Gwyddno Garanhir

Gwyddno Garanhir

Gwyddno Garanhir was the supposed ruler of a sunken land off the coast of Wales, known as Cantre'r Gwaelod. He was the father of Elffin ap Gwyddno, the foster-father of the famous Welsh poet, Taliesin, in the legendary account given in the late medieval "Chwedl Taliesin" ("Ystoria Taliesin"/"Hanes Taliesin"; "The Tale of Taliesin").

Legend

The basket of Gwyddno Garanhir is one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain. According to tradition, Gwyddno was the lord of "Cantre'r Gwaelod" (Welsh: 'Lowland Hundred') in what is now Cardigan Bay. His chief fortress ("caer") was said to have been 'Caer Wyddno' located north-west of Aberystwyth. The whole kingdom was protected from the sea by floodgates which had to be shut before high tide. One day the keeper of the floodgates, Seithenyn, was drunk and failed to close them, with the result that the sea rushed in and covered the land.

Kingdom

Stories of the drowned lands of Gwyddno appear to have arisen from the identification of natural submarinal ridges as the remains of sea walls. However, tradition also assigns Gwyddno a landlocked portion of his kingdom to which he was able to flee. He was called 'King of Ceredigion' by the 18th century Welsh antiquarian, Iolo Morganwg, well-known for his literary forgeries, but he does not appear in the Old Welsh pedigrees for that kingdom. He is identified with a number of different historical Gwyddnos in various sources. 16th century writers favoured Gwyddno ap Clydno, the late 6th century King of Meirionydd, who is perhaps the most likely candidate.

Epithet

His name is Welsh and means "Gwyddno Long-Shanks" or "Crane-Legs".

Fiction

King Gwyddno and his kingdom appeared as 'The Lost Land' in the final volume of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence.

References

*Ford, Patrick K. (ed.) (1992). "Ystoria Taliesin". University of Wales Press. (The text of the "Story of Taliesin" in the hand of Elis Gruffydd)
*North, Frederick John. (1957). "Sunken cities: Some legends of the coast and lakes of Wales"
*Citation
last=Williams
first=Edward
author-link=Iolo Morganwg
year=c. 1810
date=c. 1810
editor-last=Williams (ab Iolo)
editor-first=Taliesin
editor-link=
contribution=
title=Iolo Manuscripts
publisher=William Rees
publication-date=1848
publication-place=Llandovery
pages=
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TnBoaWNvArEC&printsec=frontcover

External links

* [http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/bbc33.html Dialogue of Gwyddno Garanhir and Gwyn ap Nudd]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gwyddno Garanhir — Gwyddno Garanhir, est un personnage de la mythologie celtique, qui appartient à la tradition galloise. Il est le père de Elffin ap Gwyddno, sauveur du barde gallois Taliesin enfant dans Hanes Taliesin (le conte de Taliesin) et souverain du… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Gwyddno — Garanhir [ qwiðno ga ranhir] („Gwyddno Langschenkel/Kranichbein“) ist eine Sagengestalt aus der Walisischen Mythologie. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Mytholgie 2 Siehe auch 3 Literatur …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Elffin Ap Gwyddno — Elffin ap Gwyddno, fils de Gwyddno Garanhir, est un personnage de la mythologie celtique, qui appartient à la tradition galloise. On le rencontre dans Hanes Taliesin (Le conte de Taliesin), une pièce tardive, qui ne fait pas partie des Livres… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Elffin ap gwyddno — Elffin ap Gwyddno, fils de Gwyddno Garanhir, est un personnage de la mythologie celtique, qui appartient à la tradition galloise. On le rencontre dans Hanes Taliesin (Le conte de Taliesin), une pièce tardive, qui ne fait pas partie des Livres… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Elffin ap Gwyddno — The variant spelling Elphin may refer to the town of Elphin, County Roscommon, Ireland or the Diocese of Elphin, cathedral in Sligo Town, Co. Sligo, Ireland. Elphin is also a village in Sutherland, Scotland. In Welsh mythology, Elffin ap Gwyddno… …   Wikipedia

  • Elffin ap Gwyddno — Elffin ap Gwyddno, fils de Gwyddno Garanhir, est un personnage de la mythologie celtique, qui appartient à la tradition galloise. On le rencontre dans Hanes Taliesin (Le conte de Taliesin), une pièce tardive, qui ne fait pas partie des Livres… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain — Manuscripts Peniarth MSS 51 (names only), 60, 77, 138, 179, 295; Cardiff MSS 17, 19, 26, 43; Llanstephan 65, 94, 145; National Library of Wales MS 5269B; Panton MS 13; BL Addl. 14,973; Mostyn MS 159; Edward Jones, Bardic Museum. London, 1808. pp …   Wikipedia

  • Seithenyn — (sometimes spelt Seithennin) is a figure from Welsh legend, apparently contemporary with King Gwyddno Garanhir. He is the protagonist of a poem in the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (Black Book of Carmarthen). According to legend, he was responsible for… …   Wikipedia

  • Taliesin — (c. 534 – c. 599), (spelled as Taliessin in Alfred, Lord Tennyson s Idylls of the King and in some subsequent works), was a Brythonic poet of Sub Roman Britain whose work has survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin . Taliesin… …   Wikipedia

  • David (Heiliger) — Der heilige David, (* um 512; † 587, in der walisischen Sprache als Dewi Sant bekannt, war Bischof von Menevia (walisisch Mynyw , heute St Davids), der später als Heiliger betrachtet wurde und als Schutzpatron von Wales gilt. Er unterscheidet… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”