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Llywarch Hen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Llywarch Hen or Llywarch the Old was a 6th century prince of the Cumbric House of Rheged, a ruling family in Y Gogledd Hen or The Old North (modern Northern England). He was first cousin to King Urien Rheged and may have been a monarch himself in the same region.
His life was the subject of a lost saga of which only the poetry survives. The words are put into the mouth of Llywarch himself, although they were clearly written somewhat later, possibly in the 9th century. He bemoans the death of Urien and returns to Rheged with his severed head. Other Brythons make war on Llywarch and he is soon found living in poverty. He is advised to flee to Powys and this he does. He is generally associated with Llanfor, near Lake Bala in Merionethshire.
Llywarch's poems claim he had twenty-four sons, but various sources list as many as thirty-nine, plus a few daughters. The Canu Heledd, concerning the fall of the Kings of the Pengwern region, and the Elegy for Geraint, concerning the Battle of Llongborth, are also attributed to him.
- Ifor Williams (1932), "The Poems of Llywarch Hen"