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''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 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 text recounts an expedition with King Arthur to Annwfn or
Annwn Annwn, Annwfn, or Annwfyn (in Middle Welsh, ''Annwvn'', ''Annwyn'', ''Annwyfn'', ''Annwvyn'', or ''Annwfyn'') is the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. Ruled by Arawn (or, in Arthurian literature, by Gwyn ap Nudd), it was essentially a world of de ...
, the Welsh name for the
Celtic Otherworld In Celtic mythology, the Otherworld is the realm of the deities and possibly also the dead. In Gaelic and Brittonic myth it is usually a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy.Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture ...
. ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' is one of the best known of medieval British poems. English translations, in whole or in part, have been published by R. Williams (in William Forbes Skene's '' Four Ancient Books of Wales''), by Robert Graves in ''
The White Goddess ''The White Goddess: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth'' is a book-length essay on the nature of poetic myth-making by author and poet Robert Graves. First published in 1948, the book is based on earlier articles published in ''Wales'' magazi ...
'' and by
Roger Sherman Loomis Roger Sherman Loomis (1887–1966) was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval and Arthurian literature. Loomis is perhaps best known for showing the roots of Arthurian legend, in particular the Holy Grail, in native Ce ...
, Herbert Pilch,
John T. Koch John T. Koch is an American academic, historian and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory and the early Middle Ages. He is the editor of the five-volume ''Celtic Culture. A Historical Encyclopedia'' (2006, ABC Clio). He ...
, Marged Haycock, John K. Bollard,
Sarah Higley Sally Caves is the pen name of Sarah Higley, a science fiction writer and professor of English at the University of Rochester. She is best known for creating the ''Star Trek'' character Reginald Barclay. ''Star Trek'' Caves wrote the '' Star Trek: ...
. At points it requires individual interpretation on the part of its translators owing to its terse style, the ambiguities of its vocabulary, its survival in a single copy of doubtful reliability, the lack of exact analogues of the tale it tells and the host of real or fancied resonances with other poems and tales. A number of scholars (in particular, Marshall H. James, who points out the remarkable similarity in Line 1, of Verse 2 in "Mic Dinbych", from the Black Book of Carmarthen), have pointed out analogues in other
medieval Welsh literature Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuin ...
: some suggest that it represents a tradition that evolved into the grail of
Arthurian literature The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wes ...
. Haycock (in ''The Figure of Taliesin'') says that the poem is "about Taliesin and his vaunting of knowledge", and Higley calls the poem "a metaphor of its own making—a poem about the material 'spoils' of poetic composition".


Manuscript and date

The poem is uniquely preserved in the
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 ...
(Aberystwyth, NLW, MS Peniarth 2), which has been dated to the first quarter of the 14th century. The text of the poem itself has proved immensely difficult to date. Estimates range from the time of the bard
Taliesin Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the ''Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts o ...
in the late 6th century to that of the completion of the manuscript. On the basis of linguistic criteria Norris J. Lacy suggests that the poem took its present form around AD 900. Marged Haycock notes that the poem shares a formal peculiarity with a number of pre-Gogynfeirdd poems found in the Book of Taliesin, that is, the
caesura 300px, An example of a caesura in modern western music notation A caesura (, . caesuras or caesurae; Latin for "cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a metrical pause or break in a verse where one phrase ends and another phrase begins. ...
usually divides the lines into a longer and shorter section. She contends, however, that there is no firm linguistic evidence that the poem predates the time of the ''
Gogynfeirdd Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing to ...
''.


Text

The poem may be divided into eight stanzas, each for the most part united by a single rhyme but with irregular numbers of lines. The first stanza begins and the last ends with two lines of praise to the Lord, generally taken to be Christian. In the last couplet of each stanza except the last the speaker mentions a dangerous journey into Annwfn with
Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more w ...
and three boat-loads of men, of whom only seven returned, presumably with the "spoils" from Annwfn. Annwfn is apparently referred to by several names, including "Mound or Fairy Fortress," "Four Peaked or Cornered Fortress," and "Glass Fortress", though it is possible these are intended to be distinct. Whatever tragedy occurred is not clearly explained. Each stanza except the last two begins in the first person; the first begins "I praise the Lord", the second and third "I am honoured in praise", the next three declare "I do not merit little men" who rely on books and lack understanding. The last two refer to crowds of monks who again rely upon the words and the knowledge of authorities and lack the type of experience the poem claims. Between these beginnings and ends the first six stanzas offer brief allusions to the journey. In the first Gweir is encountered imprisoned in the fort's walls, a character whom
Rachel Bromwich Rachel Bromwich (30 July 1915 – 15 December 2010) born Rachel Sheldon Amos, was a British scholar. Her focus was on medieval Welsh literature, and she taught Celtic Languages and Literature in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at ...
associates with Gwair, one of "Three Exalted Prisoners of Britain" known from the Welsh Triads. He is imprisoned in chains, apparently until Judgment Day, singing before the spoils of Annwfn. The second stanza describes the cauldron of the Chief of Annwn, finished with pearl, and how it was taken, presumably being itself the "spoils". The third and fourth allude to difficulties with the forces of Annwfn while the fifth and sixth describe a great ox, also richly decorated, that may also form part of Arthur's spoils. The first stanza has already mentioned
Pwyll Pwyll Pen Annwn () is a prominent figure in Welsh mythology and literature, the lord of Dyfed, husband of Rhiannon and father of the hero Pryderi. Meaning ''wisdom" he is the eponymous hero of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed, the first branch of the F ...
, the legendary prince of Dyfed who in the first branch of the Mabinogi becomes the Chief of Annwfn after helping its king,
Arawn In Welsh mythology, Arawn (; ) was the king of the otherworld realm of Annwn who appears prominently in the first branch of the Mabinogi, and alluded to in the fourth. In later tradition, the role of the king of Annwn was largely attributed to th ...
, and was credited with ownership of a cauldron. The speaker may be intended to be
Taliesin Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the ''Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts o ...
himself, for the second stanza says "my poetry, from the cauldron it was uttered, from the breath of nine maidens it was kindled, the cauldron of the chief of Annwfyn" and Taliesin's name is connected to a similar story in the legend of his birth.Higley, note t
''Preiddeu Annwn'', Stanza II, line 13.
/ref> Song is heard in the fourfold fort, which therefore seems also to be Annwfn: Gweir was imprisoned in perpetual song before a cauldron that first gave out poetry when breathed upon by nine maidens, reminiscent of the nine muses of classical thought. Just as, we are told, the cauldron "does not boil the food of a coward", so the song it is inspires is "honoured in praise", too good for petty men of ordinary mentality.


Analogues and interpretations

Two works in particular, the tale of
Bran the Blessed Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, a ...
in the '' Second Branch of the Mabinogi'' and a tale included in ''
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 Wh ...
'' in which Arthur's retinue sail to Ireland aboard ''
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 ...
'' (the ship used in ''Preiddeu'') to obtain the Cauldron of Diwrnach, are frequently cited as narratives resembling that of the present poem.


Bran and Branwen

In the ''Second Branch'' Bran gives his magic life-restoring cauldron to his new brother-in-law
Matholwch Matholwch, King of Ireland, is a character in the Second Branch of the '' Mabinogi'', the tale of Branwen ferch Llŷr. The story opens with Bendigeidfran (Bran the Blessed), giant and king of Britain, sitting on a rock by the sea at Harlech ...
of Ireland when he marries Bran's sister Branwen. Matholwch mistreats his new wife and Bran's men cross the Irish Sea to rescue her. This attack involves the destruction of the cauldron, which Matholwch uses to resuscitate his soldiers. There is a battle between the hosts and in the end only seven of Bran's men escape alive, including Taliesin and Pryderi.


Arthur and Diwrnach

In ''Culhwch and Olwen'' Arthur's retinue also sail to Ireland (aboard his ship ''Prydwen'', the ship used in ''Preiddeu'') to obtain the cauldron which, like that in ''Preiddeu Annwfn'', would never boil meat for a coward whereas it would boil quickly if meat for a brave man were put in it. Arthur's warrior Llenlleawc the Irishman seizes Caladvwch (Excalibur) and swings it around, killing Diwrnach's entire retinue. Taliesin is mentioned in ''Culhwch'' among Arthur's retinue, as are several Gweirs. ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' is usually understood to say that a sword described either as "bright" or else "of Lleawch" was raised to the cauldron, leaving it in the hands of "Lleminawc" (''cledyf lluch lleawc idaw rydyrchit/ Ac yn llaw leminawc yd edewit''). Some scholars have found the similarity to this Llenlleawc compelling, but the evidence is not conclusive. Higley suggests a common story has influenced these various Welsh and Irish accounts.


Annwfn

Sir
John Rhys John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...
was quick to connect these campaigns in Ireland with the symbolic "western isles" of the Celtic otherworld and, in this general sense, ''Preiddeu Annfwn'' may be associated with the maritime adventure genres of
Immram An immram (; plural immrama; ga, iomramh , 'voyage') is a class of Old Irish tales concerning a hero's sea journey to the Otherworld (see Tír na nÓg and Mag Mell). Written in the Christian era and essentially Christian in aspect, they preser ...
and Echtra. Rhys also noted that the Isle of Lundy was once known as Ynys Wair, and suggested that it was once accounted the place of Gweir's imprisonment. ''Culhwch'' also recounts Arthur's nearby rescue of another of the three famous prisoners, Mabon ap Modron, a god of poetry after whom the ''Mabinogi'' are named, and gives details of another ruler of Annwfn, Gwynn ap Nudd, king of the ''
Tylwyth Teg (Middle Welsh for "Fair Family"; ) is the most usual term in Wales for the mythological creatures corresponding to the fairy folk of English and Continental folklore and the Irish . Other names for them include ("Blessing of the Mothers"), an ...
'' - the fairies in Welsh lore - "whom God has placed over the brood of devils in Annwn lest they should destroy the present race". Gwynn is also made part of Arthur's retinue, though he is the son of a god, after Arthur intervenes in his dispute over
Creiddylad Creiddylad (also known as ''Creirddylad'', ''Creurdilad'', ''Creudylad'' or ''Kreiddylat''), daughter of King Lludd, is a minor character in the early medieval Welsh Arthurian tale '' Culhwch ac Olwen''. Role in Welsh tradition Creiddylad, da ...
. In the ''First Branch of the Mabinogi'' Pwyll marries Rhiannon and their son Pryderi receives a gift of pigs from Arawn. He later follows a white boar to a mysterious tower where he is trapped by a beautiful golden bowl in an enchanted "blanket of mist" and temporarily vanishes with Rhiannon and the tower itself. This motif has also been compared with that of Gweir/Gwair's imprisonment. Roger Sherman Loomis pointed out the similarities between ''Preiddeus description of the "Glass Fortress" and a story from Irish mythology recorded in both the ''
Book of Invasions A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical a ...
'' and the 9th-century ''
Historia Britonum ''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 Br ...
'', in which the Milesians, the ancestors to the Irish people, encounter a glass tower in the middle of the ocean whose inhabitants do not speak with them, just as, in ''Preiddeu'', the Glass Fortress is defended by 6,000 men and Arthur's crew finds it difficult to speak with their sentinel. The Milesians attack and most of their force perishes. Another fortress, "Caer Sidi", is often linked through its name with the Irish fairyland, where live the Tuatha Dé Danann, whom the Milesians eventually conquer. it appears again in the same collection, in ''"Kerd Veib am Llyr"'', ("The Song of the Sons of Llyr"), in language that closely follows that of ''Preiddeu''; ''Complete is my chair in Caer Siddi/ No one will be afflicted with disease or old age that may be in it./ Manawyddan and Pryderi know it./ Three (musical?) instruments by the fire, will sing before it/ and around its borders are the streams of the ocean/ and the fruitful fountain is above it...''. The poet, this time definitely speaking as Taliesin, also claims to have been with Bran in Ireland, Bran and Manawyddan being the sons of
Llŷr Llŷr ( cy, Llŷr Llediaith (); ''Lleddiaith'' meaning "half-speech" or "half-language") is a figure in Welsh mythology, probably originally a deity, probably derived from Irish Ler ("the Sea"), father of '' Manannán mac Lir''. Other than his pr ...
. Higley affirms that Annwfn is "popularly associated with the land of the old gods who can bestow gifts, including the gift of poetry (
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 ...
)". She cites another poem in the same collection, called "Angar Kyfyndawt", which states that Annwfn is in the deeps below the earth, and that "It is Awen I sing, / from the deep I bring it". The great ox has "seven score links on his collar" while in "Angar Kyfyndawt" awen has "seven score ''ogyruen''", though this latter is not a well-understood term. In a third poem, "Kadeir Teyrnon", three "awens" come from the ''ogyruen'', just as in the birth legend Taliesin receives inspiration in three drops from the cauldron of
Ceridwen Ceridwen or Cerridwen ( ''Ke-RID-wen'') was an enchantress in Welsh medieval legend. She was the mother of a hideous son, Afagddu, and a beautiful daughter, Creirwy. Her husband was Tegid Foel and they lived near Bala Lake () in north Wales. M ...
, the enchantress who gives a second birth to the legendary Taliesin, and who is also mentioned other poems from the collection, "Kerd Veib am Llyr" and "Kadeir Kerrituen", and by another poet, Cuhelyn, in connection with ''ogyruen''. These poems draw freely upon a wide variety of otherworldly tales, representing the fateful voyage, the battle, imprisonment and the cauldron as allegories of a mystical poetic knowledge beyond the ordinary. Robert Graves aligned himself personally with the poets' standpoint, commenting that literary scholars are psychologically incapable of interpreting myth


The Grail

Early translators suggested a link between ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' (taken together with the Bran story) and the later Grail narratives, with varying degrees of success. Similarities are sometimes peripheral, such as that both Bran the Blessed and the Grail keeper the Fisher King receive wounds in their legs and both dwell in a castle of delights where no time seems to pass. The ''graal'' portrayed in
Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (Modern ; fro, Crestien de Troies ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on Arthurian subjects, and for first writing of Lancelot, Percival and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's works, including '' ...
' ''
Perceval, the Story of the Grail ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'' (french: Perceval ou le Conte du Graal) is the unfinished fifth verse romance by Chrétien de Troyes, written by him in Old French in the late 12th century. Later authors added 54,000 more lines in what are kn ...
'' is taken to be reminiscent of Bran's cauldron, and, as in ''Preiddeu'', the Grail romances always result in initial tragedy and frequently in huge loss of life. Earlier scholars were quicker to read Celtic origins in the Holy Grail stories than their modern counterparts. Whereas early 20th-century Celtic enthusiast Jessie Weston unequivocally declared that an earlier form of the Grail narrative could be found in ''Preiddeu Annwfn'', modern researcher
Richard Barber Richard William Barber FRSL FSA FRHistS (born 30 October 1941) is a British historian who has published several books about medieval history and literature. His book ''The Knight and Chivalry'', about the interplay between history and literatur ...
denies Celtic myth had much influence on the legend's development at all.Barber, ''The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief''. R. S. Loomis, however, argued that it was more logical to search for recurrent themes and imagery found in both the Grail stories and Celtic material rather than exact ancestors; many or most modern scholars share this opinion.


References


Sources

* Barber, Richard (2004). ''The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief''. Harvard University Press.

*Bollard, John K. (translator) (2013). "Arthur in the Early Welsh Tradition" in ''The Romance of Arthur'', Norris J. Lacy and James J. Wilhelm, eds. London: Routledge. . * Rachel Bromwich, Bromwich, Rachel (2006). ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain''. Cardiff: University of Wales. . *Gantz, Jeffrey (translator) (1987). ''The Mabinogion''. New York: Penguin. . *Haycock, Marged (1983-4). "''Preiddeu Annwn'' and the Figure of Taliesin." ''
Studia Celtica ''Studia Celtica'' is an annual journal published in Wales containing scholarly articles on linguistic topics, mainly in English but with some Welsh and German; it also contains book reviews and obituaries. The journal is published by the Univers ...
'' 18-9. pp. 52–78. *Higley, Sarah (translator)
"Preiddeu Annwfn: 'The Spoils of Annwn'"
The Camelot Project. *
Lacy, Norris J. Norris J. Lacy (born March 8, 1940 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky) is an American scholar focusing on French medieval literature. He was the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor Emeritus of French and Medieval Studies at the Pennsylvania State University until h ...
(Ed.) (1991). ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Garland. . * Loomis, Roger Sherman (1991). ''The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol''. Princeton.


External links


Preiddeu Annwn: The Spoils of Annwn
Original text and translation by Sarah Higley, published as part of the Camelot Project.
Herbert Pilch, "The Earliest Arthurian Tradition"
in "Orality and Literacy in Early Middle English", Gunter Narr Verlag, 1996 - Text, translation, discussion and analysis of vocabulary and syntax.
The book of Taliesin
at th
National Library of Wales
''Gives access to colour images of Peniarth MS 2''.

from the 19th century translation published by W.F. Skene. {{Celtic mythology (Welsh) Arthurian literature in Welsh Medieval Welsh literature Taliesin Welsh-language poems