Taliesin | |
|---|---|
 The finding of Taliesin by Elphin and Angharad,F. H. Townsend's illustration for Thomas Love Peacock'sThe Misfortunes of Elphin (1897) | |
| Nationality | Briton |
| Other names | Gwion Bach ap Gwreang |
| Years active | 6th century AD |
| Notable work | Llyfr Taliesin |
Taliesin (/ˌtælˈjɛsɪn/tal-YES-in,Welsh:[talˈjɛsɪn];fl. 6th century AD) was an earlyBrittonic poet ofSub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in aMiddle Welsh manuscript, theBook of Taliesin. Taliesin was a renownedbard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three kings.
In 1960,Ifor Williams identified eleven of the medieval poems ascribed to Taliesin as possibly originating as early as the sixth century, and so possibly being composed by a historical Taliesin.[1] The bulk of this work praises KingUrien ofRheged and his sonOwain mab Urien, although several of the poems indicate that Taliesin also served as court bard to KingBrochfael Ysgithrog ofPowys and his successorCynan Garwyn, either before or during his time at Urien's court. Some of the events to which the poems refer, such as theBattle of Arfderydd (c. 573), are referred to in other sources.
John T. Koch argues that the description ofEaster in the praise poemYspeil Taliesin ('The Spoils of Taliesin') indicates that Urien and Taliesin wereChristians who adhered to the Latin rather than theInsular observance of Easter.[citation needed] He also suggests that the figure of Taliesin served as a bridge between the worlds of Brittonic Christian Latin literature and theHeroic Age court poets, allowing monastic scribes to cultivate vernacular poetry.[2]
In legend and medieval Welsh poetry, he is often referred to asTaliesin Ben Beirdd ("Taliesin, Chief of Bards" or chief of poets). He is mentioned as one of the fiveBritish poets of renown, along withTalhaearn Tad Awen ("Talhaearn Father of the Muse"),Aneirin, Blwchfardd, and Cian Gwenith Gwawd ("Cian Wheat of Song"), in theHistoria Brittonum, and is also mentioned in the collection of poems known asY Gododdin. Taliesin was highly regarded in the mid-12th century as the supposed author of a great number of romantic legends.[3]
According to legend Taliesin was adopted as a child byElffin, the son ofGwyddno Garanhir, and prophesied the death ofMaelgwn Gwynedd from theYellow Plague. In later stories he became a mythic hero, companion ofBran the Blessed andKing Arthur. His legendary biography is found in several late renderings (see below), the earliest surviving narrative being found in a manuscript chronicle of world history written byElis Gruffydd in the 16th century.
Details of Taliesin's life are sparse. The first mention of him occurs in the Saxon genealogies appended to four manuscripts of theHistoria Brittonum from 828AD. The writer names five poets, among them Taliesin, who lived in the time ofIda of Bernicia (fl. mid-6th century) and a British chieftain, (O)utigirn (Modern Welsh Eudeyrn).[4] This information is considered fairly credible,[5] since he is also mentioned byAneirin, another of the five mentioned poets, who is famed as the author ofY Gododdin, a series of elegies to the men of the kingdom ofGododdin (nowLothian) who died fighting the Angles at theBattle of Catraeth around 600.
Taliesin's authorship of several odes to KingUrien Rheged (died c. 550) is commonly accepted,[6][7] and they mentionThe Eden Valley and an enemy leader, Fflamddwyn,[8] identified as Ida[9] or his sonTheodric.[10] The poems refer to victories of Urien at the battles of Argoed Llwyfain,The Ford of Clyde andGwen Ystrad. Taliesin also sang in praise ofCynan Garwyn, king ofPowys.[11] Cynan's predecessor,Brochwel Ysgithrog, is also mentioned in later poems.
According to legends that first appear in theBook of Taliesin, Taliesin's early patron wasElffin ap Gwyddno, son ofGwyddno Garanhir, who was a lord of a lost land inCardigan Bay calledCantre'r Gwaelod. Taliesin defended Elffin and satirised his enemy, the powerfulMaelgwn Gwynedd, shortly before the latter died (probably in 547 AD).[12] The Latin-BretonLife of Iudic-hael refers to Taliesin visiting the monastery ofGildas atRhuys inBrittany.[13]
According to theWelsh Triads, Taliesin had a son,Afaon, who was accounted a great warrior, and who suffered a violent death, probably in Lothian.[14] Taliesin's grave is held in folklore to be near the village of Tre Taliesin near Llangynfelyn[15] calledBedd Taliesin, but this is aBronze Age burial chamber, and the village ofTre-Taliesin, at the foot of the hill, was actually named after the burial chamber in the 19th century[16] though legend was traced byEdward Lhuyd to the 17th century.
More detailed traditions of Taliesin's biography arose from about the 11th century, and inHistoria Taliesin ("The Tale of Taliesin", surviving from the 16th century).[17] In the mid-16th-century,Elis Gruffydd recorded a legendary account of Taliesin that resembles the story of the boyhood of the Irish heroFionn mac Cumhail and thesalmon of wisdom in some respects. The tale was also recorded in a slightly different version byJohn Jones of Gellilyfdy (c. 1607). This story agrees in many respects with fragmentary accounts in theBook of Taliesin.
According to theHanes Taliesin, he was originally known asGwion Bach ap Gwreang. He was a servant ofCerridwen and was made to stir the Cauldron of Inspiration for one year to allow for Cerridwen to complete her potion of inspiration. The potion was initially intended for her son,Morfran, who although was considered frightfully ugly, she loved nonetheless, and felt that if he would not grow in beauty then he should have the gift of the Awen to compensate. Upon completion of this potion, three drops sprang out and landed upon Gwion Bach's thumb. Gwion then placed his thumb in his mouth to soothe his burns resulting in Gwion's enlightenment. Out of fear of what Cerridwen would do to him, Gwion fled and eventually transformed into a piece of grain before being consumed by Cerridwen. However, this resulted in Cerridwen becoming impregnated with the seed and upon giving birth, she could not bring herself to kill the baby Gwion. She instead cast him into the ocean in a large leather bag, where he was found byElffin, who named him Taliesin.[18]
According to these texts Taliesin was the foster-son ofElffin ap Gwyddno, who gave him the name Taliesin, meaning "radiant brow", and who later became a king inCeredigion, Wales. The legend states that he was then raised at his court inAberdyfi and that at the age of 13, he visited KingMaelgwn Gwynedd, Elffin's uncle, and correctly prophesied the manner and imminence of Maelgwn's death. A number of medieval poems attributed to Taliesin allude to the legend but these postdate the historical poet'sfloruit considerably.
The introduction toGwyneth Lewis andRowan Williams's translation ofThe Book of Taliesin suggests that later Welsh writers came to see Taliesin as a sort ofshamanic figure. The poetry ascribed to him in this collection shows how he not only can channel other entities (such as theAwen) in these poems, but that the authors of these poems can in turn channel Taliesin himself in creating the poems that they ascribe to him. This creates a collectivist, rather than individualistic, sense of identity; no human is simply one human, humans are part of nature (rather than opposed to it), and all things in the cosmos can ultimately be seen to be connected through the creative spirit of the Awen.
The idea that he was abard at the court ofKing Arthur dates back at least to the tale ofCulhwch and Olwen, perhaps a product of the 11th century. It is elaborated upon in modern English poetry, such asTennyson'sIdylls of the King andCharles Williams'Taliessin Through Logres. But the historical Taliesin's career can be shown to have fallen in the last half of the 6th century, while historians who argue for Arthur's existence date his victory atMons Badonicus in the years on either side of AD 500; theAnnales Cambriae offer the date of c. 539 for his death or disappearance in theBattle of Camlann, only a few years earlier than the date of 542 found in theHistoria Regum Britanniae. Taliesin also appears as a companion ofBran the Blessed in this era, by which time he was clearly perceived as a legendary figure who existed in many different times.
A manuscript in the hand of 18th-century literary forgerIolo Morganwg claimed he was the son ofSaint Henwg ofLlanhennock; but this is contrary to other tradition. In it he is said to have been educated in the school of Catwg, at Llanfeithin, inGlamorgan, which the historianGildas also attended. Captured as a youth by Irish pirates while fishing at sea, he is said to have escaped by using a woodenbuckler for a boat; he landed at the fishingweir of Elffin, one of the sons of Urien (all medieval Welsh sources, however, make Elffin the son of Gwyddno Garanhir). Urien made him Elffin's instructor, and gave Taliesin an estate. But once introduced to the court of the warrior-chief Taliesin became his foremost bard, followed him in his wars, and wrote of his victories.[3]
Modern Welsh poetJohn Davies ofDenbighshire (1841–1894) took thebardic name of Taliesin Hiraethog.[19] The American architectFrank Lloyd Wright, whose mother, Anna Lloyd Jones, was born in Wales, named hisWisconsin home and studioTaliesin and his home and studio near Scottsdale, ArizonaTaliesin West.
Susan Kare, thetypographer andgraphic designer who developed the first set offonts for the early Macintosh, created adingbat font called Taliesin that shipped with the update disk forSystem 2 in 1985.[20] Taliesin is relatively obscure compared to its more well-known counterpart Cairo, the symbol font that featuredApple's iconicdogcow logo.[21] It is not clear why the font shares a name with the British poet, having been the only one of the set that does not bear the name of a "world class city"[22] (Chicago,San Francisco,Toronto, etc.). As it contains severalglyphs ofbuildings,furniture, and other aspects ofarchitecture,landscaping, andinterior design, however, it has been theorized that Taliesin was also named in homage to Frank Lloyd Wright's aforementioned studio and estate of same name.[23]
As early as the 12th century bards of the Welsh princes adopted the persona of Taliesin to make prophetic and legendary claims for the source of their inspiration orawen as well as those poems which can be attributed directly to them.[24] So some of the poems in theBook of Taliesin have been attributed to bards who saw themselves as working within the tradition of a legendary bard whose poems could be re-worked or re-imagined, giving rise to the prose tale in which some of these poems are embedded.[25] Much of the academic work done on these poems focuses on attempting to separate poems by the original bard and later poets imaginatively taking on his mantle.[26]
His name was used, spelled as Taliessin, inAlfred, Lord Tennyson'sIdylls of the King. He is a character inThomas Love Peacock's satirical romantic 1829 novelThe Misfortunes of Elphin where he is discovered as a baby floating in a coracle by Elphin (Elfin) who is fishing. In the 1951 novelPorius, byJohn Cowper Powys, he is depicted as a politically astute court bard who is accomplished in both cookery and poetry.
He also makes an appearance in a number of works of modern commercial fiction that blend history and Arthurian legend, including quite a lengthy appearance in Bernard Cornwell'sWarlord Chronicles andGuy Gavriel Kay'sThe Fionavar Tapestry. InStephen R. Lawhead'sThe Pendragon Cycle, he is most notable in the first book, eponymously namedTaliesin, in which he is depicted as Merlin's father. InM. K. Hume's King Arthur trilogy, he's depicted as Merlin's firstborn son.Gillian Bradshaw uses him as a stand-in for Merlin in her Arthurian trilogy. He is also a central character inMoonheart, anurban fantasy novel byCharles de Lint, and appears as the chief bard of the Kingdom ofPrydain in thechildren's novels ofLloyd Alexander which are based on the WelshMabinogion. The historical novelRadiant Brow – The Epic of Taliesin by H. Catherine Watling is based on "The Tale of Taliesin" and the poetry contained inThe Book of Taliesin. In the young adult fiction seriesThe Dark Is Rising Sequence by British authorSusan Cooper, he guides young protagonists Will Stanton and Bran Davies through the Lost Land in the final book,Silver on the Tree. Taliesin's harp-tuning key makes an appearance in "A String in the Harp" byNancy Bond, a time-travel story set in Wales. The key gives Peter Morgan, the main protagonist, the ability to see visions of Taliesin's life.
InCharles Williams' unfinished series of Arthurian poems, found inTaliessin Through Logres andThe Region of the Summer Stars, Taliesin is the central character, Arthur's bard and Captain of Horse, and the head of a companionship dedicated to Christian Charity in Camelot.
He is character inTraci Harding's Chosen series starting withThe Ancient Future Trilogy where he is an immortal time traveler trying to help the human soul mind evolution advance.
The Norwegian classical composerMartin Romberg wrote a concerto for alto saxophone andorchestra in eight parts after the tale named "The Tale of Taliesin". The concerto was premiered in 2009 byAkademische Orchestervereinigung Göttingen, with the Norwegian saxophonist Ola Asdahl Rokkones as a soloist.[27] The work has since been published at Éditions Billaudot, Paris[28] and played by Mittelsächsische Philharmonie, The Saint-Petersburg Northern Synfonia Orchestra and Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic Orchestra, the two latter being conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo.[29][30][31]
In modern music,Deep Purple's second studio album was namedThe Book of Taliesyn in honour of the bard. A track on the albumSofts by Canterbury prog-rock bandSoft Machine is titled "The Tale of Taliesin".Paul Roland’s 2006 albumRe-Animator contains a song about the bard titled "Taliesin". There is aDungeon synth band from Germany named Taliesin The Bard. The Song "Spiral Castle" by the american Epic Heavy Metal bandManilla Road uses Taliesin as the fictional narrator of the lyrics. The 2024 album byMGMT,Loss of Life begins with a spoken word piece which is an excerpt fromThe Book of Taliesin.
System 2.0 Finder 4.1 was released in April 1985. ... The Update disk also included the Font/DA Mover application, a Fonts suitcase with one font in it [Taliesin, a pictorial font], and a "What's New" document.
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