Preiddeu Annwfn

Preiddeu Annwfn [' preiðei ' annuvn ] (" The spoils of Annwfn ", " The deprivation of Annwfn ") is the title of a long poem of 60 lines, which in Llyfr Taliesin ( "The Book of Taliesin " ) is contained in the 14th century. It was probably written 850-1050 along linguistic comparisons are already.

Content

King Arthur and his entourage sail with Arthur's ship Prydwen after Annwfn, a mythical land which is interpreted as the Other World. The aim of the trip is the Capture of a magical, jewel-encrusted boiler, which is kept in a glass fortress. This boiler is heated by the breath of nine maidens, and only the bravest warriors must prepare their food in it.

In addition to the attempt to capture the boiler, also drives the hope of being able to free the trapped there Gweir, King Arthur to this campaign in the Otherworld. The expedition, however, is apparently a failure, because in the chorus, which concludes each stanza, the poet laments that only seven men came back to their homeland.

This line of verse closes each stanza of the poem from, only the name of the castle is varied: Caer vedwit = Castle of drunkenness; Caer Golud = stronghold of the center / guts; and others.

In a subplot ( Ebostol Pwyll a Phryderi, "The Story of Pwyll and Pryderi " ) are Pwyll and Pryderi, the main characters of the Mabinogion, called.

An attempt by the localization of Annwfn with the Isle of Wight or with Lundy Iceland (about 30 km off the coast of Devonshire ) by Sims -Williams is rejected by other scholars of ..

The magic boiler is a recurring motif in Celtic legends, from the cauldron of the Dagda lifesaving over Efnisiens vessel Dyrnwchs boiler that knowing good and evil, to the Holy Grail.

The ship Prydwen is also in the narrative time y Kavas Kulhwch Olwen ( " How has Kulhwch Olwen won " ) above, where it brings Arthur, Kulhwch and the other companions of Wales to Ireland and back again. Again it comes to the robbery of a boiler, one of the tasks that has provided Ysbaddaden as a condition for the marriage of his daughter Olwen the giant. In Historia Regum Britanniae Geoffrey of Monmouth's shield Prydwen is called, however, Arthur's.