Clas Merdin: Tales From The Enchanted Island: Lludd’s Dragons

Lludd’s Dragons

LUD'S CHURCH (VII)

The tale of the dragons of Dinas Emrys actually begins with the tale of Lludd a Llefelys, as one of the plagues affecting the Island of Britain

The Tale of Lludd and Llefelys

The Welsh tale of Lludd and Llefelys is preserved in a collection of stories contained in two manuscripts, the English titles of which are the White Book of Rhydderch (written ca. 1300–25) and the Red Book of Hergest (ca. 1375–1425). The stories are thought to be much older, some dating back at least to the latter part of the eleventh century.

The tale is alluded to in The Lesser Reconciliation of Lludd, from the Book of Taliesin:

“Before the reconciliation of Lludd and Llevelys,

The possessor of the fair isle trembled" [1]

The earliest origins of this story are obscure and there appears to be evidence that The Tale of Lludd and Llefelys is independent of Geoffrey’s influence and based on an earlier tradition that existed before Geoffrey wrote his Historia; although Lludd rebuilding the city of London (Caer Lud) is found in the Historia (possibly based on the same tradition as Henry Huntingon), his brother Llefelys is not found in Geoffrey's work.

The story goes that while Lludd was king of the Island of Britain; it became infected with three supernatural plagues, or oppressions.

The Three Plagues of Lludd’s Reign:
• The first was a certain race that came, and was called the Coranians; [2] and so great was their knowledge, that there was no discourse upon the face of the Island, however low it might be spoken, but what, if the wind met it, it was known to them. And through this they could not be injured.
• The second plague was a shriek which came on every May-eve, over every hearth in the Island of Britain. And this went through people's hearts, and so seared them, that the men lost their hue and their strength, and the women their children, and the young men and the maidens lost their senses, and all the animals and trees and the earth and the waters, were left barren.
• The third plague was, that however much of provisions and food might be prepared in the king's courts, were there even so much as a year's provision of meat and drink, none of it could ever be found, except what was consumed in the first night. And two of these plagues, no one ever knew their cause, therefore was there better hope of being freed from the first than from the second and third. [3]

Lludd called upon his brother Llefelys, who was king of Northern France by marriage, for help in eradicating these three plagues. They met in the middle of the sea and spoke through a horn so as the Coraniaid could not hear them.

The first plague, the Coraniaid was finally eradicated insects bruised in water. Lludd had received the insects from his brother Llefelys in France who had told Lludd to keep some of them to breed with just in case a similar affliction might come to Britain in the future.

Llefelys said the second plague was due to a dragon in Lludd’s kingdom and another dragon of a foreign race is fighting with it. To overcome this plague, Llefelys told Lludd he would need to measure the length and breadth of the Island to find the centre, there dig a pit and place a cauldron filled with the finest mead, covered over by a satin cloth. They would appear as dragons fighting in the air and then tire and fall in the form of pigs into the cauldron, sink in to the mead, drink it and then fall asleep. Lludd would then need to bury them in the strongest part of the island.
When Lludd measured the island, Oxford was found to be the exact centre of the island of Britain. He captured the dragons as Llefelys had said and then wrapped up in the satin covering the cauldron. While they slept took them to the securest place he had which was in Snowdon, at a place then called Dinas Ffaraon, after that the spot was called Dinas Emrys, and from then on the May-eve shriek ceased.

To eradicate the third plague Lludd was only able to stop the recurring theft by confronting the intruder. To avoid falling asleep he kept dipping his head in a vessel of cold water by his side. Upon confronting the magician, a fierce encounter ensued in which Lludd overcame the magician. Thereupon, Lludd granted him mercy and made him his loyal vassal.

The Dragons of Emrys

The tale of the Dragons interned at Dinas Emrys seems to originate from belief in talismanic burial, as seen for example in the story from the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen Daughter of Llŷr which includes the story of the burial of Bran's head to protect the island. The burial of the two dragons keeps Britain safe from invasion, being one of the Three Fortunate Concealments, until they are unearthed by Vortigern, as one of the Three Unfortuate Disclosures.

The story is alluded to in the Triads:

37 R. Three Fortunate Concealments of the Island of Britain
The Head of Bran the Blessed, son of Llyr, which was concealed in the White Hill in London, with its face towards France. And as long as it was in the position in which it was put there, no Saxon Oppression would ever come to this Island; The second Fortunate Concealment: the Dragons in Dinas Emrys, which Lludd son of Beli concealed; And the third: the Bones of Gwerthefyr the Blessed, in the Chief Ports of this Island. And as long as they remained in that concealment, no Saxon Oppression would ever come to this Island.

And they were the Three Unfortunate Disclosures when these were disclosed And Gwrtheyrn the Thin disclosed the bones of Gwerthefyr the Blessed for the love of a woman: that was Ronnwen the pagan woman; And it was he who disclosed the Dragons; And Arthur disclosed the Head of Bran the Blessed from the White Hill, because it did not seem right to him that this Island should be defended by the strength of anyone, but by his own. [4]

It may allude to an even early mythological element of Britain’s pagan past, as we have seen previously Lludd’s daughter Creiddylad; Gwythyr the son of Greidawl and Gwynn the son of Nudd fight for her every first of May until doomsday. May-eve, Beltane is also probably named after the god Beli, father of Lludd. It is on Beltane that the Milesians came to Ireland, and so it was on Beltane that the Partholonians died.

In addition to Beltane, the Celtic fire festival heralding the onset of summer, May-eve is of course also Walpurgis Night, a traditional pagan festival, on April 30th.

Walpurgisnacht is considered the "Enclosure of the Fallen" from Norse tradition and commemorates the time when Odin died. The night is said to be a time when the boundary between this world and the other world can be breached and spirits were said to walk among the living.

Christianised as St. Walpurga's day and set to May 1st, Saint Walpurga herself was a niece of Saint Boniface and, according to legend, a daughter of the Saxon prince St. Richard.

It would seem that May-eve is traditionally a day when rulership is challenged and plagues appear.

Nennius

Although Geoffrey of Monouth and the tale of Lludd and Llefelys, disagree on the fourth brother Llefelys, they concur in naming a third brother Nynyaw in Welsh Nennius in Latin), who plays no further part in the story.

The tale of the dragons concealed at Dinas Emrys is very significant in the early mythology of Britain. These are, no doubt, the same dragons which appear in 9th Century story of Ambrosius and Vortigern, attributed to a cleric named Nennius, c.800 CE, in the Historia Brittonum, from the Harlian 3859 manuscript.

The Tale of Lludd and Llefelys, albeit it in a bridged form, was included in later Welsh redactions of Geoffrey’s Historia, probably to account for how the dragons became buried in Dinas Emrys. Geoffrey names the boy Emrys as Merlin and hence the confusion of the two Merlins commences – but that’s another story!

Ambrosius becomes Emrys in Welsh, Dinas Emrys near Beddgelert in Snowdonia traditionally being his stronghold; he was referred to by Gildas as the Last of the Romans; Nennius hints to the possibility of civil war when he alludes to the Battle of Wallop between Ambrosius and Vortigern. From Nennius the concept of the red dragon as representing the Britons (this still represented on the flag of Wales today) in their struggle against the Anglo-Saxons is generally accepted. However, the white dragon may not be referring to Germanic invaders at all but the dragons could be representations of the two factions of Ambrosius and Vortigern.

According to the story Vortigern was advised by his wise men to retire to the remote boundaries of his kingdom and build a citadel, but three times the building collapsed, he was advised to: “find a child born without a father, put him to death, and sprinkle with his blood the ground on which the citadel is to be build,”

Hence, they found the boy Emrys who was not born of a mortal father and he was brought before Vortigern:

"there is," said he, "a pool;" they examined, and found it so: continuing his questions,

"What is in the vases?" they were silent: "there is a tent in them," said the boy;

"separate them, and you shall find it so;" this being done by the king's command,

there was found in them a folded tent.

The boy, going on with his questions, asked the wise men what was in it?

But they not knowing what to reply,

"There are," said he, "two serpents, one white and the other red; unfold the tent;" they obeyed, and two sleeping serpents were discovered;
"consider attentively," said the boy, "what they are doing."

The serpents began to struggle with each other;
and the white one, raising himself up, threw down the other
into the middle of the tent, and sometimes drove him to the edge of it;
and this was repeated thrice.

At length the red one, apparently the weaker of the two, recovering his strength, expelled the white one from the tent; and the latter being pursued through the pool by the red one, disappeared.

Then the boy, asking the wise men what was signified by third wonderful omen,
and they expressing their ignorance, he said to the king,

"I will now unfold to you the meaning of this mystery.

The pool is the emblem of this world, and the tent that of your kingdom:
the two serpents are two dragons; the red serpent is your dragon,
but the white serpent is the dragon of the people who occupy several provinces
and districts of Britain, even almost from sea to sea: at length, however,
our people shall rise and drive away the Saxon race from beyond the sea,
whence they originally came; but do you depart from this place,
where you are not permitted to erect a citadel” [5]

The Ancient Tripartite

French scholar George Dumezil theorises that the meaning of the story
is based on a tripartite ideology from Indo-European society;
sovereignty, force and fruitfulness. [6]

The three elements of the Welsh story Lludd & Lleuelys
echo the features of the story of Naudu and Lug,
the primary source being The Second Battle of Mag Tuired:

Nuada, The King of the Tuatha De Danann has lost his arm in battle against the champion of the Fir Bolg. He is given a prosthetic silver arm and is from then on known as Nuada Airgetlam (silver hand-arm).

The new King of the Tuatha De Danann, Bres, is part Formonian
and tyrannises his people, their leading warriors are reduced
to demeaning chores and the poets are not wanted at the King’s court.

The reign of Bres is characterised by the three functions;
the sovereign has become a tyrant, the leading warriors
have lost their might, and fertility is contravened by yielding crops
as tribute. Enter Lugh who leads the Tuatha De Danann
to victory against the Formonians.

In Lludd and Lleuelys the realm of the King has been weakened
in each of the three elements:

The Coraniaid have effectively tyrannised the people with their magical powers
of hearing, The May eve scream has reduced the strength of the warriors,

The food not eaten on the first night of the feast in the king’s court, a year’s provision, disappears.

As we have seen Lludd appears to be synonymous with Lludd Lawereint,
who is synonymous with Nuada Airgetlam, therefore both versions
of the tale, Welsh Lludd and Lleuelys and the Irish Second Battle
of Mag Tuired relate to a Celtic myth in which the god Nodons
has lost his arm in battle and is besieged by three plagues.

The three elements and consequently the kingdom are restored
by the god Lugus (Irish = Lug, Welsh =Lleu). [7]

>> Part VIII - Songs from the Sons of Llyr <<

Notes:

1 Skene in his Notes to the Four Ancient Books of Wales
states that this is a curious poem giving an account of an early colonisation
of Britain and suggests that this poem refers not to the Coraniaid
of Cryfranc of Lludd and Llefelys, but the Romans.

However, the word for Romans would be Caesarians,
which is quite different and they are not listed in Triad 36
Three Oppressions that came to this island.

2 Coraniaid, variously spelt, probably related to the Welsh word corach
translated as ‘dwarf’ and it is generally accepted that they are fairy people,
the Tylwyth Teg, invading the island, as do the fairy races of Ireland,
although the Triad says they came from Arabia

3 Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys, Translated by Lady Charlotte Guest

4 Rachel Bromwich, (2006). Trioedd Ynys Prydein:
The Triads of the Island of Britain.

5 Historia Brittonum, Attributed to Nennius, ca. 800 CE, Harlian 3859,
Translation from Six Old English Chronicles by: J.A. Giles.

6 George Dumezil discusses the tale and shows that the three plagues
that menace human society are an archaic formulation
in Mythe et Epopee I, 1968, pp.613-623,
- referred to in The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales
by Patrick K Ford, pp. 111-112.

7 Celtic Culture, A Historical Encyclopedia By John T. Koch, 2006,
pp 1164 – 1166.

Koch states that the name Llefelys appears to be a compound,
the first element is the same as seen in the simplex name
of the important pan-Celtic supernatural figure, Welsh Lleu,
Old Irish Lugh, Celtiberian and Gaulish Lugus.

Lleuelis the usual spelling in White Book and Red Book texts of the Cyfranc modernised as Llefelys. Patrick Ford writes this as modern Welsh Lleuelys, emphasing the connection with Lleu the central figure
of the Math mab Mathonwy and counterpart of Lug.

Clas Merdin: Tales from the Enchanted Island: Lludd’s Dragons
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Lludd and Llefelys (Welsh: Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys) is a Middle Welsh prose tale written down in the 12th or 13th century; it was included in the Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest in the 19th century. It tells of the Welsh hero Lludd Llaw Eraint, best known as King Lud son of Heli in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and his brother Llefelys.
Contents
1 Narrative
2 Origins and development
3 Notes
4 References
Narrative
The story begins as Lludd inherits the kingship of Britain from his father, Beli. Soon after, he helps his brother Llefelys marry the princess of France and become king of that country. Though Lludd's reign starts off auspiciously – he founds "Caer Lludd", later to become London, as in Geoffrey – before long three plagues disrupt the peace. The first plague are the Coraniaid, who come to Britain and cannot be forced out because their hearing is so good that they can hear anything the wind touches. The second plague is a horrid scream that comes every May Day and causes all pregnant women in Britain to miscarry. The third plague involves disappearing provisions: no matter how much Lludd may put in his stores, it will have vanished over the course of the night. Lludd takes his fleet to France to ask his brother's advice.[1]
With the aid of a brass horn that prevents the Coraniaid from hearing their conversation, Llefelys offers solutions to each plague. The Coraniaid, he reveals, can be killed by a mixture made from a certain insect. This mixture is harmless to Britons, so Lludd must convene a meeting of both groups and throw the mixture over everyone, thereby destroying the invaders. The second plague is caused by a red dragon that is embroiled in combat with a foreign white dragon. Lludd must set a trap for them at the exact centre of the island called Oxford, put them to sleep with mead, and then bury them underground in a stone chest. The third plague is caused by a "mighty magician", who casts a spell to make the whole court fall asleep while he raids their stores. Lludd must confront him, keeping himself awake with a vat of cold water.[2]
Lludd returns home to Britain. He destroys the Coraniaid with the insect mixture and confines the dragons at Dinas Emrys. Finally he fights the "mighty magician", who submits to him to become his loyal servant.[2]
Origins and development
The earliest versions of the story appear inserted into certain manuscripts of the Brut y Brenhinedd, a series of Welsh adaptations of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.[3] The oldest surviving version is the one in the Llanstephan 1 manuscript, written between about 1225 and 1250.[3] The tale's relationship with the Brut texts is significant; indeed, the early versions of the Brut have been classified by whether or not they include a version of it.[3] Lludd and Llefelys also survives intact in the Red Book of Hergest and in fragmentary form in the White Book of Rhydderch, the two source texts for the Mabinogion.[4] Both Mabinogion versions relied on the earlier Brut versions, but elements of the tale predate the Bruts as well as Geoffrey's Latin original.[5]
The most noted part of Lludd is the episode of the two dragons, which is clearly related to a story that first appears in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum.[6] Historia chapters 40–42 contain a narrative in which the tyrant Vortigern attempts to build a citadel, but the structure collapses repeatedly. His wise men tell him he must sacrifice a boy born without a father on the spot to alleviate the curse. Vortigern finally finds such a boy, Emrys (Ambrosius Aurelianus, identified with Merlin in later versions), but Emrys reveals the real reason for the collapsing towers: two dragons, one red and one white, representing the Britons and the Saxons specifically, are buried beneath the foundation.[7] This story was later adapted by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and thence appears in the Brut y Brenhinedd. Thus, Lludd supplies an origin for the dragons in the Vortigern story.
Lludd, called Llaw Eraint or "Silver Hand", earlier called Nudd, was originally a figure of Welsh mythology and derives ultimately from the pre-Roman British god Nodens.[8] He corresponds to the Irish mythological figure Nuada Airgetlám; Airgetlám means "Silver Hand".[9] Celticist John T. Koch suggests that Llefelys' name is a compound, with the first element being Lleu (the name is usually spelled Lleuelis in the Red Book and White Book) lending his name to the Llewellyn dynasty of Welsh princes.[10]
Lleu is a major figure in the last of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi and is counterpart to the Irish mythological figure Lugh and the Gaulish god Lugus.
Elements of Lludd and Llefelys bear some similarity to Irish stories of Nuada and Lugh, the fullest account of which is the Cath Maige Tuired ("The [Second] Battle of Mag Tuired"). In this tale, Nuada inherits a kingdom (Ireland) and his kinsman Lugh is dispossessed. The kingdom is beset by oppressors, and as in the story of Lludd, both fertility and the food supply is affected, but Lugh returns and saves his people with his wit and skills. This may suggest that both the Irish and Welsh tales descend from an older, common story.[10] Sioned Davies notes that Coraniaid may be a name for the Romans – otherwise Cesariaid[11] and records that other Welsh Triads name the three plagues as Coraniaid, Gwyddyl Ffichti ("Goidelic Picts") and Saxons.

 

Though Lludd's reign starts off auspiciously – he founds "Caer Lludd", later to become London, as in Geoffrey – before long three plagues disrupt the peace.

 

The Four Independent Native Tales
These are four stories from Welsh tradition and legend:
Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig ("The Dream of Macsen Wledig")
Lludd a Llefelys ("Lludd and Llefelys")
Culhwch ac Olwen ("Culhwch and Olwen")
Breuddwyd Rhonabwy ("The Dream of Rhonabwy")
DreamMaiden.jpg
"The Dream of Macsen Wledig" is a romanticized story about the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. Born in Spain, he became a Legionary commander in Britain, assembled a Celtic army and assumed the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire in AD 383. He was defeated in Battle in 385 and beheaded at the direction of the Eastern Roman Emperor.
"Lludd and Llefelys" tells a tale of the Welsh hero Lludd, who inherits the kingship of Britain from his father, Beli, before long three plagues disrupt the peace. Both Red and White Book versions relied on the earlier Brut versions (IE, Brut y Brenhinedd, a series of Welsh adaptations of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae), but elements of the tale predate the Bruts as well as Geoffrey. Specifically, "Lludd" supplies an origin for the dragons prophesied by young Merlin Ambrosius in the Vortigern story.
Ysbaddaden.jpeg
The tales "Culhwch and Olwen" and "The Dream of Rhonabwy" have interested scholars because they preserve older traditions of King Arthur. "Culhwch" is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales. Certain linguistic evidence indicates it took its present form by the 11th century, making it perhaps the earliest Arthurian tale and one of Wales' earliest extant prose texts. A fight against the terrible boar Twrch Trwyth has antecedents in Celtic tradition, and the list of King Arthur's retainers recited by the hero is a rhetorical flourish that preserves snippets of Welsh tradition that otherwise would be lost.
"The Dream of Rhonabwy" is the most literary of the medieval Welsh prose tales. It may have also been the last written. A colophon at the end declares that no one is able to recite the work in full without a book, the level of detail being too much for the memory to handle. The comment suggests it was not popular with storytellers, though this was more likely due to its position as a literary tale rather than a traditional one.
There is no consensus about the ultimate meaning of "Rhonabwy". On one hand it derides Madoc's time, which is critically compared to the illustrious Arthurian age. However, Arthur's time is portrayed as illogical and silly, leading to suggestions that this is a satire on both contemporary times and the myth of a heroic age.
The Three Romances (Y Tair Rhamant)
These are Welsh versions of Arthurian tales that also appear in the work of Chrétien de Troyes:
Owain, neu Iarlles y Ffynnon ("Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain")
Peredur fab Efrog ("Peredur, son of Efrawg")
Geraint ac Enid ("Geraint and Enid")
Scholars have long debated whether the Three Romances are based on Chrétien's poems or if they derive from a shared original. Though it is arguable that the surviving Romances might derive, directly or indirectly, from Chrétien, it is probable he in turn based his tales on older, Celtic sources. The Welsh stories are not direct translations and include material not found in Chrétien's work.
Owain.jpg
"Owain,

 

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The Mabinogion is a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts.

The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions.

While some details may recall older Iron Age traditions and sub-Roman historical figures,
each tale is the product of a later, highly developed medieval Welsh narrative tradition, both oral and written.

Lloyd Alexander, author of The Chronicles of Prydain, was inspired by the Mabinogion in his creation of Prydain
and its many characters and events. While developing the series Alexander consulted a multi-volume set of books,
translated from the Welsh into English by Lady Charlotte Guest in the mid-19th century.

Guest's edition also included copious notes relating the tales to the Welsh Triads, another collection of Welsh legendary material.
Contents

• Eleven Tales
  • The Four Branches of the Mabinogi (Pedair Cainc y Mabinogi)
  • The Four Independent Native Tales
  • The Three Romances (Y Tair Rhamant)
• The Mabinogion and The Chronicles of Prydain
• Texts of Origin
• Title
• Further Reading

Mabinogion | Prydain Wiki | Fandom
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Welsh Dragon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Dragon


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"Y Ddraig Goch" links here; for the Welsh national flag see Flag of Wales.


Y Ddraig Goch
The Welsh Dragon (Welsh: Y Ddraig Goch, meaning the red dragon, pronounced [ə ˈðraiɡ ˈɡoːχ])
is a heraldic symbol that appears on the national flag of Wales.

The oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is in the Historia Brittonum,
written around AD 829, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur
and other ancient Celtic leaders. Its association with these leaders,
along with other evidence from archaeology, literature, and documentary history,
led many to suppose that it evolved from an earlier Romano-British national symbol.^[1]

During the reigns of the Tudor monarchs (themselves originally of Welsh origin),
the red dragon was used as a supporter in the English Crown's coat of arms.^[2]

The red dragon is often seen as symbolising all things Welsh, and is used by many public and private institutions.
These include the Welsh Government, Visit Wales, and numerous local authorities including Blaenau Gwent,
Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, and sports bodies, including the Sport Wales National Centre,
the Football Association of Wales, Wrexham A.F.C., Newport Gwent Dragons, and London Welsh RFC,
while the "dragon's tongue" (Tafod y Ddraig) is the symbol of the Welsh Language Society.

The Welsh Dragon is also one of The Queen's Beasts.

References

1. ^ Davis, Dai. "Y Ddraig Goch – The Red Dragon". welshflag.org. Archived from the original on 9 August 2012.
2. ^ See example of dragon supporter Elizabethan Heraldry; "Heralds and Heraldry in Elizabethen England"; accessed 6 September 2010