Medieval Welsh literature: Difference between revisions

{{More footnotescitations needed|date=AprilMay 20222024}}

The core tradition was praise poetry; and the poet [[Taliesin]] was regarded as the first in the line. The other aspect of the tradition was the professionalism of the poets and their reliance on [[patronage]] from kings, princes and nobles for their living, similar to the way Irish [[Bard|bards]] and Norse [[Skald|skalds]] were patronized for the production of complex, often highly [[Alliterative verse|alliterative]] forms of verse. The fall of the [[Kingdom of Gwynedd]] and the loss of Welsh independence in any form in 1282 proved a crisis in the tradition, but one that was eventually overcome. It led to the innovation of the development of the [[cywydd]] [[meter (poetry)|meter]], a looser definition of praise, and a reliance on the [[nobility]] for patronage.

In Welsh literature the period before 1100 is known as the period of ''Y Cynfeirdd'' ("The Early Poets") or ''Yr Hengerdd'' ("The Old Poetry"). It roughly dates from the birth of the [[Welsh language]] until the arrival of the [[Normans]] in Wales towards the end of the 11th century.{{sfn|Jarman|1981}}

Of the poets named here it is believed that works that can be identified as Aneirin's and Taliesin's have survived.{{sfn|Williams|1994}}{{sfn|Boyd|2017}}

[[Aneirin]], a near-contemporary of Taliesin, wrote a series of poems to create one long poem called ''[[Y Gododdin]]''. It records the [[Battle of Catraeth]], fought between the [[Britons (historical)|Britons]] of the kingdom of [[Gododdin]] (centred on [[Eidyn]], the modern [[Edinburgh]]) and the [[Saxons|Saxon]] kingdoms of [[Deira (kingdom)|Deira]] and [[Bernicia]] in the north east of England. This battle was fought at [[Catterick, North Yorkshire|Catterick]] in about the year 598. It has survived in [[Book of Aneirin|''Llyfr Aneirin'']] (The Book of Aneirin), a manuscript dating from c. 1265.{{sfn|Jarman|1988}}

The poetry associated with [[Llywarch Hen]], ''[[Canu Llywarch Hen]]'' and with Heledd, ''[[Canu Heledd]]'', dates from a somewhat later period: the whole of ''Canu Heledd'' is generally thought to be from the 9th century; while the earliest parts of ''Canu Llywarch'' are probably also 9th century, other parts of the cycle may be as late as the 11th or 12th century.{{sfn|Rowland|1990|p=388–89}} These poems, in the form of monologues, express the sorrow and affliction felt at the loss of the eastern portion of the [[Kingdom of Powys]] (present day [[Shropshire]]) to the English, but they are also works where nature is an important element in the background, reflecting the main action and feelings of the poetry itself.{{sfn|Ford|1974}}

Though the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] invaders seem to break Welsh hearts in most of the early poetry, there are some poems of encouragement and the hope of an eventual and decisive defeat that would drive them back into the sea. One such poem is the 10th-century ''[[Armes Prydein]]'' from the Book of Taliesin which sees a coalition of [[Ireland|Irish]], [[Great Britain|British]], and [[Scandinavia]]n forces defeating the English and restoring Britain to the Welsh.{{cn|date=October 2022}}

This period also produced religious poetry, such as the [[englyn]]ion in praise of the [[Trinity]] found in the 9th-century Juvencus Manuscript (Cambridge MS Ff. 4.42), which is now at [[Cambridge University Library]]. In the Book of Taliesin we find a 9th-century poem ''Edmyg Dinbych'' (''In Praise of [[Tenby]]'', a town in [[Pembrokeshire]]), probably produced by a court poet in [[Dyfed]] to celebrate the [[New Year]] (Welsh: ''Calan''). The book also includes important poems which were probably not composed by Taliesin, including the ''Armes Prydein'' (''The Great Prophecy of Britain'') and ''[[Preiddeu Annwfn]]'', (''The Spoils of [[Annwn]]''), and the Book of Aneirin has preserved an early Welsh [[nursery rhyme]], ''[[Dinogad's Smock|Peis Dinogat]]'' (''Dinogad's Smock''). Much of the nature poetry, [[gnomic poetry]], prophetic poetry, and religious poetry in the [[Black Book of Carmarthen]] and the [[Red Book of Hergest]] is also believed to date from this period.{{cn|date=October 2022}}

==Welsh poetry 1100 – 16001100–1600==

From the Vale of [[River Clwyd|Clwyd]],{{sfn|Johnston|1993|p=ix}} [[Iolo Goch]] (English: "Red EdIolo") bridged between the periods of the Poets of the Princes and Poets of the Nobility.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} Early in his career he composed in the former tradition,{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} but he was among the first to sing the praises of the nobles and others using the ''[[cywydd]]''. HisOne of his main patronpatrons was Ithel ap Robert, fromarchdeacon Coedymynyddof nearSt [[Caerwys]]Asaph.{{sfn|Johnston|1993|p=x}} Perhaps his most famous work is [[Owain Glyndŵr's Court|a ''cywydd'' in praise of Owain Glyndŵr's home]] at Sycharth.

====Gruffudd Hiraethog (d. 1564)====

===Other voices in poetry 1300 – 16001300–1600===

**{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Ifor, Sir |title=The beginnings of Welsh poetry: studies, |date=1972 |publisher=University of Wales Press [for] the Language and Literature Committee of the Board of Celtic Studies of the University of Wales |editor-first=Rachel |editor-last=Bromwich |location=Cardiff |isbn=0-7083-0035-9}}

**{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Ifor |title=The Poems of Taliesin |translator-last=Caerwyn Williams |translator-first=J. E. Caerwyn |date=1987 |publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies |url=https://wwwbooks.google.co.ukcom/books/edition/The_Poems_of_Taliesin/hCrazAEACAAJ?hlid=enhCrazAEACAAJ |language=en}}

**{{cite book |last1last=Jarman |first1first=A. O. H. |title=Y Gododdin : Britain's oldest heroic poem |date=1988 |publisher=Gomer |location=Llandysul |isbn=0-86383-354-3}} ''A translation into English including notes, glossary and bibliography.''

**{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Kenneth Hurlstone |title=Early Welsh Gnomic Poems. Edited by K. Jackson |date=1935 |publisher=University of Wales Press Board |url=https://wwwbooks.google.co.ukcom/books/edition/Early_Welsh_Gnomic_Poems_Edited_by_K_Jac/YcsSMwEACAAJ?hlid=enYcsSMwEACAAJ |language=en}}

**{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Sir Ifor |title=Armes Prydein: The Prophecy of Britain from the Book of Taliesin |translator-first=Rachel |translator-last=Bromwich |date=1972 |publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies |isbn=978-0-901282-56-9 |url=https://wwwbooks.google.co.ukcom/books/edition/Armes_Prydein/3CN5AAAAIAAJ?hlid=en3CN5AAAAIAAJ&gbpv=1&bsqq=Armes+Prydein+:+the+prophecy+of+Britain,+from+the+Book+of+Taliesin&dq=Armes+Prydein+:+the+prophecy+of+Britain,+from+the+Book+of+Taliesin&printsec=frontcover |access-date=7 October 2022 |language=en}}

**{{cite book |first=Catherin A. |last=McKenna |title=The Medieval Welsh religious lyric : poems of the Gogynfeirdd, 1137-12821137–1282 |date=1991 |publisher=Ford & Bailie |location=Belmont, Mass. |isbn=0-926689-02-9}}

**{{cite book |editor-last=Rowlands |editor-first=Eurys I. |title=Poems of the Cywyddwyr: A Selection of Cywyddau, C. 1375-1525 |date=1976 |publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies |isbn=978-1-85500-091-9 |url=https://wwwbooks.google.co.ukcom/books/edition/Poems_of_the_Cywyddwyr/TRAIAQAAIAAJ?hlid=en&gbpv=1TRAIAQAAIAAJ&bsqq=Poems+of+the+Cywyddwyr%27%27.+Mediaeval+and+modern+Welsh&dq=Poems+of+the+Cywyddwyr%27%27.+Mediaeval+and+modern+Welsh&printsec=frontcover |access-date=7 October 2022 |language=en}}

*{{citation |last1=Jenkins |first1=Dafydd |last2=Owen |first2=Mofydd E. |title=The Welsh marginalia in the Lichfield Gospels. Part II: The ‘surexit’'surexit' memorandum | series=Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies |volume=7 |pages=91-12091–120 |date=1984 }}

*{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Sioned |title=Pedeir Keinc Y Mabinogi (The four branches of the Mabinogi) |date=1993 |publisher=Gomer |isbn=978-1-85902-005-0 |url=https://wwwbooks.google.co.ukcom/books/edition/Pedeir_Keinc_Y_Mabinogi/5D1KAAAAYAAJ?hlid=en5D1KAAAAYAAJ&gbpv=1&bsqq=The+four+branches+of+the+Mabinogi+sioned&dq=The+four+branches+of+the+Mabinogi+sioned&printsec=frontcover |access-date=7 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

*{{cite book |editor-last=Cartright |editor-first=Jane |title=Mary Magdalene and her sister Martha : an edition and translation of the medieval Welsh lives |date=2013 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-0-8132-2188-5}}

* Hemming, Jessica. "Pale Horses and Green Dawns. Elusive Colour Terms in Early Welsh Heroic Poetry". In: ''North American Journal of Celtic Studies'' 1, no. 2 (2017): 189-223189–223. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.26818/nortamerceltstud.1.2.0189.

[[Category:Medieval history of Wales]]