Bibliography

Welsh, Andrew, “Branwen, Beowulf, and the tragic peaceweaver tale”, Viator 22 (1991): 1–14.

journal article

Citation details

Contributors

Welsh (Andrew)

Article

“Branwen, Beowulf, and the tragic peaceweaver tale”

Periodical

Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 22 (1991)

Volume

22

Pages

1–14

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Abstract (cited)

Although it has long been assumed that the Middle Welsh tale Branwen Uerch Lyr, the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, is primarily a pastiche of story-elements from the mythological and literary traditions of medieval Ireland, many of the narrative elements of Branwen belong to the large, migratory stock of international folktale motifs and are better seen in the broader context of the traditional tale. It has also been thought that the narrative structure of Branwen is essentially that of a "calumniated wife" tale, though in fact most of the defining elements of such tales are missing from the Welsh narrative. The basis of Branwen is instead another traditional story of the Middle Ages, the "peaceweaver" tale, the best examples of which appear not in Celtic narrative but in the stories of Hildeburh and Freawaru in the "digressions" of Beowulf. The Old English poem and the Middle Welsh tale both give us versions of a fundamental and widespread medieval story of the exogamous dynastic marriage which tries but fails to overcome social feud and political antagonism.

Subjects and topics

Headings

Medieval Welsh literature Old English literature

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Texts

Keywords

peaceweaver

web page identifiers

page name: Welsh (Andrew) 1991a

page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Welsh_(Andrew)_1991a
redirect: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Special:Redirect/page/25669
numerical alternative: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?curid=25669
page ID: 25669
page ID tracker: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=25669

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