Rheged
Verses from 'Diffaith aelwyd Rheged' by Llywarch Hen, cousin to Urien, the 6th century chieftain of Rheged (roughly modern Cumbria).
The poem laments the ruination of the court of Urien and his son Owain ap Urien. After the disastrous betrayal of Urien by his nephew Morcant at the siege of Medgawd (modern Lindisfarne), where the British tribes, united under Urien, had driven back the invading Danes and Bernicians. The confederation of Britons collapsed and the territories of the ‘Men of the Old North’ were lost to the invaders, their people enslaved. The summer court of Urien near modern Appleby-in-Westmoreland became overgrown with briars and brambles, scratched up by wild pigs and fowls.The language is that of the Ancient Britons, ancestors of the modern Cymry (Welsh). It is a part of the treasure of Welsh literature, some of the very oldest in Europe, passed on in oral tradition until it was written down in monasteries during the 9th-11th centuries.
Yr aelwyd hon neis kydd kein fieri
Coed cyneddawg oedd iddi
Gordyfnasei Rheged rhoddi
Yr aelwyd hon neis kydd kein fieri
Yr aelwyd hon neis kydd drein
Mwy gordyfnasei na cyngrein
Kymwynas kyweithas Owein
Yr aelwyd hon neis kydd drein
Yr aelwyd hon neis kladd kywen
Nis eiddigananeu anghen
Ym myw Owein ac Urien
Yr aelwyd hon neis kladd kywen
This hearth that briars cover
Lighted wood was there
Rheged was accustomed to giving
This hearth that briars cover
This hearth hidden by thorns
Its warriors were more accustomed
To the warmth and fellowship of Owain
This hearth that the thorns cover
This hearth that scratching fowls bury
Knew not need
While Owain and Urien lived
This hearth that scratching fowls bur
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