Aneurin (DNB00) - Wikisource, the free online library

1 of 3

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aneurin_(DNB00)

Aneurin (DNB00)
From Wikisource

ANEURIN (fl. 603?) was a Welsh poet, about whose life little is known, and whose very date has
been a matter of dispute. The few data which can be relied upon are found mainly in his poem of
the 'Gododin,' the longest and most important composition in early Welsh literature, and even these
have been very differently interpreted, generally with the object of supporting some preconceived
theory of Welsh history.
The generally received account of Aneurins life is shortly as follows: He was the son of Caw ab
Geraint, lord of Cwm Cawlwyd, a chief of the Otadini or Gododin, a tribe occupying the sea coast
south of the Firth of Forth, lying between the walls of Septimius Severus and Antoninus Pius. Caw
is represented as the father of a large family, variously given from ten to twenty-one sons, among
whose names appears that of Gildas; but in those manuscripts in which the name of Gildas
appears, that of Aneurin does not, and conversely when Aneurin's name is given Gildas's is not,
and this circumstance has given rise to the theory that Aneurin and Gildas, the British historian,
were identical. The integral evidence of the 'Gododin' and of the writings of Gildas seems
sufficiently to refute this supposition. To quote Mr. Stephens: 'Gildas was a preacher of the Gospel:
Aneurin was an odd compound of Christianity and paganism. The one was a virulent and
bigoted monk, who delighted in reviling his countrymen; the other, without palliating the
drunkenness which led to their defeat at Cattraeth, extols the bravery which half redeems their
character. The one makes no allusion to the battle of Cattraeth, though it was one of the turningpoints in the life of the other. Mr. Stephens then proceeds to propose the theory that Aneurin was
the son of Gildas. His arguments may be shortly stated as follows: Gildas is sometimes called
Euryn y Coed Aur; now Euryn and Gildas are words of similar meaning, being connected
respectively with aurum and gold, and Gildas was probably intended as a translation of Euryn.
Again, the prefix An is a patronymic, and Aneurin thus means the son of Euryn, that is of Gildas.
Further, Gildas states that he was born in the year of the battle of the Mons Badonicus, A.D. 516,
and thus might well have had a son present at Cattraeth, in A.D. 603. Mr. Stephens supports his
theory with characteristic thoroughness and minute care, but it may perhaps be doubted whether
the data at our command are sufficient to enable us to form any such theories with any degree of
confidence. Aneurin appears to have been educated at St. Cadoc's College at Llancarvan, and
afterwards to have entered the bardic order. From his own statements in the Gododin he seems to
have been present at Cattraeth both as bard and as priest. He fled from the battle, but was taken
prisoner, and in his poem he describes the hardships he underwent when in captivity; but he
appears to have been soon released by Ceneu, the son of Llywarch Hen, whom he gratefully
commemorates. Aneurin now returned to Wales and went again to Llancarvan, where it probably
was that he made the acquaintance and secured the friendship of Taliesin, a friendship
commemorated by both poets. In his old age he revisited the north, and lived with his brother
Nwython in Galloway. Aneurin's death is mentioned in the Triads as one of the three accursed
hatchet-strokes of the isle of Britain, he having been murdered by Eidyn ab Einygan, of whom
nothing else is known.
The Gododin may be described as an epic poem relating the defeat of the Britons of Strathclyde

10/1/2016 4:18 PM