Pryderi: a Cymric God/Hero (Loss)

Synonyms:
Cym: Loss

Of all the characters of the tetrad of interlinked tales known as the Mabinogi Pryderi is distinguished by being the only character to appear in all the tales. His is one of the central characters in the first and third tales, the Mabinogi of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed and Manawyddan fab Llŷr, respectively. He is central to the plot of the fourth tale, the Mabinogi of Math fab Mathonwy but is only an incidental character in the second tale, the Mabinogi of Branwen ferch Llŷr.

In the Mabinogi of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed, Pryderi is the child of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed and Rhiannon. Though, as might be expected, the tale is a little more complex than this and can be summarized as follows: upon her son's birth in Arberth both Rhiannon his mother and the women set to watch over him fall into a deep sleep. By the morning the infant in gone and fearful of retribution for their negligence they kill the pups of a stag hound and smear Rhiannon with their blood. Then they pretend to awake and raise the alarm. Despite Rhiannon's pleading the women would not change their tale and Rhiannon is forced to do penance for a crime she has not committed. For seven years from that day she is to stand near a horse-block. She should relate her tale to all who came there and then offer to carry the strangers upon her back into the Llys.

During those days Teyrnon Twrf Gwliant who was lord of Gwent-is-Coed and he was the best man in the world. In his possession was a mare which was the most beautiful in the entire realm. On the night of every first of May she foaled, and no one ever knew what became of the colt. However, this year, Teyrnon was determined to see what befell the foal so he had the mare stabled and arming himself he sat to see what transpired. At the beginning of the night the mare birthed a handsome foal and as Teyrnon rose up to gaze at it there was a commotion at the window and a huge claw extended inwards to seize the colt by its mane. Rushing forward Teyrnon struck at the arm with his sword, severing it at the elbow. It dropped the colt and ran away with a scream but Teyrnon pursued it outside. But the creature escaped and Teyrnon returned to the stable. At the door he saw an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes. Taking the child he entered his wife's chamber and told her of what he'd found. The child was wrapped in silks, revealing him to have been of gentle lineage but Teyrnon's wife is determined to raise him as her own. They had him baptized as Gwri Wallt Eurun for his hair was of a golden colour and for the bravery he had shown during the night of his abduction. He was nursed in the court until a year old when he could walk stoutly and was larger than a child of three. Before his fourth year he would bribe the grooms to allow him to take the Llys' horses to water. At this time Gwri is given the colt who was born on the same night as he.

At this time Teyrnon heard tidings of what had befallen Rhiannon and feeling sorry for her he enquired more deeply into her story. Which is when Teyrnon looked closely at Gwri and for the first time saw the semblance between the child and Pwyll Pen Annwfn. Determined to right the wrong he had done Teyrnon takes the boy and journeys to Pwyll's Llys. They both refuse Rhiannon's offer of carrying them into the Llys and at the feast that night Teyrnon relates his tale and presents Rhiannon with her son. Pwyll enquires of the boy's name and Rhiannon re-names him Pryderi for all the worry that he had caused her.

Thus, in one respect, the latter half of the Mabinogi of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed can be considered as a classic 'naming tale' and a subtitle for this part of the story could be 'How Pryderi Obtained his Name'. As a result the precise naming statement of Rhiannon's deserves further analysis. In the extant texts this is given as 'oed escor uym pryder im' (he was the relief from my care). However, as Ifor Williams pointed out that Old Breton had the word pritiri indicating that, as they shared a common source, pryderi was probably a proper Cymric noun; which would have meant that the original form of Rhiannon's statement was once: 'oed escor uym pryderi'. However, as the original meaning of pryderi was lost redactors rendered pryderi as pryder im. The original Breton text equates the noun pritiri with dampnum, meaning 'loss' indicating that originally Pryderi also meant 'loss'. It should also be noted that the word escor in Rhiannon's statement also has a double meaning and can be interpreted as 'relief' both in the form of 'removal' and in the sense of 'giving birth'; thus the statement can be interpreted as either 'it would be a relief from my loss' or 'it would be a giving birth [to my son] Pryderi'. Which would make this a true 'naming tale'. At the very end of the tale Pryderi symbolically becomes a man by gaining a wife, Cigfa.

Pryderi next figures very briefly in the Mabinogi of Branwen ferch Llŷr: when Brân Fendigaidd sallies forth to Ireland to do battle with Matholwch over the treatment of his sister, Branwen he leaves his son Caradog in charge of Britain along with six other stewards and Pryderi as their page. Some while after Brân's departure Caswallon saw his chance to usurp the throne of Britain. It so happened that he had been gifted a cloak of invisibility and under the protection of this cloak he stole into the main Llys of Britain's stewards and drawing his swords he slew six of the protectors of Ynys y Cedyrn. Though he spared Caradog for he was his kinsman, the son of his nephew. For his part, Caradog came upon the scene but all he could see was a magical sword slaying his fellow protectors. Surveying such a scene of slaughter Caradog's heart simply broke with the grief and he died. However, Pryderi managed to escape into the forests. When Manawyddan, leading the remaining five survivors of Brân's Irish campaign returned to Britain they encountered a fait accompli with their comrades dead and Caswallon declaring himself the leader of Britain. Which is where the Mabinogi of Branwen dovetails into the next tale, the Mabinogi of Manawyddan fab Llŷr:

After the events of the Mabinogi of Branwen ferch Llŷr, Manawyddan is the only man left without a realm and Pryderi (who also survived the war in Ireland) offers his own realm to Manawyddan and gifts him his mother, Rhiannon to be Manawyddan's wife. Whereupon Pwyll and Manawyddan come to the seven cantrefs of Dyfed where Rhiannon and Cigfa (Pryderi's wife) prepare a feast for them. hen Pwyll and Manawyddan depart for Oxford to pay homage to Caswallon fab Beli who, after Brân's death is now king of Britain. They return to Arberth and a feast is prepared for them and when they had feasted they made their way to the Gorsedd of Arberth and as they sat there they heard a peal of thunder and a thick fog sprang up about them and after the mist came a bright light and when they looked all the animals and all the people about them were gone, so that only Manawyddan, Pwyll, Rhiannon and Cigfa were left.

They hunt and feast, but after two years they grow weary and go to Lloegr (England) to ply a craft whereby they can sustain themselves. They go to Hereford and make saddles until all the local saddlers turn against them and plot to kill them then they make shields and then shoes, but in each cases they make better goods than the locals and are driven away. Eventually they return home to Dyfed where they set about hunting until two of Pryderi's hounds are lost and he goes to seek them. He finds a deserted castle and though Manawyddan counsels him against entering he does so anyway and sees a spring with a golden bowl on a marble slab. Moving to the bowl he takes hold of it and as soon as he touches it he becomes frozen. Manawyddan waits for him until the close of day and he returns to Rhiannon and tells her what had happened. She berates him for not following Pryderi and makes to find her son. She also enters the castle and takes hold of the golden bowl and is frozen in her turn. When night came there was a peal of thunder and a mist rose and the castle and all its contents vanished.

Much of the remainder of the tale follow's Manawyddan and Cigfa's exploits as they initially seek refuge in Lloegr before returning to Dyfed before planting wheat to sustain themselves. However, as the wheat ripens it is stolen by a thief. Manawyddan eventually catches one of these 'thieves', a mouse and prepares to hang it upon a gibbet.

Manawyddan was preparing to hang the mouse upon the Gorsedd of Arberth when a poor clerk wandered along (the first other human he had seen in Dyfed in seven years) who failed to persuade or bribe him to let it go, followed by a priest and finally a bishop. This latter finally admitted to being Llwyd ap Cil Coed and friend of Gwawl ap Clud (humiliated by Pryderi's father Pwyll in the Mabinogi of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed), who had enchanted Dyfed to avenge his friend, captured Pryderi (Pwyll's son) and Rhiannon (who had spurned Gwawl) and transformed his war-band and court into mice, including his own pregnant wife whom Manawyddan had captured. In return for his wife's safe return Llwyd promises to reverse the enchantment upon Dyfed and thus all returns to what it was before.

The final act in Pryderi's life is played-out in the Mabinogi of Math fab Mathonwy. Math fab Mathonwy was the arglwydd of Gwynedd and he had this cyneddf; that he could not survive were his feet not in the lap of a maiden, save when this was prevented by the advent of war. The maiden currently with him was Goewin daughter of Pebin of Dôl Pebin in Arfon; she being the fairest maiden of her age. Goewin dwelt with Math constantly, but Gilfaethwy mab Dôn had set his affections upon her, loving her so much that he knew not what he should do on her account. Gwydion decides to aid his brother, however, as Math is can only leave his maiden during time of war, Gwydion comes up with a plan to begin a war. He talks to Mathonwy of these wondrous beasts that Pryderi has, telling Mathonwy: 'They are small animals and their meat is better even than beef' and he avows to attain these beasts though they are the possessions of Pryderi mab Pwyll. Gwydion and Gilfaethwy travelled, along with ten others, to the Llys of Pryderi, each in the guise of bards. Coming to Pwyll's Llys they were dined and Gwydion entertained the arglwydd of the cantrefs of the south. At the end of the evening Gwydion asked for a boon, that he might have Pryderi's pigs. Pryderi refused, saying that he had made a covenant that he would not allow the swine to move from his land until they had doubled in number. Gwydion persuaded Pryderi to hold-off his decision until the following day when he would be presented with an exchange for the swine. That night, by dint of his magic arts Gwydion engendered twelve chargers, arrayed with saddles and golden trappings, twelve greyhounds with golden collars and golden leashes and twelve gold shields made from mushrooms. The following morning these were shown to Pryderi who readily accepted them in return for his swine. Gwydion, Gilfaethwy took the pigs, urging their companions onwards for they knew that the glamour Gwydion had wrought would not last. At Arllechwedd they housed the swine in a sty and made their way to Math's Llys at Caer Dathyl. There, word reached them that Pryderi was preparing for war because of the wrong that had been done to them. Whereupon they heard the trumping of horns and the surge of a host. At this they donned their arms and made their way to Penardd in Arfon.

As a result there is war between Gwynedd and Dyfed and Math marches out with his host to meet the hosts of Dyfed in battle. This allows Gwydion to aid his brother Gilfaethwy in raping Math's foot-holder, Goewin. When the day greeted them on the morrow Gwydion and Gilfaethwy returned to where Math mab Matholwch was with his host. After taking counsel, Math prepared for battle between Maenor Penardd and Maenor Coed Alun where the host of Pryderi attacked them. The slaughter was great on all sides though the men of Deheubarth were forced to flee. The hosts of Gwynedd followed them to Nantcall where there was a great slaughter and to secure peace Pryderi gave as hostages Gwrgi Gwastra and twenty-three others. They journeyed in peace until they reached Traeth Mawr; however as they reached Melenryd the archers could not refrain from shooting at them. Whereupon Pryderi dispatched an embassy to Math to pray him to forbid his men from attacking and leave the outcome of the battle to himself and Gwydion mab Dôn who had been the ultimate cause of the battle. Gwydion agrees to fight Pryderi in single combat and by force of strength and fierceness and by dint of his magic and illusion Gwydion was victorious and Pryderi was slain. He was buried in Maentwrog, above Rhydfelen and there his grave lies to this day. Thus were the men of Gwynedd victorious and as the despondent men of the southlands left for home their captives were returned to them. This marks the end of Pwyll and his journey from birth to death through the course of the Mabinogi is over.

Apart from the Mabinogi, Pryderi is known from only two other sources: Triad 26 of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein which names Pryderi mab Pwyll Pen Annwfn as one of the 'Three Powerful Swineherds of the Island of Britain' for guarding the magical swine of Annwfn in Glyn Cuch in Emlyn. He is also known from a single mention in the poem known as Preiddeu Annwfn (the Spoils of Annwfn) from the Llyfr Taliesin. This fragment of the poem alludes to an enmity between Pwyll and Pryderi and a certain Gweir mab Gwystyl:

bu kyweir karchar gweir yg kaer sidi.
trwy ebostol pwyll a phryderi.
Neb kyn noc ef nyt aeth idi.
yr gadwyn trom las kywirwas ae ketwi.
A rac preidu annwfyn tost yt geni.
Ac yt urawt parahawt yn bardwedi.

All-encompassing was the prison of Gweir in Caer Siddi
Through the tales of Pwyll and Pryderi
None before him entered it
that heavy blue chain holding the fair youth
Before the spoils of Annwfn he woefully sings
Until doom shall he sing his prayer.

In this reference, Caer Siddi is the Cymric form of the Irish sídh, the subterranean realm of the gods, and is used as a synonym for the realm of Annwfn. Thus Gweir's imprisonment seems due to the 'tales' of Pwyll and Pryderi (this may mean lies) and possible points to a lost tale concerning these three characters. This makes sense in that Arawn the lord of Annwfn is a protagonist in the Mabinogi of Pwyll and Pryderi. For whatever slight he offered them Pwyll and Pryderi may have persuaded Arawn to imprison Gweir for all eternity.

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