The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics)

by Sioned Davies

  chief of warriors and flower of knights: ‘flower’ and ‘candle’ (see below) were common epithets for heroes; compare the play on words in the Second Branch (p. 31). ‘Flower of Knighthood’ (Flos Militae) is a chivalric term.

  And on the shore of the lake there was a grey-haired man … fishing in a small boat on the lake: this grey-haired lame man has often been identified with the Fisher King of French romance. There may well be some association between him and Bendigeidfran (or Brân) of the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, who was wounded through the foot with a poisoned spear—the Fisher King is called Bron in some versions, and has been wounded through the thigh (see note to p. 22).

  squire: the Welsh macwy, a loanword from Irish maccoím (‘boy, young lad’) is a term used for a young man, often fulfilling the role of ‘page’ or ‘chamberlain’ at court (see note to p. 68); in the Welsh Laws, the macwyaid are part of the king’s entourage, and were probably of noble birth. Here, and elsewhere, the alternative term ‘squire’ is given in the English translation, in the general sense of ‘young man’ rather than in any formally defined role.

  two lads entering the hall … and much blood around the head: this is clearly a version of the Grail procession found in Chrétien’s Perceval (or Li Conte del Graal), although the word ‘grail’ itself is not used in the Welsh text—rather, a dysgl (‘dish’ or ‘platter’) appears on which there is a dismembered head. In later legends the Grail is identified with the chalice of the Last Supper in which Joseph of Arimathaea collected the blood of the crucified Christ; the mysterious lance becomes the weapon used by Longinus to pierce Christ’s side. In the late fourteenth century two French Grail texts were translated into Welsh as Ystoryaeu Seint Greal (‘Stories or Histories of the Holy Grail’)—versions of two French prose Grail romances of the early thirteenth century, La Queste del Saint Graal and the Perlesvaus, providing the first explicit reference to the Grail in Welsh. See Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, ‘Breuddwyd Rhonabwy and Later Arthurian Literature’, in AOW 183–208.

  the head of the earl’s retinue: according to the Welsh laws, the head of the retinue held one of the highest offices at court; as such, he was to be the king’s son or nephew. His duties included putting the harp into the hands of the bard at the three special feasts. For further details, see LHDd 8–11.

  The court steward: another high-ranking office, whose duties included allotting lodgings and controlling the food and drink at court. See LHDd 12–14.

  the witches of Caerloyw: these provide Peredur with training so that he can gain the remaining third of his strength; compare the Irish hero Cú Chulainn, who is taught to fight by the supernatural female Scáthach. Witches feature elsewhere in the Welsh Arthurian tradition—see, for example, ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’, pp. 212–13. In that tale, Caerloyw (Gloucester) is where Mabon son of Modron is imprisoned, see note to p. 198.

  Peredur stood … of the woman he loved best: this may have been inspired by the scene in the Irish tale The Exile of the Sons of Uisnech, where the heroine Deirdre sees a raven drinking blood from a dead calf lying in the snow, and immediately desires a man with black hair, red cheeks, and a white body. Certainly, black hair did not concur with the idealized female beauty of the period.

  The first night Peredur came to Caerllion to Arthur’s court … Angharad Law Eurog met him: the location of Arthur’s court at Caerllion in all three ‘romances’ seems to be derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. In older tradition his court was located at Celli Wig in Cornwall, as evidenced by ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’. This section of the tale, concerning Angharad Law Eurog, is not found in Chrétien de Troyes’s Perceval. The epithet Law Eurog, ‘Golden Hand’, may be a reference to her generosity.

  Shame on my gatekeeper’s beard: for the oath ‘shame on my beard’, see note to p. 34. The gatekeeper (or doorkeeper) was one of the twenty-four officers of the king’s court according to Welsh law (LHDd 25–6). See note to p. 116 on Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr.

  But then he spurred on his horse … a great distance away: an example of the fighting formula at its most rhetorical, including a series of alliterating compound adjectives that produce an impressive, rhythmical description. Every attempt has been made to reproduce this effect in the translation.

  gwyddbwyll: literally ‘wood-sense’, sometimes misleadingly translated ‘chess’. It is listed as one of the twenty-four feats of skill performed in medieval Wales. Like chess, gwyddbwyll was played on a board with pawns, and refers both to the game and to the board itself. In gwyddbwyll the king of one player attempts to break out from the centre of the board to the edge, while the opponent’s pawns attempt to stop him; compare Irish fidceall.

  a huge, black-haired, one-eyed man coming in: this has often been translated as a ‘black man’; however, this is the normal construction when describing a ‘black-haired man’.

  and bathed it in a tub of warm water: there are similarities between this and the Cauldron of Rebirth in the Second Branch (p. 25)—both have life-restoring powers. Here, too, a precious ointment is applied; compare the episode in ‘The Lady of the Well’, when Owain is rescued by a widowed countess (p. 131).

  India: often used to create a sense of the exotic—compare Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr’s rhetorical monologue in ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’, as he describes the many places he has visited throughout the world (p. 182).

  Edlym Gleddyf Goch: ‘Edlym of the Red Sword’.

  Peredur Baladr Hir: Peredur Long Spear. See note to p. 65 on Peredur.

  according to the story: the version in Peniarth 7 ends here. Whether this was deliberate or not is uncertain; but it could reflect one of the earliest retellings of the tale in Welsh. However, the ‘longer’ text, found in both the White and Red Book manuscripts, has come to be regarded as the standard version of the tale.

  Hywel son of Emyr Llydaw: son of Emyr of Brittany. He is also mentioned in ‘Geraint son of Erbin’ (p. 155), ‘Rhonabwy’s Dream’ (p. 225), and in the Geoffrey’s History as Arthur’s nephew and close friend, Duke Hoel. See TYP, pp. 398–9.

  a black, curly-haired maiden … which were stout: this maiden has been identified by many as the hideous side of sovereignty, a parody on the description of female beauty. ‘Flaring nostrils’ are normally associated with horses, not humans, while the reference to the flowers of the broom would surely bring to mind the beautiful Olwen, whose hair was ‘yellower than the flowers of the broom’ (p. 192), and perhaps Blodeuedd, who was created of flowers including the broom, suggesting her hair-colour. See Glenys Goetinck, Peredur: A Study of Welsh Tradition in the Grail Legends (Cardiff, 1975).

  When you came to the court of the lame king … or their cause: this is inconsistent with previous events: the first uncle was lame, according to the text, but the events described occurred at the court of the second uncle.

  knights … ordained knights there: marchog in Welsh can mean both ‘horseman’ and ‘knight’; qualifying the noun with the adjective urddol (‘ordained’) removes the ambiguity.

  At daybreak Gwalchmai came to a valley: the digression ends on p. 97 with ‘the story says no more than that about Gwalchmai on the matter’.

  On a shiny black, wide-nostrilled … lively: the most elaborate descriptions of horses in the Mabinogion include a reference to the colour, size, physical features, pace, and spirit of the animal. Moreover, these features are usually expressed by means of a long string of alliterating compound adjectives, each with the same rhythm, not unlike the descriptions of fighting (see note to p. 85). Every attempt has been made to reproduce this effect in the translation. ‘Palfrey’ is a borrowing from the French, and refers to a light horse used for leisure, rather than the heavier warhorse which had to be capable of carrying the weight of a knight in armour. See Sioned Davies, ‘Horses in the Mabinogion’, in Davies and Jones (eds.), The Horse in Celtic Culture, 121–40.

  And the side he supported … as if they were men: see note on gwyddbwyll, p. 86. One of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island
of Britain is the gwyddbwyll of Gwenddolau son of Ceido: ‘if the pieces were set, they would play by themselves. The board was of gold, and the men of silver’ (TYP, p. 260). In Continental versions of the Grail story it is only the pieces on one side that move automatically as they play against the hero.

  And that is what is told of the Fortress of Wonders: this is clearly an ending to the final part of the tale, and not to the tale as a whole. Regarding the notion of a ‘standard version’ of the text, see Introduction, pp. xxiv–xxv.

  THE DREAM OF THE EMPEROR MAXEN

  Maxen Wledig: Maxen may be identified with Magnus Maximus, a Roman commander proclaimed emperor by his army in Britain in AD 383. Gwledig (‘lord’) in his title is often used for territorial rulers, as well as for God. Maxen invaded Gaul and defeated the emperor Gratian, but was put to death by Theodosius in 388. In the work of Gildas, and also in the History of the Britons, he is criticized as a leader who took all the troops from Britain, leaving the country at the mercy of foreign invaders. However, he became an important figure in Welsh historiography as someone who symbolized the relationship between Wales and Rome, and many medieval Welsh dynasties claimed descent from him. See Introduction, pp. xix–xx.

  chamberlains: see note to p. 68.

  gwyddbwyll: a board game, see note to p. 86.

  a king in Romani: this Latin term is used both for the people (the Romans) and for the empire or kingdom of Rome.

  the three regions of the world: these were Asia, Africa, and Europe.

  This is how the messengers looked … no harm would be done to them: it was important that messengers were easily recognized to ensure a safe passage. For a general discussion, see Norbert Ohler, The Medieval Traveller (Woodbridge, 1989). For this particular example, see Morgan Watkin, La Civilisation française dans les Mabinogion (Paris, 1962), 301–3.

  Aber Saint: as the messengers get closer to their destination they see the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia), then Môn (Anglesey) and the cantref of Arfon, until finally they see the estuary (aber) of the river Saint (sometimes known as Seiont), which flows into the Menai Straits at Caernarfon. Aber Saint may well be a place-name here.

  Beli son of Manogan: see note to p. 22.

  the maiden claimed her maiden fee: agweddi is one of the many legal terms connected with marital union, defined as ‘the specific sum from the common pool of matrimonial property to which the wife was entitled on a justified separation from the husband before the union had lasted seven years’ (see Jenkins and Owen (eds.), The Welsh Law of Women). Here, however, the meaning is different in that it is a claim to be made by the bride herself as acknowledgement of her virginity prior to the union. In legal terminology, this would normally be the cowyll, the ‘morning-gift’. The author of the tale has clearly confused the two terms.

  the Island of Britain … and the Three Adjacent Islands: the North Sea (Môr Udd) is frequently contrasted with the Irish Sea (Môr Iwerddon) to denote the breadth of the Island of Britain. The earliest reference to ‘The Island of Britain and the Three Adjacent Islands’, found elsewhere in the Mabinogion, and in medieval poetry and the triads, can be found in the History of the Britons, where the islands are named as Wight, Man, and Orkney. In the triads (TYP, App. 1: ‘The Names of the Island of Britain’), they are known as Anglesey, Man, and Wight (or perhaps Lundy, an island off the Devon coast). The concept serves to emphasize the sovereign unity of the Island of Britain, see Introduction, p. xviii.

  she asked that the prime fort be built for her in Arfon: the centre of the cantref of Arfon was Caer Saint (see the Second Branch, p. 28), where the Roman fort of Segontium was located, on a hill about half-a-mile from the Menai Straits. By the end of the twelfth century this name was displaced by Aber Saint (‘the Estuary of the Saint’), probably due to the location of a new site on the estuary itself, as reflected in the location of Eudaf’s castle earlier in the tale (p. 104). In turn, this simple location marker was replaced by Caernarfon, the common form from the thirteenth century onwards, meaning simply ‘the fort in Arfon’. As part of his military campaign against the Welsh, Edward I built a castle here in 1284, on the site of the motte built by Earl Hugh of Chester about 1090 when the Normans first advanced into Gwynedd. See Brynley F. Roberts (ed.), Breudwyt Maxen Wledic (Dublin, 2005), and R. A. Griffiths (ed.), The Boroughs of Medieval Wales (Cardiff, 1978).

  Caerllion: Caerleon in Gwent, south-east Wales, and given an elevated status by Geoffrey of Monmouth. See note to p. 82.

  Y Freni Fawr: one of the highest hills of the Preseli mountains in east Pembrokeshire. Breni (‘prow of a ship’) is used figuratively for a hill or mountain peak.

  Cadair Faxen: meaning Maxen’s Chair. An onomastic tale, although it does not seem to have survived as a place-name.

  it is called Caerfyrddin: Carmarthen, in West Wales, site of the Romano-British fort Moridunum (meaning ‘sea fort’) which would give Myrddin in Welsh. According to the author of the tale, however, the place takes its name from the myrdd (‘host’) of men who built the stronghold there for Elen. Geoffrey of Monmouth locates the fatherless boy Merlinus (Welsh Merddin or Myrddin) in Caerfyrddin in his History of the Kings of Britain; indeed, the personal name may have been derived from the place-name. See A. O. H. Jarman, ‘The Merlin Legend and the Welsh Tradition of Prophecy’, in AOW 117–45.

  Ffyrdd Elen Luyddog: the noun lluydd means ‘host, mustering’; the adjective lluyddog implies ‘having a host, warlike’. Elen is here attributed with building roads from one fort to another. Indeed, the major Roman road running from South to North Wales is still known today as Sarn Helen (Helen’s Causeway). For traditions about Elen and road-building, see Ivan D. Margary, Roman Roads in Britain (London, 1957); Morris Marples, Sarn Helen: A Roman Road in Wales (Newtown, 1939). In later tradition Elen becomes confused with Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (d. 337); according to a legend, she made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and discovered the true Cross (see TYP 35).

  for seven years: the Peniarth 16 version ends here; the remainder of the tale is translated from the version in Peniarth 4 (the White Book of Rhydderch), in line with Brynley F. Roberts’s edition, Breudwyt Maxen Wledic.

  Because the women and their language were silenced … people speaking that language: a reference to the founding of Brittany. Llydaw (Brittany) is explained as lled-taw, ‘half silent’. This onomastic fabrication is also given in the ninth-century History of the Britons. In the triads (TYP 35) Cynan is mentioned as being a member of one of the ‘Three Levies that Departed from this Island, and not one of them came back’, while in the early prophetic poetry he is regarded as a leader who will one day return and rid the Britons of their Saxon oppressors. In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s version of the legend Cynan is given the epithet Meiriadog, and is presented as a nephew of Eudaf and therefore a cousin of Elen.

  LLUDD AND LLEFELYS

  Beli the Great: see the notes to p. 22 (Beli son of Mynogan) and p. 33 (Caswallon).

  And according to the story: this tale first appeared as an insertion in a thirteenth-century Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. This introductory phrase—‘and according to the storytellers’, in the Welsh translation of the History—refers to the fact that the author is taking the tale from native Welsh tradition and is supplementing Geoffrey’s account.

  Caer Ludd, finally Caer Lundain: an onomastic explanation as to how London was renamed due to Lludd rebuilding the city. Caer is the common Welsh word for ‘fort’.

  three plagues: a version of these three plagues or ‘oppressions’ is also found in a triad (TYP, p. 84), where they are listed as the Coraniaid, the Gwyddyl Ffichti (the Picts), and the Saxons. In the tale, the historical invasions have been replaced by folklore themes.

  Coraniaid: the name may well have been confused with Cesariaid (Romans). The Coraniaid’s special attribute—remarkable hearing—is a common motif, and echoes the description of Math son of Mathonwy in the Fourth Branch (p. 47).


  a scream that was heard every May eve: for ‘May eve’, see note to p. 17. The scream is paralleled in ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’, when Culhwch threatens Arthur’s court with a shout so loud that pregnant women shall miscarry and those that are not shall become barren (pp. 181–2).