The Daughters of Anlawdd Wledig

Part I

Can we detect the influence of Geoffrey of Monmouth on the oldest Arthurian tale of Culhwch and Olwen? Arthurian texts composed before Geoffrey published his ‘History of the Kings of Britain’ (Historia regum Britanniae, c.1138) are generally considered to be free of his influence and texts written after this, when the Arthurian legend underwent monumental change, generally contain some detail introduced by Geoffrey. As we have seen in previous posts it is impossible to accurately date the medieval Welsh prose tale of ‘Culhwch’; composition dates range from the late-11th century to the mid-12th century; is it possible an Arthurian text composed after Geoffrey’s magnum opus could be free of his influence as most Celtic scholars claim?

The first detail in Culhwch and Olwen that may reveal Galfridian influence is Culhwch’s relationship to Arthur.

A Lad of Noble Birth
Culhwch was of noble birth, the son of Cilydd, son of Celiddon Wledig, and Goleuddydd daughter of Anlawd Wledig, king of Britain. Very early in the tale we are told that Culhwch is cousin to Arthur. His mother Goleuddydd fell ill and died of the sickness. His father remarried and Culhwch’s stepmother placed a destiny on him that he will not get a wife until he got Olwen daughter of Yspaddaden Bencawr, chief giant.

His father said to him, "It will be easy to get that, boy…… Arthur is your cousin. Go to Arthur, for the cutting of your hair, and ask him that as a boon to you."

Culhwch set off on his steed for Arthur’s court. After finally getting past the gatekeeper Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr, Culhwch rode in on his horse and addressed Arthur as “Penn Teyrned” (Chief of Lords) of this island and demanded his gift. Arthur told the lad he may have anything he names except for his weapons or his wife Gwenhwyfar.

When Arthur told him to name his gift Culhwch requested that he first trim his hair. Arthur took a gold comb and silver shears and combed his hair, and said that he knows that the “chieftain” sprung from his own blood and asked who he was. The barbering ritual is a recurring theme throughout the tale but at Arthur’s court it seems to mark Culwch’s coming of age; prior to this he is termed a lad or boy but after he is referred to as ‘chieftain’. The grooming session has also been seen as a form of male bonding between kinsmen.1

Culhwch told Arthur he is son of Cilydd son of Celiddon Wledig and Goleuddydd, the daughter of Anlawdd, was his mother. Arthur said this must be true and immediately recognised him as a kinsman, telling him to name his gift. Culhwch then requested Arthur get him Olwen daughter of Yspaddaden chief-giant and invoked her in the name of Arthur’s warriors. A long list follows, the so-called ‘Court List’ of around 260 characters but Arthur only calls on half a dozen of these to actually assist him in obtaining the giant’s daughter. And so the quest began.

In his ‘Historia’ Geoffrey of Monmouth claims that Arthur's mother's name was Ygerna, yet the Welsh redactors corrected this to ‘Eigr’ (or Eygyr) as the earlier form of the name in the Brut y Brenhinedd (the Welsh versions of Geoffrey’s chronicle). They also make Arthur’s own mother a daughter of Anlawdd Wledig confirming that he and Culhwch are indeed cousins.

Celtic scholars have questioned whether Eigr daughter of Anlawdd was a traditional figure; the name of Arthur’s mother is not attested in any pre-Galfridian source and this name looks suspiciously similar to the name used by Geoffrey for Arthur’s mother, ‘Ygerna’ (or Igerna). The Welsh version of Geoffrey’s chronicle known as the Dingestow Brut corrects her name to Eigr and claims she is a daughter of Anlawdd Wledig, sometimes recorded as ‘rex Britanniae’ (King of Britain). Anlawdd is a shadowy figure whose only role in extant Welsh texts and genealogies appears to be to act as a device which allows heroes such as Culhwch and Arthur to be cousins through the relationship of his four, or sometimes five daughters.2 

Arthur’s Other Cousin
Rachel Bromwich and D Simon Evans observe that Culhwch and Olwen is a story full of doublets, both in personae and in incidents. The prose tale in its final 14th century form as we have it would appear to be an assemblage of at least two variants of an ancient tradition of a supernatural boar hunt in which Arthur and his hound participated. 

The forty tasks demanded by Olwen’s father Ysbaddaden for his daughter’s hand contains several doublets such as the two boar hunts, the release of two prisoners and then there is Goreu, son of Custennin the Shepherd, who is like a double of Culhwch and perhaps the hero of a variant tale, although outside of the main story, as with Culhwch, he is almost unknown in Welsh tradition. Goreu, like Culhwch, is cousin to Arthur, his mother is also one of the five daughters of Anlawdd Wledig3 and therefore also cousin to Culhwch. 

When Custennin the Shepherd shows his wife a gold ring that Culhwch gave him, she reveals that he is her nephew as he is her sister’s son.4 As Culhwch’s mother was Goleuddydd daughter of Anlawd Wledig, her sister (Custennin’s wife and mother of Goreu) must also be a daughter of Anlawd Wledig. That Goreu is Arthur’s cousin is confirmed in Triad 52.5

Goreu's father, Custennin, is brother to Ysbaddaden who is therefore his uncle. Ysbaddaden has dispossessed Custennin of his lands and is responsible for the deaths of twenty-three of his sons; being the last remaining son Goreu was brought up in hiding from the giant. Goreu appears in the attack on the fortress of the giant Wrnach and is later named as one of the hunting party in pursuit of the Twrch Trwyth. Goreu is not heard of again until the end of the tale when he beheads Ysbaddaden (one might expect this to be be performed by Culhwch himself) and so avenging the deaths of his father and brothers.6

St Illtud

It appears that Arthur had further relatives through the daughters of Anlawdd Wledig. In addition to Culhwch and Goreu we find Saint Illtud was another cousin of Arthur. In the Life of St. Illtud, c.1140, Illtud was the son of ‘Bicanus’ a Breton prince, who’s parents wanted him to take up service in the church but he chose a military career and moved to Britain to become one of Arthur’s knights and was known as Illtud Farchog (Illtud the Knight). He later returned to the clerical life founding the celebrated monastery in what is now Llantwit Major in South Wales. His mother was Rieingulid, and she was of course one of the daughters of Anlawdd Wledig making him cousin to King Arthur.

Anlawdd Wledig appears to derive from the Lives and Genealogies of the Welsh Saints, indeed the Life of St Illtud provides the earliest known instance of his name as ‘Anlaud Britannie rex’. In one version of Bonedd y Saint, Gwyar is listed as the name as another of the daughters of Anlawdd Wledig making her son Gwalchmai (the origin of Gawain) another of Arthur’s cousins. In Culhwch and Olwen, Gwalchmai and his brother Gwalhafed (the origin of Galahad) are both named as sons of Gwyar.7

“[Arthur] ... calls Gwalchmai son of Gwyar, for he never returned home without the quest he might go to seek. He was the best on foot and the best on a horse. He was Arthur’s nephew, his sister’s son, and his cousin.”8

However, considerable confusion prevailed in Welsh sources when Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed Arthur’s sister as the mother of Gualguanus, Geoffrey’s name for Gwalchmai, making him Arthur’s nephew.9 

The daughters of Anlawdd Wledig appears to have been employed purely as a device to attach a relationship to Arthur, in these cases the cousins Culhwch, Goreu, Gwalchmai and Illtud. Ironically, Arthur did not have a genealogy until these relationships emerged in the 12th century, The Life of St Illtud being the first written around 1130-40, contemporary with Geoffrey of Monmouth but certainly free of his influence.

Brynley F Roberts sees Anlawdd Wledig as a function rather than a person: “He is an ‘empty’ character who is never given a narrative context but who exists merely so that his daughters may be the mothers of heroes who are all, therefore, cousins to Arthur. The Life of Illtud and Culhwch ac Olwen both use this convention to relate their heroes (Illtud, Culhwch, Gorau) to Arthur.”10

Anlawdd Wledig is noticeably absent from the Triads of the Island of Britain (TYP), early Welsh poetry and tales. As noted above, he is first found in the Life of St Illtud, yet outside of the of the Lives and Genealogies of the Welsh Saints, Anlawdd is almost unknown. We can therefore conclude, that his name was borrowed, perhaps independently, from the ecclesiastical tradition to provide a fundamental link between Arthur and his cousins.

As we have seen, this tradition was known by the Welsh writers of the Brut, a hundred years after Geoffrey, but a hundred years before the Red or White Book versions of Culhwch and Olwen. Significantly, Geoffrey of Monmouth did not use the function of Anlawdd Wledig to furnish Arthur’s relationships, however, he did use a similar device.

Notes & References
1. Sarah Sheehan 'Giants, Boar-hunts, and Barbering: Masculinity in "Culhwch ac Olwen"' Arthuriana Vol.15 No.3 (Fall 20005) pp.3-25.
2. Rachel Bromwich, Ed & Trans, with Introduction and Commentary, Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads Of The Island Of Britain, University of Wales Press, Fourth Edition, 2014, pp.365-7.
3. Bromwich, TYP: p.366.
4. Patrick K Ford, Trans and editor, The Mabinogi and other Medieval Welsh Tales, Berkley, 1977, 30th Anniversary Edition, 2008, p.134.
5. Bromwich, TYP, p.146-152.
6. Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans, editors, with introduction and notes, Culhwch And Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale, University of Wales, 1992, pp.xxix – xxx.
7. Sioned Davies, Trans and editor, The Mabinogion, Oxford University Press, 2007, p.188.
8. Sioned Davies, The Mabinogion, p.190,  Patrick K Ford, The Mabinogi, p.132.
9. Bromwich, TYP: p.369.
10. Brynley F Roberts, Culhwch ac Olwen, The Triads, Saints’ Lives, Arthur of the Welsh, Wales University Press, p.95, fn.31.

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