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Mi a wum
verse beg. Mi a wum lle Ilas guendolev

  • Early Welsh
  • verse

Medieval Welsh poem of 7 englynion, each beginning Mi a wum lle llas... (‘I have been where [...] was/were slain’). It is attested in the Black Book of Carmarthen, following Ymddiddan Gwyddno Garanhir a Gwyn ap Nudd (‘The conversation of Gwyddno Garanhir and Gwyn ap Nudd’) without a visual break. It is not entirely clear if the present piece should be regarded as a separate composition or a part of the previous conversation.

First words (verse)
  • Mi a wum lle Ilas guendolev
Manuscripts
Language
  • Early Welsh
Form
verse (primary)
Length
Number of stanzas: 7 englynion
Textual relationships
Related: Ymddiddan Gwyddno Garanhir a Gwyn ap NuddYmddiddan Gwyddno Garanhir a Gwyn ap Nudd

Classification

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Jones, Nerys Ann [ed.], Arthur in Welsh poetry, MHRA Library of Medieval Welsh Literature, 4, Cambridge: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2019.  
abstract:
For over a thousand years, Arthur has had widespread appeal and influence like no other literary character or historical figure. Yet, despite the efforts of modern scholars, the earliest references to Arthurian characters are still shrouded in uncertainty. They are mostly found in poetic texts scattered throughout the four great compilations of early and medieval Welsh literature produced between 1250 and 1350. Whilst some are thought to predate their manuscript sources by several centuries, many of these poems are notoriously difficult to date. None of them are narrative in nature and very few focus solely on Arthurian material but they are characterised by an allusiveness which would have been appreciated by their intended audiences in the courts of princes and noblemen the length and breadth of Wales. They portray Arthur in a variety of roles: as a great leader of armies, a warrior with extraordinary powers, slayer of magical creatures, rescuer of prisoners from the Otherworld, a poet and the subject of prophecy. They also testify to the possibility of lost tales about him, his father, Uthr, his son, Llachau, his wife, Gwenhwyfar, and one of his companions, Cai, and associate him with a wide array of both legendary and historical figures. Arthur in Early Welsh Poetry, the fourth volume in the MHRA Library of Medieval Welsh Literature series, provides discussion of each of the references to Arthurian characters in early Welsh poetic sources together with an image from the earliest manuscript, a transliteration, a comprehensive edition, a translation (where possible) and a word-list. The nine most significant texts are interpreted in more detail with commentary on metrical, linguistic and stylistic features.
[ed.] [tr.] Rowland, Jenny, Early Welsh saga poetry: a study and edition of the englynion, Cambridge: Brewer, 1990.  

Contents : Part I. Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. The Llywarch Hen poems -- Appendix: early Welsh genealogical tracts -- Chapter 2. The Urien Rheged poems -- Chapter 3. Canu Heledd : I. The historical background, II. The poems -- Appendix: edition and text of Marwnad Cynddylan -- Chapter 4. Claf Abercuawg and penitential lyrics -- Chapter 5. Miscellaneous saga poems and the performance of the saga englynion -- Chapter 6. Other genres using the three-line englyn metres -- Chapter 7. Metrics, authorship, language, dating. -- Part II: Edition and translation of the texts -- The manuscripts of the saga englynion -- Editorial note -- Texts: Canu Llywarch -- Canu Heledd: Prologue, [etc.] ... [incl.] ‘Englynion Cadwallon’ -- ‘Claf Abercuawg’ and ‘Kyntaw geir’ -- Miscellaneous saga poems: Llym awel -- Geraint fab Erbin -- Gwyn ap Nudd -- Mi a wum -- Taliesin and Ugnach -- Seithennin -- Gwallawg -- Ysgolan -- Trystan fragments -- The three Juvencus englynion -- Miscellaneous stanzas. -- Translations -- Notes -- Abbreviations -- Bibliography -- General index -- Index to the textual notes.

462–463 (text); 507 (translation); 640 (notes)
[ed.] Jarman, A. O. H. [ed.], Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin, Cardiff: National University of Wales, 1982.
Second item in no. 34 [id. 34.]

Secondary sources (select)

Roberts, Brynley F., “Rhai o gerddi ymddiddan Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin”, in: Rachel Bromwich, and R. Brinley Jones (eds), Astudiaethau ar yr hengerdd / Studies in old Welsh poetry: cyflwynedig i Syr Idris Foster, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1978. 281–325.
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
February 2023, last updated: June 2023
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