Transcribed from the 1852 William Rees edition ,
A Poem
on
THE BATTLE OF CATTRAETH,
by
ANEURIN,
a welsh bard of the sixth century,
with an
English Translation,
and numerous historical and criticalannotations;
by
THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS AB ITHEL, M.A.
rector of llanymowddwy, merionethshire.
LLANDOVERY:
PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM REES; LONDON,
LONGMAN, AND CO.
mdccclii.
williamrees, printer, llandovery.
Aneurin, the author of this poem, was the son of Caw, lord ofCwm Cawlwyd, or Cowllwg, a region in the North, which, as welearn from a Life of Gildas in the monastery of Fleury publishedby Johannes a Bosco, comprehended Arecluta or Strath Clyde. [0a] Several of his brothers seem tohave emigrated from Prydyn in company with their father beforethe battle of Cattraeth, and, under the royal protection ofMaelgwn Gwynedd, to have settled in Wales, where they professedreligious lives, and became founders of churches. Hehimself, however, remained behind, and having been initiated intothe mysteries of Bardism, formed an intimate acquaintance withOwen, Cian, Llywarch Hen, and Taliesin, all likewise disciples ofthe Awen. By the rules of his order a Bard was notpermitted ordinarily to bear arms, [0b] and though theexceptional case, in which he might act differently, may be saidto have arisen from “the lawlessness and depredation”[0c] of the Saxons, Aneurin does not appearto have been present at Cattraeth in any other capacity than thatof a herald Bard. Besides the absence of any intimation tothe contrary, we think the passages where he compares Owen tohimself, and where he makes proposals at the conference, andabove all where he attributes his safety to his“gwenwawd,” conclusive on the subject. Hisheraldic character would be recognised by all nations, accordingto the universal law of warfare, whereas it is very improbablethat any poetic effusion which he might have delivered, couldhave influence upon a people whose language differed somaterially from his own.
The Gododin was evidently composed when the variousoccurrences that it records were as yet fresh in theauthor’s mind and recollection. It is divided intostanzas, which, though they now amount to only ninety-seven, aresupposed to have originally corresponded in point of number withthe chieftains that went to Cattraeth. This is stronglyintimated in the declaration subjoined to Gorchan Cynvelyn, andcited in the notes at page 86, and thence would we infer that theGorchanau themselves are portions of the Gododin, having fortheir object the commemoration of the persons whose names theybear. Of course all of them, with the exception of theshort one of Adebon, contain passages that have been transposedfrom other stanzas, which may account for their disproportionatelengths. This is especially the case with Gorchan Maelderw,the latter, and by far the greater portion whereof, is in theCarnhuanawc MS. detach