Talhaearn Tad Awen
Encyclopedia
Talhaearn Tad Awen was, according to medieval Welsh sources, a celebrated British
poet of the sub-Roman period
. He ranks as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, named poets to have composed and performed in Welsh
. The better known poets Aneirin
and Taliesin
, who may have been slightly younger contemporaries, also belong to this early generation, the first of those known to modern scholars as the Cynfeirdd ("first poets"). Whereas medieval Welsh manuscripts preserve verse composed by or otherwise ascribed to the latter two figures, no such work survives for Talhaearn and in fact, his former fame seems to have largely vanished by the later Middle Ages.
The epithet Tataguen or the later form Tad Awen means "father of the Muse" or "father of (poetic) inspiration", and his first name, which has in common with Taliesin the first element tal ("brow, forehead"), translates as "Iron-brow". The context of the passage seems to link these five poets to the middle of the 6th century, when an otherwise unknown chieftain called Eudeyrn (MS. [O]utigirn) fought against the English, notably Ida, king of Bernicia
, and when Maelgwn ruled the kingdom of Gwynedd. Talhaearn's honorific nickname and the place accorded to him in the enumeration of British
poets may indicate that he was regarded as the "father" of early Welsh poetry, possibly preceding the others by a short period.
, nos. 33 and 34, his patron appears to be same chieftain who killed Aneirin. The first of these, Triad 33, holds one Heidyn son of Enygan or Heiden son of Efengad, possibly a ruler of the "Old North
", responsible for a fatal hatchet-blow on Aneirin's head. In the version of this triad found in the White Book of Rhydderch
, Heiden is identified as "the man who used to give a hundred kine every Saturday in a bath-tub to Talhaearn". The precise nature of these rewards remains unclear; can muv may, for instance, be a scribal error for can mu, a unit of value described elsewhere. In any event, the probability is that Heiden was Talhaearn's patron and it is possible therefore that the passage alludes a lost story about rivalry between the two great poets. Listing the "Three Unfortunate Hatchet-Blows" of Britain, Triad 34 also alludes to the anecdote (though using the variant name Eidyn), but only one late manuscript version of the triad mentions Talhaearn.
Further mention of Talhaearn is made in a difficult Middle Welsh poem entitled Angar Kyfyndawt, which is singly preserved in the Book of Taliesin
. Taliesin is staged here as the first- and third-person speaker of the poem, who presents himself as a skilled and inspired poet. In passing, he is made to refer, once to Cian and twice to Talhaearn. Talhaearn is praised as the "greatest of the wise men" (mwyhaf y sywedyd), a reputation which is hinted at some lines earlier. The edition and the translation attempted by Sarah Lynn Higley runs as follows:
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
poet of the sub-Roman period
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...
. He ranks as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, named poets to have composed and performed in Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
. The better known poets Aneirin
Aneirin
Aneirin or Neirin was a Dark Age Brythonic poet. He is believed to have been a bard or 'court poet' in one of the Cumbric kingdoms of the Old North or Hen Ogledd, probably that of Gododdin at Edinburgh, in modern Scotland...
and Taliesin
Taliesin
Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...
, who may have been slightly younger contemporaries, also belong to this early generation, the first of those known to modern scholars as the Cynfeirdd ("first poets"). Whereas medieval Welsh manuscripts preserve verse composed by or otherwise ascribed to the latter two figures, no such work survives for Talhaearn and in fact, his former fame seems to have largely vanished by the later Middle Ages.
Historia Brittonum
An interpolated passage in the Historia Brittonum (9th century) describes him as a famous poet, along with Aneirin, Taliesin and two lesser known figures, Blwchfardd and Cian:- Tunc Talhaern Tat Aguen in poemate claruit, et Neirin, et Taliessin, et Bluchbard, et Cian qui vocatur Gue[ni]th Guaut, simul uno tempore in poemate Brittanico claruerunt.
- "Then Talhaearn Tad Awen (MS. Talhaern Tataguen) was renowned in poetry, and Neirin and Taliessin and Bluchbard and Cian, who is called Gueinth Guaut, together at the same time were renowned in British poetry."
The epithet Tataguen or the later form Tad Awen means "father of the Muse" or "father of (poetic) inspiration", and his first name, which has in common with Taliesin the first element tal ("brow, forehead"), translates as "Iron-brow". The context of the passage seems to link these five poets to the middle of the 6th century, when an otherwise unknown chieftain called Eudeyrn (MS. [O]utigirn) fought against the English, notably Ida, king of Bernicia
Ida of Bernicia
Ida is the first known king of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia, which he ruled from around 547 until his death in 559. Little is known of his life or reign, but he was regarded as the founder of a line from which later Anglo-Saxon kings in this part of northern England and southern Scotland...
, and when Maelgwn ruled the kingdom of Gwynedd. Talhaearn's honorific nickname and the place accorded to him in the enumeration of British
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
poets may indicate that he was regarded as the "father" of early Welsh poetry, possibly preceding the others by a short period.
Allusions in Middle Welsh poetry
The figure of Talhaearn makes brief side-appearances in several later, Middle Welsh texts. 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...
, nos. 33 and 34, his patron appears to be same chieftain who killed Aneirin. The first of these, Triad 33, holds one Heidyn son of Enygan or Heiden son of Efengad, possibly a ruler of the "Old North
Hen Ogledd
Yr Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term used by scholars to refer to those parts of what is now northern England and southern Scotland in the years between 500 and the Viking invasions of c. 800, with particular interest in the Brythonic-speaking peoples who lived there.The term is derived from heroic...
", responsible for a fatal hatchet-blow on Aneirin's head. In the version of this triad found in the White Book of Rhydderch
White Book of Rhydderch
The White Book of Rhydderch is one of the most notable and celebrated manuscripts in Welsh. Written in the middle of the fourteenth century it is the earliest collection of Welsh prose texts, though it also contains some examples of early Welsh poetry...
, Heiden is identified as "the man who used to give a hundred kine every Saturday in a bath-tub to Talhaearn". The precise nature of these rewards remains unclear; can muv may, for instance, be a scribal error for can mu, a unit of value described elsewhere. In any event, the probability is that Heiden was Talhaearn's patron and it is possible therefore that the passage alludes a lost story about rivalry between the two great poets. Listing the "Three Unfortunate Hatchet-Blows" of Britain, Triad 34 also alludes to the anecdote (though using the variant name Eidyn), but only one late manuscript version of the triad mentions Talhaearn.
Further mention of Talhaearn is made in a difficult Middle Welsh poem entitled Angar Kyfyndawt, which is singly preserved in the Book of Taliesin
Book of Taliesin
The Book of Taliesin is one of the most famous of Middle Welsh manuscripts, dating from the first half of the 14th century though many of the fifty-six poems it preserves are taken to originate in the 10th century. The manuscript, known as Peniarth MS 2 and kept at the National Library of Wales,...
. Taliesin is staged here as the first- and third-person speaker of the poem, who presents himself as a skilled and inspired poet. In passing, he is made to refer, once to Cian and twice to Talhaearn. Talhaearn is praised as the "greatest of the wise men" (mwyhaf y sywedyd), a reputation which is hinted at some lines earlier. The edition and the translation attempted by Sarah Lynn Higley runs as follows:
| kerdwn duw yssyd | It is God's minstrel [kerdwn emended to kerdwr "singer, musician"], | |
| trwy ieith talhayarn. | through the language of Talhaearn, [cf. trwy ieith taliessin "through the language of Taliesin", line 7] | |
| bedyd budyd varn. | the baptism of the diviner of judgment, | |
| Avarnwys teithi | who judged the qualities | |
| angerd vardoni. | of the gift of poetry. |