Figure in Welsh mythology
Culhwch
(
Welsh pronunciation:
[?k?lh?χ]
, with the final consonant sounding like Scottish "loch"), in
Welsh mythology
, is the son of
Cilydd son of Celyddon
and
Goleuddydd
, a cousin of
Arthur
and the
protagonist
of the story
Culhwch and Olwen
(the earliest of the
medieval Welsh
tales appended to
Lady Charlotte Guest
's edition of the
Mabinogion
). In this tale the
etymology
of
Culhwch
is explained as "sow run" (
cul
"narrow, a narrow thing";
hwch
"sow, pig"), but this is likely to be
folk etymology
. According to the narrative, Culhwch is born to his maddened mother
Goleuddydd
after she is frightened by a herd of swine. The swineherd finds Culhwch in the pigs' run, and takes him back to his father Cilydd. Culhwch is described as being "of gentle lineage".
In
Culhwch and Olwen
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Culhwch's father,
King Cilydd son of Celyddon
, loses his wife
Goleuddydd
after a difficult childbirth. When he remarries, the young Culhwch rejects his stepmother's attempt to pair him with his new stepsister. Offended, the new queen puts a curse on him so that he can marry no one besides the beautiful
Olwen
, daughter of the
giant
Ysbaddaden. Though he has never seen her, Culhwch becomes infatuated with her, but his father warns him that he will never find her without the aid of his famous cousin
Arthur
. The young man immediately sets off to seek his kinsman. He finds him at his court in
Celliwig
in
Cornwall
and asks for support and assistance.
Arthur agrees to help, and sends six warriors to join Culhwch in his search for Olwen. They travel onwards until they come across the "fairest of the castles of the world", and meet Ysbaddaden's shepherd brother, Custennin. They learn that the castle belongs to Ysbaddaden, that he stripped Custennin of his lands and murdered the shepherd's twenty-three children out of cruelty. Custennin set up a meeting between Culhwch and Olwen, and the maiden agrees to lead Culhwch and his companions to Ysbadadden's castle. The warrior
Cai
pledges to protect the twenty-fourth son,
Goreu
with his life.
The knights attack the castle by stealth, killing the nine porters and the nine watchdogs, and enter the giant's hall. Upon their arrival, Ysbaddaden attempts to kill Culhwch with a poison dart, but is outwitted and wounded, first by
Bedwyr
, then by the enchanter
Menw
, and finally by Culhwch himself. Eventually, Ysbaddaden relents, and agrees to give Culhwch his daughter on the condition that he completes a number of impossible tasks (
anoethau
), including hunting the
Twrch Trwyth
and recovering the exalted prisoner
Mabon ap Modron
. Culhwch accepts the giant's child and, with the help of Arthur and his knights, eventually completes the numerous tasks.
With the
anoethau
completed, Culhwch, Goreu and others who "wished ill to Ysbaddaden Bencawr" ride to his court. The giant's beard, skin and flesh are shaved off by Caw of
Pictland
and, accepting his humiliation and defeat, he is dragged away by Goreu, who avenges his murdered brothers by beheading the giant. Ysbaddaden's head is placed on the spike of the citadel, Goreu claims his uncle's lands as his own, and Olwen is free to marry her love.
Other appearances
[
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]
A brief reference to Culhwch is made in
Marwnad Cynddylan
, a probably seventh-century
awdl
-poem, in which the mythological hero is compared to the deceased
Cynddylan
, a seventh-century ruler of
Pengwern
.
[1]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Jenny Rowland,
Early Welsh Saga Poetry: A Study and Edition of the 'Englynion
(Cambridge: Brewer, 1990), p. 430 (stanza 10a) and note on p. 580.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Sheppard, Nigel, "Early Welsh Literature from Scotland", in Mathers, Neil (ed.),
Epoch
10: July 1997,
Montrose
, pp, 22 - 24,
ISSN
0967-6856
- Williams, Mark (2021),
The Celtic Myths that Shape the Way We Think
,
Thames and Hudson Ltd.
, London, pp. 47 - 80
ISBN
978-0-500-25236-9
External links
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