Breuddwyd Rhonabwy: a Historical Narrative?
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Breuddwyd Rhonabwy: A historical narrative? Thomas Øverby Master thesis at the Faculty of Humanities/ Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Spring 2009 2 The supervisor of this thesis has been Jan Erik Rekdal, professor of Irish and Welsh language and literature at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oslo. 3 Synopsis This thesis is concerned with the medieval Welsh prose tale Breuddwyd Rhonabwy. The theory of cultural memory as formulated by Jan Assmann is employed as a theoretical framework for the analysis and interpretation of the text. Assmann argues that writing functions as a medium of memory and that one therefore may speak of a cultural memory. This memory soon becomes vast and diverse. He claims that man sees himself in relation to the cultural memory and that it shapes his identity. The identity of both collective and individual is thus based on the past, but memory and thereby the view of the past is also influenced by man’s need of identity and security. Accordingly, history may be said to be governed not so much by the search for “the truth” as by people’s need of a past. With background in this theoretical framework the thesis argues for a historical interpretation of Breuddwyd Rhonabwy. Initially, the dream of Breuddwyd Rhonabwy is analysed in order to detect how it portrays the past, and through analysing a number of historical accounts important for the cultural memory of the Welsh the depiction of the past in the dream is put in a greater perspective. The frame tale is further analysed as an account of the society of the author and seen in relation to the depiction of the past in the dream. Finally, the depiction of the past in Breuddwyd Rhonabwy is discussed with regard to the impact of its context and it is demonstrated how the dream may function as a historical narrative. 4 Acknowledgements Thanks to My supervisor Jan Erik Rekdal for fruitful discussions, advice, support and patience during the process. Ingrid A. Evans for reading through the text. Present and former students of Celtic philology in Oslo for a good social milieu. My friends at the Faculty of Humanities for their support and encouragement during my student days. And finally my family. 5 Table of contents TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................5 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................6 2. STATE OF THE ART.....................................................................................12 3. CULTURAL MEMORY AS A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...........26 4. ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................38 4.1 HOW IS THE PAST PRESENTED IN THE DREAM AND WHAT FUNCTION DOES THE CAST OF CHARACTERS HAVE IN THIS DEPICTION?..................................................................38 4.2 HOW IS THE BATTLE OF BADON PORTRAYED IN BREUDDWYD RHONABWY COMPARED WITH DEPICTIONS FOUND IN EARLIER TEXTS?..........................................................56 4.3 HOW DOES THE DREAM FUNCTION AS A DEPICTION OF THE PAST IN RELATION TO THE FRAME TALE AS A DESCRIPTION OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY?...............................74 5. HOW DOES THE CONTEXT INFLUENCE THE PORTRAYAL OF THE PAST IN THE DREAM? ....................................................................................................87 6. CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................101 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................105 6 1. Introduction The object of this study is the analysis of Breuddwyd Rhonabwy, which is one of the two extant Welsh prose tales about King Arthur. The story about Arthur is located within a dream which is preluded by an introductory sequence set in the 12th century and followed by a short epilogue. Breuddwyd Rhonabwy differs radically from Culhwch ac Olwen, which is the other Welsh tale about Arthur1. With regard to the Welsh tradition, Arthur is often described by scholars as a multifaceted character, and there has been a tendency to separate between the Arthur found in literature and the historical Arthur.2 The Arthur depicted in Breuddwyd Rhonabwy, however, differs from both these categories. Due to its individuality, the studies of Breuddwyd Rhonabwy have concentrated on the tale’s relation to medieval Welsh literature in general, and to the Arthurian tradition in particular. Scholars have scrutinised its contents, structure and literary devices and have come up with various interpretations of the tale and of the author’s intentions. In this thesis I will approach Breuddwyd Rhonabwy through the theory of cultural memory as formulated by the Egyptologist Jan Assmann. I believe his thoughts concerning the relationship between text, context, history and identity will shed new light upon this enigmatic tale. As opposed to the majority of studies of the tale, which has interpreted it in the light of the contemporary political situation or with regard to the status of storytelling, I will stress its relation to and implications for the apprehension of the past. Breuddwyd Rhonabwy may, in spite of its peculiarities, be characterised as a dream tale. In the following I will account for the view on dreams current in the Middle Ages and some of the most prominent texts with regard to the development of the genre. Finally I will discuss the manuscript context of Breuddwyd Rhonabwy. 1 Breuddwyd Rhonabwy diverges also from the Arthurian romances in prose and verse from the continent, of which three Welsh adaptations were made, namely Owain, Peredur fab Efrog and Geraint fab Erbin. 2 See for example Koch, J. T., “Arthur, the historical evidence”, in Koch, J. T. (ed.), Celtic Culture. A Historical Encyclopaedia, ABC-CLIO, Oxford 2006, 117-122; and Roberts, B., “Arthurian literature [3] Welsh”, in Koch, J. T. (ed.), Celtic Culture. A Historical Encyclopaedia, 124-126. 7 Dream and its usage in literature Dream in literary context cannot be seen isolated from dream as a human experience, as the former ultimately is inspired by the latter. There was already in the classical period a vast literature concerned with the nature and interpretation of dreams, and the thoughts articulated then retained their influence throughout the Middle Ages. Macrobius is probably the most prominent among the classical authorities on dreams. He presented in his commentary on Cicero`s Somnium Scipionis, which dates to about 400, a scheme for a classification of dreams. Of his five categories, two are regarded as insignificant while three are viewed as meaningful. According to Macrobius, Insomnium (nightmare) stems from distress or anxiety, while visum (apparition) appears to a person who is in the phase right between sleep and being awake. Both these categories of dreams are meaningless. Somnium (enigmatic dream) conveys a message, but appears as ambiguous and allegorical. Therefore it has to be interpreted. Visio (prophetic vision) shows a future event, while the dreamer in oraculum (oracular dream) is addressed by a person or being of high authority who gives valuable information or advice.3 Christian intellectuals such as Augustine and Gregory the Great accepted these thoughts. Furthermore they stressed the dual nature of the dream, which was already visible in Macrobius’ separation between profitable and insignificant dreams, by introducing the opposition of good and evil. According to these authorities a dream could be brought by an angel or a demon, but the nature of the dream was often difficult for the dreamer to recognise and one should therefore be careful in believing what was told or shown in a dream.4 In the 13th century Aristotle’s works became influential, in which he argued that dreams are caused by psychological and physiological processes and consequently ruled out any otherworldly causes. Despite the Aristotelian influence, the ideas of the classical and ecclesiastical authorities stayed remarkably strong throughout the Middle Ages (Kruger 1993: 84, 85, 119). The usage of dreams and visions in literature has a long history, and in the following I will briefly account for some of the most influential texts in this respect. In the Odyssey and the Aeneid, the main characters visit the otherworld through visions. Subsequently, this became a common motif. Another central classical text is the above mentioned Somnium 3 Spearing, A. C., Medieval Dream Poetry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1976, 8-10. 4 Kruger, S. F., Dreaming in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993, 44-52. 8 Scipionis written by Cicero on which Macrobius wrote his commentary. Here we are told of Scipio Aemilianus, who is visited in a dream by his famous grandfather Scipio Africanus. Scipio Africanus foresees his grandson’s future and share his wisdom with him (Spearing 1976: 7-9). Dreams play an important role within religious texts already in the Old Testament, but it was those of the New Testament which proved to be the more influential in the Middle Ages. The most prominent among them is probably the dream described in the book of Revelation, where John of Patmos beholds how the world will come to an end and the evil forces will be defeated. The most influential text which followed in this ecclesiastical tradition was Visio Pauli (third century) which tells of life after death (op. cit. 12-13),