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Aneirin
Aneirin , Aneurin or Neirin was an early Medieval Brythonic war poet. He is believed to have been a bard or court poet in one of the Cumbric kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd, probably that of Gododdin at Edinburgh, in modern Scotland. From the 17th century, he was usually known as Aneurin. Life Some records indicate that Aneirin was the son of Caunus (or Caw) and brother to Gildas. According to this version of his life, he was born at Dumbarton on the River Clyde. However, some scholars debate this parentage, and contend that these records are of later invention and are erroneous. Whoever his father was, Aneirin's mother, Dwywei is mentioned in '' Y Gododdin''. She may be the same lady who, according to Old Welsh pedigrees, married King Dunod who is generally thought to have ruled in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He may also be kin to another Brythonic poet, Cian Gwenith Gwawd. Aneirin's patrons were the noble Urien and his son, Owain. Owain was slain at the Battle of Catraeth, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Y Gododdin
''Y Gododdin'' () is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Brittonic kingdom of Gododdin and its allies who, according to the conventional interpretation, died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a place named '' Catraeth'' in about AD 600. It is traditionally ascribed to the bard Aneirin and survives only in one manuscript, the '' Book of Aneirin''. The ''Book of Aneirin'' manuscript is from the later 13th century, but ''Y Gododdin'' has been dated to between the 7th and the early 11th centuries. The text is partly written in Middle Welsh orthography and partly in Old Welsh. The early date would place its oral composition soon after the battle, presumably in the ''Hen Ogledd'' ("Old North"); as such it would have originated in the Cumbric dialect of Common Brittonic.Elliott (2005), p. 583. Others consider it the work of a poet from Wales in the 9th, 10th, or 11th century. Even a 9th-century date would make it one of the oldest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Aneirin
The Book of Aneirin ( cy, Llyfr Aneirin) is a late 13th century Wales, Welsh manuscript containing Old Welsh language, Old and Middle Welsh language, Middle Welsh poetry attributed to the late 6th century Northern Brythonic poet, Aneirin, who is believed to have lived in present-day Scotland. The manuscript is kept at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. It is made of parchment and was written in Wales around 1265, probably in a monastery, but is probably a copy of a lost 9th century original. There is minimal decoration, consisting only of a few coloured capital letters. The poetry recorded in the book, which has only 38 pages, would previously have been kept alive through oral tradition. The best-known poem contained within its pages is ''Y Gododdin'', an early Welsh poetry, Welsh-language poem commemorating the warriors from Gododdin (Lothian in modern Scotland) who fell at the Battle of Catraeth (probably Catterick, North Yorkshire, Catterick in North Yorkshire) around ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talhaearn Tad Awen
Talhaearn Tad Awen (''fl'' mid-6th century), was, according to medieval Welsh sources, a celebrated British poet of the sub-Roman period. He ranks as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, named poets to have composed and performed in Welsh. The better known poets Aneirin and Taliesin, who may have been slightly younger contemporaries, also belong to this early generation, the first of those known to modern scholars as the '' Cynfeirdd'' ("first poets"). Whereas medieval Welsh manuscripts preserve verse composed by or otherwise ascribed to the latter two figures, no such work survives for Talhaearn and in fact, his former fame seems to have largely vanished by the later Middle Ages. ''Historia Brittonum'' An interpolated passage in the '' Historia Brittonum'' (9th century) describes him as a famous poet, along with Aneirin, Taliesin and two lesser known figures, Blwchfardd and Cian: :''Tunc Talhaern Tat Aguen in poemate claruit, et Neirin, et Taliessin, et Bluchbard, et Cia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hen Ogledd
Yr Hen Ogledd (), in English the Old North, is the historical region which is now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands that was inhabited by the Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages. Its population spoke a variety of the Brittonic language known as Cumbric which is closely related to, if not a dialect of Old Welsh. The people of Wales and the Hen Ogledd considered themselves to be one people, and both were referred to as Cymry ('fellow-countrymen') from the Brittonic word ''combrogi.'' The Hen Ogledd was distinct from the parts of North Britain inhabited by the Picts, Anglo-Saxons, and Scoti. The major kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd were Elmet, Gododdin, Rheged, and the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Smaller kingdoms included Aeron and Calchfynydd. Eidyn, Lleuddiniawn, and Manaw Gododdin were evidently parts of Gododdin. The Angle kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia both had Brittonic-derived names, suggesting they may have been Brittonic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Poet
A war poet is a poet who participates in a war and writes about their experiences, or a non-combatant who writes poems about war. While the term is applied especially to those who served during the First World War, the term can be applied to a poet of any nationality writing about any war, including Homer's ''Iliad'', from around the 8th century BC as well as poetry of the American Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, the Crimean War and other wars. The Old Testament The Book of Psalms contains many works of Hebrew poetry about war, many of which are attributed to King David, the second monarch of the Kingdom of Israel, who is said to have reigned c. 1010–970 BC. The story of David's rise from shepherd to King also inspired the '' Davidiad'', which is a 1517 heroic epic poem in Renaissance Latin by lawyer, judge, and Renaissance humanist Marko Marulić, who spent his life in Split, Croatia, which was under the rule of the Republic of Venice. In addition to the small portio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Catraeth
The Battle of Catraeth was fought around AD 600 between a force raised by the Gododdin, a Brythonic people of the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" of Britain, and the Angles of Bernicia and Deira. It was evidently an assault by the Gododdin party on the Angle stronghold of Catraeth, perhaps Catterick, North Yorkshire. The Gododdin force was said to have consisted of warriors from all over the Hen Ogledd, and even some from as far afield as Gwynedd in North Wales and Pictland. The battle was disastrous for the Britons, who were nearly all killed. The slain warriors were commemorated in the important early poem '' Y Gododdin'', attributed to Aneirin. Battle In his ''Canu Aneirin'' Ifor Williams interpreted ''mynydawc mwynvawr'' in the text of '' Y Gododdin'' to refer to a person, Mynyddog Mwynfawr in modern Welsh. Mynyddog, in Williams' reading, was the king of the Gododdin, with his chief seat at Din Eidyn (modern Edinburgh). Around the year 600 Mynyddog gathered about 300 se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities. With the decline of a living bardic tradition in the modern period, the term has loosened to mean a generic minstrel or author (especially a famous one). For example, William Shakespeare and Rabindranath Tagore are respectively known as "the Bard of Avon" (often simply "the Bard") and "the Bard of Bengal".Oxford Dictionary of English, s.v. ''bard'', n.1. In 16th-century Scotland, it turned into a derogatory term for an itinerant musician; nonetheless it was later romanticised by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). Etymology The English term ''bard'' is a loan word from the Celtic languages: Gaulish: ''bardo-'' ('bard, poet'), mga, bard and ('bard, poet'), wlm, bardd ('singer, poet'), Middle Breton: ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 of at least three kings. In 1960, Ifor Williams identified eleven of the medieval poems ascribed to Taliesin as possibly originating as early as the sixth century, and so possibly being composed by a historical Taliesin. The bulk of this work praises King Urien of Rheged and his son Owain mab Urien, although several of the poems indicate that Taliesin also served as court bard to King Brochfael Ysgithrog of Powys and his successor Cynan Garwyn, either before or during his time at Urien's court. Some of the events to which the poems refer, such as the Battle of Arfderydd (c. 573), are referred to in other sources. John T. Koch argues that the description of Easter in the praise poem ''Yspeil Taliesin'' ('The Spoils of Taliesin') indicates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was approximately equivalent to the modern English counties of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and Durham, as well as the Scottish counties of Berwickshire and East Lothian, stretching from the Forth to the Tees. In the early 7th century, it merged with its southern neighbour, Deira, to form the kingdom of Northumbria, and its borders subsequently expanded considerably. Brittonic ''Bryneich'' Etymologies Bernicia occurs in Old Welsh poetry as ''Bryneich'' or ''Brynaich'' and in the 9th-century ''Historia Brittonum'', (§ 61) as ''Berneich'' or ''Birneich''. This was most likely the name of the native Brittonic kingdom , whose name was then adopted by the Anglian settlers who rendered it in Old English as ''Bernice'' or ''Beornice'' . The co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cumbric
Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the '' Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. Place name evidence suggests Cumbric may also have been spoken as far south as Pendle and the Yorkshire Dales. The prevailing view is that it became extinct in the 12th century, after the incorporation of the semi-independent Kingdom of Strathclyde into the Kingdom of Scotland. Problems with terminology Dauvit Broun sets out the problems with the various terms used to describe the Cumbric language and its speakers.Broun, Dauvit (2004): 'The Welsh identity of the kingdom of Strathclyde, ca 900-ca 1200', ''Innes Review'' 55, pp 111–80. The people seem to have called themselves the same way that the Welsh called themselves (most likely fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gododdin
The Gododdin () were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britannia, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North (modern south-east Scotland and north-east England), in the sub-Roman period. Descendants of the Votadini, they are best known as the subject of the 6th-century Welsh poem '' Y Gododdin'', which memorialises the Battle of Catraeth and is attributed to Aneirin. The name ''Gododdin'' is the Modern Welsh form, but the name appeared in Old Welsh as ''Guotodin'' and derived from the tribal name ''Votadini'' recorded in Classical sources, such as in Greek texts from the Roman period. Kingdom It is not known exactly how far the kingdom of the Gododdin extended, possibly from the Stirling area to the kingdom of ''Bryneich'' (Bernicia), and including what are now the Lothian and Borders regions of eastern Scotland. It was bounded to the west by the Brittonic Kingdom of Strathclyde, and to the north by the Picts. Those living around Clackmannanshire were known a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welsh Poetry
Welsh poetry refers to poetry of the Welsh people or nation. This includes poetry written in Welsh, poetry written in English by Welsh or Wales based poets, poetry written in Wales in other languages or poetry by Welsh poets around the world. History Wales has one of the earliest literary traditions in Northern Europe, stretching back to the days of Aneirin (fl. 550) and Taliesin (second half of the 6th century), and the haunting ''Stafell Cynddylan'', which is the oldest recorded literary work by a woman in northern Europe. The 9th century '' Canu Llywarch Hen'' and '' Canu Heledd'' are both associated with the earlier prince Llywarch Hen. Welsh poetry is connected directly to the bardic tradition, and is historically divided into four periods.Loesch, K. T. (1983). Welsh bardic poetry and performance in the middle ages. In D. W. Thompson (Ed.), ''Performance of Literature in Historical Perspectives'' (177–190). Lanham, MD: University Press of America. The first period, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
