Y Gododdin

Page 23 of the book by Aneirin

Y Gododdin [ ə go'doðin ] is the title of a British hero song attributed to the poet Aneirin . A copy from around 1250 has been preserved, but largely reproduces a poem from around 600 that was only passed on orally until the 9th century. The manuscript ( Cardiff 2.81 ) is now in the South Glamorgan County Library in Cardiff .

Content and form

Y Gododdin celebrates the exodus and the heroic defeat of a British warband from the tribe of Gododdin (Votādini) under the princes Mynyddog of Din Eidin ( Edinburgh ) and Rhydderch Hael against the Anglo-Saxons , who probably died around 580/600 at Catraeth (Cataractonium, Catterick , Yorkshire ) took place. After the 300 (according to another version 363) warriors had been entertained with mead for a year, they stormed in a wild cavalry attack against the enemy superiority of the Saxon foot troops and fell all but one man (according to another version, three survived and the Poet). A participant in the battle, also mentioned in other Welsh sagas, was Cynon fab Clydno .

Literary historians assume that only part of the work comes from Aneirin, the greater part of the elegies were added on later occasions in honor of the senseless sacrifice. Most of the poems show rhyme and inner rhyme. From the 12th century onwards, they are also provided with alliterations (equivalence), this form of poetry is called Cynghanned (" sound "). Many of the elegies in Y Gododdin begin with the same first line:

Gwyr a aeth Gatraeth oed fraeth eu llu. Glasved eu hancwyn a qwenwyn vu. Trychant trwy beiriant en cattau. A qwedy elwch tawelwch vu.

Men went to Catraeth, ready their band. Fresh mead, her drink, it was poison. Three hundred on orders into battle - but after the shouting there was silence.

See also

• Collected works from Wales and Britain

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
• Wolfgang Meid : The Celts. Reclam, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-017053-3 .

Web links

Wikisource: Y Gododdin  - Sources and full texts

• Battle of Catraeth in the English language Wikipedia

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 145 f.
2. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 472.
3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 1047.
4. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 94.
5. ↑ Wolfgang Meid: The Celts. P. 196 f.