Culhwch and Olwen (Welsh: Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors that survives in only two manuscripts: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, ca. 1400, and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, ca. 1325. Certain linguistic evidence indicates it took its present form by the 11th century,^{[citation needed]} making it perhaps the earliest Arthurian tale and one of Wales' earliest extant prose texts.^{[citation needed]} The title is a later invention and does not occur in early manuscripts.^{[citation needed]} Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... The term Welsh literature may be used to refer to any literature originating from Wales or by Welsh writers. ... A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting shield wearing Kastenbrust armour (early 15th century) by Peter Vischer, typical of later anachronistic depictions of Arthur. ... The Red book of Hergest (Welsh: Llyfr coch Hergest) is one of the most important medieval Welsh manuscripts. ... The White book of Rhydderch (Welsh: Llyfr gwyn Rhydderch) is one of the most notable and celebrated manuscripts in Welsh. ... This article is about the country. ...

Lady Charlotte Guest included this tale among those she collected under the title The Mabinogion. Besides the quality of its storytelling it contains several remarkable passages: the description of Culhwch riding on his horse is frequently mentioned for its vividness (a passage reused to similar effect in the 16th century prose "parody" Araith Wgon, as well as in 17th century poetic adaptations of that work), the fight against the terrible boar Twrch Trwyth certainly has antecedents in Celtic tradition, and the list of King Arthur's retainers recited by the hero is a rhetorical flourish that preserves snippets of Welsh tradition that otherwise would be lost. Lady Charlotte Guest (Berite) (1812 - 1895), daughter of the 9th Earl of Lindsey, married in 1833 Sir Josiah J. Guest, a wealthy ironmaster, after whose death in 1852 she managed the works. ... The Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. ... Twrch Trwyth is the name of the creature Culhwch is instructed to hunt in the Middle Welsh prose tale Culhwch and Olwen. ... A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting shield wearing Kastenbrust armour (early 15th century) by Peter Vischer, typical of later anachronistic depictions of Arthur. ...

Synopsis

Culhwch's father, King Cilydd son of Celyddon, loses his wife Goleuddydd after a difficult childbirth. When he remarries, the young Culhwch rejects his stepmother's attempt to pair him with his new stepsister. Offended, the new queen puts a curse on him so that he can marry no one besides the beautiful Olwen, daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden Pencawr. Though he has never seen her, Culhwch becomes infatuated with her, but his father warns him that he will never find her without the aid of his famous cousin Arthur. The young man immediately sets off to seek his kinsman. He finds him at his court in Celliwig in Cornwall; this is one of the earliest instances in literature or oral tradition of Arthur's court being assigned a specific location.^{[citation needed]} In Welsh mythology, Culhwch (pronounced Kilhooch, the ch sound being the same as the Scottish Loch) was a hero who rescued Mabon from Annwn. ... Cilydd is the father of Culhwch, hero of the Middle Welsh prose tale Culhwch and Olwen, the earliest of the collection usually referred to as the Mabinogion. ... Goleuddydd, in the Middle Welsh prose tale Culhwch ac Olwen, is the daughter of Prince Anlawdd, and is desired by King Kilydd, who marries her. ... In Welsh mythology, Olwen (white track) was a daughter of Ysbaddaden. ... Jack the Giant-Killer by Arthur Rackham. ... In Welsh mythology, Ysbaddaden was the father of Olwen. ... A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting shield wearing Kastenbrust armour (early 15th century) by Peter Vischer, typical of later anachronistic depictions of Arthur. ... Celliwig or Kelliwic, is perhaps the earliest named location for the court of King Arthur. ... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ...

Arthur agrees to help, and sends six of his finest warriors to join Culhwch in his search for Olwen. These warriors include Cai (known to later literature as Sir Kay, Arthur's foster brother), Bedwyr (Sir Bedivere) and Gwalchmei (Sir Gawain, Arthur's nephew). The group meets some relatives of Culhwch's that know Olwen and agree to arrange a meeting. Olwen is receptive to Culhwch's attraction, but she cannot marry him unless her father agrees, and he, unable to survive past his daughter's wedding, will not consent until Culhwch completes a series of about forty impossible-sounding tasks. Fortunately for Culhwch (and the reader), the completion of only a few of these tasks is recorded and the giant is killed, leaving Olwen free to marry her lover. Sir Kay, son of Sir Ector, was one of the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthurs foster brother. ... How Sir Bedivere Cast the Sword Excalibur into the Water. ... Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Gawain (Gwalchmei, Gawan, Gauvain, Walewein etc. ...

The story is on one level a typical folktale, in which a young hero sets out to wed a giant's daughter, and many of the accompanying motifs reinforce this (the strange birth, the jealous stepmother, the hero falling in love with a stranger after hearing only her name, etc.). However, for most of the narrative the title characters go unmentioned, their story serving as a frame for other events. Culhwch and Olwen is as a whole more than simply a folktale. Folklore is the ethnographic concept of the tales, legends, or superstitions current among a particular ethnic population, a part of the oral history of a particular culture. ...

In fact, the majority of the writing is taken up by two long lists and the adventures of King Arthur and his men. The first of these occurs when Arthur welcomes his young kinsman to his court and offers to give him whatever he wishes. Culhwch, of course, asks that Arthur help him get Olwen, and invokes some two hundred of the greatest men, women, dogs, horses and swords in Arthur's kingdom to underscore his request. Included in the list are names taken from Irish legend, hagiography, and sometimes actual history.

The second list includes the tasks Culhwch must complete before Ysbaddaden will allow him to marry Olwen. Only a fraction are recounted, but several that are of great significance. A version of the longest episode, the hunt for the boar Twrch Trwyth, is referenced in Historia Britonum and it may also be related to the boar hunt in the Irish stories of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. The rescue of Mabon ap Modron from his watery prison has numerous parallels in Celtic legend, and the quest for the cauldron of Diwrnach the Irishman may well be related to the tales of Bran the Blessed in the second branch of the Mabinogion and the poem The Spoils of Annwn in the Book of Taliesin, possibly linking it to the Grail Quest.^{[citation needed]} Twrch Trwyth is the name of the creature Culhwch is instructed to hunt in the Middle Welsh prose tale Culhwch and Olwen. ... The Historia Britonum, or The History of the Britons, is a historical work that was first written sometime shortly after AD 820, and exists in several recensions of varying difference. ... In Irish mythology, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (also known as Diarmuid of the love spot) was son of Donn and a warrior of the Fianna. ... In Welsh mythology, Mabon (divine son) was the son of Modron (divine mother). He was a hunter god who was stolen from his mother three days after his birth. ... The Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. ... Preiddeu Annwfn (English: The Spoils of Annwfn) is a short, enigmatic poem found in the Welsh Book of Taliesin. ... Book of Taliesin (Welsh: Llyfr Taliesin) is one of the most famous Welsh manuscripts. ... For other uses, see Holy Grail (disambiguation). ...

References

• Bromwich. Rachel and Evans, D. Simon Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale University of Wales Press, 1992. ISBN 0-7083-1127-X.
• Patrick K. Ford (translator and editor), Culhwch and Olwen, from The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. ISBN 0-520-03414-7
• Idris Llewelyn Foster, "Culhwch and Olwen and Rhonabwy's Dream" in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, Roger S. Loomis (editor). Clarendon Press: Oxford University, 1959. ISBN 0-19-811588-1
• Jeffrey Gantz (translator), Culhwch and Olwen, from The Mabinogion, Penguin, November 18, 1976. ISBN 0-14-044322-3

External links

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Kilhwch and Olwen

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