Pridwen was, according to the 12th-century writer
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...
,
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
's shield; it was adorned with an image of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
. Geoffrey's description of it draws on earlier Welsh traditions found in ''
Preiddeu Annwfn
''Preiddeu Annwfn'' or ''Preiddeu Annwn'' ( en, The Spoils of Annwfn) is a cryptic poem of sixty lines in Middle Welsh, found in the Book of Taliesin. The text recounts an expedition with King Arthur to Annwfn or Annwn, the Welsh name for the ...
'', ''
Culhwch and Olwen
''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the Whit ...
'', and the ''
Historia Brittonum
''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British (Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Bri ...
''. The shield is also named and described by
Wace
Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his care ...
,
Layamon
Layamon or Laghamon (, ; ) – spelled Laȝamon or Laȝamonn in his time, occasionally written Lawman – was an English poet of the late 12th/early 13th century and author of the ''Brut'', a notable work that was the first to present the legend ...
,
Roger of Wendover
Roger of Wendover (died 6 May 1236), probably a native of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was an English chronicler of the 13th century.
At an uncertain date he became a monk at St Albans Abbey; afterwards he was appointed prior of the cell o ...
and
Robert of Gloucester among other medieval writers, and it directly inspired the description of
Sir Gawain
Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest W ...
's shield in ''
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
''.
Geoffrey of Monmouth
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
's shield Pridwen appears in the 1130s in
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...
's largely fictitious ''
Historia Regum Britanniae
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
''. Before fighting a battle near
Bath, in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, Arthur
''Pridwen'' has been interpreted as meaning "white face", "fair face", "blessed form" or "precious and white". The name was taken from Welsh tradition, Arthur's ship in ''
Preiddeu Annwfn
''Preiddeu Annwfn'' or ''Preiddeu Annwn'' ( en, The Spoils of Annwfn) is a cryptic poem of sixty lines in Middle Welsh, found in the Book of Taliesin. The text recounts an expedition with King Arthur to Annwfn or Annwn, the Welsh name for the ...
'' and ''
Culhwch and Olwen
''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the Whit ...
'' being called ''
Prydwen
''Prydwen'' plays a part in the early Welsh poem ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' as King Arthur's ship, which bears him to the Celtic otherworld Annwn, while in ''Culhwch and Olwen'' he sails in it on expeditions to Ireland. The 12th-century chronicler Ge ...
''; it was perhaps borrowed by Geoffrey because of its appropriateness to a picture of the Virgin Mary. The list of weapons finds a parallel in ''Culhwch and Olwen'', where Arthur swears by his shield Wynebgwrthucher (perhaps meaning "face of evening"), his spear
Rhongomiant
Rhongomyniad, or Rhongomiant (variously translated as "Slaying Spear," "Cutting Spear" or "Striking Spear"), was the spear of King Arthur in the Welsh Arthurian legends. Unlike Arthur’s two other weapons, his sword Caledfwlch and his dagger ...
, his knife
Carnwennan
Carnwennan, or Carnwenhau ("Little White Hilt"), was the dagger of King Arthur in the Welsh Arthurian legends.
In ''Culhwch and Olwen'', Arthur names it as one of the few things in the world which he will not give to Culhwch. Later, he uses it ...
, and his sword
Caledfwlch
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in the ...
. The motif of the Virgin Mary's image was taken by Geoffrey from the 9th-century ''
Historia Brittonum
''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British (Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Bri ...
'', which describes a battle "in the castle of Guinnion, in which Arthur carried the image of saint Mary the perpetual virgin on his shoulders". In transferring it to Arthur's shield Geoffrey created the first example in all literature of religious symbolism on a shield.
The Brut tradition
In the ''
Roman de Brut
The ''Brut'' or ''Roman de Brut'' (completed 1155) by the poet Wace is a loose and expanded translation in almost 15,000 lines of Norman-French verse of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin '' History of the Kings of Britain''. It was formerly known ...
'', the Norman poet
Wace
Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his care ...
's expanded translation of Geoffrey's ''Historia'', the shield's name is given as Priven. He interprets Geoffrey's words as meaning that the representation of the Virgin was inside the shield, not outside as a heraldic device, and he assures us that bearing the shield Arthur ''ne sembla pas cuart ne fol'', "didn't seem cowardly or crazy".
In
Layamon
Layamon or Laghamon (, ; ) – spelled Laȝamon or Laȝamonn in his time, occasionally written Lawman – was an English poet of the late 12th/early 13th century and author of the ''Brut'', a notable work that was the first to present the legend ...
's ''
Brut'' the shield's name is again Pridwen, and he tells us that inside it the image of the Virgin Mary was ''igrauen mid rede golde stauen'', "engraved with red gold stencilling". Elsewhere he adds the detail that Arthur's shield was made of ''olifantes bane'', "elephant ivory".
The ''
Gesta Regum Britanniae
The ''Gesta Regum Britanniae'' ( la, Deeds of the Kings of Britain) is a Latin epic poetry, epic written at some time between 1235 and 1254, and attributed to a Breton monk, William of Rennes.
The ''Gesta'' is fundamentally a versification of Geof ...
'', a 13th-century Latin versification of Geoffrey's ''Historia'' attributed to
William of Rennes, differs from earlier versions in representing the picture of the Virgin Mary as being on the outside of the shield after the manner of a heraldic blazon.
In the later 13th century the ''Chronicle'' of
Robert of Gloucester, another heir of the Brut tradition, mentioned Arthur's shield (under the name ''þridwen'') along with its Marian image.
Other medieval literature
In the 1190s the churchman
Gerald of Wales
Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and English historians in the Middle Ages, historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and w ...
, mentioning Arthur's shield without naming it in his ''
De principis instructione'', added the detail that Arthur would kiss the feet of the image of the Virgin Mary before going into battle.
Pridwen was named as the shield of King Arthur in the chronicle called ''
Flores Historiarum
The ''Flores Historiarum'' (Flowers of History) is the name of two different (though related) Latin chronicles by medieval English historians that were created in the 13th century, associated originally with the Abbey of St Albans.
Wendover's '' ...
'', both in the original version written by
Roger of Wendover
Roger of Wendover (died 6 May 1236), probably a native of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was an English chronicler of the 13th century.
At an uncertain date he became a monk at St Albans Abbey; afterwards he was appointed prior of the cell o ...
and in the adaptation by
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...
.
13th century elaborations on the tradition of Arthur's shield recorded in the Vatican recension of the ''Historia Brittonum'' tell us that this image was brought back from Jerusalem by Arthur.
In imitation of King Arthur's Pridwen the 14th-century
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
poem ''
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
'' has its hero
Gawain
Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
paint the Virgin Mary inside his shield, so that , "when he looked thereto, his heart never lessened".
References
Sources
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{{Geoffrey of Monmouth
Arthurian legend
Fictional armour
Fictional weapons
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Mythological shields