Magnificent Mabinogi: Places of power
Dr Shân Morgain
I came to Cymru 35 years ago and I fell in love – with the green splendours of the hills, with the tall hedges enclosing curling roads, with the beaches of craggy rock or golden sand or crashing surfer waves, and lilies on a quiet lake. With John Davies.
When John was a child, he read the Mabinogi tales. Suddenly he realised with wonder – the places in the tales were all around him. ‘These people lived right here long ago in my land.”
Dyfed, Gwynedd,
These two rival regions/ lordships of Cymru dominate Mabinogi tales, and they endure today. Historically southern Dyfed was the earlier mediaeval power, then Gwynedd became pre-eminent.
The same power shift sequence occurs in the Mabinogi.
Mabinogi lordships divide into local cantrefi, from cant/ hundred, the number of their fighters or petty lords.
Powys
Ifor Williams’ theory of a lost Powys mabinogi is not widely accepted.
Several scholars e.g. Anwyl, suggest Rhiannon came from Powys before she marries into Dyfed, which I favour. Rhiannon’s father is Hyfaidd Hen.
His court might be ‘Maes Hyfaidd’. Maesyfed (modern New Radnor, Powys) was once a great regional court.
Rhiannon rides into the Mabinogi on a marvellous, unbeatable horse. Giraldus’ mediaeval record gives Powys as heartland of a superb, hybrid breed of native cob and Spanish bloodlines: majestate/ ‘majestic proportions’, incomparabili velocitate/ ‘astonishing fleetness’.
Gwent
This is the lordship of ‘good man’ Teyrnon, rescuer of Rhiannon’s abducted baby.
The name Teyrnon Twrf Lliant has been connected to the Severn Bore, a sweeping tidal wave. John Davies rejects this as the Bore is not twrf/ noisy tumult, at all.
But the crashing sandbanks of the Bristol Channel are thunderous, dangerous for ships. Skilled local pilots are necessary, bringing wealth to their lord: Gwent as a trading hub.
Today’s (g)Wentwood forest is a small remnant of the huge forest as once was, an enclosing boundary barrier and rich source of timber for Gwent ships.
Arberth, prif lys
This prominent Dyfed court of wealth and culture opens the Mabinogi tales, frequently mentioned later.
A possible location in northern Pembrokeshire, Nant Arberth lies in mediaeval borderland territory. A better candidate, modern Narberth is at the intersection of east-west and north-south trade routes, in easy reach of southern trade ports; modern railways follow.
Great lords moved about between their courts so Pwyll and Pryderi would have others. The Cymraeg does not use ‘a/an’ so ‘Arberth, prif lys‘, could be ‘chief court’ or ‘a chief court’. The Third Branch gives ‘chief court and all honour originated from there’.
Glyn Cuch
Pwyll prince of Dyfed chooses to hunt here, the river Cych valley, fifteen miles north of Arberth, setting off the whole Mabinogi sequence.
Glyn Cuch is a thickly forested, river valley with steep craggy sides. It has a reputation for eerie goings on in local legends. Evidently Glyn Cuch was a favourite hunting ground for the princes of Dyfed as they kept a permanent hunting lodge there.
Britain, Harlech, England
The Second Branch expands Mabinogi landscape enormously to a tragic, genocidal war between Britain and Ireland.
No such total war is known from historical records or from archaeology.
The Mabinogi fosters a strong vision of Britain as one land: intact, unified, and autonomous, with the native Cymry/ ‘British’/ ‘Welsh’ ruling it.
Bendigeidfran King of Britain attempts to continue guarding his land by having his head buried in London after he dies. King Arthur, jealous of a rival hero, digs it up and opens the way to conquest.
Oddly the King of Britain in the Second Branch is only ever found at the great rock of Harlech (Gwynedd). In the Third Branch Lloegr/England features as a towns’ economy, and Henfford/ Hereford is named.
Two different Mabinogi names for ‘Britain’ express deep nationalist passion. Yr Ynys hon/ ’this Island’, may only be spoken by its native people. Ynys y Kedeyrn/ ‘Island of the Mighty [Ones]’ is outsider speech, acknowledging our military power.
Preselis
Pwyll sits in solemn Council in the Preseli hills. These are famous as source of the Stonehenge bluestones, a sacred place of ancestral power.
No historical record exists of a unified Britain before the 18thC. Perhaps the Preselis and Stonehenge hold trace memories of Mabinogi Britain, for Mike Pearson (archaeologist, UCL) suggests Stonehenge was a political project to unify the British tribes.
Pigs
Some place names trace a journey of stolen pigs in the Fourth Branch.
Enchanted realms
Pryderi and Manawydan linger long on the island of Gwales after the Irish War ends.. They feast in a great hall, entranced for many years.
John Davies comments wryly this is pure fantasy as there is no fresh water there. Its bright whiteness from afar possibly generated mystery; actually due to centuries of gannet-shit.
Annwfn is of course a famed enchanted land, which I shall investigate here later.
Two best sources
I recommend Margaret Jones beautiful A4 poster map,
John K. Bollard’s The Mabinogi, Legend and Landscape of Wales, has maps and lavish landscape photography by Anthony Griffiths’. Free PDF download. Also my favourite translation, and Bollard’s explanations are brilliant.
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The ‘Magnificent Mabinogi’ title was first used by the playwright director Manon Eames for her famous staging, Aberystwyth Arts 2008; used here with her permission.
‘Magnificent Mabinogi‘ series. 1) Genius 2) Stories 3) Howlers 4) Tensions 5) Places of power (above) NEXT 6) Myth or literature?
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Nice to remember John Davies, I and a few others were very lucky to have had 48 hours of hectic fun in his company years ago…
Aberffraw a bit too far away then…
If you caught a whiff of the burning cheese you would be there before your dogs..
Now are you talking about “my” John Davies who I refer to in this article, and previous ones? Or another John Davies? In this article I speak in the first bit about coming to Cymru/ Wales 35 years ago and falling in love with Cymru and John. There is also another John Davies the historian. But ‘hectic fun’ could be my John too.
I beg your pardon, I was talking about the historian…He and Francis Donovan lead a history TV program, the History Hunters, I’ve been unable to find it on YouTube perhaps the Nat Lib can help…
The late John Davies, a great Welshman, who educated all about Welsh history, both past & present. The Mabinogi and Welsh myth & legend is the very foundation of not only Welsh & British but world mythology when it comes to the fantasy genre. See without our mythology you would have no Geoffrey of Monmouth, J RR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Terry Pratchett , George RR Martin and others who were all influenced directly or indirectly by Welsh mythology. My frustration is that we don’t get the recognition we rightly deserve. Yes, academia knows about our literary prowess as a country,… Read more »
“The late John Davies, a great Welshman, who educated all about Welsh history, both past & present.”I’ve noted in reply to Mab Meirion’s comment above that the John Davies I fell in love with 35 years ago and who told me about discovering the Mabinogi landscape, was not John Davies the historian. My John Davies can also be found quoted at the end of last week’s article. He is a writer and political analyst and not quite dead yet, still at my side.Like you I feel the Mabinogi is not properly recognised and I hope this series of articles will… Read more »
My John has come in with a comment below, bless him.
“we Cymry were literate & Christian long before the Irish , Scottish & English.” Well said. When King Alfred, founder king of what would become England, wanted his nobles to learn reading and writing, he had to send to Cymru/ Wales for help. We were highly literate with manuscript libraries. Asser, the chief monk who came to help him, did not enjoy his stays at the barbarian courts of Wessex and frequently begged to be released from his difficult work with Alfred’s rough, uncultured nobles. In a couple of weeks I shall be describing the cultured courts of the Mabinogi… Read more »
I have seen the Seven Bore twice and can confirm it is noisy and can be heard sometime before it can be seen. However, it is not detectable in Gwent. So maybe Davies was right but for the wrong reason.
When I saw the Severn Bore I was near Lydney, not in Gwent. It wasn’t noisy. The term twrf is not just ‘noisy’ it’s tumultuous, thunderous.
I have always taken the view that the Severn Bore doesn’t have much to do with Gwent because it does not begin to form until around Lydney and Sharpness and reaches its full shape some distance upstream. Of course, it is not silent. But for the full, far louder, “roaring tumult”, try the waves of a westerly gale beating on the sandbanks of the Bristol Channel as the tide falls and you get a nasty “wind against tide” sea. It is tricky water to navigate, especially once you get above Flatholm and Steepholm. The only place in the world with… Read more »
Thank you my darling cariad John – Readers here he is, the real actual living John Davies I often mention because he has contributed so much to my work. Do go and look at his passionate diatribe against misuse of the Mabinogi and other Welsh legends or literature. I quote him at the end of this article.
The issue of fresh water on Gwales is only a problem if one accepts the identification with Grassholm. But the mainland is not visible from that island so there is no reason to accept the identity.
Grassholm is just the usual accepted location. I have not come across another proposed location. Not sure what the visibilty of the mainland from the island has to do with it.I was commenting on the whiteness of the island if you’re anywhere nearby on a boat or ship.
Grassholm can, however, be seen from the mainland on a clear day. Also there is no reason to suppose the people of earlier times never got closer. They would have a very good reason to take their little boats into the turbulent water that surrounds it, namely fish. Lots of fish. Which is also why the gannets are there, of course. So the idea of a “shining white island” would have been available for story-tellers to weave fantasies around. As for what can be seen from the island, nobody can speak to that today because nobody is allowed to land… Read more »