Aneurin, the author of this poem, was the son of Caw, lord of Cwm
Cawlwyd, or Cowllwg, a region in the North, which, as we learn from a
Life of Gildas in the monastery of Fleury published by Johannes a Bosco,
comprehended Arecluta or Strath Clyde. {0a} Several of his brothers seem
to have emigrated from Prydyn in company with their father before the
battle of Cattraeth, and, under the royal protection of Maelgwn Gwynedd,
to have settled in Wales, where they professed religious lives, and
became founders of churches. He himself, however, remained behind, and
having been initiated into the mysteries of Bardism, formed an intimate
acquaintance with Owen, Cian, Llywarch Hen, and Taliesin, all likewise
disciples of the Awen. By the rules of his order a Bard was not
permitted ordinarily to bear arms, {0b} and though the exceptional case,
in which he might act differently, may be said to have arisen from "the
lawlessness and depredation" {0c} of the Saxons, Aneurin does not appear
to have been present at Cattraeth in any other capacity than that of a
herald Bard. Besides the absence of any intimation to the contrary, we
think the passages where he compares Owen to himself, and where he makes
proposals at the conference, and above all where he attributes his safety
to his "gwenwawd," conclusive on the subject. His heraldic character
would be recognised by all nations, according to the universal law of
warfare, whereas it is very improbable that any poetic effusion which he
might have delivered, could have influence upon a people whose language
differed so materially from his own.
The Gododin was evidently composed when the various occurrences that it
records were as yet fresh in the author's mind and recollection. It is
divided into stanzas, which, though they now amount to only ninety-seven,
are supposed to have originally corresponded in point of number with the
chieftains that went to Cattraeth. This is strongly intimated in the
declaration subjoined to Gorchan Cynvelyn, and cited in the notes at page
86, and thence would we infer that the Gorchanau themselves are portions
of the Gododin, having for their object the commemoration of the persons
whose names they bear. Of course all of them, with the exception of the
short one of Adebon, contain passages that have been transposed from
other stanzas, which may account for their disproportionate lengths.
This is especially the case with Gorchan Maelderw, the latter, and by far
the greater portion whereof, is in the Carnhuanawc MS. detached from the
former, and separately entitled "Fragments of the Gododin and other
pieces of the sixth century." That they were "incantations," cannot be
admitted; and if the word "gorchan," or "gwarchan" mean here anything
except simply "a canon, or fundamental part of song," we should be
inclined to consider it as synonymous with "gwarthan," and to suppose
that the poems in question referred to the camps of Adebon, Maelderw, and
Cynvelyn:--
"Gwarchan Cynvelyn ar Ododin." {0d}
According to the tenor of the Cynvelyn statement, every stanza would
bring before us a fresh hero. This principle we have not overlooked in
the discrimination and arrangements of proper names, though owing to
evident omissions and interpolations, an irregularity in this respect
occasionally and of necessity occurs.
Aneurin, like a true poet of nature, abstains from all artful
introduction or invocation, and launches at once into his subject. His
eye follows the gorgeously and distinctively armed chiefs, as they move
at the head of their respective companies, and perform deeds of valour on
the bloody field. He delights to enhance by contrast their domestic and
warlike habits, and frequently recurs to the pang of sorrow, which the
absence of the warriors must have caused to their friends and relatives
at home, and reflects with much genuine feeling upon the disastrous
consequences, that the loss of the battle would entail upon these and
their dear native land. And though he sets forth his subject in the
ornamental language of poetry, yet he is careful not to transgress the
bounds of truth. This is strikingly instanced in the manner in which he
names no less than four witnesses as vouchers for the correctness of his
description of Caradawg. Herein he produces one of the "three agreements
that ought to be in a song," viz. an agreement "between truth and the
marvellous." {0e}
He also gives "relish to his song," {0f} by adopting "a diversity of
structure in the metre;" for the lyric comes in occasionally to relieve
the solemnity of the heroic, whilst at the same time the latter is
frequently capable of being divided into a shorter verse, a plan which
has been observed in one of the MSS. used on the present occasion; e. g.
the twelfth stanza is thus arranged,--
Gwyr a aeth Gattraeth gan ddydd
Neus goreu } gywilydd
O gadeu }
Wy gwnaethant } gelorwydd
Yn geugant }
A llafn aur llawn anawdd ym bedydd
Goreu yw hyn cyn cystlwn carennydd
Ennaint creu } oe henydd
Ac angeu }
Rhag byddin } pan fu ddydd
Wawdodyn }
Neus goreu dan bwylliad neirthiad gwychydd.
But though Aneurin survived the battle of Cattraeth to celebrate the
memory of his less fortunate countrymen in this noble composition, he
also ultimately met with a violent death. The Triads relate that he was
killed by the blow of an axe, inflicted upon his head by Eiddin son of
Einigan, which event was in consequence branded as one of "the three
accursed deeds of the Isle of Britain." {0g}
His memory, however, lived in the Gododin, and the estimation in which
the poem was held by his successors has earned for him the title of
"medeyrn beirdd," the king of Bards. Davydd Benvras 1190-1240, prays for
that genius which would enable him
"To sing praises as Aneurin of yore,
The day he sang the Gododin." {0h}