tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/medieval-wales-35231/articlesMedieval Wales – The Conversation2023-02-28T12:45:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989242023-02-28T12:45:12Z2023-02-28T12:45:12ZSt David’s Day: how the sixth century monk inspired centuries of devoted followers and poets<p>The man we know as St David, or <em>Dewi Sant</em> in Welsh, lived in the sixth century in the west of the island of Britain. He founded a monastic community on the site of what is now <a href="https://www.stdavidscathedral.org.uk">St Davids Cathedral</a> in Pembrokeshire. </p>
<p>David was <a href="https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/celtic-christianity-in-early-medieval-wales/">celebrated in both Wales and Ireland</a>, but what we know about him and his followers mostly comes from the Latin text, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/st-david-of-wales/rhygyfarchs-life-of-st-david/C4A11478913FA4B44F18C9350D14BA7F">Vita S. David</a> (Life of St David), which was written by the author Rhygyfarch in around 1080. </p>
<p>Rhygyfarch was a member of a clerical community at Llanbadarn Fawr, which is in modern day Ceredigion, west Wales. His writing is evidence of the lasting <a href="https://www.stdavidscathedral.org.uk/discover/history/medieval-cult">cult</a> associated with Saint David and the many medieval churches dedicated to him throughout Wales. By “cult”, we mean the continued devotion to David’s life and work.</p>
<p>Rhygyfarch’s writing in some ways presents us with two different Davids. The first is the archbishop who would become the patron of a major local church as well as a nation. The other is the abbot of a hermit-like community, who required his monks to live on little more than bread and water. </p>
<p>But, according to Rhygyfarch, they were not allowed too much even of those, as <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt81m2d.12">“being filled to excess, even with bread on its own, gives rise to dissipation [self-indulgence]”</a>. The ideal setting for this somewhat cheerless regimen was a remote place, away from the temptations of secular life. </p>
<p>Experts have reason to believe that Rhygyfarch’s account of David is authentic because the monastic programme he described corresponds closely to the rule of an anonymous abbot who was <a href="https://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/publications/Hughes/KH%20Vol%201%202001%20Dumville.pdf">witheringly criticised by the sixth century churchman and author, Gildas</a>. Gildas was the author of the earliest surviving history of Britain, De Excidio Britanniae (On the Ruin of Britain), in which he blamed the Britons for their defeat by the Saxons.</p>
<p>David’s austerity, which saw him nicknamed <em>aquaticus</em> (waterman) by Rhygyfarch and others, appears to be authentic. And it goes some way to explaining why we find his great cathedral in a marshy valley at the extreme edge of south-west Wales.</p>
<p>Rhygyfarch’s writing inspired a number of later texts, including the Welsh language <a href="https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/the-welsh-life-of-st-david/">Buchedd Dewi</a>, which was written in the 14th century. In it, it says that David’s last words were <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-the-little-things-why-st-davids-advice-is-good-for-your-mental-health-197638">“<em>gwnewch y pethau bychain</em>”, which means “do the little things”</a>. </p>
<p>Welsh court poets before the English conquest of Wales in 1282 would invoke David as a saint who represented the national interest of Wales, while later poets insisted on his superiority to other saints. </p>
<p>Most strikingly, the saint was drawn into the rich tradition of poetic prophecy. This asserted that the Welsh people would one day win their country back from the English. </p>
<p>It was a tradition recorded from the tenth century onward and which persisted until the Reformation in the 16th century, when the Church of England broke away from the Catholic Church.</p>
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<img alt="A very large medieval church sits within a wide expanse of green fields. The sky is blue." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512457/original/file-20230227-460-trhl0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512457/original/file-20230227-460-trhl0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512457/original/file-20230227-460-trhl0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512457/original/file-20230227-460-trhl0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512457/original/file-20230227-460-trhl0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512457/original/file-20230227-460-trhl0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512457/original/file-20230227-460-trhl0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The exterior of St Davids cathedral in Pembrokeshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-st-davids-cathedral-south-wales-598746545">Valerie2000/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The cathedral at St Davids is an example of the extent of the medieval devotion to David. It is no simple architectural effort. Its construction started in 1182 and it is a richly-decorated masterpiece. The surrounding terrain was challenging, so presumably the location was non-negotiable. The building fell down twice, firstly in 1220 and then in 1248, before stability was eventually achieved. </p>
<p>Bishops in 1538 and 1666, who were unsympathetic to pilgrimage and mindful of spiritual concerns, attempted to move the bishop’s throne 45 miles east to the town of Carmarthen. That they failed is testimony to the seismic force of the cult of St David.</p>
<p>This year marks the ninth centenary of a papal bull (a decree) issued by Pope Calixtus II confirming the estates and buildings of the bishops of Menevia (the Latin name of the diocese of St Davids, known as <em>Mynyw</em> in Welsh).</p>
<p>Contrary to popular belief, Calixtus did not canonise St David, because it was not required of an early saint. The English historian, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/william-of-malmesbury-gesta-regum-anglorum-the-history-of-the-english-kings-9780198206781?cc=pt&lang=en">William of Malmesbury</a>, writing in the 1120s, said Calixtus encouraged pilgrims to go to Menevia, because “those who went twice to St Davids should have the same privileges in the way of benediction as those as those who went once to Rome”. </p>
<p>Later Welsh poets picked up on the same formulation to promote the importance of the cathedral. In the late 14th century, the poet <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Iolo_Goch/woliAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=inauthor:%22Iolo%20Goch%22">Iolo Goch</a> reiterated that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one pilgrimage to Rome, and added that three to St Davids equalled one to Jerusalem. </p>
<p>The bard <a href="https://shop.wales.ac.uk/product/gwaith-ieuan-ap-rhydderch/">Ieuan ap Rhydderch</a>, writing in the first half of the 15th century, repeated this in his long poem dedicated to David and declared “<em>Nid gwell sant, ffyniant ei ffawd / Na Dewi</em> ("There is no better saint than Dewi, good fortune his blessing”).</p>
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<img alt="A black flag with a yellow cross flies with a blue sky in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512482/original/file-20230227-16-6947td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512482/original/file-20230227-16-6947td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512482/original/file-20230227-16-6947td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512482/original/file-20230227-16-6947td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512482/original/file-20230227-16-6947td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512482/original/file-20230227-16-6947td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512482/original/file-20230227-16-6947td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The flag of St David.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/st-davids-flag-wales-2083826">Tim Large/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt81m2d">David died in around AD600</a>. A reference to his banner leading the Welsh forces in the tenth-century prophetic poem, <a href="https://exploringcelticciv.web.unc.edu/prsp-record/text-armes-prydein/">Armes Prydein</a>, suggests that by that point he was thought of as the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-ecclesiastical-history/article/abs/traditions-of-the-welsh-saints-by-elissa-r-henken-pp-vii-368-cambridge-d-s-brewer-1987-2950-0-85991-221-3/82CAAC37A774C8217EFB8B971AACC206">patron saint of the Welsh people</a>. </p>
<p>The feast of St David on March 1 was a religious festival up until the Reformation. It then survived as a <a href="https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/religion-language-and-nationality-in-wales/">national day of commemoration throughout the following centuries</a>.</p>
<p>The cult of <em>Dewi Sant</em> lives on to the present day as a potent symbol of Welsh national identity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Wooding is member of the Diocesan Tourism Working Party of the Diocese of St Davids.
He has previously worked in conjuction with St Davids Cathedral and Diocese on historical projects. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Fulton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Much of what we know about the life of the sixth century monk, St David, comes from medieval texts written several centuries later.Helen Fulton, Professor and Chair of Medieval Literature, University of BristolJonathan M. Wooding, Honorary Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981982023-02-06T21:00:48Z2023-02-06T21:00:48ZNewport ship: after 20 years’ work, experts are ready to reassemble medieval vessel found in the mud<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508112/original/file-20230203-16-3271x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C13%2C4426%2C3301&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An artistic impression of how the Newport Medieval ship may have looked . </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Jordan/Newport Museums and Heritage Service</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When construction work began on a new arts centre in Newport, south Wales, in 2002, the builders on site could scarcely have imagined what they would dig up. While excavating the foundations on the banks of the River Usk, a section of a medieval wooden ship was uncovered which had been perfectly preserved by the river’s waterlogged silt. Archaeologists were called in and it soon became clear the vessel was extraordinary. </p>
<p>This was not a coastal sailing boat that would have plied the Severn estuary up to the 19th century. Rather, it was a “great ship” by medieval standards, one that would have worked the long-distance routes of the Atlantic and Mediterranean. And yet, there it was, or at least a part of it, lying in an old slipway in what would have been a small Welsh port with a population of about 500 people during the Middle Ages.</p>
<p>The ship’s remains quickly caught the public’s imagination, with large numbers of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2195072.stm">local people visiting the wreck</a>. It was a reminder that while Newport is best known historically as a 19th-century iron town, the city has a long history intimately connected to the sea. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507861/original/file-20230202-7334-wj9b1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people wearing hard hats and high-visibility vests stand within a construction site on timber planks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507861/original/file-20230202-7334-wj9b1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507861/original/file-20230202-7334-wj9b1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507861/original/file-20230202-7334-wj9b1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507861/original/file-20230202-7334-wj9b1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507861/original/file-20230202-7334-wj9b1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507861/original/file-20230202-7334-wj9b1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507861/original/file-20230202-7334-wj9b1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Newport medieval ship as it looked in September 2002, months after construction workers made the discovery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Newport_ship.jpg">Owain</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>So it was perhaps inevitable that <a href="https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/15479544.15-years-on-how-newports-medieval-ship-was-found-and-how-it-was-saved/">locals were outraged</a> when they learned “their” ship was simply going to be recorded where it sat, before being sampled and then bulldozed. The price tag just seemed too great; preserving the remains would take decades and cost millions. </p>
<p>Excavations of other ships, such as <a href="https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/site-attractions/attractions/the-mary-rose">Henry VIII’s Mary Rose</a>, had shown how expensive it would be. But <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2191881.stm">local passion and campaigning</a> outweighed such considerations and plans eventually changed. The ship would be saved. </p>
<p>Twenty years later and the task of excavating, preserving and recording all the timbers and artefacts is nearly complete. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64151535">Attention is now turning to the reconstruction of the remains</a> and consideration of how best to display the ship in the future.</p>
<p>Since its discovery, we have found out so much more about the Newport ship. It is not like the <a href="https://maryrose.org/">Mary Rose</a> or the <a href="https://www.vasamuseet.se/en">Vasa</a>, a 17th-century Swedish warship recovered in 1961. Both are complete vessels, full of artefacts. The Newport ship is the surviving part of a vessel that was wrecked while undergoing maintenance in a dry dock. </p>
<p>Most of the contents, and almost all of the upper parts of the structure, were salvaged and removed before a medieval slipway was built on top. So, only part of the hull remains intact. However, that fragment is important both because it is wonderfully preserved and because is the largest and most complete section of a 15th-century European ship discovered to date. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507869/original/file-20230202-7395-ymlash.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Planks of wood lie in water within large but shallow yellow baths inside a big warehouse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507869/original/file-20230202-7395-ymlash.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507869/original/file-20230202-7395-ymlash.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507869/original/file-20230202-7395-ymlash.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507869/original/file-20230202-7395-ymlash.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507869/original/file-20230202-7395-ymlash.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507869/original/file-20230202-7395-ymlash.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507869/original/file-20230202-7395-ymlash.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The timbers of the Newport medieval ship undergo conservation in April 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/15303">Robin Drayton/Geograph</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Also, dendrochronology (the scientific method of dating tree rings to the year they were formed), has made it possible to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1095-9270.12052">pinpoint that the ship was built in 1450 in the Basque country</a>. The same techniques, when applied to the collapsed scaffolding used to hold the ship in place, can tell us when it was wrecked to within a year (1468). This has made it possible to situate the vessel within an eventful period, at the dawn of Europe’s age of discovery and the Wars of the Roses.</p>
<p>The Newport Medieval ship represents the final flourish of a shipbuilding tradition that stretched back centuries. This involved the construction of a shell, made from overlapping planks, into which a relatively light frame was fitted to provide stability. </p>
<p>It has more in common with Viking longships than it has with the skeleton-built ships of the early modern period. But the Newport ship is far bigger than Viking vessels. In its heyday it was capable of carrying 160 tuns (about 320,000 pints) of wine in its hold, on a voyage from Bordeaux.</p>
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<img alt="Very old, silver coin lodged within a piece of timber" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508303/original/file-20230206-25-ecp2yc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508303/original/file-20230206-25-ecp2yc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508303/original/file-20230206-25-ecp2yc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508303/original/file-20230206-25-ecp2yc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508303/original/file-20230206-25-ecp2yc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508303/original/file-20230206-25-ecp2yc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508303/original/file-20230206-25-ecp2yc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ‘petit blanc’ small French coin was found within the keel of the Newport Ship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Newport Museums and Heritage Service</span></span>
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<p>One of the most positive aspects of the project has been the way archaeologists, curators, scientists and other experts have collaborated. A team of historians I gathered <a href="https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/the-world-of-the-newport-medieval-ship/">examined the context of the ship</a> to better understand the world it came from. </p>
<p>New recording techniques were pioneered too, including the <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/newport-medieval-ship-timber-recording-manual-digital-recording-of-ship-timbers-using-a-faroarm-3d-digitiser-faro-arm-laser-line-probe-and-rhinoceros-3d-software-with-sections-on-modelling-and-metrical-data/oclc/759825236">3D scanning of every timber</a>. This made it possible to digitally reconstruct (and even 3D print at scale) the whole vessel. In many ways, it was fitted back together long before the real timbers even touched each other. </p>
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/746482760" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A digital reconstruction of the final journey made by the Newport Ship.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Most recently, the project curator, Toby Jones, has worked with the <a href="https://www.newportship.org">Friends of the Newport Ship</a> charity to produce complex visual reconstructions of the vessel. 3D animated films are being used to communicate the nature of the vessel to the public, as well as providing experts with fresh avenues of research to explore.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evan Jones received £2000 from Newport City Council / The Friends of the Newport Ship to cover part of the costs for holding a conference on 'The World of the Newport Medieval Ship' in 2014. Both bodies also made contributions (totaling £3,114) towards the publication costs of the subsequent book 'The World of the Newport Medieval Ship' (University of Wales Press, 2018). </span></em></p>The Newport medieval ship is the most complete section of a 15th-century European vessel discovered to date.Evan Jones, Associate professor, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1900212022-09-06T15:04:00Z2022-09-06T15:04:00ZHouse of Dragons – an introduction to the stories and British history that inspired the beasts of Westeros<p>Dragons have inspired awe and wonder since the beginning of human imagination. Most recently, these fire-spitting flying creatures – in modern western culture at least – have come alive in Game of Thrones and its new spin off, House of Dragons.</p>
<p>These winged beasts are particularly important in the new series. Set 200 years before Game of Thrones, the series follows the Targaryen family who rules Westeros with the help of their dragons. </p>
<p>In the medieval west, dragons feature both in literature and in political history and prophecy. They reached their heyday in Arthurian stories, most notably in Merlin’s legendary prophecies of two dragons fighting for the sovereignty of two warring peoples. This story was later used and reused for centuries for political gain by real historical people.</p>
<p>The beasts of Westeros, the fictional land in which these series are set, owe a debt to these tales. So, for those who want to stand out from the crowd in online debates about the new series, here is an introduction to the dragons of Westeros that takes in Arthurian legend, a handful of battles and wars, the Tudors and the story of a contested heir. </p>
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<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-a-cheats-guide-to-middle-earth-before-you-watch-the-new-show-189644?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power – a cheat’s guide to Middle-earth before you watch the new show</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/salman-rushdie-where-to-start-with-this-pioneering-and-controversial-author-188707?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Salman Rushdie: where to start with this pioneering and controversial author</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/five-dating-tips-from-the-georgian-era-186847?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Five dating tips from the Georgian era</a></em></p>
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<h2>Dragons in western literature</h2>
<p>The dragon’s roots in medieval lore go back to their image as menacing animals, such as the dragon at the end of the Germanic story of <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/beowulf">Beowulf</a>. In this epic poem, Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero defeats Grendel, an outcast creature of gigantic stature in order to defend the Geats. After years of peace, Beowulf dies in combat against a new enemy, a dragon that holds power and a hoard of precious treasures – possibly in an act that symbolises the faults of a bad king in early culture.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Fathers">Early Christian authors</a> gave dragons human characteristics such as greed and in literature, dragons signalled the sin of avarice – they were creatures to fear and defeat. In later medieval Europe, however, red and white dragons featured in the pre-history of the legendary King Arthur of the Pendragon dynasty. </p>
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<img alt="A medieval painting of people watching two dragons battle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482992/original/file-20220906-16-oq0wfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482992/original/file-20220906-16-oq0wfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482992/original/file-20220906-16-oq0wfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482992/original/file-20220906-16-oq0wfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482992/original/file-20220906-16-oq0wfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482992/original/file-20220906-16-oq0wfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482992/original/file-20220906-16-oq0wfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An illustration of the battle between the red and white dragon from Historia Regum Britanniae. Vortigern is depicted sitting at the edge of a pool watching.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lambeth Palace Library/Wikimedia</span></span>
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<p>According to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s <em><a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/bnf-english-copy-of-geoffrey-of-monmouths-history-of-the-kings-of-britain">Historia Regum Britanniae</a></em> (History of the Kings of Britain), first written in the 12th century, Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon, gets his surname from witnessing a comet in the sky (the “pen” in his name meaning “head”) that resembles a fire-spitting dragon. </p>
<p>Prior to Uther’s reign, it is Vortigern, a Celtic leader (said to have invited the Saxons into Britain) who finds that his building of a tower at Dynas Emrys in North Wales is prevented by the underground struggle between a white and red dragon. The red dragon symbolises the Welsh and the white the Saxons. This Arthurian prophecy of these battling beasts was used to tell of a time when a leader would come to liberate the Welsh. This prophecy endured for centuries. </p>
<h2>Dragons and prophecy</h2>
<p>By the time Arthur was written into medieval history books, however, his Welsh ancestry had all but been forgotten, and he had been assimilated into English culture. This erasure led generations of English kings to claim descent from Arthur, if tenuously. This was particularly so during the Wars of the Roses (1455-87) when the white rose and red rose, representing the houses of York and Lancaster, clashed in a dynastic war that decimated the aristocracy. When it came to an end, with Henry Tudor bringing together in his descent the two dynasties and the Welsh line, the fighting white and red dragon could be said to have gone to rest.</p>
<p>Shakespeare’s dramatic rendering of the infamous Machiavellian-style politics during the Wars of the Roses in his series of history plays gave Game of Thrones’s creator, George R.R. Martin, a powerful <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/george-r-r-martin-the-rolling-stone-interview-242487/">source of inspiration</a> for his books. Dynastic wars dominate Game of Thrones but the presence of dragons and their political significance comes to the fore in House of Dragons. </p>
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<p>In the second episode of House of Dragons, king Viseryis reveals to his heir, princess Rhaenyra, that the Targaryen dynasty has only really held its position thanks to controlling the power dragons yield. The political power struggle that unravels is reminiscent of the period of English history known as <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/King-Stephen-Anarchy/">The Anarchy</a> (c. 1138-53), when the only male heir of King Henry I of England died and Matilda, the king’s daughter, was designated heir – the first female in England.</p>
<p>Stephen of Blois, the king’s nephew, contested Matilda’s claim and bitter struggles ensued. It can easily be seen that a period like this brought much anxiety and concern about the future. At this time, Geoffrey’s works, the <em>Historia</em> and also his Prophecies of Merlin, steeped in Arthurian legend as they were, were used to build hope in prophecy as a tool to read the future of politics while the prospect of peace was nowhere in sight.</p>
<p>The Anarchy in England preceded the Wars of the Roses by almost as many years as the action depicted in House of Dragons precedes the events of Game of Thrones. It is easy to see how these periods and their myths inspired Martin. In both of these historical periods of turmoil, and in Martin’s series of novels, human control over prophecy is as difficult as their control over dragons. </p>
<p>Prophetic texts were used to infuse politics with hope for a charismatic leader and dragons could only enhance the enticing aura of mystery around such a future. It is here that Martin’s use of dragons moves to a more modern taste for fantastical power. </p>
<p>Interestingly, dragons of yore had to be dominated or defeated; their occasional use in heraldry and art was meant to impress and inspire awe. The dragons of Westeros, however, are most powerful when lead, in both TV series, by young female characters who nurture rather than destroy or dominate these creatures. In the prequel, we are just getting a look at this relationship. We should expect a lot more legend and violence, but also more inspiring female-dominated politics and more dragon action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raluca Radulescu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dragons have been used for political manoeuvring throughout the history of Britain.Raluca Radulescu, Professor of Medieval Literature and English Literature, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1100632019-02-26T11:22:10Z2019-02-26T11:22:10ZFour women poets who will take you on an alternative journey through Welsh history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260407/original/file-20190222-195861-xtfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-sits-white-dress-leather-journal-1092022793?src=GDEvLIslU7P3C8kU3G6yeg-8-27">Alexander Gold/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Poetry has played an important role in the history of Wales. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-welsh-developed-their-own-form-of-poetry-73299">From the medieval courts</a>, to the ongoing National Eisteddfod (the largest music and poetry festival in Europe), writers have used verse to document the land’s culture. But while male writers, such as the 12th century <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/early-welsh-literature/pages/poets-princes.shtml">poets of the princes</a> and more recently <a href="https://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/dylan-thomas">Dylan Thomas</a>, have presented one perspective of Welsh history and culture, female poets have documented a very different take on Wales through the centuries. Here are four who bring a different perspective.</p>
<h2>1. Gwerful Mechain (est.1462-1500)</h2>
<p>Gwerful Mechain is one of the few Welsh medieval poets from whom a <a href="https://broadviewpress.com/product/the-works-of-gwerful-mechain/?ph=9aca224f1207703b2563bc35#tab-description">substantial body of work</a> has survived to this day. One of the loudest voices speaking up for women of the time, Mechain was also one of the first poets in Wales to write about domestic abuse. <a href="http://www2.lingue.unibo.it/acume/acumedvd/Essays%20ACUME/AcumeGramichfinal.pdf">To Her Husband for Beating Her</a> is a poignant and powerful poem full of enraged language and energetic imagery. </p>
<p>Born <a href="https://biography.wales/article/s-GWER-MEC-1462">into a noble family</a>, Mechain was free to explore her own poetic interests without the pressure of securing patronage, unlike many of her male contemporaries. She became a prolific writer who was not restricted to one style. Her work includes religious, humorous and socially conscious poetry. One of her most well-known works, <a href="http://www2.lingue.unibo.it/acume/acumedvd/Essays%20ACUME/AcumeGramichfinal.pdf">To the Vagina</a>, chastises her male counterparts for praising a woman’s body from her hair to her feet but ignoring one hidden feature. She was bold and did not shy away from what some may consider crude imagery, as in her poem, To the Maid as she Shits.</p>
<p><a href="https://broadviewpress.com/product/the-works-of-gwerful-mechain/?ph=9aca224f1207703b2563bc35#tab-description">This extract</a>, in Welsh then English, is from <a href="https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/cywydd-y-cedor/">Cywydd y cedor</a> (<a href="https://allpoetry.com/The-Female-Genitals">The Female Genitals</a>):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pob rhyw brydydd, dydd dioed,<br>
Mul frwysg, wladiadd rwysg erioed,<br>
Noethi moliant, nis gwarantwyf,<br>
Anfeidrol reiol, yr wyf</p>
<p>Every poet, drunken fool,<br>
Thinks he is just the king of cool,<br>
(Everyone is such a boor,<br>
He makes me so sick, I’m so demure)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>2. Katherine Philips (c.1632 - c.1664)</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/katherine-philips">Born in London</a>, Katherine Philips – who later wrote under the moniker “The Matchless Orinda” – moved to Wales when she was around 15 years old. From her home in Cardigan she became a significant female British poet, as well as the first woman to <a href="https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/print-and-perception-the-literary-careers-of-margaret-cavendish-and-katherine-philips">have a commercial play staged</a>, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/398748/pdf">Pompey</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the stigma against women <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/%7E/link.aspx?_id=7EBD2EA9A970488AADCBB32636FC0886&_z=z">publishing their work</a>, Philips <a href="https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/print-and-perception-the-literary-careers-of-margaret-cavendish-and-katherine-philips">succeeded by</a> circulating handwritten letters and volumes, as her male contemporaries did, while upholding supposedly feminine virtues such as humility and chastity <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/poems-by-mrs-katherine-philips-the-matchless-orinda">in her works</a>.</p>
<p>Though she was married with two sons, much discussion around Philips’ poetry and life concentrates on <a href="https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2013/03/was-katherine-philips-a-lesbian-love-poet/">whether she was or was not a lesbian</a>. The <a href="https://parallel.cymru/poets/?lang=en#katherine=philips">emotional focus of her poetry</a> was often on women and the passionate relationships she had with them. Regardless of Philips’ own sexual orientation, her work was the first British poetry to <a href="https://www.serenbooks.com/productdisplay/forbidden-lives">express same-sex love between women</a>.</p>
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<h2>3. Sarah Jane Rees (“Cranogwen”) (1839–1916)</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/5NBLyP27sktHGm6ljTG9h6J/cranogwen-sarah-jane-rees">Sarah Jane Rees</a> (also known by the <a href="https://parallel.cymru/poets/?lang=en#sarah-jane-rees">bardic name Cranogwen</a>) is perhaps one of the most pioneering poets in this list. <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48648">Born in Llangrannog</a>, west Wales, she spurned all attempts to enforce gender stereotypes – her family wanted her to work as a dressmaker – and instead joined her father on board his ship for two years after leaving school. She continued her education, eventually gaining her master mariner certificate. Returning home by the age of 21, Cranogwen fought against opposition to run her old school, and taught children as well as providing navigation and seamanship education to young men.</p>
<p>In 1865 she entered the Eisteddfod festival as Cranogwen with
Y Fodrwy Briodasal (The Wedding Ring), a satirical poem about a married woman’s destiny. When she was announced as the <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48648">first woman to win the prize</a>, there was <a href="https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3413322/3413327/44/Cranogwen">disgust from the established and renowned male writers</a> who had been competing. Cranogwen became famous overnight and a <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Caniadau_Cranogwen.html?id=xF1xOwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">collection of her poems</a> was released in 1870.</p>
<p>The following lines are taken from <a href="https://parallel.cymru/poets/?lang=en#sarah-jane-rees">My Friend</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ah! Annwyl chwaer, ‘r wyt ti i mi,<br>
Fel lloer I’r lli, yn gyson;<br>
Dy ddilyn heb orphwyso wna<br>
Serchiadau pura’m calon </p>
<p>Oh! My dear sister, you to me<br>
As the moon to the sea, constantly,<br>
Following you restlessly are<br>
My heart’s pure affections</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>4. Lynette Roberts (1909-1995)</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-lynette-roberts-1603243.html">Lynette Roberts</a> was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to parents of Welsh origin. A friend of Dylan Thomas, during World War II Roberts moved to Carmarthenshire with her then husband, <a href="https://www.walesartsreview.org/the-van-pool-the-collected-poems-of-keidrych-rhys/">journalist and poet Keidrych Rhys</a>, and stayed in Wales for the rest of her life. </p>
<p>Although now <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/search?query=Lynette%20Roberts&refinement=poems">her work</a> is seeing a resurgence, for a long time Roberts has been overlooked. <a href="https://theconversation.com/lynette-roberts-welsh-poet-who-fused-touch-and-sight-into-sound-105703">She was a poet ahead of her time</a> and her use of language is refreshing. Roberts was influenced by the rich colours and landscape of her childhood, which she entwined with the rural landscape and culture of Wales during a time of upheaval – World War II. </p>
<p>Roberts’s poem <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Collected_Poems.html?id=FJ9uBgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">Swansea Raid</a> is perhaps one of her most powerful and insightful works. It depicts a snapshot of a relationship between herself and fellow villager Rosie and the tension between war and home. The changing technological world of war brought out warm, colourful language in her work, setting the colloquialisms of quiet, rural Wales against the starkness of bombing and constant threat of loss. Her most influential work has to be the heroic poem <a href="https://msu.edu/course/eng/362/johnsen/roberts.pdf">Gods with Stainless Ears</a>, on the war’s disruption of domestic life. </p>
<p>This verse is from Roberts’ 1944 <a href="http://www.blueridgejournal.com/poems/lr1-llanybri.htm">Poem from Llanybri</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Then I’ll do the lights, fill the lamp with oil,<br>
Get coal from the shed, water from the well;<br>
Pluck and draw pigeon, with crop of green foil<br>
This your good supper from the lime-tree fell.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110063/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rhea Seren Phillips is affiliated with Parallel.Cymru on a short-term development project looking into the history of Welsh poets, available to read at <a href="https://parallel.cymru/poets/">https://parallel.cymru/poets/</a>. </span></em></p>From speaking out over domestic abuse in medieval times to telling the realities of war, these female poets present a very different version of Welsh life.Rhea Seren Phillips, PhD Researcher in Welsh Poetry, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/821922017-10-06T10:08:13Z2017-10-06T10:08:13ZHow the people of Wales became Welsh<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189143/original/file-20171006-25758-jp3ubh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Norman-built keep at Cardiff Castle.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cardiff-castle-situated-within-beautiful-parklands-151136786?src=JKffQN7UpwFeWeuMh2dc4Q-1-52">Matthew Dixon/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain in the early Middle Ages was very different to the country it is now. Rather than England, Scotland and Wales, the island consisted of numerous kingdoms, the fate and fortune of which fluctuated, as some kings gained lordship over others, some smaller kingdoms were swallowed by their larger neighbours and others fell to foreign invaders – including Vikings, in the ninth and tenth centuries.</p>
<p>Today, many of the inhabitants of Britain identify primarily as <a href="http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ethnicity-identity-language-and-religion">Scottish</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24302914">English</a> or <a href="https://www.ethnicity.ac.uk/medialibrary/briefings/dynamicsofdiversity/code-census-briefing-national-identity-wales.pdf">Welsh</a>. But this was not always the case. In Wales, for example, there is no single defining moment when one can say the people became “Welsh”.</p>
<p>In the early middle ages, Wales was divided <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/the-lost-kingdoms-of-wales-13721585">into different kingdoms</a> – Gwynedd, Dyfed and Ceredigion, for example – whose relations with each other formed a central plank of native politics. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188978/original/file-20171005-9781-8xwxt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188978/original/file-20171005-9781-8xwxt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188978/original/file-20171005-9781-8xwxt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188978/original/file-20171005-9781-8xwxt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188978/original/file-20171005-9781-8xwxt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188978/original/file-20171005-9781-8xwxt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188978/original/file-20171005-9781-8xwxt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188978/original/file-20171005-9781-8xwxt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The kingdoms of early medieval Wales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wales.post-Roman.jpg">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the ninth and tenth centuries the Merfynion, a dynasty <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AK_yn7Q3_x0C&pg=PA554&lpg=PA554&dq=Merfynion&source=bl&ots=17TQ9JiRM_&sig=cwNZA8FISlhEyzaaCUQW6K63eqY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiG5-OBpdLWAhXCbVAKHeYbCdAQ6AEIOzAD#v=onepage&q=Merfynion&f=false">named after its founder Merfyn Frych</a>, gained power in many of these areas, their authority spreading over both north and south Wales. </p>
<p>Even though we now label the medieval country as Wales, back then it didn’t exist as a politically united entity. This raises the question – did the inhabitants of Wales view themselves as “Welsh”?</p>
<h2>What’s in a name?</h2>
<p>The words “Wales” and “Welsh” come from the Anglo-Saxon use of the term “wealas” to describe (among other things) the people of Britain who spoke Brittonic – a Celtic language used throughout Britain which later developed into Welsh, Cornish, Breton and other languages. English writers viewed the inhabitants of Wales as different to themselves, but at the same time “wealas” wasn’t exclusively used to refer to the people of Wales. The same terminology was sometimes applied to the Cornish, for example, with “wealas” reflected in the last part of Cornwall, as “wall”.</p>
<p>We see a similar situation when we look at Welsh language words. In the tenth century, “Kymry” was used for the first time in <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LN9DSKZfItcC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=armes+prydein+vawr&source=bl&ots=CWC0VmxtCH&sig=c7qDDLQNzZPn7UoEBzKVEhWQY3g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW1u3q99bWAhVBKFAKHW9NDpMQ6AEIVzAJ#v=onepage&q=armes%20prydein%20vawr&f=false">Armes Prydein Vawr</a> (The Great Prophecy of Britain), a Welsh poem calling upon the Kymry to rise up against the English and evict them from Britain once and for all. </p>
<p>In modern Welsh, Kymry has become Cymru and Cymry, the former referring to the territory of Wales, the latter to its inhabitants. In Armes Prydein Vawr, however, Kymry doesn’t just refer to the inhabitants of Wales, but to multiple Brittonic-speaking peoples. So when Armes Prydein Vawr refers to the Kymry, as well as the inhabitants of Wales, the poet is also calling upon the Cornish, the Bretons, and the inhabitants of the Brittonic-speaking kingdoms of northern England and southern Scotland, commonly referred to then as the “Old North”.</p>
<h2>Layers of identity</h2>
<p>To explain the connection between the Brittonic-speaking peoples at the time, early medieval writers turned to history. The <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1972/1972-h/1972-h.htm">Historia Brittonum</a>, a history of the Britons composed in north Wales in 829–30, claims that the Britons were originally Trojans who travelled to Britain and became the first people to settle the island. The text also asserts that during the Roman period a group of Britons left the island and settled on the continent, becoming the Armorican Britons or <a href="http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Costa-Rica-to-Georgia/Bretons.html">Bretons</a> of Brittany, northern France. </p>
<p>The inhabitants of Wales, like those of Cornwall and the Old North, are depicted as the descendants of the original Britons who remained in Britain. But successive attacks by the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-about-the-picts-886098.html">Picts</a>, Irish and – especially – the Saxons had encroached upon their territory. They no longer ruled the entirety of Britain, just small corners of it. The identity based on this narrative presents the inhabitants of Wales as Britons, closely connected to the inhabitants of Cornwall, the Old North, and Brittany. </p>
<p>Ideas of identity were – and still are – complex and layered. The poet who wrote Armes Prydein Vawr may have viewed all the Brittonic-speaking peoples as Kymry, but the Cornishmen are also referred to as “Cornyw” and the inhabitants of Strathclyde as “Cludwys”. There was a distinction between the inhabitants of Cornwall and of Strathclyde, even though they were grouped as Kymry. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189144/original/file-20171006-25749-1565qen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189144/original/file-20171006-25749-1565qen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189144/original/file-20171006-25749-1565qen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189144/original/file-20171006-25749-1565qen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189144/original/file-20171006-25749-1565qen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189144/original/file-20171006-25749-1565qen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189144/original/file-20171006-25749-1565qen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189144/original/file-20171006-25749-1565qen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Offa’s Dyke near Clun, Shropshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Offa%27s_Dyke_near_Clun.jpg">Chris Heaton</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a similar sentiment in the <a href="http://mcllibrary.org/KingAlfred/">Life of King Alfred</a>, a biography of <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-indicates-that-alfred-the-great-probably-wasnt-that-great-74464">Alfred the Great</a> composed in 893. The writer, Asser, refers to Offa of Mercia <a href="http://www.historyextra.com/article/feature/brief-history-offas-dyke">building a dyke</a> – an earthwork denoting the border – between his kingdom and Britannia. Here Britannia clearly refers to Wales and presents it as distinct from other Brittonic-speaking areas. Likewise, Cornwall is called “Cornubia” rather than as part of one unified Britannia. </p>
<p>Nowhere is the complex nature of identity more evident than in early medieval Wales. Sources both from and outside what we would now view as Wales see the Welsh as Britons, who once ruled the entirety of Britain, and – according to Armes Prydein Vawr – would do so again in the future. But there are hints of an alternative identity being constructed. When Asser looks to Britannia, his gaze is turned to the west, across Offa’s Dyke. It is possible that the geographical unit of Wales, is beginning to play a role in ideas of identity. </p>
<p>We can’t point to exactly when the inhabitants of Wales became Welsh, but the works of writers and historians of the time provide tantalising glimpses of shifting and developing identities in the early medieval period.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Thomas receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>At one point, the Welsh, Cornish, Scottish, Bretons and northern English were all “Kymry” - so what changed?Rebecca Thomas, Assistant researcher, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/711262017-02-02T15:24:59Z2017-02-02T15:24:59ZHow King Arthur became one of the most pervasive legends of all time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155341/original/image-20170202-28044-7h4xf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/sword-stone-forest-399358975?src=XHTJebjwrPXK9d1UTPSOZg-1-12">Vuk Kostic/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>King Arthur is one of, if not the, most legendary icons of medieval Britain. His popularity has lasted centuries, mostly <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-arthurian-legend-64289">thanks to the numerous incarnations</a> of his story that pop up time and time again. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155350/original/image-20170202-1673-xh1lty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155350/original/image-20170202-1673-xh1lty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155350/original/image-20170202-1673-xh1lty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155350/original/image-20170202-1673-xh1lty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155350/original/image-20170202-1673-xh1lty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155350/original/image-20170202-1673-xh1lty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155350/original/image-20170202-1673-xh1lty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sir Galahad pulls the sword out of the stone in front of King Arthur and the court.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bangor University Library and Special Collections</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, his is one of the most enduring stories of all time. Though his tale is rooted in the fifth and sixth centuries, it has continued to captivate audiences to this very day. There is just something about the sword in the stone, the knights of the round table, Lancelot, and the wizard Merlin, that have kept us coming back to the various legends of King Arthur for such a long time. </p>
<p>In the last 15 years alone, there have been Hollywood movies, computer games, and other creative re-tellings. With Bangor University’s new Centre for Arthurian Studies just launched a fortnight ago, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rbPTQIdjmY">Guy Ritchie’s new movie</a>, King Arthur: the Legend of the Sword, due to be released in late spring, there is no doubt both the scholarly search for Arthur and the impact of his legends on modern culture are continuing to flourish.</p>
<p>Arthur’s life story is one that has become almost a standard for knightly heroes to aspire to. He is seen as brave, noble, kind – everything that some might say is missing from our modern world.</p>
<h2>The epic hero</h2>
<p>Few might know that Arthur is a hero whose ancestry goes back to the Brittonic inhabitants <a href="https://theconversation.com/king-arthur-back-home-in-wales-thanks-to-guy-ritchie-40116">of early medieval Wales</a> before the arrival of the Saxons, and not just the kingly figure that appears in later romances. In fact, the Arthur of legend was <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/king-arthur-legendary-figure-was-real-and-lived-most-of-his-life-in-strathclyde-academic-claims-10483364.html">neither a king</a>, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7883874/Historians-locate-King-Arthurs-Round-Table.html">nor the owner of a round table</a>, at least not in the way we use these terms today.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155340/original/image-20170202-28040-10q1mw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155340/original/image-20170202-28040-10q1mw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155340/original/image-20170202-28040-10q1mw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155340/original/image-20170202-28040-10q1mw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155340/original/image-20170202-28040-10q1mw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155340/original/image-20170202-28040-10q1mw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155340/original/image-20170202-28040-10q1mw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arthur’s defeat of the Saxons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Defeat_of_the_Saxons_by_Arthur.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Records about Arthur’s life are few and far between. He emerges in the sixth century in the work <a href="http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artgue/guestsheila2.htm">of the Welsh monk Gildas</a>, where his victory at Mount Badon is celebrated, but he is not named. It is only in the ninth century Historia Brittonum, composed by another monk, Nennius, that Arthur is <a href="http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/nennius-history-of-the-britons">named as a “dux bellorum”</a>, a military commander, and his 12 battles are listed. </p>
<p>Much time passed between these early records and the 12th century’s full-blown accounts of Arthur’s reign – in the work <a href="http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/geoffrey-of-monmouth-arthurian-passages-from-the-history-of-the-kings-of-britain">of Geoffrey of Monmouth</a> and the French <a href="http://matterofbritain.com/htmlpages/legendliterature1.html">Chretien de Troyes</a>, the writers who truly made Arthur the legendary king we now know – and he took on a variety of roles. </p>
<p>In the Welsh stories, Arthur remains a warrior, often a foil for other heroes’ path to greatness. But in the early French romances, he provided a yardstick for courtly behaviour, as epic battles do not form the backbone of these later stories written on the continent. Geoffrey of Monmouth brought back the leadership and determination of an Arthur who becomes not only a king (on whom 12th century Anglo-Norman kings could model themselves), but also a conqueror – again reflecting a desire for greatness beyond national boundaries. Thus the image of the courtly king, a leader in both war and times of peace, was born.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155339/original/image-20170202-28031-13mnvnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155339/original/image-20170202-28031-13mnvnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155339/original/image-20170202-28031-13mnvnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155339/original/image-20170202-28031-13mnvnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155339/original/image-20170202-28031-13mnvnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1292&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155339/original/image-20170202-28031-13mnvnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155339/original/image-20170202-28031-13mnvnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1292&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">King Arthur, as painted in 1903 by Charles Ernest Butler.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Ernest_Butler_-_King_Arthur.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A modern legend</h2>
<p>However, Arthur was always connected to the realities of those countries, and the times and peoples for whom he was reinvented. The Arthurian revival <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/arthur_01.shtml#six">of the late 19th century</a>, for example, helped put him back on the international cultural map by removing the historical aura, and emphasising the values he stood for – a far cry from the medieval attempts to utilise him as a national figure from whom medieval kings could derive their right to rule. This paved the way to the fantasy worlds created, most famously, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jun/03/featuresreviews.guardianreview4">by T.H. White</a> in The Once and Future King, published in 1958. </p>
<p>All of these interpretations were about more than just revealing the secrets of one of the most intriguing men of all time. In this confusing and sometimes frightening world, audiences seek reassurance in the models of the past. They want a standard of moral integrity and visionary leadership that is inspirational and transformational in equal measure. One that they cannot find in the world around them, but will discover in the stories of King Arthur.</p>
<p>Is our modern appetite for fantasy a reflection of our need to reinvent the past, and bring hope into our present? Moral integrity, loyalty to one’s friends and kin, abiding by the law and defending the weak, form the cornerstone of how Arthurian fellowship has been defined through the centuries. They offer the reassurance that doing the morally right thing is valuable, even if it may bring about temporary defeat. In the end, virtues and values prevail and it is these enduring features of the legends that have kept them alive in the hearts and minds of so many through the centuries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raluca Radulescu works is a founding director of the new Centre for Arthurian Studies at Bangor University. She is also president of the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society.</span></em></p>Historic heroes like King Arthur have helped audiences through the ages to cope with troubling times.Raluca Radulescu, Professor of Medieval Literature and English Literature, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/715202017-01-24T13:42:01Z2017-01-24T13:42:01ZHow St Dwynwen wrongly became known as the Welsh Valentine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154026/original/image-20170124-462-rjvpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A monument to St Dwynwen at Llanddwyn on Anglesey</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/llandwyn-island-mystical-historic-crosses-lighthouses-67127206?src=rJRSnWH-yAq0mwEB0EH6bA-1-37">Gail Johnson/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>February 14 is the day marked for lovers in many countries around the world, but in Wales there is another date traditionally associated with romance: St Dwynwen’s Day, January 25.</p>
<p>Dwynwen – pronounced [<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Vun3l_uik">dʊɨnwɛn</a>] – was the daughter of an early medieval king who became the Welsh patron saint of lovers. As you might expect, she has her own love story – although it’s not quite what we today would consider a romantic one.</p>
<p>As the earliest version of her tale goes, Dwynwen was deeply in love with a young man called Maelon Dafodrill, but when she rebuffed his premarital sexual advances, he became enraged and left her. Saddened and fearful, Dwynwen prayed to God, and soon enough her former suitor’s ardour was decisively cooled – he was turned into a block of ice. And for rejecting Maelon’s untimely advances, God allowed Dwynwen three wishes.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"691652754884861952"}"></div></p>
<p>Her first wish was that Maelon should be defrosted at once. The second was that her prayers on behalf of “all true-hearted lovers” should be heard, so that “they should either obtain the objects of their affection, or be cured of their passion”. Her final wish was that she should never have to marry; she is said to have ended her life as a nun at the isolated church named after her, <a href="http://www.anglesey-history.co.uk/places/llanddwyn/">Llanddwyn</a>, on the island of Anglesey.</p>
<h2>Creating a legend</h2>
<p>Although it echoes other medieval saints’ lives, Dwynwen’s story only appeared for the first time in the writings of the self-taught polymath Edward Williams (1747-1826), better known by his <a href="http://www.iolomorganwg.wales.ac.uk">bardic name Iolo Morganwg</a>. Now Iolo Morganwg, depending on your point of view, was either a creative literary genius or a shameless forger. Either way, it seems certain that Dwynwen’s story is not medieval at all, but rather a product of Iolo Morganwg’s vivid imagination.</p>
<p>However, Dwynwen may well have been a real woman: she is mentioned in early genealogies as one of the numerous saintly daughters of the semi-legendary fifth-century king, <a href="http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-BRYC-APA-0419.html">Brychan Brycheiniog</a>. <a href="http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1277425/llgc-id:1289033/llgc-id:1289045/get650">Part of a Latin mass</a> from the early 16th century states that she walked on water from Ireland to escape the clutches of the Welsh king Maelgwn Gwynedd – although fleeing to Ireland might have been a better plan. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154024/original/image-20170124-465-kal60q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154024/original/image-20170124-465-kal60q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154024/original/image-20170124-465-kal60q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154024/original/image-20170124-465-kal60q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154024/original/image-20170124-465-kal60q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154024/original/image-20170124-465-kal60q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154024/original/image-20170124-465-kal60q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The church of Llanddwynwen or Llanddwyn in the 18th Century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_south_east_view_of_Llanddwynwen_i.e._Llanddwyn_Priory,_in_the_isle_of_Anglesey.jpeg">National Library of Wales</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our knowledge of the cult of Dwynwen is mainly based on two Welsh-language poems. The most famous was composed by medieval Wales’s greatest poet, <a href="http://www.dafyddapgwilym.net">Dafydd ap Gwilym</a>, around the middle of the 14th century, and was certainly known to Iolo Morganwg. In it, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Gsa4BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=%22beseeching+st.+dwynwen%22&source=bl&ots=l_cnukeBH_&sig=tYqK-eGCYiSc7ZX-Xm7zbgRqvDk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1qrvvvtrRAhWGtBQKHSRhBaoQ6AEIIDAC#v=onepage&q=%22beseeching%20st.%20dwynwen%22&f=false">the amorous poet calls</a> for Dwynwen’s assistance as a “llatai”, or love-messenger, for him and his married lover Morfudd. Aware that his actions are, to say the least, morally dubious, Dafydd promises the saint that she won’t lose her place in heaven by helping the lovers. Indeed, ensuring that his back is at least metaphorically covered, he also calls on God himself to keep Morfudd’s interfering husband from interrupting the lovers in their woodland trysts.</p>
<p>The other poem, by the priest-poet Dafydd Trefor, dates from around 1500 and describes the pilgrims that thronged to her church to see her image and to seek restoration from her holy wells. Their offerings ensured that the church grew wealthy although Dwynwen’s fame – inevitably – receded after the Reformation. But she never slipped into complete obscurity.</p>
<h2>Modern reworkings</h2>
<p>Dwynwen’s re-emergence began in earnest when extracts from Iolo Morganwg’s manuscripts were <a href="https://archive.org/details/iolomanuscripts00manugoog">published with English translations</a> in 1848. As a result, her story slowly but surely gained a foothold in the Welsh imagination. In 1886, for instance, <a href="http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-PARR-JOS-1841.html">composer Joseph Parry</a> wrote the music for “<a href="https://www.llgc.org.uk/blog/?p=10736">Dwynwen</a>”, a rousing chorus for male voice choirs. And in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Welsh newspapers in both languages would occasionally relate the <a href="http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3738357/3738361/56">story of the “Celtic Venus”</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, as the commercialisation of St Valentine’s Day continued apace, the first St Dwynwen’s Day cards were produced in Wales. Yet unlike her ice-melting prototype, the modern Dwynwen proved to be a slow burner. Indeed, by 1993 a commentator stated that attempts to create a Dwynwen tradition were withering away.</p>
<p>But in the current century St Dwynwen’s Day is once more flourishing, bolstered by the media and the same kind of special offers that you see around St Valentine’s Day. And although St Dwynwen’s Day is more familiar to those who speak Welsh than to those who don’t, even this is slowly changing. </p>
<p>Does it say something about the passion of the Welsh that they have two days for lovers, Valentine – “Ffolant” as he is known in Welsh – and Dwynwen? Probably not. But the relationship between the two is revealingly ambivalent.</p>
<p>St Dwynwen’s day is in part a protest against the globalising commercialisation of St Valentine’s Day. But it’s also an attempt to find a place in the same marketplace for a distinctively Welsh product. It certainly shouldn’t be seen as a repackaging of St Valentine’s Day for a Welsh audience – that would be like marketing St David as the “St George of Wales”.</p>
<p>If you find yourself in Wales on January 25, do make the most of the opportunity to follow your heart’s desires. The only advice I’d give you is this: don’t call Dwynwen the “Welsh Valentine”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dylan Foster Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Welsh legend of St Dwynwen is anything but romantic.Dylan Foster Evans, Reader in Welsh Language and Literature, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.