Teithi

Teithi is a legendary figure from Welsh mythology and a term from ancient Welsh law .

mythology

Teithi is mentioned in the legend Kulhwch ac Olwen as a follower of King Arthur . Kulhwch asks Teithi, along with 220 other knights, to help him find Olwen , the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden .

[…] Teithi the Elder, the son of Gwynnan, whose land had flooded the sea, so that he saved himself with extreme hardship and came to the court of Arthur. Since he came here, his knife had the peculiarity that no handle would ever hold it. And because of it he got sick and weak while he was alive, and then he died.

The Cronica de Wallia from the 13th century mentions a country called Hen Kaerrihog as Teithi's home, which is said to be between St Davids on the north coast of St. Brides Bay in the west of the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire and Ireland . When the land was swallowed up by the sea, Teithi was the only one who was able to save himself, but soon died of fear because of the horror he had endured. The legend of the strange knife is only mentioned in Kulhwch ac Olwen.

Welsh law

Teithi was a term of jurisdiction in Wales and meant the security of the seller of a thing, an animal but also a human ( slave ) for the presence of the regular properties. In the case of a cat, it was the presence of ears, eyes, claws, successful moulting and not eating one's own offspring; in the case of sheep, it was milk and calves. If the teithi was violated , the buyer was entitled to a third of the purchase price for unclean animals (whose milk was not suitable for consumption) and half of the purchase price for clean animals.

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Myths and legends from Wales and Britain

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, Lit-Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7562-8 .

Web links

For the case law:

• Ferdinand Walter: The old Wales: A contribution to the international legal and church history. Verlag A. Marcus, 1859, p. 431.
• Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales: Comprising Laws Supposed to be Enacted by Howel the Good, Modified by Subsequent Regulations Under the Native Princes Prior to the Conquest by Edward the First, and Anomalous Laws, Consisting Principally of Institutions which by the Statute of .. ., Volume 1. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 1841, pp. 278 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, p. 43.
2. ↑ A manuscript (TYPE X Cf.) from the 13th century was found in Whitland Abbey (South West Wales), the chronicle describes the period from 1190 BC. BC to 1266 AD (see also Annales Cambriae )
3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, p. 226, note 29.