Taliesin

"Gwion" redirects here. For other uses, seeGwion (disambiguation).

For other uses, seeTaliesin (disambiguation).

Taliesin(/ˌtælˈjɛsɪn/tal-YES-in,Welsh:[talˈjɛsɪn];fl.6th century AD) was an earlyBrittonicpoet ofSub-Roman Britainwhose work has possibly survived in aMiddle Welshmanuscript, theBook of Taliesin.Taliesin was a renownedbardwho is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three kings.

Taliesin
The finding of Taliesin by Elphin and Angharad,F. H. Townsend's illustration for Thomas Love Peacock'sThe Misfortunes of Elphin(1897)
Nationality	Briton
Other names	Gwion Bach ap Gwreang
Years active	6th century CE
Notable work	Llyfr Taliesin

In 1960,Ifor Williamsidentified eleven of the medieval poems ascribed to Taliesin as possibly originating as early as the sixth century, and so possibly being composed by a historical Taliesin.The bulk of this work praises KingUrienofRhegedand his sonOwain mab Urien,although several of the poems indicate that Taliesin also served as court bard to KingBrochfael YsgithrogofPowysand his successorCynan Garwyn,either before or during his time at Urien's court. Some of the events to which the poems refer, such as theBattle of Arfderydd(c. 573), are referred to in other sources.John T. Kochargues that the description ofEasterin the praise poemYspeil Taliesin('The Spoils of Taliesin') indicates that Urien and Taliesin wereChristianswho adhered to the Latin rather than theInsularobservance of Easter.He also suggests that the figure of Taliesin served as a bridge between the worlds of Brittonic Christian Latin literature and theHeroic Agecourt poets, allowing monastic scribes to cultivate vernacular poetry.

In legend and medieval Welsh poetry, he is often referred to asTaliesin Ben Beirdd( "Taliesin, Chief of Bards" or chief of poets). He is mentioned as one of the fiveBritish poetsof renown, along withTalhaearn Tad Awen( "Talhaearn Father of the Muse" ),Aneirin,Blwchfardd, and Cian Gwenith Gwawd ( "Cian Wheat of Song" ), in theHistoria Brittonum,and is also mentioned in the collection of poems known asY Gododdin.Taliesin was highly regarded in the mid-12th century as the supposed author of a great number of romantic legends.

According to legend Taliesin was adopted as a child byElffin,the son ofGwyddno Garanhir,and prophesied the death ofMaelgwn Gwyneddfrom theYellow Plague.In later stories he became a mythic hero, companion ofBran the BlessedandKing Arthur.His legendary biography is found in several late renderings (see below), the earliest surviving narrative being found in a manuscript chronicle of world history written byElis Gruffyddin the 16th century.

Biography

TheEdenValley between Appleby and Penrith, an area referred to affectionately as the heartland ofRhegedin the praise poems of Taliesin

Details of Taliesin's life are sparse. The first mention of him occurs in the Saxon genealogies appended to four manuscripts of theHistoria Brittonumfrom 828AD. The writer names five poets, among them Taliesin, who lived in the time ofIda of Bernicia(fl. mid-6th century) and a British chieftain, (O)utigirn (Modern WelshEudeyrn).This information is considered fairly credible,since he is also mentioned byAneirin,another of the five mentioned poets, who is famed as the author ofY Gododdin,a series of elegies to the men of the kingdom ofGododdin(nowLothian) who died fighting the Angles at theBattle of Catraetharound 600.

Taliesin's authorship of several odes to KingUrien Rheged(died c. 550) is commonly accepted,and they mentionThe Eden Valleyand an enemy leader, Fflamddwyn,identified as Idaor his sonTheodric.The poems refer to victories of Urien at the battles of Argoed Llwyfain,The Ford of ClydeandGwen Ystrad.Taliesin also sang in praise ofCynan Garwyn,king ofPowys.Cynan's predecessor,Brochwel Ysgithrog,is also mentioned in later poems.

According to legends that first appear in theBook of Taliesin,Taliesin's early patron wasElffin ap Gwyddno,son ofGwyddno Garanhir,who was a lord of a lost land inCardigan BaycalledCantre'r Gwaelod.Taliesin defended Elffin and satirised his enemy, the powerfulMaelgwn Gwynedd,shortly before the latter died (probably in 547 CE).The Latin-BretonLife of Iudic-haelrefers to Taliesin visiting the monastery ofGildasatRhuysinBrittany.

According to theWelsh Triads,Taliesin had a son,Afaon,who was accounted a great warrior, and who suffered a violent death, probably in Lothian.Taliesin's grave is held in folklore to be near the village of Tre Taliesin near LlangynfelyncalledBedd Taliesin,but this is aBronze Ageburial chamber, and the village ofTre-Taliesin,at the foot of the hill, was actually named after the burial chamber in the 19th centurythough legend was traced byEdward Lhuydto the 17th century.

Legendary accounts of his life

"Finding of Taliesin" byHenry Clarence Whaite,1876

More detailed traditions of Taliesin's biography arose from about the 11th century, and inHistoria Taliesin( "The Tale of Taliesin", surviving from the 16th century).In the mid-16th-century,Elis Gruffyddrecorded a legendary account of Taliesin that resembles the story of the boyhood of the Irish heroFionn mac Cumhailand thesalmon of wisdomin some respects. The tale was also recorded in a slightly different version byJohn Jones of Gellilyfdy(c. 1607). This story agrees in many respects with fragmentary accounts in theBook of Taliesin.

According to theHanes Taliesin,he was originally known asGwion Bach ap Gwreang.He was a servant ofCerridwenand was made to stir the Cauldron of Inspiration for one year to allow for Cerridwen to complete her potion of inspiration. The potion was initially intended for her son,Morfran,who although was considered frightfully ugly, she loved nonetheless, and felt that if he would not grow in beauty then he should have the gift of the Awen to compensate. Upon completion of this potion, three drops sprang out and landed upon Gwion Bach's thumb. Gwion then placed his thumb in his mouth to soothe his burns resulting in Gwion's enlightenment. Out of fear of what Cerridwen would do to him, Gwion fled and eventually transformed into a piece of grain before being consumed by Cerridwen. However, this resulted in Cerridwen becoming impregnated with the seed and upon giving birth, she could not bring herself to kill the baby Gwion. She instead cast him into the ocean in a large leather bag, where he was found byElffin,who named him Taliesin.

According to these texts Taliesin was the foster-son ofElffin ap Gwyddno,who gave him the name Taliesin, meaning "radiant brow", and who later became a king inCeredigion,Wales. The legend states that he was then raised at his court inAberdyfiand that at the age of 13, he visited KingMaelgwn Gwynedd,Elffin's uncle, and correctly prophesied the manner and imminence of Maelgwn's death. A number of medieval poems attributed to Taliesin allude to the legend but these postdate the historical poet'sfloruitconsiderably.

The introduction toGwyneth LewisandRowan Williams's translation ofThe Book of Taliesinsuggests that later Welsh writers came to see Taliesin as a sort ofshamanic figure.The poetry ascribed to him in this collection shows how he not only can channel other entities (such as theAwen) in these poems, but that the authors of these poems can in turn channel Taliesin himself in creating the poems that they ascribe to him. This creates a collectivist, rather than individualistic, sense of identity; no human is simply one human, humans are part of nature (rather than opposed to it), and all things in the cosmos can ultimately be seen to be connected through the creative spirit of the Awen.

The idea that he was abardat the court ofKing Arthurdates back at least to the tale ofCulhwch and Olwen,perhaps a product of the 11th century. It is elaborated upon in modern English poetry, such asTennyson'sIdylls of the KingandCharles Williams'Taliessin Through Logres.But the historical Taliesin's career can be shown to have fallen in the last half of the 6th century, while historians who argue for Arthur's existence date his victory atMons Badonicusin the years on either side of AD 500; theAnnales Cambriaeoffer the date of c. 539 for his death or disappearance in theBattle of Camlann,only a few years earlier than the date of 542 found in theHistoria Regum Britanniae.Taliesin also appears as a companion ofBran the Blessedin this era, by which time he was clearly perceived as a legendary figure who existed in many different times.

A manuscript in the hand of 18th-century literary forgerIolo Morganwgclaimed he was the son ofSaint HenwgofLlanhennock;but this is contrary to other tradition. In it he is said to have been educated in the school of Catwg, at Llanfeithin, inGlamorgan,which the historianGildasalso attended. Captured as a youth by Irish pirates while fishing at sea, he is said to have escaped by using a woodenbucklerfor a boat; he landed at the fishingweirof Elffin, one of the sons of Urien (all medieval Welsh sources, however, make Elffin the son of Gwyddno Garanhir). Urien made him Elffin's instructor, and gave Taliesin an estate. But once introduced to the court of the warrior-chief Taliesin became his foremost bard, followed him in his wars, and wrote of his victories.

Influence

Modern Welsh poetJohn DaviesofDenbighshire(1841–1894) took thebardic nameof Taliesin Hiraethog.The American architectFrank Lloyd Wright,whose mother, Anna Lloyd Jones, was born in Wales, named hisWisconsinhome and studioTaliesinand his home and studio near Scottsdale, ArizonaTaliesin West.

Susan Kare,thetypographerandgraphic designerwho developed the first set offonts for the early Macintosh,created adingbatfont called Taliesin that shipped with the update disk forSystem 2in 1985.Taliesin is relatively obscure compared to its more well-known counterpart Cairo, the symbol font that featuredApple's iconicdogcowlogo.It is not clear why the font shares a name with the British poet, having been the only one of the set that does not bear the name of a "world class city"(Chicago,San Francisco,Toronto,etc.). As it contains severalglyphsofbuildings,furniture,and other aspects ofarchitecture,landscaping,andinterior design,however, it has been theorized that Taliesin was also named in homage to Frank Lloyd Wright's aforementioned studio and estate of same name.

Literature

As early as the 12th century bards of the Welsh princes adopted the persona of Taliesin to make prophetic and legendary claims for the source of their inspiration orawenas well as those poems which can be attributed directly to them.So some of the poems in theBook of Taliesinhave been attributed to bards who saw themselves as working within the tradition of a legendary bard whose poems could be re-worked or re-imagined, giving rise to the prose tale in which some of these poems are embedded.Much of the academic work done on these poems focuses on attempting to separate poems by the original bard and later poets imaginatively taking on his mantle.

His name was used, spelled as Taliessin, inAlfred, Lord Tennyson'sIdylls of the King.He is a character inThomas Love Peacock's satirical romantic 1829 novelThe Misfortunes of Elphinwhere he is discovered as a baby floating in a coracle by Elphin (Elfin) who is fishing. In the 1951 novelPorius,byJohn Cowper Powys,he is depicted as a politically astute court bard who is accomplished in both cookery and poetry.

He also makes an appearance in a number of works of modern commercial fiction that blend history and Arthurian legend, including quite a lengthy appearance in Bernard Cornwell'sWarlord ChroniclesandGuy Gavriel Kay'sThe Fionavar Tapestry.InStephen R. Lawhead'sThe Pendragon Cycle,he is most notable in the first book, eponymously namedTaliesin,in which he is depicted as Merlin's father. InM. K. Hume's King Arthur trilogy, he's depicted as Merlin's firstborn son.Gillian Bradshawuses him as a stand-in for Merlin in her Arthurian trilogy. He is also a central character inMoonheart,anurban fantasynovel byCharles de Lint,and appears as the chief bard of the Kingdom ofPrydainin thechildren's novelsofLloyd Alexanderwhich are based on the WelshMabinogion.The historical novelRadiant Brow – The Epic of Taliesinby H. Catherine Watling is based on "The Tale of Taliesin" and the poetry contained inThe Book of Taliesin.In the young adult fiction seriesThe Dark Is Rising Sequenceby British authorSusan Cooper,he guides young protagonists Will Stanton and Bran Davies through the Lost Land in the final book,Silver on the Tree.Taliesin's harp-tuning key makes an appearance in "A String in the Harp"byNancy Bond,a time-travel story set in Wales. The key gives Peter Morgan, the main protagonist, the ability to see visions of Taliesin's life.

InCharles Williams' unfinished series of Arthurian poems, found inTaliessin Through LogresandThe Region of the Summer Stars,Taliesin is the central character, Arthur's bard and Captain of Horse, and the head of a companionship dedicated to Christian Charity in Camelot.

He is character inTraci Harding's Chosen series starting withThe Ancient Future Trilogywhere he is an immortal time traveler trying to help the human soul mind evolution advance.

Music

The Norwegian classical composerMartin Rombergwrote a concerto for alto saxophone andorchestrain eight parts after the tale named "The Tale of Taliesin". The concerto was premiered in 2009 byAkademische Orchestervereinigung Göttingen,with the Norwegian saxophonist Ola Asdahl Rokkones as a soloist.The work has since been published at Éditions Billaudot, Parisand played by Mittelsächsische Philharmonie, The Saint-Petersburg Northern Synfonia Orchestra and Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic Orchestra, the two latter being conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo.

In modern music,Deep Purple's second studio album was namedThe Book of Taliesynin honour of the bard. A track on the albumSoftsby Canterbury prog-rock bandSoft Machineis titled "The Tale of Taliesin".Paul Roland’s 2006 albumRe-Animatorcontains a song about the bard titled "Taliesin". There is aDungeon synthband from Germany named Taliesin The Bard. The Song "Spiral Castle" by the american Epic Heavy Metal bandManilla Roaduses Taliesin as the fictional narrator of the lyrics. The 2024 album byMGMT,Loss of Lifebegins with a spoken word piece which is an excerpt fromThe Book of Taliesin.

Sources

• Ford, Patrick K. 1977.The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh TalesBerkeley: University of California Press.
• Ford, Patrick K. 1992.Ystoria TaliesinUniversity of Wales Press: Cardiff.
• Ford, Patrick K. 1999.The Celtic Poets: Songs and Tales from Early Ireland and WalesFord and Bailie: Belmont, Mass.
• Haycock, Marged 2007.Legendary Poems from the Book of Taliesin(CMCS, Aberystwyth)
• Haycock, Marged. 1997. "Taliesin's Questions"Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies33 (Summer): 19–79.
• Haycock, Marged. 1987. "'Some talk of Alexander and some of Hercules': three early medieval poems from the 'Book of Taliesin."Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies13 (1987): 7–38.
• Haycock, Marged. 1987–88. "Llyfr Taliesin,"National Library of Wales Journal25: 357–86.
• Haycock, Marged. 1983–84. "Preiddeu Annwn and the Figure of Taliesin"Studia Celtica18/19: 52–78.
• Koch, John T. and John Carey. 2003.The Celtic Heroic Age3rd ed. Celtic Studies Publishing: Malden, Mass.
• Koch, John T. "De sancto Iudicaelo rege Historiaand Its Implications for the Welsh Taliesin "in Nagy, Joseph Falaky and Jones, Leslie Ellen (eds.) 2005.Heroic Poets and Poetic Heroes in Celtic Tradition: A Festschrift for Patrick K. Ford,Dublin, 247 - 262
• Koch, John T. "Waiting for Gododdin: Thoughts on Taliesin and Iudic-Hael, Catreath, and unripe time in Celtic studies" in Woolf, Alex (ed.) 2013,Beyond the Gododdin: Dark Age Scotland in Medieval Wales,St. Andrews, 177 - 204
• Williams, Ifor.1960.Canu Taliesin.Translated into English by J. E. Caerwyn Williams asThe Poems of TaliesinDublin Institute for Advanced Studies: Dublin. (first edition 1967, reprinted 1975, 1987)
• Williams, Ifor. 1944.Lectures on Early Welsh poetry.Dublin:DIAS
• English Writers: An Attempt Towards a History of English Literature,Henry Morley, William Hall Griffin, Published by Cassell & Company, limited, 1887

External links

• Taliesinat The Camelot Project
• Taliesin:The Bards and Druids of Britainby David William Nash, 1858
• The Book of Taliesinat theNational Library of Wales(gives access to colour images of Peniarth MS 2)
• Complete text of Patrick Ford's 1977 translation of "The Tale of Taliesin" and "The Tale of Gwion Bach"
• The Book of Taliesin,in Welsh, with English translations by W.F. Skene (1858)(note: Skene's text and translation are not reliable by the standards of modern scholarship)
• Facsimile version of the Ystoria Taliesinwithmodern English Translationtaken from Elis Gruffudd'sCronicl y Chwe Oesoedd(Chronicle of the Six Ages)
• Morris-Jones, John(1918), "Taliesin", in Evans, E. Vincent (ed.),Y Cymmrodor,vol. XXVIII, London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion— the entire volume is dedicated to attacking the late dating of Taliesin by John Gwenogvryn Evans. Evans made a similar book-length reply to his 1918 critic, inY Cymmrodor1924, Vol. XXXIV.