Mabinogi Study

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====== Mabinogi SCHOLARS & THEORIES Index ======

ABOUT Scholars, manuscripts, mediaeval history, dating, 'author, Welsh Renaissance, mythological recnstruction, structural analysis, interlacing, literature and language, motifs and themes. Triads, poetry. OTHER INDEXES: [[a-z|Main Index A-Z]] * [[0arts|Mabinogi Arts]] * [[0qu|Quotes]]. See also [[0ind|Indexes Help]] about each Index; & the Mabinogi Bibliography.

**ORDER** For A-Z on names of scholars, click **SCHOLAR** at the top. To return to Timeline order click **DATE**. \\
**SEARCH TAGS** (Copy paste into search box below - include the *asterisk)\\
*19thC   *annwfn   *character   *coherent  *critique guest *cwn annwfn *death *gods  *goddess  *hunt *interweaving   [guest’s] *journal *legal *mabinogion  *magic *morality *myth *place  *politics *pryderi cycle *pughe  *romance *ruler [Mabinogi] *status *social status *structure *style *three themes *trans  *voice *welsh [language]  *women 

<datatables page-length="100">
^NAME //Tags//^DATE^DATA^
|**Anthropological School**| |Anthropologists and ritualists ‘mind of primitive man’ fertility myth & ritual. Tylor/ Lang/ Frazer/ McCalloch (Jackson pp. 40-41) aka English School.|
|**Anwyl**\\ |1892|Edward Anwyl became Professor of Welsh, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and was later appointed Professor of Comparative Philology. 1897, 1899, 1901 'Mabinogi' place names; 3 Cycles. ‘Celtic Religion’ 1906, ‘Celtic Goddesses’ esp Epona. 1906-07.  ‘Analyzed the structure and composition with characteristic insight and erudition’ (Ford, p. 1. n. 2) Brynley Roberts biography and bibliog. Anwyl article Cymm. 1968, vol 1. (Welsh) (Ford, p. 1. n. 2)|
|**Anwyl**\\ |1899|Caer Sidi, Kaer sidi ‘closely connected with the Dyfed legends’ (Anwyl III p. 132)  ‘Kaer sidi’ poss tower Pryderi and Rhiannon entered [3] (Anwyl III p. 130) cf. Pwyll, Taliesin]|
|**Anwyl**\\ //*coherent *style//|1901|Mabinogi as 'unified whole', skill of writer.  (Part IV, p. 123) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Arberth**\\ //*place *trans//| |Most trans. make Arberth ‘a’ or ‘one of' Pwyll's chief courts, not the single chief court. Ellis Mabinogion, p. ?); Jones, (1949) p. 4; Bollard, (2006) p. 19; Davies, (2008) p. 3) Ford: ‘the chief court’ of Dyfed. (Ford, (1977) p. 37|
|**Arberth**\\ //*place//| |Location: in the present county of Cardigan’ (Rhys Lect V p. 498) 'the modern Narberth in Pembrokeshire; Arberth being the form of the name still in use among the Welsh speaking inhabitants of the district.’ Anwyl IV, p. 125. Town of Narberth in Dyfed [Pembs.] from //yn Arberth//, ‘in Arberth’. Bollard (2006) p. 19, sidenote, see more [[0qu|Quotes]]|
|**Arberth**\\ //*place *myth//| |Gorsedd: 'seats of supernatural power’ (Rhys Lect II p. 205, n. 191?) ‘hills and mounds played a special part in the religious observances of the Celts. (Ford, (1977) p. 35-36)
|**Arnold**\\ //*19thC *status *politics//|1839 April 27|Often quoted judgement re mediaeval Welsh storytellers as 'peasants' building huts in ruins of past 'architecture'. Colonial attitude, Englishman,  used by Welsh scholars to support mythological broken 'remains'. (Part II, p. 61.)  [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Bartrum**\\ //*annwfn//|1993|’It is evident that Caer Siddi is a place in Annwn, or, accordng to Morris-Jones (p.238) and Loomis (p.148), another name for it.’ (Bartrum p. 101)|
|**Bollard**\\ //*coherent *structure//|1974|'There is no incident or detail which remains isolated or superfluous in the Four Branches.' ('Structure' in Sullivan, p. 168)|
|**Bollard**\\ //*coherent *structure//|1974|'a work that is both meaningful and artistically unified. The intricate structure' author's ' artistry'  ('Structure' in Sullivan, p. 192) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Bollard**\\ //*interweaving *structure//|1974|'The four branches' cf. 'decorative interlace designs form knots' ... 'the reader might compare the events of one with those of another ... The author expects his readers to keep in mind various themes, ... a slight reference to similar previous occurrences interlaces them together' ('Structure' in Sullivan, p. 168) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Bollard**\\ //*three themes//|1974|'The three major themes... three of the functions of society which bind together, or separate, various groups... loosely termed Friendships, Marriages and Feuds.' ('Structure' in Sullivan, p. 168) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Bollard**\\ //*annwfn *magic//|2006|'From its etymology another world, either beneath the Earth accessed through mounds, hills, caves, or lakes; or one ‘coterminous with our own world… hidden and reached in magical and mysterious ways.’ (p. 20, sidenote)  ‘these tales are thoroughly imbued with the magical and otherworldly’ (p. 9)|
|**Davies**\\ Edward //*19thC//|1804|//Celtic Researches// Celtic; biblical, classical canon. Derives from Pughe & Lhuyd. Contents (abbr.) Essay 1 (pp 1-115) Biblical origins of language. /Essay 2 (pp 116– 344) Origins of Celtae & Druidism; tribes, language, literacy, alphabet. /Essay 3 Celtic Language, primitive origins, biblical (pp. 345-547) /Appendix -p. 561.|
|**Davies**\\ Edward //*19thC//|1804|Annwfn as place, condition of the dead //Celtic Researches// p. 175; //Cwn Annwfn//, 'hell-hounds', & //Plant Annwfn// 'children of the deep, certain wandering spirits.’ quoted Pughe, //Cambro-Brit//. Vol. 2, No. 18, Feb., 1821, p. 272. [[0qu|Quotes]] |
|**Davies**, Sioned\\ //*19thC *status *guest critique//|2004|'It is certainly no exaggeration to claim that, as a direct result of Guest’s translation, medieval Welsh literature was placed on the European stage.' ('Guest', p. 161)|
|**Davies**, Sioned\\ //*19thC *guest critique//|2004|'such critics seem to want it both ways' trans. not 'scholarly', Guest's fault; but she owed the 'excellent' trans. to Welsh scholars. ('Guest', p. 167; also see White, ‘Crimes’, (1995), p. 247.) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Ellis & Lloyd**\\ //*annwfn//|1929|Annwfn ‘originally conceived of as the abode of the gods’ later Abode of Death. (p. 3) Welsh Hades, the abode of the dead. (p. 7, n. 15) Wulliams review critique. [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Ellis & Lloyd**\\ //*annwfn//|1929|Chastity: extreme hospitality – offer of wife. (Ellis p.7-8. n. 17) Arawn’s offer rejected, expresses the highest chivalric ideal. It shows such an ideal was active in Wales long before the Norman import. (Ellis p.11, n. 32)|
|**Ellis & Lloyd**\\ //*critique Guest//|1929|Guest's project for 'her own children  ... bowdlerised'  (p. viii) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Ellis & Lloyd**\\ //*legal//|1929|//amod// [4] Contract made without sureties. (Ellis p. 103, n. 12) Gwydion & Pryderi; cf. //cyfnewid// exchange, sale. (Ellis p.104, n.14)|
|**Ellis & Lloyd**\\ //*legal *trans//|1929|//sarhaed// (Ellis p.7, n. 14)|
|**Ellis & Lloyd**\\ //*legal *politics *trans//|1929|//gwyrda//: A prince was not an arbitrary ruler. The //gwyrda// were the guardians of custom, and the stories often mention taking counsel. Ellis (1929) p.31.n. 79|
|**Ellis & Lloyd**\\ //*legal *trans//|1929|//kadarn avngwr y gedymdeithias a diffleis a geueis y yn gedymdeith// Lit. ‘strong of one man for his companionship and secure did I obtain as a companion.’ Prob. //kadarn avngwr// is a lost idiom. Ref. Arawn comment on Pwyll. (Ellis 15, n. 40) |
|**Ellis & Lloyd**\\ //*moral//|1929|//Math// [4]: ’barbaric [tale] because the teller wished it to be so. (p.99)|
|**Ferguson**, Anne Marie\\ //*Arts *Magic//|2006|'Mystic realism' an 'organic reality, seen ... an imaginative, poetic lens.' Artist, Llewelyn Tarot, Arawn, Rhiannon, Bendigeidfran, Gwydion, Lleu images. [[0qu|Quote]] [[http://tarotprophet.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-llewellyn-tarot-deck/|Source]]| 
|**Ford**\\ //*annwfn//|1977|Movement between here and Annwfn is easy, without markers. Pwyll, //cwn anwwfn//. ‘Adventures in the Otherworld are common enough in romance, but in mediaeval Celtic literature they play a large role.’  Contrasts the ‘world of ordinary mortals’ but ‘often hard to disttinguish … between the two.’ Fourth Branch no opposition of worlds.(1977, p. 35) cf. Lloyd (1911) p. 243. [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Ford**\\ //*place *myth *structure//|1977|Compares Arberth [1] to rock of Harlech [4] where ‘the action of the tale begins, and the site of the Otherworld feast.’ [3] Origin of ’disappearance of every living thing from the land’ & ’the place where Manawydan secures the restoration of Life and prosperity of Dyfed’  (Ford, p. 36)|
|**Ford**\\ //*structure//|1977|//Cyfranc Caseg a’r Mab// ‘The Adventure of the Mare and the Boy,’ Detailed example of lore. (Ford, pp. 3-14) Separate tale, Gwent mirrors Arberth, Rhiannon = mare. A tale in ‘separate existence and perhaps known independently under that name’, from Teyrnon’s reference with these words, at Arberth. Continuity into Third Branch. ‘one of the most significant narratives in the tradition.’ (p. 4) Notes both boy and colt taken to Arberth (p. 6) |
|**Guest**\\ //*19thC *journal *status//|1834 est.|She speaks of her love of ' the old Legends and Romances' as equally worthy as the Classiccs.  [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Guest**\\ //*19thC *journal *status *mabinogion//|1835|Guest meets the English Elijah Waring. She ponders making a collection of legends of Wales. (S.Davies, 'Guest', p. 102)[[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Guest**\\ //*19thC *status *mabinogion *romance//|1838|‘the Cymric nation … has strong claims to be considered the cradle of European Romance' (Everyman ed. 1906, Introduction, p. xxiii)|
|**Guest**\\ //*19thC *journal *Welsh//|1838 Jan 6|She found the work difficult 'being so little conversant with the Welsh' (S.Davies, 'Guest', p. 112)|
|**Guest**\\ //*19thC *journal *politics//|1839 April 27|Her arrogance & perfectionism to be the best, attitude to 'trade'.  (S.Davies, 'Guest', p. 170) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Gwyn ap Nudd**\\ //*god *journal *politics//| |Her arrogance & perfectionism to be the best, attitude to 'trade'.  (S.Davies, 'Guest', p. 170) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Hades**\\ //*annwfn//| |Pughe quotes E. Davies 'abode of the dead' 1804. Guest ‘Lower Regions’(p. 289, Endn. p. 14.)  Rhys, numerous refs (Rhys 1886) Anwyl I (p. 280) WJG (1912), p.59-60, n. 2) cf. Homeric Question (1912, p. 53) Homer, Ovid (1912) p. 43. 'as bees came from heaven (1912) p. 59-60, n.2) Welsh Hades, the abode of the dead. Ellis (1929) p. 7, n. 15. I.Williams crit. The Celtic Hades, Jones (1949) n. p. 4) See Dr. John DAVIES of Mallwyd, earliest modern commentator,remarks re Chimaera.[[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Hemming** (Hooker)\\ //*coherent *structure//|1995|‘the Mabinogi as it stands is a coherent and logical piece of work’ and ‘the meaning may be extracted only through examining the narrative structure.' (p. 14)|
|**Jones & Jones**\\ //*critique Guest//|1948|Guest's text is ‘but a paraphrase’ and ‘not the beauties of the original.' (pp. 5-6) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Koch**, John, et all.\\ //*Encyclopaedia//|2006|//Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. (5 Volumes)// 5 vols, Vol. I Contents.[[https://www.academia.edu/7205055/Celtic_Culture_A_Historical_Encyclopedia_|Contents]] Much available googlebooks|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*annwfn//|1911|‘a counterpart of this world, and that it had countries and kingdoms under the rule of different kings, … The inhabitants of Annwn are described as having the same pursuits as the dwellers of the upper world,’p. 243. ‘This lower world was not always regarded as being on the same plane and of the same nature; for instance, Caer Aranrhod is regarded as an island’ and in Culhwch Arthur goes there by expedition to the north.' [Arianrhod] (p. 244) ‘With the migration southwards, the North became unfamiliar country, and gradually stories were woven concerning the strange and weird inhabitants of that region, and the country of Caledonia came in time to be regarded as the land of Annwn.’ (p. 170) Not a place of the dead cf. LLeu as eagle. (p. 244)‘the Celtic paradise, whose inhabitants possess a higher civilisation, and whence come the blessings of this world.’ Free access between worlds, mortals 'occasional'  p. 243. cf. Ford (1977) p. 35. [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*coherent *pryderi cycle *structure *style//|1911|'Mabinogion as Literature' requires study of structures and formation. Complete, coherent. Pryderi Cycle.  (p. 171) cf. Arnold, 1867.  [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*mabinogion *status *gods *goddess *style//|1911|Mabinogion as 'literary production', good plot, ' finished and elegant style'. Celtic thought, gods. Influence on literature of Europe. (p. 248)  [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*annwfn//|1911|Arawn, son of Cynvarch, whom Geoffrey connects with the North. (Lloyd, p. 170)|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*mabinogion//|1911|Mabinogion 'artificial' name refers to Guest's collection, has become a convenience. Strictly it means the Four Branches. (p. 165) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*magic *gods *goddess *annwfn//|1911|'the supernatural is treated as the most natural thing in the world.' (p. 164) 'Magic is the chief machinery of the stories …'(p. 222). See [[0qu|Quote]] Possibly ‘Gwydion and Math were originally inhabitants of Annwn, just like Arawn, as they are evidently gods who have deteriorated into magicians, and the same may be true of Ysbyddaden Ben Cawr.’ (p. 244)|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*character//|1911|Pryderi & Manawydan contrasted. Pryderi 'Celtic .. impulsive and hot-tempered'. Manawydan 'cautious and wary ... cunning ... prudent'. Ref. saddlers and shoemakers.(pp. 234-35) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*character//|1911|Rhiannon & Branwen contrasted. Rhiannon 'perfect lady' suffers in silence. Branwen 'has no scruple' sending for aid, yet suffers less. (p. 235) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*voice *women//|1911|'Great deference is paid to women, their opinion is respected, and their advice sought.' (p. 234) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Lloyd**, E.J.\\ //*voice *women//|1911|'conversational power is repeatedly emphasised' Pryderi praises Rhiannon's skill to Manawydan. (p. 236) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Lhuyd**\\ Edward aka Llwyd |1707|'Libellus autem sic inscriptus fabulosas quasdam Historiolas' ('fabulous stories') Edward Lhuyd, Archaeologia Britannica, (1707), p. 262. Lists, profiles each Branch as P.I, P.II etc, with initial words & ending words. [[0qu|Quote]] Discovery of the Celtic family of languages.|
|**Loomis**, Roger\\ //*annwfn//|1956|//Preiddu Annwfn// ‘a visit by sea to Annwn by Arthur, Taliesin and others’ mentioning Pwyll and his son, Pryderi, a captive Gwair in Caer Siddi, other fortresses, a cauldron, a speckled ox. (//Wales and the Arthurian Legend// p. 141) porth uffern, ‘the gateway to hell’ shows Christian influence. (p.140) |
|**Mac Cana**, Proinsias\\ //*annwfn//|1976|//Preiddu Annwfn// ‘“I sang before the sons of Ebyr Henfelen” evidently a name for the Otherworld/ “I was with Brân in Ireland” “I saw when Morddwyd Tyllon (Pierced Thigh) was slain” which clearly alludes to thehappy Otherworld presided over by Brân and Manawydan’ (p. 31)|
|**Mac Cana**, Proinsias\\ //*structure//|1976|The mound of Arberth passage prefaces ‘the appearance of the divine Rhiannon’ Mac Cana (1977) p. 34.|
|**Owen** Aneirin\\ //*19thC *romance *mabinogion//|1830 Sept 4|Pughe's son about the //Mabinogion// completed, his father's illness. Letter to to A. J. Johnes) [[0qu|Quotes]]|
|**Parker** Will\\ //*annwfn *myth//|2006| Indigenous Underworld|
|**PKM**\\  //*annwfn//|1930| pp.99-101|
|**Pughe**\\  //*19thC *romance//|1802 Jan. 21|Society of Antiquaries, London, presents paper on  '//The Mabinogion, or Juvenile Amusements//' as the origin of romance writing in Europe. (Publ. 1808, p. 219)  [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Pughe**\\  //*19thC *annwfn//|1803| lower world //Biog.// (1803) p. 174. ‘popularly … the Infernal Region, but which truly seems to have been some part of the torrid zone,’ across the ocean. [Equatorial region] 'Havgan [Hafgan] Summershine, king of the Unknown World' Entry 'Pwyll' //Biog.// p. 289.|
|**Pughe**\\  //*19thC *magic//|1804|Dyfed 'often called Guild yr Hud, or the Country of Enchantment.’ //Biog.// Entry: Pryderi, p. 288. Aron, Urien and Llew bros. Northumbria //Biog.// p. 10.|
|**Pughe**\\ //*19thC *annwfn//|1820|‘Annwn means, literally, a bottomless gulf’(//Cambro-Briton// vol. I (1820) p. 124)|
|**Pughe**\\ //*19thC *annwfn//|1821|'Dr. Davies, in his Dictionary, explains it also to mean the Antipodes.’ ‘The Irish are said to have, anciently, called their country by the name of Annun, or Annan.’ //Cambrian Register// Vol. 2, No. 18, (Feb., 1821), p. 272.|
|**Pughe**\\ //*19thC *annwfn//|1820|Arawn 'Silver-tongued King' //Cambrian Register//, Vol. 2, No. 18, (Feb., 1821), p. 272). ’Aron and Pasgen, in the Ancient Mythology, were two kings of the invisible world. (Pughe //Biog.// p. 12)  |
|**Pughe**\\ //*19thC *mabinogion//|1834 May 24|Pughe writes with evident painful difficulty in his illness. Letter to A. J. Johnes. (Marion Henry Jones, 'The Letters of Arthur James Johnes', BLWJ (1958) pp. 256-57) [[0qu|Quotes]]|
|**Rhys**\\ //*19thC *annwfn//|1888|‘the ancient idea which made of the northern part of this island a sort of Hades and abode of the departed.' (Lect. IV) ‘the powers of the other world’Lect. IV p. 337|
|**Triad 26**\\ //*Triad//| |Arawn gave seven pigs to Pwyll, who gave them to Pendaran Dyfed. Their swineherd was Pryderi, serving Pendaran.|
|**Triad 78**\\ //*Triad//| |Arianrhod one of the ‘Three fair maidens’ of Ynys Prydain' (TYP) Famous beauty (//Taliesin// 36, 14-15) |
|**Valente**\\ //*women *goddess//|1986|'Rhiannon is a mother, and her son is in danger of his life; there is nothing odd in her behavior, nothing impulsive' humanity vs. goddess (p. 6) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**Valente**\\ //*women *voice *character//|1986|Rhiannon: 'Speech is as important a factor in the analysis of her character as is her golden costume or the fact that she rides a supernatural horse.' (p. 46)|
|**Valente**\\ //*women *voice *character//|1986|''I would now like to turn to the women, ... in their own words' (p. 91. Cites Bollard, 'Structure' p. 132) [[0qu|Quote]]|
|**WJG**\\ //*annwfn//|1912|Annwfn ‘land of departed spirits’ Located ‘on the boundaries of Dyfed' ((1912) p. 50)  ‘rape of the swine’ tracing many placenames 1912, p. 59)|
</datatables>
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