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87-572: It is mentioned in the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen whose manuscript dates from the 11th century, though the story is much older. The story describes the court as being at Celliwig in Cernyw (the Welsh name for Cornwall ), otherwise known as the kingdom of Dumnonia including modern Devon . The hall is guarded by Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr , Arthur's porter, and Culhwch has difficulty gaining entrance due to

174-423: A "capital", but it was not the bureaucratic administrative centre of modern society, nor the settlement or civitas of Roman rule. As the ruler and protector of his kingdom, the king would maintain multiple courts throughout his territory, travelling among them to exercise his authority and to address the needs of his people, such as in the dispensing of justice. This ancient method of dispensing justice survived as

261-495: A Northumbrian partisan and spoke with prejudice against the native Britons, his Ecclesiastical History of the English People is highly regarded for its effort towards an accurate telling of history, and for its use of reliable sources. When passing along "traditional" information that lacks a historical foundation, Bede takes care to note it as such. The De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae by Gildas (c. 516–570)

348-682: A blow. This may have led to the Battle of Camlann . The early Welsh poem Pa gŵr yw'r porthor? may also mention the court. Celliwig was also known to the Cornish, as it appears as Kyllywyc in the Cornish-language play Beunans Ke , written perhaps around 1500. In the Iolo Manuscripts (1843), a corpus of pseudo-medieval Welsh texts by the renowned literary forger and inventor of tradition Iolo Morganwg (1747–1826), Celliwig

435-581: A descendant of one of Magnus Maximus ' generals, Paternus, who Maximus appointed as commander at Alt Clut. The Welsh and the Men of the North may have seen themselves as one people. The Welsh name for themselves, Cymry , derives from this ancient relationship, although this is debatable, as while Gwynedd seemed to have good relationships with them, and with Ceredigion, it is unknown how the other Welsh Kingdoms saw them, since they were not unified themselves, especially

522-462: A full-scale translation of the Bible by William Morgan . Most of the works published in the Welsh language for at least the next century were religious in nature. Morgan Llwyd , a Puritan , wrote in both English and Welsh, recounting his spiritual experiences. Other notable writers of the period included Vavasor Powell . During this period, poetry also began to take a religious turn. William Pugh

609-625: A literary convenience. The Iolo Manuscripts are a collection of manuscripts presented in the early 19th century by Edward Williams, who is better known as Iolo Morganwg . Containing various tales, anecdotal material and elaborate genealogies that connect virtually everyone of note with everyone else of note (and with many connections to Arthur and Iolo's native region of Morgannwg ), they were at first accepted as genuine, but have since been shown to be an assortment of forged or doctored manuscripts, transcriptions, and fantasies, mainly invented by Iolo himself. A list of works tainted by their reliance on

696-578: A long time,/ Mine it is to live out my lifetime sad because of him,/For mine is sorrow, mine is weeping." The next stage was the Poets of the Nobility which includes poetry of the period between the Edwardian Conquest of 1282/3 and the death of Tudur Aled in 1526. The highest levels of the poetic art in Welsh are intensely intricate. The bards were extremely organised and professional, with

783-545: A part of royal procedure until the reforms of Henry II (reigned 1154–1189) modernised the administration of law. Modern scholarship uses the term "Cumbric" for the Brittonic language spoken in the Hen Ogledd. It appears to have been very closely related to Old Welsh , with some local variances, and more distantly related to Cornish , Breton and the pre-Gaelic form of Pictish . There are no surviving texts written in

870-443: A political point. Alan Llwyd and Dic Jones were leaders in the field. Female poets such as Menna Elfyn gradually began to make their voices heard, overcoming the obstacle of the male-dominated bardic circle and its conventions. The scholar Sir Ifor Williams also pioneered scientific study of the earliest Welsh written literature, as well as the Welsh language itself, recovering the works of poets like Taliesin and Aneirin from

957-542: A political symbol, with many of the leading literary figures also involved in Welsh nationalism , perhaps most notably Saunders Lewis and the writer/ publisher Kate Roberts . Lewis, who had been brought up in Liverpool , was a leader of Plaid Cymru jailed for his part in protests; though a poet and a novelist as well as a significant critic and academic, his main literary legacy was in thr field of drama . Novelist and short story writer Kate Roberts had been active since

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1044-434: A specific location have been ascribed to it." Welsh-language literature Welsh-language literature ( Welsh : Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg ) has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. The earliest Welsh literature was poetry , which was extremely intricate in form from its earliest known examples, a tradition sustained today. Poetry

1131-414: A structured training which lasted many years. As a class, they proved very adaptable: when the princely dynasties ended in 1282, and Welsh principalities were annexed by England, they found necessary patronage with the next social level, the uchelwyr , or landed gentry . The shift led creatively to innovation – the development of the cywydd metre, with looser forms of structure. The professionalism of

1218-472: Is a modern term which is used to refer to the earliest poets that wrote in Welsh and Welsh poetry dating before 1100. These poets (beirdd) existed in the modern geographical definition of Wales in addition to the Old North ( Yr Hen Ogledd ) and the language of the time was a common root called Brittonic , a precursor to the Welsh language . The bards Taliesin and Aneirin are among nine poets mentioned in

1305-533: Is also associated with this development in Cardigan, Ceredigion and one chronicler describes how an assembly where musicians and bards competed for chairs. The society of the court poets came to a sudden end in 1282 following the killing of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last of native Welsh princes. Llywelyn was slain in an ambush and his head was placed on the Tower of London "with an iron pole through it". The poets of

1392-572: Is disparaged as pseudohistory , though it looms large as a source for the largely fictional chivalric romance stories known collectively as the Matter of Britain . The lack of historical value attributed to the Historia lies only partly in the fact that it contains so many fictions and falsifications of history; the fact that historical accuracy clearly was not a consideration in its creation makes any references to actual people and places no more than

1479-632: Is occasionally relevant in that it mentions early people and places also mentioned in the literary and historical sources. The work was intended to preach Christianity to Gildas' contemporaries and was not meant to be a history. It is one of the few contemporary accounts of his era to have survived. Brittonic place names in Scotland south of the Forth and Clyde, and in Cumberland and neighbouring counties, indicate areas of Hen Ogledd inhabited by Britons in

1566-485: Is referred as the former site of the "throne of Cornwall" but the text adds that it is now at Caervynyddawg (Caerfynyddog), a site which is otherwise unattested. Those who argue that Arthur is a mythic figure also suggest this court is entirely fictional. Given that the name means "forest grove... it may have originally been envisaged as somewhere Otherworldly (sacred groves being common in Celtic myth) and only later might

1653-402: Is reliably known. These sources are not without deficiencies. Both the authors and their later transcribers sometimes displayed a partisanship that promoted their own interests, portraying their own agendas in a positive light, always on the side of justice and moral rectitude. Facts in opposition to those agendas are sometimes omitted, and apocryphal entries are sometimes added. While Bede was

1740-609: Is the Poets of the Princes , which is the period from c. 1100 until the conquest of Wales by King Edward of England in 1282–83. The poets of the princess is heavily associated with the princes of Gwynedd including Gruffudd ap Cynan , Llywelyn the Great and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd . Tradition states that Gruffydd ap Cynan helped to develop the tradition and regulation of poetry and music in Wales. The Arglwydd Rhys ap Gruffydd (Lord Rhys)

1827-516: The Cymry ), and in the English county name Cumbria , both meaning "homeland", "mother country". Many of the traditional sources of information about the Hen Ogledd survive in Welsh tradition, and bards such as Aneirin (the reputed author of Y Gododdin ) are thought to have been court poets in the Hen Ogledd. A listing of passages from the literary and historical sources, particularly relevant to

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1914-517: The Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata to the northwest. All of these peoples would play a role in the history of the Old North. From a historical perspective, wars were frequently internecine, and Britons were aggressors as well as defenders, as was also true of the Angles, Picts, and Gaels . However, those Welsh stories of the Hen Ogledd that tell of Britons fighting Anglians have a counterpart, told from

2001-506: The National Eisteddfod of Wales and the invention of many of the traditions which surround it today. Although Iolo is sometimes called a charlatan because so many of his "discoveries" were based on pure myth, he was also an inveterate collector of old manuscripts, and thereby performed a service without which Welsh literature would have been the poorer. Some of the Welsh gentry continued to patronise bards, but this practice

2088-520: The Rhondda , called the "Cadwgan Circle". Writing almost entirely in the Welsh language, the movement, formed by J. Gwyn Griffiths and his wife Käthe Bosse-Griffiths , included the Welsh writers Pennar Davies , Rhydwen Williams , James Kitchener Davies and Gareth Alban Davies . After a relatively quiet period between 1950–1970, large numbers of Welsh-language novels began appearing from

2175-782: The Southwestern Brittonic languages . In general, however, the differences appear to be slight, and the distinction between Cumbric and Old Welsh is largely geographical rather than linguistic. Cumbric gradually disappeared as the area was conquered by the Anglo-Saxons, and later the Scots and Norse , though it survived in the Kingdom of Strathclyde , centred at Alt Clut in what is now Dumbarton in Scotland. Kenneth H. Jackson suggested that it re-emerged in Cumbria in

2262-893: The Trioedd Ynys Prydein (or Welsh Triads ) mention Arthur and "Three Tribal Thrones of the Island of Britain" and locate one of his courts at Celliwig: "Arthur as Chief Prince in Celliwig in Cernyw, and Bishop Bytwini as Chief Bishop, and Caradog Freichfras as Chief Elder." Caradoc was his chief elder at this court and that Bishop Bytwini or Bedwin was chief bishop. This is one of the early triads found in Peniarth MS 54 reflecting information recorded before Geoffrey of Monmouth . The same triad goes on to say Arthur's other courts were at Mynyw and Pen Rhionydd . The triads also state that at Celliwig Mordred struck Gwenhwyfar

2349-607: The Welsh Triads . Almost nothing is reliably known of Central Britain before c.  550 . There had never been a period of long-term, effective Roman control north of the Tyne – Solway line, and south of that line effective Roman control began to erode before the traditionally given date of departure of the Roman military from Roman Britain in 407. It was noted in the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus and others that there

2436-404: The sonnet , of which Parry-Williams was a master. Modernism was reflected in both the subject matter of Welsh poetry as well as its form: Parry-Williams' sonnet Dychwelyd ("Return") is a bleak expression of nihilism for example, and E. Prosser Rhys courted controversy for his frank (for the time) depictions of sexuality, including homosexuality, in poems such as Atgof ("Memory"), which won

2523-474: The 10th century, as Strathclyde established hegemony over that area. It is unknown when Cumbric finally became extinct, but the series of counting systems of Brittonic origin recorded in Northern England since the 18th century have been proposed as evidence of a survival of elements of Cumbric; though the view has been largely rejected on linguistic grounds, with evidence pointing to the fact that it

2610-419: The 18th century the trend towards religious literature continued and grew even stronger as Nonconformism began to take hold in Wales. The Welsh Methodist revival , initially led by Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland , produced not only sermons and religious tracts, but also hymns and poetry by William Williams Pantycelyn , Ann Griffiths and others. The Morris brothers of Anglesey were leading figures in

2697-538: The 1930s such as Saunders Lewis' Monica (1930), a novel about a woman obsessed with sexuality and which caused something of a scandal on its publication and Plasau'r Brenin (1934) by Gwenallt , a semi-autobiographical novel describing the author's experiences in a prison as a conscientious objector during the war. The most popular novelists of the first half of the century continued the realist tradition, however, such as E. Tegla Davies Kate Roberts and Elena Puw Morgan . The most successful novelist of this period

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2784-403: The 1930s, but in the late 40s and 50s produced a remarkable stream of novels and stories, often depicting the lives of working-class women and with feminist themes, that earned her the moniker "Brenhines ein llên" ("The Queen of our Literature") and established her as perhaps, to this day, the single best known prose writer in Welsh. The 1940s also saw the creation of a notable writing group in

2871-430: The 1980s onwards, with such authors as Aled Islwyn  [ cy ] and Angharad Tomos . In the 1990s there was a distinct trend towards postmodernism in Welsh prose writing, especially evident in the work of such authors as Wiliam Owen Roberts and Mihangel Morgan . Meanwhile, in the 1970s Welsh poetry took on a new lease of life as poets sought to regain mastery over the traditional verse forms, partly to make

2958-727: The Chair at the 1902 Eisteddfod with Ymadawiad Arthur , a poem which reconciled the European romantic traditions of King Arthur with the Mabinogion . It was one of the shortest awdlau to win the Chair at the time and reinvigorated the Eisteddfod tradition; Gwynn himself was one of the leading figures in a late flowering of Romanticism in Welsh poetry alongside figures such as R. Williams Parry , W. J. Gruffydd , John Morris Jones and R. Silyn Roberts (whose Trystan ac Esyllt won

3045-538: The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the area. He was also a scholar who embraced the latest ideas relating to religion and learning: reform and humanism . It is also known that he was a collector of manuscripts on various subjects, including the history and literature of Wales. Shortly afterwards the works of William Salesbury began to appear. Salesbury was an ardent Protestant and coupled his learning with

3132-540: The Eisteddfod Crown in the same year as Gwynn won the chair); they were referred to contemporaneously in some sources as examples of "y Bardd Newydd" ("the new poet/bard"). Many of these were university-educated and Gwynn and Morris-Jones in particular made major contributions in academia. This period would prove to be short-lived, however, and the First World War - as well as literally killing one of

3219-736: The Hen Ogledd considered themselves to be one people, and both were referred to as Cymry ('fellow-countrymen') from the Brittonic word combrogi . The Hen Ogledd was distinct from the parts of Great Britain inhabited by the Picts , Anglo-Saxons , and Scoti . The major kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd were Elmet , Gododdin , Rheged , and the Kingdom of Strathclyde (Welsh: Ystrad Clud ). Smaller kingdoms included Aeron and Calchfynydd . Eidyn , Lleuddiniawn , and Manaw Gododdin were evidently parts of Gododdin. The later Anglian kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia both had Brittonic-derived names, suggesting they may have been Brittonic kingdoms originally. All

3306-670: The Hen Ogledd, can be found in Sir Edward Anwyl 's article Wales and the Britons of the North . A somewhat dated introduction to the study of old Welsh poetry can be found in his 1904 article Prolegomena to the Study of Old Welsh Poetry . Stories praising a patron and the construction of flattering genealogies are neither unbiased nor reliable sources of historically accurate information. However, while they may exaggerate and make apocryphal assertions, they do not falsify or change

3393-471: The Men of the North during the early 7th century (and possibly earlier), and was used throughout the Middle Ages to describe the Kingdom of Strathclyde . Before this, and for some centuries after, the traditional as well as the more literary term was Brythoniaid , recalling the still older time when all on the island remained a unity. Cymry survives today in the native name for Wales ( Cymru , land of

3480-614: The Northumbrian and Pictish royal families would produce the Pictish king Talorgan I . Áedán mac Gabráin fought as an ally of the Britons against the Northumbrians. Cadwallon ap Cadfan of the Kingdom of Gwynedd allied with Penda of Mercia to defeat Edwin of Northumbria . Conquest and defeat did not necessarily mean the extirpation of one culture and its replacement by another. The Brittonic region of northwestern England

3567-618: The Old North , is the historical region that was inhabited by the Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages , now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands , alongside the fellow Brittonic Celtic Kingdom of Elmet , in Yorkshire . Its population spoke a variety of the Brittonic language known as Cumbric which is closely related to, if not a dialect of Old Welsh . The people of Wales and

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3654-524: The Welsh language would be part of the new Renaissance in learning. In 1546 the first book to be printed in Welsh was published, Yny lhyvyr hwnn ("In this book") by Sir John Price of Brecon . John Price (c. 1502–55) was an aristocrat and an important civil servant . He served as Secretary of the Council of Wales and the Marches and he was also one of the officers responsible for administration of

3741-483: The Welsh poetic tradition with its traditional metres and cynghanedd (patterns of alliteration ) did not disappear, but came into the hands of ordinary poets who kept it alive through the centuries. Cynghanedd and traditional metres are still used today by many Welsh-language poets. By 1571 Jesus College, Oxford , was founded to provide an academic education for Welshmen, and the commitment of certain individuals, both Protestant and Roman Catholic , ensured that

3828-429: The century others such as William Llewelyn Williams , T. Gwynn Jones and Winnie Parry had achieved success in the genre. Whilst the nineteenth century had seen an explosion in the quantity of literature composed in Welsh, the first decade of the twentieth century saw the first generation of a more professional, artistically sophisticated kind of poet. Though better known at the time as a novelist, T. Gwynn Jones won

3915-525: The century was a golden are for Welsh prose in Welsh in terms of quantity, if not necessarily quality. The first original novel in Welsh had begun appearing in periodicals by the 1820s, though translations of works such as Robinson Crusoe had appeared earlier. By the middle of the 19th century novels were appearing frequently in periodicals and occasionally as volumes and by the end of the century hundreds had been published including love stories, historical novels and adventure novels. Noteworthy novelists of

4002-423: The crown at the 1924 Eisteddfod. Poets such as Cynan described their own experiences of the war much as English language poets had done. Modernism caught on more slowly in prose, and the prominent early twentieth century novelists (most notably T. Gwynn Jones and Gwyneth Vaughan in many respects continued the tradition as codified by Daniel Owen. More radical examples in the genre had begun to emerge however by

4089-466: The demand for poetry at particular times during the year. There were also cyfarwyddiaid (sing. cyfarwydd ), storytellers. These were also professional, paid artists; but, unlike the poets, they seem to have remained anonymous. It is not clear whether these storytellers were a wholly separate, popular level class, or whether some of the bards practised storytelling as part of their repertoire. Little of this prose work has survived, but even so it provides

4176-635: The destruction of the Brittonic kingdoms of the north. Welsh tradition included genealogies of the Gwŷr y Gogledd , or Men of the North, and several important Welsh dynasties traced their lineage to them. A number of important early Welsh texts were attributed to the Men of the North, such as Taliesin , Aneirin , Myrddin Wyllt , and the Cynfeirdd poets. Heroes of the north such as Urien , Owain mab Urien , and Coel Hen and his descendants feature in Welsh poetry and

4263-458: The dialect; evidence for it comes from placenames, proper names in a few early inscriptions and later non-Cumbric sources, two terms in the Leges inter Brettos et Scottos , and the corpus of poetry by the cynfeirdd , the "early poets", nearly all of which deals with the north. The cynfeirdd poetry is the largest source of information, and it is generally accepted that some part of the corpus

4350-454: The earlier part of the century many poets such as Eben Fardd wrote poetry within more than one tradition. By the end of the century however the divide between the Eisteddfod bards and popular poets had grown significant. It is noteworthy, for example, that popular poets such as Islwyn and Ceiriog experienced little success at the Eisteddfod, whilst many of those who did, such as Job , Pedrog and Tudno are almost completely forgotten today. By

4437-658: The earliest British prose literature. These native Welsh tales and some hybrids with French/Norman influence form a collection known in modern times as the Mabinogion . The name became established in the 19th century but is based on a linguistic mistake (a more correct term is Mabinogi ). Welsh literature in the Middle Ages also included a substantial body of laws, genealogies, religious and mythical texts, histories, medical and gnomic lore, and practical works, in addition to literature translated from other languages such as Latin, Breton or French. Besides prose and longer poetry,

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4524-530: The early Middle Ages. Isolated locations of later British presence are also indicated by place names of Old English and Old Norse origin. In Yorkshire, the names of Walden , Walton and Walburn , from Old English walas "Britons or Welshmen", indicate Britons encountered by the Anglo-Saxons, and the name of Birkby , from Old Norse Breta "Britons", indicates a place where the Vikings met Britons. The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth

4611-427: The end of the century a new generation of poets such as John Morris-Jones and T. Gwynn Jones sought to both simplify and improve the quality of Eisteddfod poetry, which they perceived had become formulaic and stilted. Despite the patriarchal nature of Welsh society in the period, some women such as Ann Griffiths and Cranogwen were able to make their mark as poets. The vitality of the Welsh language press meant

4698-468: The end of the eighteenth century; but the third tradition was that of the popular Romantic lyrics, ballads and songs. It can be seen emerging in the work of Alun and Talhaiarn and drew influences from folk song as well as the English Romantic poets. This tradition is exemplified by figures such as Ieuan Glan Geirionydd , Mynyddog and Islwyn . The most popular of this school however, and

4785-647: The establishment of the London Welsh societies, and their correspondence is an important record of the time. The activities of the London Welshmen helped ensure that Wales retained some kind of profile within Britain as a whole. The activities of a number of individuals, including Thomas Jones of Corwen and the Glamorgan stonemason and man of letters , Iolo Morganwg , led to the institution of

4872-436: The historical facts that were known to the bards' listeners, as that would bring ridicule and disrepute to both the bards and their patrons. In addition, the existence of stories of defeat and tragedy , as well as stories of victory, lends additional credibility to their value as sources of history. Within that context, the stories contain useful information, much of it incidental, about an era of British history where very little

4959-432: The kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd except Strathclyde were gradually either integrated or subsumed by the emerging Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Gaelic Scots and fellow Brittonic Picts by about 800; Strathclyde was eventually incorporated into the rising Middle Irish -speaking Kingdom of Scotland in the 11th century. The memory of the Hen Ogledd remained strong in Wales after its fall, and indeed the term came into being in Wales after

5046-590: The largest amateur arts festival in Europe, which crowns the literary prize winners in a dignified ceremony. The mediaeval period had three chronological stages of poetry: The earliest poets (Cynfeirdd), Poets of the Princes, and the Poets of Nobility. Additionally, storytelling practices were continuous throughout the middle ages in Wales. The earliest extant poets wrote praise poems for rulers and lords of Welsh dynasties from Strathclyde to Cornwall. The Cynfeirdd

5133-526: The literature includes the distinctive Trioedd , Welsh Triads , short lists usually of three items, apparently used as aids to memory. Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age The 16th and 17th centuries in Wales, as in the rest of Europe, were a period of great change. Politically, socially, and economically the foundations of modern Wales were laid at this time. In the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 Wales

5220-486: The material presented by Iolo (sometimes without attribution) would be quite long. Places in the Old North that are mentioned as kingdoms in the literary and historical sources include: Several regions are mentioned in the sources, assumed to be notable regions within one of the kingdoms if not separate kingdoms themselves: Kingdoms that were not part of the Old North but are part of its history include: The following names appear in historical and literary sources, but it

5307-518: The medieval book Historia Brittonum . There is also anonymous poetry that survives from the period. The dominant themes or "modes" of the period are heroic elegies that celebrate and commemorate heroes of battle and military success. The beirdd ( bards ) were also mentioned in Hywel Dda 's Welsh law . In the 11th century, Norman influence and challenge disrupted Welsh cultures, and the language developed into Middle Welsh . The next period

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5394-473: The middle part of the century century included Elis o'r Nant , Gwilym Hiraethog , Llew Llwyfo and Beriah Gwynfe Evans , but the first novelist in the Welsh language to achieve genuine lasting popularity was Daniel Owen (1836-1895), author of Rhys Lewis (1885) and Enoc Huws (1891), among others. Owen's achievement went some way towards legitimising the Welsh-language novel and by the end of

5481-399: The most popular Welsh poet of the nineteenth century, was undoubtedly John Ceiriog Hughes , widely known simply as Ceiriog. His simple, effecting lyrics, often describing rural and romantic scenes were enormously popular, and poems such as Ar Hyd y Nos became popular as songs, in which form they remain familiar to many today. These three traditions were not exclusive, and particularly in

5568-577: The movement's brightest young talents in Hedd Wyn , who was killed in the Battle of Passchendaele a few short weeks before being awarded the Chair at the 1917 Eisteddfod - also seemed to close the book on romanticism, with many of the movement's leading lights favouring a more modernist idiom after the war. Though the first poets of this new modernist period, such as T. H. Parry-Williams , continued to make use of native Welsh forms and cynghanedd , they also effectively employed European forms in particular

5655-597: The new religious ideas from the Continent; he translated the New Testament into Welsh and compiled an English-Welsh dictionary, among other works. On the other hand, Gruffudd Robert was an ardent Catholic, but in the same spirit of learning published an important Welsh grammar while in enforced exile in Milan in 1567. A huge step forward for both the Welsh language and its literature was the publication, in 1588, of

5742-562: The opposite side. The story of the demise of the kingdoms of the Old North is the story of the rise of the Kingdom of Northumbria from two coastal kingdoms to become the premier power in Britain north of the Humber and south of the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth . The interests of kingdoms of this era were not restricted to their immediate vicinity. Alliances were not made only within

5829-422: The poetic tradition was sustained by a guild of poets, or Order of bards, with its own "rule book". This "rule book" emphasised their professional status, and the making of poetry as a craft. An apprenticeship of nine years was required for a poet to be fully qualified. The rules also set out the payment a poet could expect for his work – these payments varied according to how long a poet had been in training and also

5916-586: The poets, and the anglicisation of the nobility during the Tudor period , exemplified by the Laws in Wales Acts, meant that there were fewer and fewer patrons willing or able to support the poets. But there were also internal reasons for the decline: the conservatism of the Guild of poets, or Order of bards, made it very difficult for it to adapt to the new world of Renaissance learning and the growth of printing. However,

6003-474: The previous century, focused around the flourishing local (and, by the middle of the century, National) Eisteddfodau and their competitive demands. The whose significant figures of this tradition in the first part of the century included John Blackwell (Alun) , Dafydd Ddu Eryri and Ebenezer Thomas (Eben Fardd) : poets used bardic names to disguise their identity in competitions, and often continued to use them when they became well known. These poets favoured

6090-456: The princes describe the grief surrounding his death, for example Gruffydd ap yr Ynad Goch (translated from Welsh), "Cold is the heart under my breast for terror and sadness for the King," and he goes on: "Woe is me for my lord, a hero without reproach,/ Woe is me for the adversity, that he should have stumbled .... Mine it is to praise him, without break, with- out end,/ Mine it is to think of him for

6177-517: The same ethnic groups, nor were enmities restricted to nearby different ethnic groups. An alliance of Britons fought against another alliance of Britons at the Battle of Arfderydd . Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata appears in the Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd , a genealogy among the pedigrees of the Men of the North. The Historia Brittonum states that Oswiu , king of Northumbria, married a Briton who may have had some Pictish ancestry. A marriage between

6264-609: The southern Kingdoms like Dyfed and Ystrad Tywi , which had heavy Irish presence at the time. 'Cymry' was a term that referred to both the Welsh and the Men of the North but was sometimes applied to others such as the Picts and the Irish as well. It is derived from the Brittonic word c ombrogoi , which meant "fellow-countrymen", and it is worth noting in passing that its Breton counterpart kenvroiz still has this original meaning of "compatriots". The word began to be used as an endonym by

6351-466: The special laws that restrict entry once a feast has begun. Though there is no description of the place the implications of the story are of great wealth and splendour. It describes Arthur's warriors at the court in depth and says that: "From here, one of his Warband, Drem, could see a gnat as far away as Scotland; while another, Medyr, could shoot an arrow through the legs of a wren in Ireland!" Some of

6438-500: The strict metres and traditional forms such as the awdl . Second was the continuing tradition of the Christian hymn , indebted to William Williams Pantycelyn and with its most prominent figure being Ann Griffiths . Despite dying at 29 in 1805 and having a complete poetic legacy of fewer than thirty individual poems gained an almost cult-like popularity over the course of the century. These two traditions had been well established at

6525-514: The uncritical fancies of various antiquarians , such as the Reverend Edward Davies who believed the theme of Aneirin's Gododdin was the massacre of the Britons at Stonehenge in 472. Phillips, Rhea Seren (2 August 2017). "Welsh Poetic Forms and Metre- A History" . The Luxembourg Review . Retrieved 8 October 2022 . Hen Ogledd Yr Hen Ogledd ( Welsh pronunciation: [ər ˌheːn ˈɔɡlɛð] ), meaning

6612-460: Was a Royalist and a Catholic. By now, women as well as men were writing, but little of their work can be identified. Katherine Philips of Cardigan Priory , although English by birth, lived in Wales for most of her life, and was at the centre of a literary coterie comprising both sexes. The seeds of Anglo-Welsh literature can also be detected, particularly in the work of Henry Vaughan and his contemporary, George Herbert , both Royalists . In

6699-452: Was absorbed by Anglian Northumbria in the 7th century, yet it would reemerge 300 years later as South Cumbria, joined with North Cumbria (Strathclyde) into a single state. The organisation of the Men of the North was tribal , based on kinship groups of extended families, owing allegiance to a dominant "royal" family, sometimes indirectly through client relationships, and receiving protection in return. For Celtic peoples, this organisation

6786-462: Was annexed and integrated fully into the English kingdom, losing any vestiges of political or legal independence. From the middle of the 16th century onwards, a decline is seen in the praise tradition of the poets of the nobility, the cywyddwyr . It became more and more difficult for poets to make their living — primarily for social reasons beyond their control. The Dissolution of the Monasteries , which had become important sources of patronage for

6873-578: Was ever-decreasing Roman control from about 100 onward, and in the years after 360 there was widespread disorder and the large-scale permanent abandonment of territory by the Romans. By 550, the region was controlled by native Brittonic -speaking peoples except for the eastern coastal areas, which were controlled by the Anglian peoples of Bernicia and Deira . To the north were the Picts (now also accepted as Brittonic speakers prior to Gaelicisation) with

6960-481: Was first composed in the Hen Ogledd. However, it survives entirely in later manuscripts created in Wales where the oral tradition continued on, and it is unknown how faithful they are to the originals. Still, the texts do contain discernible variances that distinguish the speech from the Welsh dialects. In particular, these texts contain a number of archaisms – features that appear to have once been common in all Brittonic varieties, but which later vanished from Welsh and

7047-426: Was followed by the first British prose literature in the 11th century (such as that contained in the Mabinogion ). Welsh-language literature has repeatedly played a major part in the self-assertion of Wales and its people. It continues to be held in the highest regard, as evidenced by the size and enthusiasm of the audiences attending the annual National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru ), probably

7134-582: Was gradually dying out. Due mainly to the Industrial Revolution the 19th century was an enormously transformative century in Wales, with the population growing fivefold due to both natural growth and significant immigration, particularly into the South Wales Valleys . The majority of the newcomers were English or Irish, and though some learned the Welsh language in order to integrate into their new communities, where immigration

7221-492: Was imported to England after the Old English era. One of the traditional stories relating to the genealogies of Welsh dynasties derived from Cunedda and his sons as "Men of the North". Cunedda himself is held to be the progenitor of the royal dynasty of the Kingdom of Gwynedd, one of the largest and most powerful of the medieval Welsh kingdoms, and an ongoing connection to the Hen Ogledd. Cunedda's genealogy shows him as

7308-421: Was perhaps T. Rowland Hughes , who was notable for describing the culture of the slate quarrying regions of North-West Wales. His novels, such as William Jones (1942) and Chwalfa (1946) were the first to match Daniel Owen for popularity, though his novels belong stylistically to an earlier period. As the twentieth century wore on, Welsh literature began to reflect the way the language was increasingly becoming

7395-473: Was published in Welsh over the course of the 19th century than had been published before 1800. However, twentieth century critics such as Thomas Parry were of the view that the vast majority of the literature in Welsh was of extremely poor in quality Welsh poetry of the nineteenth century can be broadly categorised into three overlapping traditions. The first of these was the continuing native bardic tradition as codified by Goronwy Owen and Iolo Morgannwg in

7482-737: Was still in effect hundreds of years later, as shown in the Irish Brehon law , the Welsh Laws of Hywel Dda , and the Scottish Laws of the Brets and Scots . The Anglo-Saxon law had culturally different origins, but with many similarities to Celtic law . Like Celtic law, it was based on cultural tradition, without any perceivable debt to the Roman occupation of Britain. A primary royal court ( Welsh : llys ) would be maintained as

7569-484: Was very significant English displaced Welsh as the community language such that, whilst virtually the entire population was Welsh speaking at the start of the century (with the majority monoglot), by the end of the century only about half the population could speak Welsh. The increasing population and growing literacy however led to a huge increase in demand for literature in Welsh the form of books, periodicals , newspapers, poetry, ballads and sermons, and many times more

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