The Mabinogion by Jeffrey Gantz

Author:Jeffrey Gantz
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141920467
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2018-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

The Dream of Rhonabwy

The most literary of the tales in The Mabinogion, ‘Rhonabwy’ may also be the last to have taken shape. Madawg son of Maredudd – a genuine historical figure – died in 1159, and his brother Iorwerth a few years later; thus the framework of the story cannot be much older than 1200. On the other hand, the stark simplicity of the gwyddbwyll match, and its counterpointing in the battle between Owein’s ravens and Arthur’s squires, recalls the dreamlike atmosphere of the opening pages of ‘Pwyll’. In many ways, ‘Rhonabwy’ is closer in feeling to ‘Culhwch’ than to the Romances. As in ‘Culhwch’, Arthur’s court appears to be in Cornwall and not in Wales. Owein is nearly Arthur’s equal here; moreover armour, jousting and the concept of knighthood are all absent – strongly indicating that ‘Rhonabwy’, however late its composition, largely preserves the ambience of the earlier tales.

On one level, this story satirizes the twelfth-century Welshmen. The miserable reception accorded Rhonabwy and his companions at the house of Heilyn the Red provides the greatest possible contrast both to the generosity characteristic of Celtic tales, and to the glory and splendour of Arthur’s legendary court. And yet this legendary glory is itself under attack: Arthur and his bishop look foolish as they are soaked by a passing horse; and later we are told that his bards’ song is so obscure that no one can understand it. The contrast between fictive past and the all-too-real present is accented by the panoply of colours and metals and elaborate crests which Arthur’s men bear, an assortment which renders ‘Rhonabwy’ a storyteller’s tour de force, the visual counterpart to the list of names in ‘Culhwch’.

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