Breuddwyd Rhonabwy

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Breuddwyd Rhonabwy [ 'breiðuid ŗo'nabui ] ("Rhonabwy's Dream") is the title of a satirical story that originated in the 12th or 13th century and is included in Llyfr Coch Hergest ("The Red Book of Hergest").

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King Madawg fab Maredudd of Powys sends Rhonabwy to find Iorwerth, Madawg's rebellious brother, and bring him to the king. The title hero spends the night together with two companions in a dirty little hostel.

A man whose name was Rhonabwy also took part in that search. He came to the quarters of Heilyn the Red, son of Cadwgawn, son of Iddon, with Cynwrig the red-spotted man from Mawddwy, and Cadwgawn the fat, a man from Moelfre in Cynnleith. [...] And when they entered, they saw the floor uneven and full of suttas. [...] so slippery it was from cow dung and seiche.

When Rhonabwy falls asleep on a yellow calfskin - a yellow fur is said to be able to bring about prophetic dreams - he is transported in a dream to the age of Emperor Arthur . He has set up camp on the banks of the Severn , where Rhonabwy and his two companions are being taken. There the dreamer meets the famous knights Cei fab Cynyr , Owein fab Urien , Morfran , March fab Meirchiawn , Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd , Caradawg Freichfras , Gwalchmei fab Gwyar and a few others. He watches Arthur and Owein at the gwyddbwyll ( Old Irish : fidchell = "wood mind") game, while their troops fight, which ends depending on the outcome of the game.

Arthur sat down on the cloak and Owein, Uryen's son, stood across from him. "Owein, do you want to play Gwyddbwyll?" Asked Arthur. "Yes, sir," said Owein. The red-haired lad brought Arthur and Owein the Gwyddbwyll game - gold pieces on a silver board - and they began to play.

The army is preparing for a campaign to Cornwall and Rhonabwy wakes up to the noise.

And when he awoke he was lying on the yellow calfskin and had slept three days and three nights. And this story is called "Rhonabwy's Dream".

The army campaign is said to be preparation for a fight against the Saxons or for the mythical Battle of Camlann , in which Arthur is killed.

Explanations

This tale is the latest Arthurian tale recorded in Wales. Rhonabwy's dream takes place on two levels, in the Powys Kingdom of the 12th / 13th centuries. Century, a time of political and economic decline and in the "golden" age of Arthur, who is called Emperor here. A lower social class, not mentioned earlier, appears in this story, a small farmer like Heilyn the Red would never have been mentioned as a host in a legend in Arthurian times. Even the mention of the urge to relieve ( ... that it would not have been easy to go out to relieve yourself ... ) never occurred in the earlier stories. However, Arthur is not yet the central figure that outshines everything, but on a par with his opponent Owein. The glamorous description of Arthur's court with the detailed description of all the famous heroes is the intended counterpart to the poverty of the present (then).

The rider wore a dress of yellow palisilk sewn with green thread, a sword with a gold hilt on the hip, in a sheath of new corduan leather, on a deerskin hanger with gold buckles, and over this a cloak of yellow silk brocade with green silk sewn and with a green hem of the coat.
And that is the reason why nobody - neither bard nor minstrel - can tell the dream without a book: the large number of colors of the horses and the variety of strange colors on the weapons and their accessories and the valuable coats and the wonderful stones.

See also

literature

Web links

  • James MacKillop: A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (=  Oxford paperback reference ). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-860967-1 , pp. 55 ff . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, p. 120 f.
  2. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 140.
  3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 1021 f.
  4. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, p. 130.
  5. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the Emperor Arthur. Part 2, p. 142.
  6. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, p. 201 ff.
  7. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 139 f. (for the entire "Explanations" section)