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 Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

poet Taliesin in the legendary account given in the late medieval ''Chwedl Taliesin'' (''Ystoria Taliesin''/''

Hanes Taliesin ''The Hanes Taliesin'' (''Historia Taliesin, The Tale of Taliesin'') is a legendary account of the life of the poet Taliesin recorded in the mid-16th century by Elis Gruffydd. The tale was also recorded in a slightly different version by John Jo ...

''; "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'' ( en, The Lowland Hundred) in what is now Cardigan Bay. His chief

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

was said to have been ''Caer Wyddno'' ( en, the Fort of Gwyddno), located somewhere to the north-west of modern-day

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

. 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 underwater 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

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

, Iolo Morganwg, well known for his literary forgeries, but he does not appear in the

Old Welsh Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...

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 Meirionnydd is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a kingdom, a cantref, a district and, as Merionethshire, a county. Kingdom Meirionnydd (Meirion, with -''ydd'' as a Welsh suffix of land, literally ''Land adjoined to Meirio ...

, who is perhaps the most likely candidate. In Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, Gwyddno is the king of the Lost Lands in ''Silver on the Tree''.

Epithet

His name is

and means ''Gwyddno Long-Shanks,'' ''Crane-Legs,'' or literally ''Tall-Crane.''

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 , date=c. 1810 , editor-last=Williams (ab Iolo) , editor-first=Taliesin , contribution= , title=Iolo Manuscripts , publisher=William Rees , publication-date=1848 , publication-place=Llandovery , pages= , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnBoaWNvArEC

External links

Dialogue of Gwyddno Garanhir and Gwyn ap Nudd
Monarchs of Meirionydd Sub-Roman monarchs Taliesin Legendary Welsh people