Scotland's Merlin: A Medieval Legend and its Dark Age Origins by Clarkson Tim & Clarkson Tim

Author:Clarkson, Tim & Clarkson, Tim [Clarkson, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 2016-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

Gwenddolau: hero, villain or pagan?

In the triad of the Three Fortunate Assassinations, the man-eating birds frequently seen as alluding to Gwenddolau’s paganism might merely reflect a hostile attitude towards him in later Welsh tradition.44 This can be contrasted with a more favourable attitude in a triad which praises his warband as one of the Three Faithful Warbands of the Island of Britain because its soldiers ‘continued the struggle at Arfderydd for a fortnight and a month after their lord was slain’. In each of these triads we are undoubtedly seeing a different perspective on the battle of Arfderydd during the period when stories about it were circulating in Wales. Although most of these stories have not survived, the triad of the Faithful Warbands suggests that at least one tale placed Gwenddolau and his soldiers in a positive light. Another must have depicted him in a less positive way as the keeper of ravenous birds who devoured his fellow-Britons. Both the heroism of his warriors and the savagery of his birds can be interpreted as storytelling motifs designed to elicit different responses from an audience. There is no reason to assume that the birds were meant to indicate his religious affiliations, or that a Welsh audience would necessarily associate such creatures with paganism. Their purpose was more likely to have been to highlight his transformation from a historical figure into a legendary one with supernatural attributes.45

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