Celtic Gods: The Cymric Hero, Pascen (Well-fed son of Urien)

Pascen fab Urien
A Cymric Hero of the Old North: Well-fed son of Urien

Pascen (Pasgen, Pasken, Pascen fab Urien) is a Cymric (Welsh) hero known from the ancient Welsh poems and the ancient genealogies where he is named as Urien of Rhged's son. He fought in the Old North to protect his father's realm, though the later powms do not portray him in a particularly flattering light.



Synonyms: Pasgen, Pasken, Pascen fab Urien
Cym: Well-fed son of Urien

Pascen, the son of Urien of Rheged. Compared with Owein fab Urien and Urien Rheged himself, Pascen is a rather shadowy figure, known only from several fragmentary sources.

Even the majority of the genealogies (Harleian MSS and Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd) carry the pedigree of the Rheged line (the lineage of Cynfarch) no further than the name of Urien himself. As a result we have to turn to other sources for the names and lineages of Urien's children. By combining information form poems contained in the Llyfr Taliesin and the Trioedd Ynys Prydein Urien's sons can be identified as: Rhiwallon, Rhun, Pascen, Elffin and Owein. Pascen is also named in a later, sixteenth-century, genealogy (Peniarth 127 MS) which names the children of Urien as: Ywain ap Urien, Rhun ap Urien, Rhiwallon ap Urien, Elffin ap Urien, Pasgen ap Urien, Cadfael ap Urien ap Cynfarch ap Meirchion ap Gorwst ap Ceneu ap Coel.

Interestingly, Triad 23 of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein names Pasgen fab Urien as one of the 'Three Arrogant men of the Island of Prydein'. Triad 43 names Pascen's steed, Huge Yellow as one of the 'Three Pack-horses' of the Island of Britain. These triads therefore do not seem to paint Pascen in a particularly edifying light. In contrast, the poet Llywarch Hen in Canu Llywarch Hen names Pascent as a warrior who fought in northern Britain with his brothers Owein and Elphin against Dunawd mab Pabo and Gwallawg mab Lleenawg. There can be little doubt that this Pascent is Pascen mab Urien.

Unlike his brothers, Pascen is named in some of the other genealogies. Jesus Genealogy XXXIV gives us: Keneu Menrud mab Pascen mab Urien Reget. The 'Lives of the Saints' Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae et Genealogiae gives us: Nidan mab Mon mab Guruyw mab Pasken mab Vryen.

Pascen's name is derived from the Old Cymric form Pascent which is either derived from or Latinized into Pascentius (which may indicate that the Brythonic form was Pascentios which was then Latinized with the -us masculine ending). The name is probably derived from the Cymric root pasg 'well fed', indicating that Pascen may have been a chubby baby.



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