Cym: Chief Amongst Leaders, the Old
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Llywarch Hen is a popular figure in early Cymric poetry and he has his own cylcle of poems (known as the Canu Llywarch Hen) which are recorded in both the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin and the Llyfr Coch Hergest. In the past it was believed that the Canu Llywarch were actually composed by Llywarch, but it is fairly evident that he is simply the main protagonist in this cycle of poems. The author of the poems is one of the foremost of the Cynfeirdd (early bards), though his identity remains unknown.
Llywarch Hen's name is included in the genealogy known as Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd (The Descent of the Men of the North) where his pedigree is given as: Llywarch Hen mab Elidyr Lydanwyn mab Meirchion mab Gorust Ledlwm mab Cenau mab Coel and this alone makes it evident that he was considered to the lineages of the sixth-century 'Men of the North' (The Brythonic heroes of what are now Southern Scotland and Northern England), a contemporary of those great figures Rhydderch Hael and Urien Rheged. Indeed, as the grandson of Meirchion this would make Llywarch and Urien cousins for Meirchion was also Urien's grandfather. It seems that at the time Urien ruled North Rheged, Llywarch ruled Southern Rheged (though whether this was a single cantref or a more extensive realm is a matter of conjecture). From the poem Dym kywardyat unhwch (also known as 'The Death of Urien') it seems that Llywarch was present at Urien's assassination and it was left to him to recover Urien's head. From the genealogies Llywarch Hen's death can be put at circa 608 CE and his birth circa 534 CE making him somewhere around 80 at the time of his death (an age which would fit in with Llywarch legendary longevity).
He is also known from several triads in the Trioedd Ynys Pryden; the first of these, Triad 8 describes Llywarch as one of the 'Three Prostrate Chieftains of the Island of Britain'. This poem also gives Llywarch's father as Elidir Llydanwyn. The poem refers to the disposession of Llywarch by the invading Saxons, though he defended his lands to the best of his and his sons' abilities, as indicated by the poems of the Llywarch cycle. The next triad, Triad 65 links Llywarch to the Arthurian mythological cycle and describes Llywarch as one of the 'Three Unrestricted Guests of Arthur's Court and Three Wanderers'. The same epithet is found in Triad 77 where Llywarch is described as one of the 'Three Wanderers of Arthur's Court'. The final triad, Triad 76 names Llywarch as one of the 'Three Terrible Ones of the Island of Britain'. He is also named in appendix IV of the triads as one of the 'Three Counsellor Knights of Arthur's Court.
The later triads alluded to above show the process by which Llywarch, originally a hero of the 'Old North' was gradually assimilated into the mythos of Arthur. In a similar process to that which ocurred for other such heroes Llywarch was assimilated into and re-located to the emergin nation of the Cymry. His name became especially linked with Powys and late tradition associated him with Llanfor in Meirionydd where a mound was known as Pabell Llywarch (Llywarch's Tent). Further south, a Clwadd Llywarch Hen (Llywarch Hen's Dyke) was known near Llyn Syfaddon. Originally the Hen element in Llywarch's name may have been applied to him as a man of the Old North, however the epithet probably influenced the cycles of poems about him as he became the archetypal veteran, the querulous old man attempting to control the youthful exuberance of his sons. Oddly, given Llywarch's later linking to the native Arthur mythos he is not mentioned in the noble lineages of the Mabinogion of Culhwch ac Olwen and Breuddwyd Rhonabwy indicating that Llywarch's assimilation into Arthuriana may have ocurred later than the composition of these two tales.
