In Welsh literature the period before 1100 is known as the period of Y Cynfeirdd (=The earliest poets) or Yr Hengerdd (=The old poetry). It roughly dates from the birth of the Welsh language until the arrival of the Normans in Wales towards the end of the eleventh century.
The oldest Welsh literature does not belong to the territory we know as Wales today, but rather to northern England and southern Scotland. But though it is dated to be from the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, it has survived only in and thirteenth- and fourteenth century manuscript copies. The names of the early poets are known from the work of the eighth-century historian Nennius, author of Historia Brittonum. There he lists the famous poets from the time of King Ida, AD547-559:
- "At that time, Talhaiarn Cataguen was famed for poetry, and Neirin (i.e. Aneirin), and Taliesin and Bluchbard, and Cian, who is called Guenith Guaut, were all famous at the same time in British (that is Brythonic, or, Welsh) poetry."
Of the poets named here it is believed that work that can be identified as being by Aneirin and Taliesin have survived.
Taliesin
The poetry of Taliesin has been preserved in a 14th century manuscript known as Llyfr Taliesin (=The book of Taliesin). This manuscript contains a large body of later mystical poetry attributed to the poet, but scholars have recognised twelve poems that belong to the 6th century. They are all poems of praise: one for Cynan Garwyn, king of Powys about 580; two for Gwallawg, king of Elmet, a kingdom based around the modern Leeds; the other nine poems are associated with Urien Rheged, a ruler of the kingdom of Rheged, located around the Solway Firth, and with his son, Owain.
Taliesin's poetry in praise of Urien became models of what praise poetry should be. Later poets turned to him for inspiration as they praised their own patrons in therms that he had used to praise Urien.
Aneirin
Aneirin, a near-contemporary of Taliesin, wrote a series of poems to create one long epic called the Gododdin. It records a battle between the Britons (or Welsh) of the kingdom of Gododdin (centred on Eidyn, the modern Edinburgh) and the Saxon kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia in the north-east of England. This battle is fouth at Catterick ("Catraeth" in Welsh) in about the year 600. It has survived in Llyfr Aneirin (=The book of Aneirin), a manuscript dating from ca. 1265.
Llywarch Hen and Heledd
The poetry associated with Llywarch Hen (=Llywarch the elder) and Heledd date from a somewhat later period, and brings us near to present-day Wales. These poems, in the form of monolgues, express the sorrow and affliction felt at the loss of eastern portion of the kingdom of Powys (present-day Shropshire) to the English. But they are also works where nature is an important element in the background, reflecting the main action and feelings of the poetry itself.
Other early poetry
Though the Anglo-Saxon invaders seem to break Welsh hearts in most of the early poetry, there are some poems of encouragement and the hope of an eventual and decisive defeat of the Anglo-Saxons that would drive them back into the sea. One such poem is the the tenth-century Armes Prydein from the Book of Taliesin which sees a coalition of Celtic and Scandanavian forces defeating the English and restoring Britain to the Welsh.
This period also produced religious poetry, such as the englynion in praise of the Trinity found in the ninth-century Juvencus Manuscript (Cambridge MS Ff. 4.42), which is now at Cambridge University Library. In the Book of Taliesin we find a poem dated to the ninth-century written in praise of Tenby, Edmyg Dinbych (=In praise of Tenby), probably produced by a court poet in Dyfed to celebrate the New Year (Welsh: Calan).. The Book of Aneirin has preserved an early Welsh nursery rhyme, Pais Dinogad (=Dinogad's petticoat).
Much of the nature poetry, gnomic poetry, prophetic poetry, and religious poetry in the Black book of Carmarthen and the Red Book of Hergest is also believed to date from this period.
Sources
General
- Jarman, A. O. H. (1981), The Cynfeirdd : early Welsh poets and poetry. Writers of Wales series. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708308139.
- Williams, Ifor (1972), The beginnings of Welsh poetry. Edited by Rachel Bromwich. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708300359.
Taliesin
- Taliesin poems (1988). New translations by Merion Pennar. Felinfach : Llanerch Press. ISBN 0947992243.
- Williams, Ifor (Ed.) (1987), Poems of Taliesin. Translated by J. E. Caerwyn Williams. Medieval and modern Welsh series. Dublin : The Dublin Institute. ISBN 0000673250.
Aneirin
- Jarman, A. O. H. (Ed.) (1990), Aneirin : Y Gododdin. Welsh Classics series. Llandysul: Gomer Press. ISBN 0863833543. A translation into English including notes, glossary and bibliography.
- Koch, John T (Ed.) (1997), The Gododdin of Aneirin : text and context from dark-age north Britain. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708313744. Includes translation and notes.
Llywarch Hen and Heledd
- P. K. Ford (1974), The poetry of Llywarch Hen : introduction, text and translation. Berkley : University of California Press. ISBN 0520026012.
- Rowland, Jenny (1990), Early Welsh saga poetry. Woodbridge : D. S. Brewer.
Other early poetry
- Jackson, Kenneth H. (Ed.) (1935), Early Welsh gnomic poetry. Cardiff : University of Wales Press.
- Williams, Ifor (Ed.) (1972), Armes Prydein : the prophecy of Britain, from the Book of Taliesin. English version by Rachel Bromwich. Medieval and Modern Welsh series. Dublin : The Dublin Institute.