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m Tipcake moved page Gwallog ap Llenog to Gwallog ap Llênog: I have been corrected; the proper Modern Welsh rendition of this man's father is Llênog. |
m forgot language tag for the reference to Gwallog in 'Dwy Blaid' 🙂 |
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Like many of the figures associated with fifth- and sixth-century Brythonic-speaking territories in Britain, Gwallog becomes a figure in the later Welsh literature about the [[Hen Ogledd|'Old North']]. The historical value of these literary sources is doubtful, as are all to be dated even at their most conservative estimates around the same period as the ''Historia Brittonum''.<ref>Even Jenny Rowland, essentially following the arguments of Ifor Williams set down a half-century prior, dates the material concerning Gwallog in 'Canu Urien' to the late eighth century at the earliest. See Rowland, Jenny (ed.) ''Early Welsh Saga Poetry: A Study and Edition of the'' Englynion (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1990), pp. 388-9; henceforth ''EWSP''.</ref> The chronologically earliest pieces of literature traditionally dated around the same time as the ''Historia Brittonum'' are called "saga poems", so named by comparison with [[Icelandic sagas]], since it is thought that these poems originally were featured in longer oral or prose stories, much like the poems in the Norse texts. Like the Norse texts, these poems could be of historical value, but it is difficult to discern fact from fiction in their contents.<ref>See, e.g. Byock, Jesse L., ‘Saga Form, Oral Prehistory, and the Icelandic Social Context’, New Literary History, 16 (1984), pp. 153-173., for an overview of the Icelandic problem.</ref> It is doubly difficult with this material, as its diction and 'narrative' are extremely obscure.
One group of poems in the "saga" literature is called the 'Urien Rheged' cycle by modern scholars, as the poems are concerned with the events in [[Rheged]] after the slaying of Urien. The poems survive from the [[Black Book of Carmarthen]] (c. 1250), the [[Red Book of Hergest]] (after 1382), and various other later copies. Nevertheless, they are traditionally understood to be copies of [[Old Welsh]] material. The narrative of the poems suggests Urien's kingdom was beset with enemies after his death, and Gwallog is among them. One poem states that 'Gwallog, horseman in battle, intended to make corpses in [[Urien Yrechwydd#Location_of_Yrechwydd|Erechwydd]] against the onslaught of Elffin [ab Urien]'.<ref>{{lang|wlm|Pwyllei wallawc marchawc trin. /
erechwyd gwneuthur dynin. / yn erbyn kyfryssed elphin.}} Rowland, ''EWSP'', 'Canu Urien', §39 ('Dwy Blaid')</ref>
There are two other obscure poems from the Black Book which reference Gwallog as well. The date of these is, however, very uncertain. Despite Urien's great reputation in Welsh literature and Gwallog's apparent hostility to Urien's heirs, in one poem, Gwallog is memorialised among other heroes as an ''attwod lloegir'' 'affliction of England'.<ref>Rowland, ''EWSP'', 'Mi a wum', §5 </ref> The other poem refers to a lost story about Gwallog losing one of his eyes to a goose, though it is apparently not meant to be a humorous tale, despite how it may appear to the modern reader.<ref>[[Rachel Bromwich]] took the story to be an entertaining anecdote, see Bromwich, Rachel (ed. and tr.) Trioedd Ynys Prydein: ''The Triads of the Island of Britain'', fourth ed. (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2014), p. 372. For the counterargument, see Rowland, ''EWSP'', pp. 104-6 for discussion. The poem is found in ''EWSP'' under the title 'Gwallawg'.</ref>
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