The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics) (47 page)

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.

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).

through the power of the wine the demon was driven out:
exorcizing fairies and demons by sprinkling water (not wine) is a common motif. A well-known Welsh example is found in the sixteenth-century story of St Collen, who uses holy water to defeat Gwyn ap Nudd in his palace in Annwfn (the Otherworld).

dragons fighting:
this episode is related to the account in the ninthcentury
History
of the
Britons
, where the fatherless boy Ambrosius (
Emrys
in Welsh) explains the mystery of Vortigern’s collapsing stronghold in Snowdonia: under the foundations is a pool in which there are two dragons, one red and the other white, symbolizing the native Welsh and the Saxon nations respectively. After fierce fighting the red dragon is victorious, leading to the prophecy that the Saxons will eventually be overcome and thrown out of Britain. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s reworking of this account identifies the wonder-child Ambrosius with Merlin, who becomes an integral part of the Arthurian legend. The red dragon is today a symbol of Wales, and incorporated in the national flag. See note on
Caerfyrddin
(
p. 108
).

no plague shall come to the Island of Britain:
in the triads, the burying of the dragons is linked to the talismanic burial of the bones of Gwrthefyr the Blessed and the Head of Bendigeidfran son of Llŷr, also
commemorated at the end of the Second Branch (
p. 34
)—together they are ‘the Three Fortunate Concealments of the Island of Britain’, keeping the land safe from (Saxon) oppression (
TYP
37). However, the burying of the dragons does not constitute protection as such, but rather is itself the defeating of an oppression or plague. The second part of the triad—‘the Three Unfortunate Disclosures’—notes that Gwrtheyrn (Vortigern) disclosed the whereabouts of the dragons.

Oxford:
it is not clear why the author should name Oxford as the central point of Britain; however, it was an important political and administrative centre in the eleventh century, which may well explain why Pryderi travels there to pay homage to Caswallon in the Third Branch (
p. 36
).

Dinas Emrys:
dinas
is Welsh for ‘fort’; this place-name is obviously connected to the story in the
History of the Britons
. However, the naming here is anachronistic, for Emrys (Lat. Ambrosius) was only linked with the place later, after he had disclosed the whereabouts of the dragons.

Ffaraon Dandde was one of the Three Chief Officers who Broke his Heart from Sorrow:
Ffaraon
is the Welsh form of Pharaoh;
tandde
means ‘fiery’. The character appears in later genealogies of Arthur as the father of Llŷr Llediaith. According to a later triad, there were Three People who Broke their Hearts from Sorrow: Ffaraon Dandde, together with Branwen daughter of Llŷr and Caradog son of Brân, both characters in the Second Branch (see
p. 33
).

drowsiness forcing him to sleep:
sleep-inducing music is a theme in both Irish and Welsh; compare, for example, the birds of Rhiannon who, according to the giant Ysbaddaden, ‘wake the dead and lull the living to sleep’ (
p. 196
).

hamper:
a hamper or vessel of plenty is a common international folk-tale motif; compare the hamper of Gwyddnau Garan Hir in ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’ (
p. 196
). This magical object is also paralleled in the bag which Rhiannon gives to Pwyll so that he can trick Gwawl in the First Branch (
pp. 12
–
13
).

The emperor Arthur was at Caerllion ar Wysg:
see note on Arthur’s court, p. 82.

Owain son of Urien … Cai son of Cynyr:
see notes on pp.
66
and
68
for
Owain
and
Cai
. There are several references to Cynon son of Clydno in the
Gododdin
, a poem attributed to Aneirin, commemorating the heroic deeds of a war-band from the Gododdin tribe that was defeated in a battle at Catraeth (Catterick) in the North of England, about
AD
600. The land of the Gododdin extended along the shores of the Firth of Forth, with its capital at Din Eidyn (perhaps Edinburgh), the epithet that appears in the name of Cynan’s father, Clydno Eidyn.

Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr:
means ‘Brave Grey Mighty Grasp’. He appears as
Arthur’s gatekeeper on special occasions in ‘Geraint son of Erbin’ and ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’ too. In the former he fills the office only at one of the three chief festivals, while in the latter he is only there on the first of January. In the poem ‘What Man is the Gatekeeper?’ in the Black Book of Carmarthen, Glewlwyd is the gatekeeper of a fortress to which Arthur himself and his men are attempting to gain admittance (see Patrick Sims-Williams, ‘The Early Welsh Arthurian Poems’, in
AOW
33–71). A brief reference in the triads (
TYP
88) notes that he is the lover of Dyfyr Golden-Hair, one of the Three Famous Maidens of Arthur’s Court.