The Dream of Rhonabwy
Breuddwyd Rhonabwy | |
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The Dream of Rhonabwy | |
Author(s) | anonymous |
Language | Middle Welsh |
Date | late 12th or 13th century |
Manuscript(s) | Red Book of Hergest, folio 134v to 138v |
Genre | prose |
Personages | Rhonabwy, Iorwerth Goch ap Maredudd, Madog ap Maredudd, Iddawg Cordd Prydain, King Arthur, Owain mab Urien, Bishop Bedwin, Addaon fab Telessin, Osla Gyllellfawr, Medrawd, etc. |
The Dream of Rhonabwy (
Narrative
The frame story tells that Madog sends Rhonabwy and two companions to find the prince's rebellious brother Iorwerth. One night during the pursuit they seek shelter with Heilyn the Red, but find his longhouse filthy and his beds full of fleas. Lying down on a yellow ox-skin, Rhonabwy experiences a dream of Arthur and his time. Serving as his guide is one of Arthur's followers, Iddawg the Churn of Britain, so called because he sparked the Battle of Camlann when he distorted the king's messages of peace he was supposed to deliver to the enemy Medrawd (Mordred). Iddawg introduces Rhonabwy and his friends to Arthur, who regrets that Wales has been inherited by such tiny men.
Iddawg reveals that Arthur's men are assembled to meet the
Interpretation
There is no consensus about the ultimate meaning of The Dream 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.[3]
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 the work was not popular with storytellers, though this was more likely due to its position as a literary tale rather than a traditional one.
Notes
- ^ Stephenson, David, Medieval Powys: Kingdom, Principality and Lordships, 1132–1293, Boydell & Brewer, 2016, pp. 306–310.
- ^ Richards, Melville (Ed.) (2012), Breuddwyt Ronabwy. Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru.
- ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
References
- Bromwich, Rachel (2006). Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain. University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1386-8.
- Gantz, Jeffrey (translator) (1987). The Mabinogion. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044322-3.
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
- J. A. Carson, The Structure and Meaning of The Dream of Rhonabwy, in: Philological Quarterly 53, 1974, S. 289–303.