Gwyddno Garanhir
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Gwyddno Garanhir was the supposed ruler of a sunken land off the coast of Wales, known as the Cantref Gwaelod. He was the father of Elphin, the foster-father of the famous Welsh poet, Taliesin.
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[edit] Legend
The basket of Gwyddno Garanhir is one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain. He is said to have been the lord of the Lowland Hundred (Cantref Gwaelod in Welsh). This was in what is now Cardigan Bay. His his chief caer was said to have been 'Caer Wyddno' located just north-west of Aberystwyth. The whole kingdom was protected from the sea by floodgates which had to be shut before high tide. One day the keeper of the floodgates, Seithenyn , was drunk and failed to close them, with the result that the sea rushed in and covered the land.
[edit] Kingdom
Stories of the drowned lands of Gwyddno appear to have arisen from the identification of natural submarinal ridges as the remains of sea walls. However, tradition also assigns Gwyddno a landlocked portion of his kingdom to which he was able to flee. He was called 'King of Ceredigion' by the unreliable 18th century Welsh antiquarian, Iolo Morganwg, but he does not appear in the Old Welsh pedigrees for that kingdom. He is identified with a number of different historical Gwyddnos in various sources. 16th century writers favoured Gwyddno ap Clydno, the late 6th century King of Meirionydd, who is perhaps the most likely candidate.
[edit] Epithet
His name is Welsh and means Gwyddno Long-Shanks or Crane-Legs. It has been suggested that this title was a Druidic honorific indicating spiritual prowess, because the crane with its head between its legs resembles the Druid symbol of three parallel vertical lines[citation needed]. These lines were perhaps a code-symbol for the channels of subtle spiritual energy in the human spine[citation needed].
[edit] References
- Ford, Patrick K. (1992). Ystoria Taliesin: The Story of Taliesin by Elis Gruffydd
- North, Frederick John. (1957). Sunken cities: Some legends of the coast and lakes of Wales
- Williams, Taliesin. (1848). The Iolo Manuscripts.
[edit] External links
- Early British Kingdoms: Gwyddno Garanhir, King of Meirionydd
- Dialogue of Gwyddno Garanhir and Gwyn ap Nudd
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