The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry Before 1600

Aneirin praises the virtues of death in battle and pro-
motes the value of the eternal fame gained through loy-
alty and selfl ess valor in the face of ultimate defeat. For
early Welsh societies, such texts served important his-
torical and genealogical purposes while also clarifying a
vision of insular unity and an explanatory preface to the
isolated, separatist history later medieval historians often
describe in their accounts of the Welsh people.
One of the most remarkable features of Y Gododdin
is the appearance of the names of numerous warrior
heroes who fi gure in later courtly ROMANCEs, both insu-
lar and continental. With particular reference to stanza
33, scholars often credit Y Gododdin as one of the earli-
est pieces of ARTHURIAN LITERATURE. Among the many
heroes named in this stanza are Gwawrddur (Arthur)
and Peredur (Perceval). There is a great deal of active
debate on the nature of the connections between the
heroes named in Y Gododdin and those appearing in
the Arthurian romances. Some claim that the shared

names indicate historic basis for King ARTHUR, but oth-

ers see the appearance of names in common as coinci-

dental. At the least, the textual linkages suggest some

thematic parallels, and the names and references in Y

Gododdin connect it with the later traditions of Welsh

court poetry.

See also ELEGY, POETS OF THE PRINCES AND POETS OF

THE NOBILITY.

FURTHER READING

Bromwich, Rachel. “Celtic Dynastic Themes and the Breton

Lays.” Études Celtiques 9 (1961): 439–471.

Jarman, A. O. H. “Aneirin: The Gododdin.” In A Guide to

Welsh Literature, vol. 1, edited by A. O. H. Jarman and

Gwilym Rees Hughes, 68–80. Swansea, Wales: Christo-

pher Davies, 1976.

———, ed. and trans. Y, Gododdin. Llandysul, Wales:

Gomer Press, 1988.

Kathleen H. Formosa

482 Y GODODDIN