Gwyddno Garanhir
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Gwyddno Garanhir was the supposed ruler of a sunken land off the coast of Wales, known as Cantre'r Gwaelod. He was the father of Elffin ap Gwyddno, the foster-father of the famous Welsh poet Taliesin in the legendary account given in the late medieval Chwedl Taliesin (Ystoria Taliesin/Hanes Taliesin; "The Tale of Taliesin").
Legend
The basket of Gwyddno Garanhir is one of the
Kingdom
Stories of the drowned lands of Gwyddno appear to have arisen from the identification of natural underwater ridges as the remains of sea walls. However, tradition also assigns Gwyddno a landlocked portion of his kingdom to which he was able to flee. He was called '
In Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series, Gwyddno is the king of the Lost Lands in Silver on the Tree.
Epithet
His name is Welsh and means Gwyddno Long-Shanks, Crane-Legs, or literally Tall-Crane.
References
- Ford, Patrick K. (ed.) (1992). Ystoria Taliesin. University of Wales Press. (The text of the Story of Taliesin in the hand of Elis Gruffydd)
- North, Frederick John. (1957). Sunken cities: Some legends of the coast and lakes of Wales
- Williams, Edward (c. 1810), Williams (ab Iolo), Taliesin (ed.), Iolo Manuscripts, Llandovery: William Rees (published 1848)