#welsh saints

[sun-splotches]

Happy Saint David’s Day!

[gawrkin]

BTW, guys: often times when reading medieval arthuriana, you'll encounter the knights making oaths by "swearing it upon relics".

Yes, they are in fact making big promises in front of a dead holy person's body parts and/or personal items.

Which, given the context of the Welsh saints, probably must be in abundance.

[gnosisandtheosis]

Today, 27th May, is the feast day of Saint Melangell, patron saint of hares, rabbits, and small animals.

Saint Melangell was a Welsh hermit and abbess in the 7th or 8th Century. She was born an Irish princess and fled an arranged marriage to become a consecrated virgin in the Kingdom of Powys in Wales. She lived in the wilderness of Powys for fifteen years before being discovered by a Welsh prince named Brochwel Ysgithrog. In 604AD Prince Brochwel was hunting near Pennant when his dogs led him to a "virgin beautiful in appearance" silently praying. The hare they were chasing ran under the hem of Melangell's dress. The dogs retreated from the hare and refused Brochwel's commands. After hearing Melangell's story Brochwel gifted her the land, granting perpetual asylum to both the people and the animals of the local area. Melangell lived in the area for another 37 years and founded a community of nuns of which she became the abbess. The hares and other wild animals of the area were known to act towards Melangell as if they were tame.

Up until the early 1900's people in the area of Pennant Melangell refused to kill hares and gave them the nickname Ŵyn Melangell (Melangell's Lambs). It was even said that if someone saw a hare being chased by dogs and cried out "God and Melangell be with thee" the hare would escape.

(accompanying painting by Jemima Jameson)

[praetorianxxiv]

Happy Saint David's Day to you all 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🍺

I hope you have had a fantastic Welsh day 💕🍺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[ifellapartbutgotbackupagain]

Santes Dwynwen (Saint Dwynwen) was a Welsh princess from Brecon, visited by an angel after going to the forest to pray as she was not allowed to marry the man she loved, bethrothed to a man of her fathers choosing.

She was given a potion to forget the man she loved, in turn placing him in a block of ice.

After pleading with the angel she was granted three wishes, one to thaw her lover, the second she used to allow help for all finding true lovers and third that she would never marry. She went on to live out her days in Anglesey as a nun.

She is the patron saint of lovers in Wales (as well as that of sick animals) and is celebrated on the 25th Jan, celebrated much like traditional Valentine’s Day ♥️

[ofbloodandfaith]

In Welsh Arthurian pre-Galfridian tradition, that is, from before the time of Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), Arthur was granted numerous relations and family members. Several early Welsh sources are usually taken as indicative of Uther Pendragon being known as Arthur's father before Geoffrey wrote, with Arthur also being granted a brother (Madog) and a nephew (Eliwlod) in these texts.[1] Arthur also appears to have been assigned a sister in this material – Gwalchmei is named as his sister-son (nephew) in Culhwch and Olwen, his mother being one Gwyar.[2] Culhwch and Olwen, the Vita Iltuti and the Brut Dingestow combine to suggest that Arthur's own mother was named Eigyr.[3] The genealogies from the 13th-century Mostyn MS. 117 assert that Arthur is the son of Uthyr, the son of Custennin, the son of Cynfawr, the son of Tudwal, the son of Morfawr, the son of Eudaf, the son of Cadwr, the son of Cynan, the son of Caradoc, the son of Bran, the son of Llŷr. Regarding Arthur's own family, his wife is consistently stated to be Gwenhwyfar, usually the daughter of King Ogrfan Gawr (variation: 'Gogrfan Gawr', "[G]Ogrfan the Giant") and sister to Gwenhwyfach, although Culhwch and Bonedd yr Arwyr do indicate that Arthur also had some sort of relationship with Eleirch daughter of Iaen, which produced a son named Kyduan (Cydfan).[4] Kyduan was not the only child of Arthur according to Welsh Arthurian tradition – he is also ascribed sons called Amr (Amhar),[5] Gwydre,[6] Llacheu[7] and Duran.[8] (See the Offspring section for further information about Arthur's children.) In addition to this immediate family, Arthur was said to have had a great variety of more distant relatives, including maternal aunts, uncles, cousins and a grandfather named Anlawd (or Amlawdd) Wledig ("Prince Anlawd"). The latter is the common link between many of these figures and Arthur: thus the relationship of first cousins that is implied or stated between Arthur, Culhwch, Illtud, and Goreu fab Custennin depends upon all of their mothers being daughters of this Anlawd, who appears to be ultimately a genealogical construct designed to allow such inter-relationships between characters to be postulated by medieval Welsh authors.[9] Arthur's maternal uncles in Culhwch and Olwen, including Llygatrud Emys, Gwrbothu Hen, Gweir Gwrhyt Ennwir and Gweir Baladir Hir, similarly appear to derive from this relationship.[10]

King Arthur's family - Wikipedia

[gawrkin]

Like a lot of saints, Galahad could probably survive having his head chopped off and keep fighting.

[gawrkin]

(Source: Life of Saint Efflam)

So I found this is a rather eye-opening statement from the hagiography of Saint Efflam, that 450 A.D. is the time of Arthur's crowning.

By that logic, Arthur was born in 435 A.D., since traditionally Arthur assumes power when he's around 15 years old.

But going further, there are two significant points in the story of Arthur's life: the Battle of Badon Hill, where Arthur decisively subdues the Saxons, and the Battle of Camlann, the final battle with Mordred.

To start: Annales Cambriae, where the earliest mention of Arthur and Mordred is found, actually dates the Battle of Camlann to the year 537 A.D. (other manuscripts say 539 A.D.).

This would mean Arthur lives to a ripe old age of 102 years old.

The thing is... it makes a kind of sense. Because in Vulgate Cycle -Mort Artu, we get a statement of Arthur, Gawain and Lancelot's ages:

(Source: Vulgate Cycle - Mort Artu)

It is off by 10 years but, damn, it is close, so margin of error. Then again, this statement was made during the War against Lancelot. Vulgate narrates that following this, the War against Lucius Tiberius and Mordred's Rebellion ensue right afterward, so that may account for the missing ten years?

Also, this info from Mort reveals the relative age gap between Arthur, Gawain and Lancelot. Gawain being 76 y/o means he was born roughly a year (or so) after Arthur's coronation, ~451 A.D. onwards.

This leads into a bit of weirdness regarding Vulgate Canon, since the Orkney Brothers (sans Mordred) in Vulgate Cycle start their Knightly Careers and defend Camelot while Arthur is on an expedition to Cameliard, defeating King Rions and courting Guinevere. Arthur's critical battle with King Rions - which is just after his shotgun wedding with Guinevere - is said to happen when Arthur is 28 years old:

This also means, while Arthur married Guinevere and defeated King Rion for Leodegrance in around 463 A.D., it leads into a very weird conclusion that Gawain was around 12 years old around this time, when he started fighting the Saxons (with his even younger little brothers!) in Arthur's absence. If we add 10 years to that number (adjusting for the statements in both Efflam and Annales), it becomes the more believable 22 years old for Gawain.

Moving on to Lancelot, the age gap between him and Gawain is 21 years while the age gap between Gawain and Arthur is 16 years.

This means Lancelot's birth was around Arthur's 37th year. Extrapolating this to Efflam's statement, Lancelot's birth year would be 472 A.D. around 22 years after Arthur's coronation and 9 years after marrying Guinevere.

Vulgate Cycle states that Lancelot goes to Camelot and knighted when he is around 15-18 years old (it's inconsistent), which would reasonably be the age of maturity. This means Lancelot begins his knightly career in the 490 A.D. at earliest and would meet a 55 year old King Arthur.

The last consequence that Life of Efflam's line implies is the timing of the Battle of Badon Hill, Arthur's decisive victory over the Saxon encroachment. Multiple scholars have speculated when Badon supposedly took place, with estimates going from as early as 482 A.D. to as late as 516 A.D.

If we presume, for the Big Battle of Arthur's entire career, is around 500 A.D., Arthur is 65 years old, Gawain 49 years old and Lancelot 28 years old.

The amusing and romantic conclusion about all of this, is that young freshly knighted Lancelot meets the Great King Arthur for the first time, at the midpoint of Arthur's life, just right before Arthur's biggest military achievement, one that secured Britain's peace for a couple of decades. (With Lancelot maybe even making his big debut in Badon!)

And as a result, the next 20-30 years or so afterward, would be everything in Lancelot's adventures - Galehaut, Morgan, False Guinevere, Meleagant, Galahad and the Grail Quest, etc.

Of course, the BIG problem with both Vulgate and Efflam's statements is that, according to Bede, Vortigern's entire drama with Hengist and the Saxons takes place around that 450's time period. Dates given in Bede's chronicle state the Saxons began arriving anywhere 446 A.D. to 449 A.D.

This makes Arthur's coronation at 450 A.D. impossible, as traditionally, the entire story of Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon needs to unfold, especially the magic conception of Arthur as well as the fact that Arthur never meets Vortigern.

Even if we adjust to saying 92 is the oldest Arthur ever got with the Annales 537 A.D. date, that still leaves us with Arthur being born at around 445 A.D. and coronated at 460 A.D. - still far too close to Vortigern's era.