Caradoc
Encyclopedia
Caradoc Vreichvras was a semi-legendary ancestor to the kings of Gwent. He lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is remembered in Arthurian legend as a Knight of the Round Table as Carados Briefbras (French
'Caradog Short Arm').
, it is probable some of the Caradocs referred to in Welsh
genealogies
and hagiographies
such the Life of St. Tatheus are the same person. Due to the name's prevalence considerable confusion exists about Caradoc's identity, both historical and literary. He may have become confused with the British
hero Caratacus
(the Latin
form of Caradoc), Cerdic of Wessex
and any number of British history's later Caradocs. His parentage varies from text to text; he is called the son of Llyr Marini (possibly implying Llyr
) several times in the Mabinogion
, and a Breton
legend identifies a Caradoc the Elder, furthering the obfuscation.
Some archaeologists interpret Caradog Freichfras as a plausible historical figure, also known as Caradoc ap Ynyr, who was the ruler of Gwent around the 6th century, and was based at Caerwent
, the earlier Roman town of Venta Silurum
. They interpret his name as a remembrance of the earlier hero Caratacus, implying a continuity of tradition from the pre-Roman culture of the Silures
who occupied the same area in what is now south-east Wales, and which is also suggested by other material.
, where he is described as Arthur
's chief elder at Celliwig
in Cornwall
and one of the three knight
s of the island of Britain; his horse is named as Lluagor ("Host-Splitter"). His wife, Tegau Eurfron (teg: "pretty"; eurfron: "golden-breast") is also celebrated in the Welsh Triads as one of the Three Splendid Maidens at Arthur's court, and the couple's great love is called one of the Three Surpassing Bonds of Love in Ynys Prydain. This tradition is possibly dealt with in a 12th. century French romance (see below).
during Uther Pendragon
's time, but he joined other kings in rebellion when Arthur took the throne. He was eventually reconciled with the young king and became one of his most trusted allies. Caradoc appears frequently in Arthurian literature, and even starred in his own romance, the Life of Caradoc included in the First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes
's Perceval, the Story of the Grail
. The story, probably based on Celt
ic tradition, seems created to explain how he got his nickname 'Short Arm'. Caradoc the Elder marries the beautiful Ysave, but she is soon seduced by an enchanter named Eliavres. Eliavres casts a spell over Caradoc to make him mistake various farm animals for his wife while the wizard is busy conceiving a son. Caradoc the Elder names the son after himself, and the boy grows up to be a worthy, young squire. Caradoc the Younger goes off to King Arthur's court and is made a Knight of the Round Table like his father.
Before long, Eliavres enters the hall and asks for a beheading test (a Celt
ic motif also appearing in the Old Irish Bricriu's Feast and the Middle English
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
). He asks for a knight to lop off his head, the only catch being that if he survives, he may take the knight's head in return. Caradoc takes up the challenge, and dutifully offers his own neck when the sorcerer magically replaces his head. Eliavres declines to kill young Caradoc, but reveals that he is his birth father.
Caradoc the Younger is understandably chagrined at the news. He embarks on a number of knightly adventures, whereupon he meets his best friend Sir Cador
, travelling with his sister Guinier. Back in his kingdom, he reveals his father's cuckoldry, and Caradoc the Elder and Younger exact humiliating vengeance upon Eliavres involving various farm animals. The offender is locked away from his mistress Ysave.
All goes well until the wizard attempts to escape. When Caradoc the Younger tries to stop him, Eliavres summons a serpent that entwines itself around Caradoc's arm, crippling it and draining his life energy away. Cador and Guinier travel throughout the country trying to find how to remove the snake, and finally return with the solution. Caradoc will sit in a tub of vinegar while Guinier sits in a vat of milk with her supple breasts exposed. The serpent loaths the vinegar and leaps towards Guinier, but Cador kills it with his sword. Unfortunately he slices off Guinier's nipple in the process (it is later replaced with a magical gold one). Though Caradoc is freed from the snake, his arm is permanently damaged, leaving him with his nickname, Caradoc Short Arm. Guinier and Caradoc are married, and after a fidelity test involving a drinking horn
, they live happily ever after.
The tale exists in all three redactions of the First Continuation and is embedded, in abridged form, in one of the Reynard
romances. Though it does not appear earlier than the last decade of the 13th century, it is most likely based on a Welsh version, allusions to which can be found in the Welsh Triads
. The Triads note Caradoc's wife Tegau for her love and fidelity, and her sobriquet Eurfron (Gold-Breast) would suit Guiner from the Life of Caradoc. Additionally, there is mention of Tegau's fidelity-testing mantle
; the mantle is a common substitute for the drinking horn in chastity test stories.
Several versions of the Mantle of Chastity test involving Caradoc's wife were translated into Norse during the reign of King Hakon Hakonarson, and a version of the chastity test from Le Livre du Caradoc in the First Continuation of the Old French Perceval is found in the Norse Mottuls Saga. The story survives in the traditional English folk ballad The Boy and the Mantle, collected by Bishop Thomas Percy in Percy's Reliques. The chastity test involving the drinking horn was narrated in the Lai du Cor (1160) by the jongleur Robert Biket, who said that Cirencester was awarded to Caradoc for winning the drinking horn through the fidelity of his wife, and that the horn was on display there.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
'Caradog Short Arm').
Identification and historicity
Though the name "Caradoc" and its various forms were by no means uncommon during the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, it is probable some of the Caradocs referred to in Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
genealogies
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
and hagiographies
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
such the Life of St. Tatheus are the same person. Due to the name's prevalence considerable confusion exists about Caradoc's identity, both historical and literary. He may have become confused with the British
Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...
hero Caratacus
Caratacus
Caratacus was a first century British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest....
(the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
form of Caradoc), Cerdic of Wessex
Cerdic of Wessex
Cerdic was probably the first King of Anglo-Saxon Wessex from 519 to 534, cited by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the founder of the kingdom of Wessex and ancestor of all its subsequent kings...
and any number of British history's later Caradocs. His parentage varies from text to text; he is called the son of Llyr Marini (possibly implying Llyr
Llyr
Llŷr is a figure in Welsh mythology, the father of Brân, Brânwen and Manawydan by Penarddun. The Welsh Triads mention he was imprisoned by Euroswydd; the Second Branch of the Mabinogi names Euroswydd as the father of Penarddun's younger two sons, Nisien and Efnisien. Llŷr corresponds to Lir in...
) several times in the Mabinogion
Mabinogion
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
, and a Breton
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
legend identifies a Caradoc the Elder, furthering the obfuscation.
Some archaeologists interpret Caradog Freichfras as a plausible historical figure, also known as Caradoc ap Ynyr, who was the ruler of Gwent around the 6th century, and was based at Caerwent
Caerwent
Caerwent is a village and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located about five miles west of Chepstow and eleven miles east of Newport, and was founded by the Romans as the market town of Venta Silurum, an important settlement of the Brythonic Silures tribe. The modern village is built...
, the earlier Roman town of Venta Silurum
Venta Silurum
Venta Silurum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia or Britain. Today it consists of remains in the village of Caerwent in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. Much of it has been archaeologically excavated and is on display to the public....
. They interpret his name as a remembrance of the earlier hero Caratacus, implying a continuity of tradition from the pre-Roman culture of the Silures
Silures
The Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire of present day South Wales; and possibly Gloucestershire and Herefordshire of present day England...
who occupied the same area in what is now south-east Wales, and which is also suggested by other material.
Welsh Triads
Caradoc appears in the Welsh TriadsWelsh Triads
The Welsh Triads are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness...
, where he is described as Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's chief elder at Celliwig
Celliwig
Celliwig, Kelliwic or Gelliwic, is perhaps the earliest named location for the court of King Arthur. It may be translated as 'forest grove'.-Literary references:...
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
and one of the three knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s of the island of Britain; his horse is named as Lluagor ("Host-Splitter"). His wife, Tegau Eurfron (teg: "pretty"; eurfron: "golden-breast") is also celebrated in the Welsh Triads as one of the Three Splendid Maidens at Arthur's court, and the couple's great love is called one of the Three Surpassing Bonds of Love in Ynys Prydain. This tradition is possibly dealt with in a 12th. century French romance (see below).
French romance
In Arthurian legend, he is said to have been a member of the Round TableRound Table
The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...
during Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in...
's time, but he joined other kings in rebellion when Arthur took the throne. He was eventually reconciled with the young king and became one of his most trusted allies. Caradoc appears frequently in Arthurian literature, and even starred in his own romance, the Life of Caradoc included in the First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
's Perceval, the Story of the Grail
Perceval, the Story of the Grail
Perceval, the Story of the Grail is the unfinished fifth romance of Chrétien de Troyes. Probably written between 1181 and 1191, it is dedicated to Chrétien's patron Philip, Count of Flanders...
. The story, probably based on Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic tradition, seems created to explain how he got his nickname 'Short Arm'. Caradoc the Elder marries the beautiful Ysave, but she is soon seduced by an enchanter named Eliavres. Eliavres casts a spell over Caradoc to make him mistake various farm animals for his wife while the wizard is busy conceiving a son. Caradoc the Elder names the son after himself, and the boy grows up to be a worthy, young squire. Caradoc the Younger goes off to King Arthur's court and is made a Knight of the Round Table like his father.
Before long, Eliavres enters the hall and asks for a beheading test (a Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic motif also appearing in the Old Irish Bricriu's Feast and the Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...
). He asks for a knight to lop off his head, the only catch being that if he survives, he may take the knight's head in return. Caradoc takes up the challenge, and dutifully offers his own neck when the sorcerer magically replaces his head. Eliavres declines to kill young Caradoc, but reveals that he is his birth father.
Caradoc the Younger is understandably chagrined at the news. He embarks on a number of knightly adventures, whereupon he meets his best friend Sir Cador
Cador
Cador was a legendary Duke of Cornwall, known chiefly through Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-historical History of the Kings of Britain and previous manuscript sources such as Vita Sanctus Carantoci circa 1100 from Cotton Vespasian xiv...
, travelling with his sister Guinier. Back in his kingdom, he reveals his father's cuckoldry, and Caradoc the Elder and Younger exact humiliating vengeance upon Eliavres involving various farm animals. The offender is locked away from his mistress Ysave.
All goes well until the wizard attempts to escape. When Caradoc the Younger tries to stop him, Eliavres summons a serpent that entwines itself around Caradoc's arm, crippling it and draining his life energy away. Cador and Guinier travel throughout the country trying to find how to remove the snake, and finally return with the solution. Caradoc will sit in a tub of vinegar while Guinier sits in a vat of milk with her supple breasts exposed. The serpent loaths the vinegar and leaps towards Guinier, but Cador kills it with his sword. Unfortunately he slices off Guinier's nipple in the process (it is later replaced with a magical gold one). Though Caradoc is freed from the snake, his arm is permanently damaged, leaving him with his nickname, Caradoc Short Arm. Guinier and Caradoc are married, and after a fidelity test involving a drinking horn
Drinking horn
A drinking horn is the horn of a bovid used as a drinking vessel. Drinking horns are known from Classical Antiquity especially in Thrace and the Balkans, and remained in use for ceremonial purposes throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period in some parts of Europe, notably in Germanic...
, they live happily ever after.
The tale exists in all three redactions of the First Continuation and is embedded, in abridged form, in one of the Reynard
Reynard
Reynard is the subject of a literary cycle of allegorical French, Dutch, English, and German fables largely concerned with Reynard, an anthropomorphic red fox and trickster figure.-Etymology of the name:Theories about the origin of the name Reynard are:...
romances. Though it does not appear earlier than the last decade of the 13th century, it is most likely based on a Welsh version, allusions to which can be found in the Welsh Triads
Welsh Triads
The Welsh Triads are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness...
. The Triads note Caradoc's wife Tegau for her love and fidelity, and her sobriquet Eurfron (Gold-Breast) would suit Guiner from the Life of Caradoc. Additionally, there is mention of Tegau's fidelity-testing mantle
Mantle (clothing)
A mantle is a type of loose garment usually worn over indoor clothing to serve the same purpose as an overcoat...
; the mantle is a common substitute for the drinking horn in chastity test stories.
Several versions of the Mantle of Chastity test involving Caradoc's wife were translated into Norse during the reign of King Hakon Hakonarson, and a version of the chastity test from Le Livre du Caradoc in the First Continuation of the Old French Perceval is found in the Norse Mottuls Saga. The story survives in the traditional English folk ballad The Boy and the Mantle, collected by Bishop Thomas Percy in Percy's Reliques. The chastity test involving the drinking horn was narrated in the Lai du Cor (1160) by the jongleur Robert Biket, who said that Cirencester was awarded to Caradoc for winning the drinking horn through the fidelity of his wife, and that the horn was on display there.