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Book Of Taliesin
The Book of Taliesin ( cy, Llyfr 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 contains some of the oldest poems in Welsh, possibly but not certainly dating back to the sixth century and to a real poet called Taliesin (though these, if genuine, would have been composed in the Cumbric dialect of Brittonic-speaking early medieval north Britain, being adapted to the Welsh dialect of Brittonic in the course of their transmission in Wales). Date and provenance of the manuscript The manuscript, known as Peniarth MS 2 and kept at the National Library of Wales, is incomplete, having lost a number of its original leaves including the first. It was named ''Llyfr Taliessin'' in the seventeenth century by Edward Lhuyd and hence is known in English as "The Book of Taliesin". The palaeographer John Gwenogvryn Eva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Welsh
Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) 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 ( cy, Hen Gymraeg). Literature and history Middle Welsh is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the ''Mabinogion'', although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of most of the manuscripts of Welsh law. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. Phonology The phonology of Middle Welsh is quite similar to that of modern Welsh, with only a few differences. The letter ''u'', which today represents in North Western Welsh dialects and in South Welsh and North East Welsh dialects, represented the close central rounded vowel in Middle Welsh. The diphthong ''aw'' is found in unstressed final syllables in Middle Welsh, while in Modern Welsh it has be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urien Yrechwydd
''Urien Yrechwydd'' (in English: ''Urien of Yrechwydd'') is a late Old Welsh or Middle Welsh heroic poem found uniquely in the Book of Taliesin. It is among those poems in the manuscript thought by Ifor Williams possibly to have originated as part of a sixth-century corpus of ''Canu Taliesin'', a series of poems really composed by the semi-legendary sixth-century court poet of Rheged, Taliesin. Location of Yrechwydd This poem and another of the Taliesin corpus '' Argoed Llwyfain'', characterise Urien as lord of Yrechwydd/Erechwydd, a place whose whereabouts has occasioned much debate, with implications for guessing the historical extend of the kingdom of Rheged. The Welsh word ''echwydd'' is thought to have meant 'fresh (of water); fresh water; ?cataract', suggesting that Yrechwydd was in the vicinity of fresh water. The most recent extensive studies, by Andrew Breeze Andrew Breeze FRHistS FSA (born 1954), has been professor of philology at the University of Navarra sin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. It also contains more than 790 islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Most of the population, including the capital Edinburgh, is concentrated in the Central Belt—the plain between the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands—in the Scottish Lowlands. Scotland is divided into 32 administrative subdivisions or local authorities, known as council areas. Glasgow City is the largest council area in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scott ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very near to the firth. The firth comprises part of the Irish Sea. The firth’s coastline is characterised by lowland hills and small mountains. It is a mainly rural area, with mostly small villages and settlements (such as Powfoot). Fishing, hill farming, and some arable farming play a large part in the local economy, although tourism is increasing. The northern part of the English coast of the Solway Firth was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, known as the Solway Coast, in 1964. Construction of the Robin Rigg Wind Farm in the firth began in 2007. Within the firth, there are some salt flats and mud flats that can b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rheged
Rheged () was one of the kingdoms of the ''Hen Ogledd'' ("Old North"), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and bardic sources, although its borders are not described in any of them. A recent archaeological discovery suggests that its stronghold was located in what is now Galloway in Scotland rather than, as was previously speculated, being in Cumbria. Rheged possibly extended into Lancashire and other parts of northern England. In some sources, Rheged is intimately associated with the king Urien Rheged and his family. Its inhabitants spoke Cumbric, a Brittonic dialect closely related to Old Welsh. Etymology The origin of the name ''Rheged'' has been described as "problematic". One Brittonic-language solution is that the name may be a compound of ''rö-'', a prefix meaning "great", and ''cę:d'' meaning "wood, forest" (c.f. Welsh ''coed'') although ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Powys
Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geography Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire, and part of Denbighshire (historic), historic Denbighshire. With an area of about , it is now the largest administrative area in Wales by land and area (Dyfed was until 1996 before several Preserved counties of Wales, former counties created by the Local Government Act 1972 were abolished). It is bounded to the north by Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham County Borough; to the west by Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire; to the east by Shropshire and Herefordshire; and to the south by Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Caerphilly County Bor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gwallog Ap Llaennog
Gwallog ap Lleenog (Old Welsh ''Guallauc'', Middle Welsh ''Gwallawc''; his father's name is spelled variously ''Lleinauc'', ''Lleynna '', ''Lleenawc'', and ''Llennawc'') was a hero of the Hen Ogledd. He has long been considered a probable sixth-century king of the sub-Roman state of Elmet in the Leeds area of modern Yorkshire, though some more recent scholarship would identify him more tentatively simply as a 'king of an unidentified region in the north'. Life Gwallog is most clearly attested in a note incorporated into Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies of Northumbrian kings found in London, British Library, MS Harley 3859 (the earliest manuscript of the ''Historia Brittonum''). These are thought to originate in a perhaps eighth-century source and so to be relatively reliable. Commenting on the reign of the Bernician king Hussa, the regnal list states ::Contra illum quattuor reges, Urbgen et Riderchen et Guallanc (''leg''. Guallauc) et Morcant, dimicaverunt. Deodric contra illum Urb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Owain Mab Urien
Owain mab Urien (Middle Welsh Owein) (died c. 595) was the son of Urien, king of Rheged c. 590, and fought with his father against the Angles of Bernicia. The historical figure of Owain became incorporated into the Arthurian cycle of legends where he is also known as Ywain, Yvain, Ewain or Uwain. In his legendary guise he is the main character in Chrétien de Troyes's ''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'' and the Welsh Romance '' Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain'', which corresponds to Chrétien's poem. Historical Owain Our chief references to the historical Owain appear in the poems of Taliesin, Urien's bard. In one poem, he appears as the victor of the Battle of Alclud Ford. Another, ''Gweith Argoed Llwyfain'' ("The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain"), tells of Owain's part in a battle between the men of Rheged under Urien and the men of Bernicia under "Fflamddwyn" (Firestealer), possibly the Anglian king Theodric. When Fflamddwyn demands hostages, Owain shouts defiance and inspires ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urien
Urien (; ), often referred to as Urien Rheged or Uriens, was a late 6th-century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd (today's northern England and southern Scotland) of the House of Rheged. 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''. In Arthurian legend, he inspired the character of King Urien of either Garlot (Garloth) or Gore (Gorre). His most famous son Owain mab Urien similarly turned into the character of Ywain. Life According to the genealogies, Urien was the son of Cynfarch Oer, son of Meirchion Gul, son of Gorwst, son of Cenau, son of Coel Hen (King Cole), the first recorded post-Roman military leader in the area of Hadrian's Wall. He fought against the rulers of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia (modern Northumbria). An Anglian noble, Ida, had occupied Metcauld around the middle of the 6th century and begun to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynan Garwyn
Cynan Garwyn was king of Powys in the north-east and east of Wales, who flourished in the second half of the 6th century. Little reliable information exists which can be used to reconstruct the background and career of the historical figure. Available materials include early Welsh poetry, genealogies and hagiography, which are often late and of uncertain value. Putative biography He is thought to have been a son of his predecessor Brochwel Ysgithrog and the father of Selyf Sarffgadau, who may have succeeded him. Later Welsh genealogies trace his lineage to Cadell Ddyrnllug. His epithet Garwyn, possibly Carwyn, has been explained as meaning either "of the White Thigh" or "of the White Chariot". Cynan may be the same person as Aurelius Caninus, one of the Welsh tyrants who are fiercely criticised by the mid-6th-century cleric Gildas in his ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'', but there is also a possibility that the latter refers to Cynin ap Millo, a relative of Cynan's. Cynan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ifor Williams
Sir Ifor Williams, (16 April 1881 – 4 November 1965) was a Welsh scholar who laid the foundations for the academic study of Old Welsh, particularly early Welsh poetry. Early life and education Ifor Williams was born at Pendinas, Tregarth near Bangor, Wales, the son of John Williams, a quarryman, and his wife Jane. His maternal grandfather, Hugh Derfel Hughes, was a noted local historian who wrote a well-regarded book on the history of the area. He went to Friars School, Bangor, in 1894 but had only been there for just over a year when he suffered a serious accident. This left him with back injuries that made him bedridden for several years. Having recovered, he attended Clynnog School in 1901 and in 1902 won a scholarship to University College of North Wales. In 1905 he graduated with honours in Greek, then in 1906 in Welsh. He spent the 1906–07 academic year at the Department of Welsh working for his M.A. degree and assisting Sir John Morris-Jones, the Professor of Wels ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Awen
Awen is a Welsh, Cornish and Breton word for " inspiration" (and typically poetic inspiration). In Welsh mythology, awen is the inspiration of the poets, or bards; or, in its personification, Awen is the inspirational muse of creative artists in general. The inspired individual (often a poet or a soothsayer) is described as an awenydd. Neo-Druids define awen as "flowing energy," or "a force that flows with the essence of life." In current usage, ''awen'' is sometimes ascribed to musicians and poets. It is also used as female given name. It appears in the third stanza of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau, the national anthem of Wales. Etymology ''Awen'' derives from the Indo-European root ''*-uel'', meaning 'to blow', and has the same root as the word ''awel'' meaning 'breeze' in Welsh and 'wind' or 'gale' in Cornish.Dr Ken George,''Gerlyver Meur'', Kesva an Taves Kernewek (Cornwall) 1993, p81. Historical attestation The first recorded attestation of the word occurs in Nennius' ''Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
