Modron ("mother") [1] is a figure in Welsh tradition, known as the mother of the hero Mabon ap Modron. Both characters may have derived from earlier divine figures, in her case the Gaulish goddess Matrona. She may have been a prototype for Morgan le Fay from the Arthurian legend.
Modron largely features in the Welsh tradition as a supernatural mother figure. She likely derives from the Celtic goddess Matrona, known to have been worshiped in Gaul. Similarly, Modron's son, Mabon ("youth"), appears to derive from the youth god Maponos. [2] Both Matrona and Maponos were worshiped in the area around Hadrian's Wall, which may account for the prominence of Modron and Mabon in literature connected to the Brittonic Hen Ogledd (Old North) of Britain. [3]
Certain elements of Modron's story – specifically that her son Mabon was stolen from her in the night as a baby – suggest a connection with Rhiannon in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, whose son Pryderi was similarly stolen. William John Gruffydd suggested that Modron and Rhiannon were the same in origin. [2]
John T. Koch suggests that Saint Madrun, a daughter of Vortimer, may also be connected, based on the similarity of the names and some elements of their stories. [2] Other scholars believe the names Modron and Madrun are likely to be etymologically distinct; Madrun comes from the Vulgar Latin name Matrōna (also a common noun matrōna "matron", from Classical Latin mātrōna), while Modron is from the Gallo-Brittonic theonym *Mātronā "Mother (goddess)". [4] [5] [6]
The first reference to the name Modron may be in the poem Pa Gur yv y Porthaur , in which "Mabon am Mydron", a "servant of Uthr Bendragon", is listed as one of King Arthur's warriors. A "Mabon am Melld" or "Mabon fab Mellt" (Mabon son of Lightning) also appears in Pa Gur and elsewhere; this may be a different character, but it is also possible that "Mellt" is Mabon's father (perhaps related to "Meldos", an epithet of the lightning god Loucetios). [3]
Modron's most substantial appearance in Welsh literature is in the prose tale Culhwch and Olwen . The text states that Mabon was stolen from between her and the wall by unknown forces when he was only three days old, and no one had seen him since. Recovering Mabon from his mysterious captors is one of the various challenges faced by King Arthur and his men in the story, and the adventure comprises a significant portion of the text. Arthur's men locate Mabon with the assistance of a series of wise and ancient animals, and liberate him in battle. Subsequently, he joins Arthur and assists in the hunt for the great boar Twrch Trwyth. [2] [7]
The Welsh Triads giver her father as Afallach, a figure evidently connected to the island of Avalon. [2] In Triad 70, Modron is the mother of the twins Owain and Morfudd by Urien Rheged. [8] The triad seems to be connected to a story found in MS Peniarth 147 describing Owain and Morfudd's birth to an unnamed otherworldly woman. Here, Urien investigates a mysterious ford in Denbighshire where dogs went to bark. He find a washer woman, and has his way with her. She reveals that she had been condemned to wash at the ford until she conceived a son by "a Christian", and bids Urien to return at the end of the year to receive the child. On returning, Urien finds the twins Owain and Morfudd. [9]
Modron is connected with Euron in the poem Cad Goddeu (The Battle of the Trees), which associates her with characters known from the Third Branch of the Mabinogi. Euron may an error for Gwron; John T. Koch suggests the name may ultimately derive from an older form *Uironos, meaning "divine man, husband, hero", implying he is Modron's spouse. [2] Modron's name (connected to Mabon) also appears in Englynion y Beddau (Stanzas of the Graves). [3]
Mabon ap Modron is a prominent figure from Welsh and wider Brythonic literature and mythology, the son of Modron and a member of Arthur's war band. Both he and his mother were likely deities in origin, descending from a divine mother–son pair. He is often equated with the Demetian hero Pryderi fab Pwyll, and may be associated with the minor Arthurian character Mabon ab Mellt.
Manawydan fab Llŷr is a figure of Welsh mythology, the son of Llŷr and the brother of Brân the Blessed and Brânwen. The first element in his name is cognate with the stem of the name of the Irish sea god Manannán mac Lir, and likely originated from the same Celtic deity as Manannán. Unlike Manannán, however, no surviving material connects him with the sea in any way except for his patronymic. Manawydan's most important appearances occur in the Second and Third Branches of the Mabinogi, but he is also referenced frequently in medieval poetry and the Welsh Triads.
Rhiannon is a major figure in Welsh mythology, appearing in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, and again in the Third Branch. Ronald Hutton called her "one of the great female personalities in World literature", adding that "there is in fact, nobody quite like her in previous human literature". In the Mabinogi, Rhiannon is a strong-minded Otherworld woman, who chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfed, as her consort, in preference to another man to whom she has already been betrothed. She is intelligent, politically strategic, beautiful, and famed for her wealth and generosity. With Pwyll she has a son, the hero Pryderi, who later inherits the lordship of Dyfed. She endures tragedy when her newborn child is abducted, and she is accused of infanticide. As a widow she marries Manawydan of the British royal family, and has further adventures involving enchantments.
Afallach is a man's name found in several medieval Welsh genealogies, where he is made the son of Beli Mawr. According to a medieval Welsh triad, Afallach was the father of the goddess Modron. The Welsh redactions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Brut y Brenhinedd, associate him with Ynys Afallach, which is substituted as the Welsh name for Geoffrey's Insula Avalonsis, but this is fanciful medieval etymology and it is more likely his name derives from the Welsh word afall "apple tree" ; from which, granted, the name of Avalon is also often thought to derive, so that the meaning of "Afallach" is associated but not necessarily directly. In the tale of Urien and Modron he is referred to by his daughter as the King of Annwn, therefore he may originally been cognate with Arawn or Gwyn or perhaps all three were once regional variants of the same Deity.
In Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona was the goddess who gives her name to the river Marne in Gaul.
In ancient Celtic religion, Maponos or Maponus is a god of youth known mainly in northern Britain but also in Gaul. In Roman Britain, he was equated with Apollo.
Culhwch and 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 White Book of Rhydderch, c. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales. Lady Charlotte Guest included this tale among those she collected under the title The Mabinogion.
In Arthurian legend, Kay is King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. In later literature he is known for his acid tongue and bullying, boorish behaviour, but in earlier accounts he was one of Arthur's premier warriors. Along with Bedivere, with whom he is frequently associated, Kay is one of the earliest characters associated with Arthur. Kay's father is called Ector in later literature, but the Welsh accounts name him as Cynyr Ceinfarfog.
The Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain are a series of items in late-medieval Welsh tradition. Lists of the items appear in texts dating to the 15th and 16th centuries. The number of treasures is always given as thirteen, but some later versions list different items, replacing or combining entries to maintain the number.
Welsh mythology consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of the predominantly oral societies Celtic mythology and history were recorded orally by specialists such as druids. This oral record has been lost or altered as a result of outside contact and invasion over the years. Much of this altered mythology and history is preserved in medieval Welsh manuscripts, which include the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin. Other works connected to Welsh mythology include the ninth-century Latin historical compilation Historia Brittonum and Geoffrey of Monmouth's twelfth-century Latin chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae, as well as later folklore, such as the materials collected in The Welsh Fairy Book by William Jenkyn Thomas (1908).
Twrch Trwyth, is a fabulous wild boar from the Legend of King Arthur, of which a richly elaborate account of its hunt described in the Welsh prose romance Culhwch and Olwen, probably written around 1100.
In Arthurian legend, Ywain, also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings, is a Knight of the Round Table. Tradition often portrays him as the son of King Urien of Gorre and of either the enchantress Modron or the sorceress Morgan le Fay. The historical Owain mab Urien, the basis of the literary character, ruled as the king of Rheged in Britain during the late-6th century.
Morfydd ferch Urien is a figure of Welsh Arthurian legend. She is the daughter of Urien Rheged by Modron, and twin sister to Owain. Morfydd appears in the Welsh Triads and is also referred to in Culhwch and Olwen. The enduring love between her and Cynon son of Clydno, one of Arthur's warriors, is remarked on in several of the Triads, pointing to a now lost popular tradition.
Gwenhwyfach was a sister of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) in medieval Welsh Arthurian legend. The tradition surrounding her is preserved in fragmentary form in two Welsh Triads and the Mabinogi tale of Culhwch and Olwen.
Preiddeu Annwfn or Preiddeu Annwn 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 Otherworld in Welsh.
Menw, son of Three-Cries, is a hero and shapeshifter in early Welsh literature, an "Enchanted Knight" of King Arthur at his court at Celliwig. He appears most prominently in the early Arthurian tale Culhwch and Olwen, in which he is handpicked among Arthur's warriors to accompany Culhwch on his quest to win Olwen. An "Enchanter Knight" of Arthur's court, he learned one of the Three Enchantments from Uther Pendragon. He is ascribed a son named Anynnawg.
King Arthur's family grew throughout the centuries with King Arthur's legend. Many of the legendary members of this mythical king's family became leading characters of mythical tales in their own right.
In the earliest prose stories in Britain in the Mabinogi, the Adar Rhiannon; "birds of Rhiannon", are specifically three magical birds, whose song can "wake the dead and lull the living to sleep". They also have a non-rational effect on space as they can be remote but seem very near. They are connected with Rhiannon the Queen of Dyfed who is thought to be a British euhemerized horse goddess, so part of Welsh mythology. The Adar Rhiannon were demanded by the giant Ysbaddaden Bencawr as a marriage task for Culhwch to complete. The giant wanted the Birds to soothe him as he faced his last night of life, prophesied as the consequence of his daughter's wedding.
Poem 31 of the Black Book of Carmarthen, a mid-13th century manuscript, is known from its first line as Pa gur yv y porthaur? or Pa gur, or alternatively as Ymddiddan Arthur a Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr. It is a fragmentary, anonymous poem in Old Welsh, taking the form of a dialogue between King Arthur and the gatekeeper Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr, in which Arthur boasts of his own exploits and those of his companions, especially Cai the Fair. Pa gur is notable for being one of the earliest vernacular Arthurian works, and for alluding to several early adventures of Arthur which are now lost. Its precise age is not known and has been the subject of wide-ranging disagreement, but scholarly opinion now tends to favour a date of c. 1100.