawn eu kaffon "manes of their horses" (line 22). This description would fit the Picts but rules out the Saxons, who fought on foot. However, the emendation is not universally accepted.
In the commentary to his edition of the poem Y Gododdin
, Koch argues that the Gwen Ystrad poem offers a vital clue for an understanding of the sixth-century Battle of Catraeth portrayed in Y Gododdin, in which the Gododdin
are said to have suffered a catastrophic defeat. Koch breaks with the long-held view that the disaster at Catraeth was a battle against the Angles of Deira and Bernicia and points to the participation of warriors from Rheged. He equates the two battles of the poems, suggesting that they both refer to a conflict between the dynasty of Urien, i.e. the Coeling or descendants of Coel Hen, and the Gododdin, who in Gweith Gwen Ystrat, as in Y Gododdin, are shown assisted by the Pictish troops (see above) but are not otherwise named. The Gwen Ystrad poem would then present a victor's view of the same event.
However, Koch's interpretation of the poem has been challenged on a number of counts. He relies on an early date for Gweith Gwen Ystrat, classifying its language as what he calls 'Archaic Neo-Brittonic', a form of Old Welsh spoken in the sixth century, which he regards as the language in which Y Gododdin was originally composed. However, on re-editing the poem, Graham Isaac argues against Koch's methods and conclusions and suggests instead that Gweith Gwen Ystrat may have been composed in the 11th century or later. Moreover, the Gododdin are not mentioned in the poem and the presumed presence of Picts hinges on an unnecessary emendation for a word which makes sense on its own right. Responding to Koch's perception of the 6th-century heroic age
as a possible but distant milieu for the production of literature, Isaac says that a "'heroic age' cannot produce literature, because a 'heroic age' is itself produced through literature".
Gweith Gwen Ystrat (in English: The Battle of Gwen Ystrad, is a late Old Welsh or Middle Welsh heroic poem found uniquely in the Book of Taliesin
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. The manuscript, known as Peniarth MS 2 and kept at the National Library of Wales,...
, where it forms part of the Canu Taliesin, a series of poems attributed to the 6th-century court poet of Rheged, Taliesin
Taliesin
Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...
. Put in the mouth of a first-person eyewitness, the poem glorifies a victory by Urien
Urien
Urien , often referred to as Urien Rheged, was a late 6th century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd . His power and his victories, including the battles of Gwen Ystrad and Alt Clut Ford, are celebrated in the praise poems to him by Taliesin, preserved in the Book of Taliesin...
, prince of Rheged, in which he led his warband in defence against a host of invaders at a site called Llech Gwen in Gwen Ystrad (Gwen valley). The heavy, prolonged fighting is said to have taken place since dawn at the entrance to a ford. Sir Ifor Williams
Ifor Williams
Sir Ifor Williams was a Welsh scholar who laid the foundations for the academic study of Old Welsh, particularly early Welsh poetry....
suggests that the personal name Gwên may lie behind the forms Llech Gwen and possibly Gwen Ystrad, but the site cannot be identified.
Urien's champions are described as the "men of Catraeth" (line 1), a place often equated with Catterick (North Yorkshire), and the enemy forces as the "men of Britain" (gwyr Prydein, line 6), who have come in large numbers to attack the land. Sir John Morris-Jones
John Morris-Jones
Sir John Morris-Jones was a Welsh grammarian, academic and poet.He was born at Llandrygarn, Anglesey and educated at Friars School, Bangor. Whilst at Jesus College, Oxford, Morris-Jones co-founded the Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym...
and John T. Koch
John T. Koch
Professor John T. Koch is an American academic, historian and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory and the early Middle Ages....
prefer to emend Prydein to Prydyn "land of the Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
". Ifor Williams offers some support for their identification as Picts, pointing out that the adversaries are envisaged as horsemen, to judge by the allusion to rawn eu kaffon "manes of their horses" (line 22). This description would fit the Picts but rules out the Saxons, who fought on foot. However, the emendation is not universally accepted.
In the commentary to his edition of the poem Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Britonnic 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...
, Koch argues that the Gwen Ystrad poem offers a vital clue for an understanding of the sixth-century Battle of Catraeth portrayed in Y Gododdin, in which the Gododdin
Gododdin
The Gododdin were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britain in the sub-Roman period, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North...
are said to have suffered a catastrophic defeat. Koch breaks with the long-held view that the disaster at Catraeth was a battle against the Angles of Deira and Bernicia and points to the participation of warriors from Rheged. He equates the two battles of the poems, suggesting that they both refer to a conflict between the dynasty of Urien, i.e. the Coeling or descendants of Coel Hen, and the Gododdin, who in Gweith Gwen Ystrat, as in Y Gododdin, are shown assisted by the Pictish troops (see above) but are not otherwise named. The Gwen Ystrad poem would then present a victor's view of the same event.
However, Koch's interpretation of the poem has been challenged on a number of counts. He relies on an early date for Gweith Gwen Ystrat, classifying its language as what he calls 'Archaic Neo-Brittonic', a form of Old Welsh spoken in the sixth century, which he regards as the language in which Y Gododdin was originally composed. However, on re-editing the poem, Graham Isaac argues against Koch's methods and conclusions and suggests instead that Gweith Gwen Ystrat may have been composed in the 11th century or later. Moreover, the Gododdin are not mentioned in the poem and the presumed presence of Picts hinges on an unnecessary emendation for a word which makes sense on its own right. Responding to Koch's perception of the 6th-century heroic age
Heroic Age
The Greek Heroic Age is defined as the period between the coming of the Greeks to Thessaly and the Greek return from Troy. It was demarcated as one of the five Ages of Man by Hesiod...
as a possible but distant milieu for the production of literature, Isaac says that a "'heroic age' cannot produce literature, because a 'heroic age' is itself produced through literature".
Sources
- Clancy, Joseph P. The Earliest Welsh Poetry. London, 1970.
- Isaac, G.R. "Gweith Gwen Ystrat and the Northern Heroic Age of the Sixth Century." Cambrian Medieval Celtic StudiesCambrian Medieval Celtic StudiesCambrian Medieval Celtic Studies is a bi-annual academic journal of Celtic studies, which appears in summer and winter...
36 (Winter 1998): 61-70. - Koch, John T. The Gododdin of Aneirin. Text and Context in Dark-Age North Britain. Cardiff and Andover, MA, 1997.
- Williams, Ifor, Sir (tr. J.E. Caerwynn Williams). The Poems of Taliesin. Mediaeval and Modern Welsh Series 3. Dublin: DIAS, 1968. Originally published in Welsh as Canu Taliesin. Cardiff, 1960.
External links
- Translation - (the Skene editionFour Ancient Books of WalesThe Four Ancient Books of Wales is a term coined by William Forbes Skene to describe four important medieval manuscripts written in Middle Welsh and dating from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. They contain primarily texts of poetry and prose, some of which are contemporary and others which may...
, now considered unreliable), Celtic Literature Collective.