Battle of Gwen Ystrad
| Gweith Gwen Ystrat | |
|---|---|
| "The Battle of Gwen Ystrad" | |
| Author(s) | unknown |
| Ascribed to | Taliesin |
| Language | late Old Welsh or Middle Welsh |
| Date | late 6th century; possibly between 1050 and 1150 (Isaac 1998) |
| Manuscript(s) | Book of Taliesin (NLW MS Peniarth 2) |
| Genre | heroic poem |
| Verse form | lines in end-rhyme, (usually) of 9 syllables each |
| Length | 32 lines |
| Setting | Battle at Llech Wen, Gwen Ystrad (unidentified) |
| Period covered | late 6th century |
| Personages | Urien, prince of Rheged; men of Catraeth; men of Britain or Pictland |
Coordinates: 55°56′29″N 3°11′20″W / 55.94151°N 3.188782°W
Gweith Gwen Ystrat (in English: The Battle of Gwen Ystrad), is a late Old Welsh or Middle Welsh heroic poem found uniquely in the Book of Taliesin, where it forms part of the Canu Taliesin, a series of poems attributed to the 6th-century court poet of Rheged, Taliesin. Put in the mouth of a first-person eyewitness, the poem glorifies a victory by Urien, prince of Rheged, in which he led his warband in defence against a host of invaders at a site called Llech Gwen in Gwen Ystrad (Gwen valley). The heavy, prolonged fighting is said to have taken place since dawn at the entrance to a ford. Sir Ifor Williams suggests that the personal name Gwên may lie behind the forms Llech Gwen and possibly Gwen Ystrad, but the site cannot be identified.
Urien's champions are described as the "men of Catraeth" (line 1), a place often equated with Catterick (North Yorkshire), and the enemy forces as the "men of Britain" (gwyr Prydein, line 6), who have come in large numbers to attack the land. Sir John Morris-Jones and John T. Koch prefer to emend Prydein to Prydyn "land of the Picts". Ifor Williams offers some support for their identification as Picts, pointing out that the adversaries are envisaged as horsemen, to judge by the allusion to rawn eu kaffon "manes of their horses" (line 22). This description would fit the Picts but rules out the Saxons, who fought on foot. However, the emendation is not universally accepted.
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