Literature: Medieval Period

Simon Rodway University of Aberystwyth

This survey covers works published between erature, both prose and poetry, dealing with St 2014 and 2017. Martin of Tours. Two articles deal with manuscripts containing medieval Welsh literature. Ben Guy, ‘A Lost 1 General Medieval Manuscript from North Wales: Heng- wrt 33, The Hanesyn Hên’, SC, 50, 2016:69–105, The Old Red Tongue: An Anthology of Welsh is a survey of the contents of a lost manuscript Literature, ed. Gwyn Griffiths and Meic Ste- containing genealogies, chronicles and poetry, phens, London, Francis Boutle, 999 pp, is a now known only from early modern references. general anthology of Welsh literature in a Guy argues that it was copied in Valle Crucis series dealing with minority language literat- in the first half of the 14th century. Gruffudd ures of Europe. It contains editions of texts, Antur, ‘Ieuan ap Madog ap Rhys’, Dwned, 22, or selections from longer texts, along with 2016:83–88, gives an outline of the life and work English notes and translations, of a generous of a 15th-c. copyist and genealogist, from the amount of medieval poetry of various genres, same family as Iolo Goch. and a lesser helping of prose. The editions and translations are not new, and in some cases they have been superseded by recent scholar- 2 Poetry ship. Marged Haycock, ‘Medieval Welsh Texts Simon Rodway has published two articles com- Today and Tomorrow’, pp. 95–108 of Proceed- paring aspects of professional poetry in Welsh ings: XIV International Congress of Celtic Stud- and Gaelic and considering whether or not we ies, Maynooth 2011, ed. Liam Breatnach et al., can trace certain similarities back to a prehis- Dublin, Institute for Advanced Studies, 2015, toric Celtic bardic order. ‘Ailystyried y Bardd 244 pp., is a comprehensive survey of work on Celtaidd: Defodau Urddo a Dulliau Cyfansoddi’, medieval Welsh literature since 2003, with a Dwned, 21, 2015:11–47, is a survey of the evid- discussion of desiderata for the future. ence for initiation rites of poets and methods of Jonathan Wooding, ‘Tyrannies of Distance? composition, while ‘Dychan Celtaidd?’, Dwned, Medieval Sources as Evidence for Indigenous 23:79–120, looks at satirical poetry, particularly Celtic and Romano-Celtic Religion’, pp. 57–70 its supposed destructive power. of Celtic Religions in the Roman Period: Per- Jenny Rowland, Ailystyried y Canu Mawl sonal, Local, and Global, ed. Ralph Haeussler Cynnar, Aberystwyth, Centre for Advanced and Anthony King, Aberystwyth, Celtic Stud- Welsh and Celtic Studies, 2016, 23 pp., the 2014 ies Publications, 522 pp., provides an excellent J.E. Caerwyn and Gwen Williams Memorial critical examination of the validity of mining Lecture, takes a fresh look at the function of the medieval Welsh and Irish literature for inform- poet in early medieval Wales, suggesting that ation about prehistoric pagan Celtic religion. praise poetry was not as central to the tradition Jenny Day, ‘Agweddau ar Gwlt Martin o as has often been assumed. Tours mewn Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg hyd c. 1525’, Marged Haycock, ‘Living with War: Poets LlC, 40:3–39, is a survey of medieval Welsh lit- and the Welsh Experience c. 600–1300’, pp. 24–

87 of Kings and Warriors in Early North- Hen Englynion: Diweddariadau, ed. Gwyn West Europe, ed. Jan Erik Rekdal and Charles Thomas, Llandybïe, Cyhoeddiadau Barddas, Doherty, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2016, 480 2015, 160 pp., gives Modern Welsh renditions of pp., is a comprehensive survey of various all the extant early poetry in the englyn metres. aspects of warfare in pre-Conquest Welsh Patrick Sims-Williams, ‘Powys and Early poetry. Jenny Day, ‘Llachar fy nghleddau, lluch Welsh Poetry’, CMCS, 67.1, 2014:33–54, contains ydd ardwy—glew: Rhai Agweddau ar Ddelw- a reconsideration of hengerdd poetry connec- eddaeth y Cleddyf ym Marddoniaeth yr Oes- ted with Powys, namely Trawsganu Cynan Gar- oedd Canol’, Dwned, 23:41–77, looks specifically wyn, Marwnad Cynddylan, and the Heledd at images of swords in medieval Welsh poetry. cycle of englynion. Patrick Sims-Williams, ‘Dat- ing the Poems of Aneirin and Taliesin’, ZCP, 63, Early Poetry 2016:163–234, gives us a survey of various argu- We have a handful of new editions of early ments on linguistic and/or historical grounds Welsh poetry. A Selection of Early Welsh Saga against the authenticity of the poems attrib- Poems, ed. Jenny Rowland, London, MHRA, uted in 13th- and 14th-c. manuscripts to the 6th- 2014, xiii + 112 pp., contains new editions c. British poets Aneirin and Taliesin, conclud- of some poems from the Llywarch Hen and ing that none can stand, and delivering an open Heledd cycles, with notes and vocabulary, verdict on the date of these poems. aimed at students. David Callander, ‘Dau Stefan Schumacher, ‘An Edition and Ana- Englyn Maswedd o “Ganu Heledd”’, Dwned, 20, lysis of Book of Aneirin B.39 (Including Pre- 2014:31–36, provides an edition and discussion liminary Chapters on the Grammar and Poetics of two erotic englynion, probably dating from of Early Welsh Poetry)’ ZCP, 64:299–420, has a between 1200 and 1350, which occur at the detailed edition and discussion of one ‘poem’ end of the Heledd cycle of englynion in the (to use the term favoured by the author over manuscripts. They are unlikely to bear any real ‘stanza’ or the like) from the Book of Aneirin, relationship to the Heledd poems. Englynion prefaced by a reconsideration of the nature of y Beddau: The Stanzas of the Graves, ed. John the Gododdin as a whole, favouring an analysis K. Bollard, Llanrwst, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, of it as a collection of literary compositions 2015, 144 pp., is a new edition, in modern- from early medieval Wales. ized orthography, of Englynion y Beddau, with David Callander, ‘Trefn Canu Llywarch Hen a new English translation, and beautiful pho- yn Llyfr Coch Hergest’, LlC, 38, 2015–2016:1– tographs by Anthony Griffiths of places men- 11, considers the implications of the order of tioned in the poem. Legendary Poems from the the Llywarch Hen poems in the Red Book of Book of Taliesin, ed. Marged Haycock, rev. edn, Hergest. Aberystwyth, CMCS, 2015, 559 pp., is a fully Paul Russell, ‘Adu6yn gaer yssyd: An Early revised version of H.’s edition of poems from Welsh Poem Revisited’, Celtica, 29:6–37, pro- the Book of Taliesin concerning legendary fig- vides a new edition, English translation and ures (including Arthur, Alexander the Great, Cú discussion of a poem from the Black Book of Roí mac Dáire etc.) and/or using the ‘voice’ of Carmarthen, usually (but perhaps, according to the legendary Taliesin. The introduction con- Russell, mistakenly) known as Edmyg Dinbych tains a groundbreaking analysis of the lan- ‘the Praise of Tenby’. guage and lexicon of the poems, and argues David Callander, ‘Datblygiad Armes Dydd that they may have been composed by court Brawd’, SC, 49, 2015:57–103, is an examination poets as late as the 12th or 13th century. Prydydd of the development of the early Welsh religious y Moch is mooted as author of at least some of poem Armes Dydd Brawd ‘the Prophecy of the the poems. Day of Judgment’.Nicolas Jacobs, ‘Pears, Apples