Celtic Civilisation 1B 2017-18

ESSAY 2

Cover-sheet

Student number: 2359567M

Tutorial Group: 5 Tutor’s name: Dr Anouk Busset

Word count: 1815 (including footnotes, excluding bibliography)

Due: Tuesday 27 March, 2018 (by midnight)

Question:

1. What are the advantages and deficiencies of Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae, or /and the
British Poetry relating to the ‘heroic age’ of the 6th and 7th centuries, in formulating a view
of the culture of the Britons in the post-Roman centuries?

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 How do we know the course of the Britons history during the sixth and seventh
centuries? When do we consider that the interpretation of a historical source is worthy of
being well-known and proven by society? It is key to settle these questions to discover the
culture of the Britons in the first few centuries after the post-Roman period, because the
main sources that we have today reside mainly in poetic literature which has generated
various interpretations among historiographers. The earliest Welsh poetry is assigned to
various periods during the five centuries 600 – 1100 A.D and we do not know about the
precise dating of this early verse because almost the whole body of Welsh literature
produced during this long period has been preserved in manuscripts written in the thirteenth
and later centuries1. Nevertheless, poetry as a historical source has been fundamental to
understand the culture of the Britons during the 6 th and 7th centuries. Now, as it will be
analyzed in this essay, British poetry has certain advantages and disadvantages, but the
latter do not play down the importance of it as an underpinning historical source. To cover
the above, this paper will examine poetry from an earlier period, such as Taliesin and
Aneirin, but especially the heroic elegiac verse attributed to the sixth-century poet Aneirin,
known as Y Gododdin, who tells us about the ideal of heroism in a heroic age.

First, it should be noted that, in accordance to the Historia Brittonum the poetry ascribed to
Aneirin is preserved in manuscripts from the thirteenth century 2 in the Book of Aneirin. He
is one the five poets mentioned as “famed in British verse”, as well as Taliesin, at a period
we may date roughly to the late sixth century, and little can be said about him historically.
The poem known as Y Gododdin -a Welsh Early medieval poetry formed by a series of
elegies to the men of the northern British kingdom of Gododdin and their allies who died
fighting against the men of Bernicia and Deira in a place called Catraeth 3- is traditionally
attributed to him.

Regarding the above-mentioned, it is worth mentioning that the main problem about this
poetry lies in the fact that many centuries separate the supposed date of the poet and the
manuscript copies attributed to him, this, has generated serious difficulties and problems in
any attempt to use it as historical evidence4. This turns into a big disadvantage, because it
undermines its credibility as a historical source and makes it increasingly subjective. As
Dumville says, “the problem of historicity is thus largely one of transmission. (…) Only by
recreating a secure line of transmission shall we be able to validate or deny the assertion of
sixth - or seventh – century origin for that poetry”5.

1
Jarman, A.O.H., ‘The Heroic ideal in early Welsh poetry’, in Beitrage zur Indogermanistik und Keltologie,
Julius Pokorny zum 80. Geburtsatg gewidmet, ed. W. Meid (Innsbruck, 1967), p. 193.
2
Charles-Edwards, T.M., Wales and the Britons, 350-1064, (Oxford: 2012), p. 17.
3
Jackson, K. H., The Gododdin: The Oldest Scottish Poem (Edinburgh, 1969), p. 12.
4
Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, 350-1064, p. 17.
Therefore, it is a problem that not only involves Y Gododdin but also any other source we
have from that time. Celtic literature has not produced epic poems that are truly reliable and
faithful to that time because those who were responsible for transmitting the stories,
legends and poems orally were the bards, whom, without a desire to narrate, were
responsible for making propaganda and celebrating the praise of the aristocratic class in
general and their patrons.6 Consequently, the stories we discover in these poems are clearly
influenced by personal interests and the treatment of the subject is lyrical and descriptive. 7
So, if we want to get an accurate knowledge about the heroic age at that time we have to
bear in mind that the information we have presents this great deficiency.

Second, it is important to highlight, without prejudice, that all the information we have
regarding the battle in Catraeth does not come from strictly historical sources, and the poem
itself is in fact almost the only evidence this event actually at it occurred 8; this is not an
impediment to discover interesting historical data of that time from its verses. Regarding Y
Gododdin we know that it exists in two different scribal versions in the manuscript, Hand A
and Hand B, both belonging to the second half of the thirteenth century. Yet, even though
the manuscript is incomplete, there are enough stanzas written by Hand A that also appear
in Hand B’s text to show that we have two distinct versions of one poem 9. The above is
clearly an advantage. The fact of having different versions of the same source allows to
enrich the information and decrease the subjectivity that comes with it. As Charles-
Edwards says, “it is an immense benefit that we can compare two versions, (…) indeed,
Hand A may have contributed to the missing folios of Hand B”10. This can also bring
several interpretations that can be both fruitful-in the absence of reliable historical sources-
and detrimental.

In line with the above, it should be added that there have been different opinions among
historians regarding the narrative character of the heroic poetry. On one side, A. O. H.
Jarman states that it is true that a few passages of narrative are related to an early Welsh
verse. In his opinion, although, they may have been subject of modifications, heroic poetry
contains an essential nucleus of early poetic composition that cannot lightly be dismissed
since it, is in this poetry where we find the full expression of the ideals and concepts of
what is usually regarded as the Welsh or British heroic age 11. But, on the other hand,

5
Dumville, D.N., ‘Early Welsh poetry: problems of historicity’, in Early Welsh Poetry: Studies in the Book of
Aneirin, ed. B.F. Roberts (Aberystwyth, 1988), p. 8.
6
Jackson, The Gododdin, p. 38.
7
Jarman, ‘The Heroic ideal in early Welsh poetry’, p. 197.
8
Ibid., p. 196.
9
Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, p. 18.
10
Ibid.
11
Jarman, A. O. H., ‘The heroic view of life in early Welsh verse’, in The Celtic Consciousness, ed. R.
O’Driscoll (Dolmen, 1982), p. 162 – 163.
Charles-Edwards says that both versions of the Gododdin show quite clearly that the poem
is not a narrative, and if we wish to use the poem as evidence of the story of the events, we
shall be relying on mere allusions, because the praises that appear are not always true. 12
Considering both points of view, I think that poetry, to some extent, does have a narrative
character that makes it essential to know the course of history and which ultimately makes
it a clearly advantage.

Finally, we shall emphasize as an advantage that the setting of the poem is not being
questioned and however important this battle may have been, it became a symbol of the
heroic attempt to halt the English conquest, not least because of Aneirin’s poem13. If we
look at the poetry attributed to Taliesin and Aneirin, we will notice that in all of these
poems there are common points that cripple the subjectivity that comes within them which
allow us to know the culture of the Britons during those centuries. This is the reason why I
agree with the opinion of Dumville when he states that “the case for authenticity, whatever
exactly we mean by that, is not proven; but that does not mean that it cannot be” 14. From its
reading, there is no doubt it is a period of heroes which can also be inferred from other
sources such as the poems attributed to Taliesin and Aneirin, The Court of Urien, Y
Gododdin, The War-Band’s Return, among others. However, the Gododdin is the only
work in Welsh literature where the central concepts of the heroic age are given full and
unfettered expression, undiluted by other ideas15. To illustrate the points of heroic conduct
it should be noted, for instance, that those who have died in the slaughter will be honored
and remembered, B.6 ‘Although they were being slain, they slew, and till the world’s end,
they will be honored’16. And also, stubbornness and steadfastness in battle were some
attitudes very current in the environment, B. 8 `There was no truce he’d make in combat’ 17.
As we see, these poetries evidence the heroic characteristics. Both the honor of the warriors
and their continuous combats take up the center of the plot.

The above reflection brings to the conclusion that all the poetry that we have from this
period play a fundamental role to better understand the culture of the Britons in the absence
of other reliable sources. However, as those are the only historical sources that we have, we
must analyze them with some caution to avoid failing into subjectivities. As an example,
we know that the bellicosity, honor and the desire to be remembered were some important
values of the heroic age highlighted by British Poetry. In this sense, poetry, as the most
important historical source we have of this period, implies advantages and disadvantages in
12
Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, p. 25.
13
Clancy, J. P., in The Triumph Tree: Scotland’s Earliest Poetry, AD 550-1350, ed. T. O. Clancy (Edinburgh,
1998), p. 46.
14
Dumville, ‘Early Welsh poetry: problems of historicity’, p. 8
15
Jarman, ‘The Heroic ideal in early Welsh poetry’, p. 205.
16
Clancy, The Triumph Tree, p. 69.
17
Ibid.
the effort of rebuilding past events and comprehending the culture of the Britons during the
post-Roman era. However, the above mentioned disadvantages are not enough to detract
from the great benefit that British poetry gives us. We must assume that this poetry has an
essential narrative character turning into an alternative and useful historical source.
Therefore, as more poems are written, the greater we benefit.

Bibliography

Charles-Edwards, T.M., Wales and the Britons, 350-1064, (Oxford: 2012).

Clancy, J. P., in The Triumph Tree: Scotland’s Earliest Poetry, AD 550-1350, ed. T. O.
Clancy (Edinburgh, 1998), p. 46.

Dumville, D.N., ‘Early Welsh poetry: problems of historicity’, in Early Welsh Poetry:
Studies in the Book of Aneirin, ed. B.F. Roberts (Aberystwyth, 1988).

Jackson, K. H., The Gododdin: The Oldest Scottish Poem (Edinburgh, 1969).

Jarman, A. O. H., ‘The heroic view of life in early Welsh verse’, in The Celtic
Consciousness, ed. R. O’Driscoll (Dolmen, 1982), p. 162 – 163.

Jarman, A.O.H., ‘The Heroic ideal in early Welsh poetry’, in Beitrage zur Indogermanistik
und Keltologie, Julius Pokorny zum 80. Geburtsatg gewidmet, ed. W. Meid (Innsbruck,
1967).