Cynon ap Clydno or in some translations Kynon [nb 1] or Cynan was an Arthurian hero from Welsh mythology. His quest to the Castle of Maidens and his subsequent trial against the Black Knight, serve as a prelude to the adventure of Owain and The Lady of the Fountain. Cynon is closely associated with Sir Calogrenant, who takes his role in other versions of the tale.
Cynon was the son of Clydno Eiddin, a ruler of Eidyn in the Hen Ogledd, the Brittonic-speaking parts of northern England and southern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. Both Clydno and Cynon were figures in Welsh tradition. The poem Y Gododdin names Cynon as one of the Britons who fought against the Angles at the disastrous Battle of Catraeth; and is named as one of the four survivors, along with the author of the poem, Aneirin. [1] Aneirin mentions Cynon earlier in his poetry, referring to him:
And Kynon – like rushes they fell before his hand.
- O son of Clydno, a song of lasting praise will I sing unto thee. [2]
Three warriors and three score and three
hundred, wearing the golden torques.—
Of those who marched forth after the
excess of revelling,
But three escaped from the conflict of
gashing weapons;
The two War-dogs of Aeron and Kynon the
dauntless,
(and I myself from the spilling of blood)
worthy are they of my song.'
From Y Gododdin, Aneirin (c.600)
Later works mention Cynon's great love for Morvydd (Morvyth), daughter of Urien Rheged, and he appears in the prose tale Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain , taking the role given to Calogrenant in other versions of the story. Cynon's passion for Morvydd sees him named as one of the Three Ardent Lovers of the Island of Britain, along with Caswallawn the son of Beli for Flur the daughter of Mugnach Gorr, and Trystan the son of Talluch for Yseult the wife of his uncle, March Meirchawn. [2] Cynon, in some recounts, is said to be married to Morvydd, who is also the twin sister of Owain.
At King Arthur's Court, Cynon holds the position as one of the Three Counsellor Knights along with Aron son of Cynfarch, and Llywarch the Old son of Elidir Lydanwyn. It was said that whenever Arthur acted on his counsellors' advice, "he had nothing but success". [2]
Cynon is mentioned frequently in the poetry of the bards of Britain's Middle Ages. The 14th-century poet Gruffudd ap Meredith compares his own passion to that of Cynon for Morvyth and that of Uther Pendragon for Igraine. [1] Cynon's grave is mentioned in The Stanzas of the Graves, a poem from The Black Book of Carmarthen . [3]
In the tale of Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain from the Mabinogion, both Cynon and Owain are present at a banquet at King Arthur's court in Caerleon. After the meal, Arthur retires, and the knights, now joined by the queen, begin trading tales. Cynon relates the story of how he travelled to unknown regions of the world in search of a worthy opponent. He ventures through a valley, which opens into a broad plain where he finds a shining castle built by the sea. The lord of the castle is a yellow-haired man who shares his home with twenty-four maidens, described by Cynon as each being more beautiful than Queen Guinevere. Cynon is treated well by his host and on hearing his plight, the lord tells Cynon of 'the keeper of the forest', a huge black man with one foot and one eye who will be able to direct the knight towards his goal. [4]
Cynon travels to a wooded valley, and there on a mound, wielding a large iron club he finds the keeper. In some retellings the keeper is described as an ogre or giant, while Arthur Cotterell draws comparisons with the Fomorians, the deformed sea gods of Irish mythology. [5] The keeper is surrounded by wild animals, over which he appears to hold some magical power. The keeper ridicules Cynon, but after enduring his torments, he directs the knight to travel a path out of the woods where he must climb a hill. Over the hill Cynon is told he will come to a broad valley where he will find a great tree. Under the tree is a fountain and near the fountain is a marble slab to which by a chain a silver bowl is fastened. Cynon is instructed to fill the bowl with water from the fountain and then wet the slab to summon a black knight upon a black steed. [4]
Cynon follows the keeper's directions, and after wetting the marble slab, there is a peal of thunder followed by a terrible hailstorm which nearly kills both Cynon and his horse. The weather then clears and birds land on the tree and sing to the knight. Cynon is then approached by a figure, who accuses the knight of killing the people and animals of the land who were unable to find shelter in the supernatural hailstorm. Finally the black knight appears and attacks, beating Cynon with ease, taking his horse and driving him away from the well. Cynon walks back to the forest where the keeper awaits, mocking and shaming the defeated knight further. Cynon returns to the castle, where the fair-haired lord tends to him, supplying him with a new horse for his journey home. [4]
Cynon concludes the tale by stating he still has the palfrey supplied by the host of the shining castle, though Owain is sceptical of the whole story. The next day Owain saddles his horse and sets out to find the Black Knight for himself. When Owain fails to return from this quest, Arthur gathers 3,000 troops and with Cynon as his guide, searches for Owain. When Arthur summons the black knight, he defeats all of Arthur's knights one-by-one, before it is revealed that Owain has taken the place of the black knight having killed the previous incarnation on his original quest. [4] [6]
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".
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.
Aneirin[aˈnɛirɪn], Aneurin or Neirin was an early Medieval Brythonic war poet who lived during the 6th century. 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.
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.
Owain mab Urien was the son of Urien, king of Rheged c. 590, and fought with his father against the Angles of Bernicia. The historical figure of Owain became incorporated into the Arthurian cycle of legends where he is also known as Ywain, Yvain, Ewain or Uwain. In his legendary guise he is the main character in Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and the Welsh Romance Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain, which corresponds to Chrétien's poem.
In Arthurian legend, Sir 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.
Red Knight is a title borne by several characters in Arthurian legend.
The Black Knight appears in various forms in Arthurian legend.
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).
Rhun ap Maelgwn Gwynedd, also known as Rhun Hir ap Maelgwn Gwynedd, sometimes spelt as 'Rhûn', was King of Gwynedd. He came to the throne on the death of his father, King Maelgwn Gwynedd. There are no historical records of his reign in this early age. A story preserved in both the Venedotian Code and an elegy by Taliesin says that he waged a war against Rhydderch Hael of Alt Clut and the kings of Gododdin or Manaw Gododdin. The small scattered settlement of Caerhun in the Conwy valley is said to be named for him, though without strong authority. Rhun also appears in several medieval literary stories, as well as in the Welsh Triads. His wife was Perwyr ferch Rhûn "Ryfeddfawr" and their son was Beli ap Rhun "Hîr".
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".
Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing to the works of the 16th century.
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).
Sir Ywain, also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings, is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urien of Gorre and either the enchantress Modron or the sorceress Morgan le Fay. The historical Owain mab Urien, on whom the literary character is based, was the king of Rheged in Great Britain during the late 6th century.
The Three Welsh Romances are three Middle Welsh tales associated with the Mabinogion. They are versions of Arthurian tales that also appear in the work of Chrétien de Troyes. Critics have debated whether the Welsh Romances are based on Chrétien's poems or if they derive from a shared original. The Romances survive in the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest, both from the 14th century, though the material is at least as old as Chrétien.
Laudine is a character in Chrétien de Troyes's 12th-century romance Yvain, or, The Knight with the Lion and all of its adaptations, which include the Welsh tale of Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain and the German epic Iwein by Hartmann von Aue. Usually known as the Lady of the Fountain, she becomes the wife of the poem's protagonist, Yvain, one of the knights of King Arthur's Round Table, after he kills her husband, but later spurns the knight-errant when he neglects her for heroic adventure, only to take him back in the end.
Clydno Eidyn was a ruler of Eidyn, the district around modern Edinburgh, in the 6th century. Eidyn was a district of the Gododdin kingdom in the Hen Ogledd, or "Old North", the Brittonic-speaking parts of Northern England and southern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. Clydno became a figure in Welsh tradition.
Aeron was a kingdom of the Brythonic-speaking Hen Ogledd, presumed to have been located in the region of the River Ayr in what is now southwestern Scotland. It existed during the post-Roman era, perhaps earlier, and disappeared before or during the 7th-century conquest of the region by the ascendant Kingdom of Northumbria.
Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr is a hero, warrior, and porter in tradition and Arthurian mythology, in which he appears as a knight in Arthur's retinue and chief gatekeeper of his court. He is one of the earliest characters to be associated with Arthur and appears in a number of texts, including Culhwch ac Olwen, Geraint fab Erbin, Iarlles y Ffynnon, Pa Gur yv y Porthur and the Welsh Triads.
Eidyn was the region around modern Edinburgh in Britain's sub-Roman and early medieval periods, approximately the 5th–7th centuries. It centred on the stronghold of Din Eidyn, thought to have been at Castle Rock, now the site of Edinburgh Castle, and apparently included much of the area below the Firth of Forth. It was the most important district of the Brittonic kingdom of Gododdin, and a significant power in the Hen Ogledd, or Old North, the Brittonic-speaking area of what is now southern Scotland and northern England.