Gwrfoddw

Last updated
Gwrfoddw
King of Ergyng
Reignc. 615 – c. 619
Predecessor Cynfyn
Successor Gwrgan Fawr
Issue Erfig
Fatherpossibly Amlawdd Wledig

King Gwrfoddw (Latin : Gurvodius rex Ercyg, died c. 619) was the King of Ergyng, a south-east Welsh kingdom of the early medieval period. He usurped the throne from Gwrgan ap Cynfyn.

Contents

Life

According to the Book of Llandaff, Gwrfoddw was victorious against the Anglo-Saxons and granted lands on the Wye to the Bishops of Ergyng in thanks. Dr. Wendy Davies calculates his reign to have taken place between about 615 and 619. His son, Erfig, was ousted upon his death in favour of King Cynfyn's son, Gwrgan Fawr.

Gwrbothu Hen

Scholars Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans note that Gwrbothu Hen, a brother of King Arthur's mother who was killed by Twrch Trwyth in the 11th/12th century Welsh text Culhwch and Olwen , may refer to Gwrfoddw. [1] Later legendary genealogies fix him and his brothers Llygadrudd Emys, Gweir Paladr Hir, and Gweir Gwrhyd Ennwir as sons of Amlawdd Wledig. [2] The Arthurian legends are generally set in the late 5th or early 6th century, some time before Gwrfoddw, though medieval stories are not always precise with their chronology. Gwrbothu's epithet Hen ('the old' or 'the elder') is sometimes known to denote an ancestor or dynastic forebear, which provides the possibility that Gwrbothu Hen was a forefather or predecessor of Gwrfoddw. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwyn ap Nudd</span> Welsh mythological figure

Gwyn ap Nudd is a Welsh mythological figure, the king of the Tylwyth Teg or "fair folk" and ruler of the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn, and whose name means “Gwyn, son of Nudd”. Described later on as a great warrior with a "blackened face", Gwyn is intimately associated with the otherworld in medieval Welsh literature, and is associated with the international tradition of the Wild Hunt.

Culhwch, in Welsh mythology, is the son of Cilydd son of Celyddon and Goleuddydd, a cousin of Arthur and the protagonist of the story Culhwch and Olwen. In this tale the etymology of Culhwch is explained as "sow run", but this is likely to be folk etymology. According to the narrative, Culhwch is born to his maddened mother Goleuddydd after she is frightened by a herd of swine. The swineherd finds Culhwch in the pigs' run, and takes him back to his father Cilydd. Culhwch is described as being "of gentle lineage".

<i>Mabinogion</i> Earliest Welsh prose stories

The Mabinogion are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created c. 1350–1410, as well as a few earlier fragments. The title covers a collection of eleven prose stories of widely different types, offering drama, philosophy, romance, tragedy, fantasy and humour, and created by various narrators over time. There is a classic hero quest, "Culhwch and Olwen"; a historic legend in "Lludd and Llefelys," complete with glimpses of a far off age; and other tales portray a very different King Arthur from the later popular versions. The highly sophisticated complexity of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi defies categorisation. The stories are so diverse that it has been argued that they are not even a true collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igraine</span> Legendary mother of King Arthur

In the Matter of Britain, Igraine is the mother of King Arthur. Igraine is also known in Latin as Igerna, in Welsh as Eigr, in French as Ygraine, in Le Morte d'Arthur as Ygrayne—often modernised as Igraine or Igreine—and in Parzival as Arnive. She becomes the wife of Uther Pendragon, after the death of her first husband, Gorlois.

<i>Culhwch and Olwen</i> Welsh tale

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorlois</span> Legendary Duke of Cornwall

In Arthurian legend, Gorlois of Tintagel was the Duke of Cornwall. He was the first husband of King Arthur's mother Igraine and the father of her daughters, Arthur's half-sisters. Her second husband was Uther Pendragon, the High King of Britain and Arthur's father, who marries her after killing him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welsh mythology</span> Folk traditions developed in Wales and by the Celtic Britons elsewhere

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geraint</span>

Geraint is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a valiant warrior possibly related to the historical Geraint, an early 8th-century king of Dumnonia. It is also the name of a 6th-century Dumnonian saint king from Briton hagiographies, who may have lived during or shortly prior to the reign of the historical Arthur. The name Geraint is a Welsh form of the Latin Gerontius, meaning "old man".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twrch Trwyth</span>

Twrch Trwyth (Welsh pronunciation: [tuːɾχ tɾʊɨθ]; also Trwyd, Troynt (MSS.HK); Troit (MSS.C1 D G Q); or Terit (MSS. C2 L)) is an enchanted wild boar in the Matter of Britain great story cycle that King Arthur or his men pursued with the aid of Arthur's dog Cavall (Welsh: Cafall, Latin: Cabal).

Athrwys ap Meurig was a prince, and possibly king, of Gwent and Glywysing in Wales. He was the son of King Meurig ap Tewdrig and the father of the later king Morgan ab Athrwys. It is possible he died before his father Meurig and did not live to rule as king himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ergyng</span> Early medieval Welsh kingdom

Ergyng was a Welsh kingdom of the sub-Roman and early medieval period, between the 5th and 7th centuries. It was later referred to by the English as Archenfield.

Sanddef Pryd Angel is a figure of Welsh tradition. He usually figures as a warrior of King Arthur's court, and is distinguished by his great beauty, which gives him his epithet Pryd or Bryd Angel.

Gwrgan Fawr was a king of Ergyng, a south-east Welsh kingdom of the Early Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricatus</span>

Ricatus was a possible 11th-century king of Cornwall, although recent scholarship has cast doubt on his existence. If he existed, Ricatus may have been the penultimate Cornish king.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Arthur's family</span> Family

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caradoc</span> 5th-6th century Celtic king in South Wales or Brittany

Caradoc Vreichvras was a semi-legendary ancestor to the kings of Gwent. He may have lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is remembered in the Matter of Britain as a Knight of the Round Table, under the names King Carados and Carados Briefbras.

Cavall was King Arthur's dog, used in the hunt for the great boar, Twrch Trwyth.

Amlawdd Wledig was a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain. The Welsh title [G]wledig, archaically Gwledic or Guletic and Latinised Guleticus, is defined as follows: "lord, king, prince, ruler; term applied to a number of early British rulers and princes who were prominent in the defence of Britain about the time of the Roman withdrawal; (possibly) commander of the native militia ".

<i>Pa gur</i> Early Welsh poem

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.

References

  1. 1 2 Parker, Will (2016). "Culhwch and Olwen Translation". Culhwch ac Olwen. Footnote 158. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  2. Parker, Will (2016). "Culhwch and Olwen Translation". Culhwch ac Olwen. Footnote 2. Retrieved 4 May 2022.