‘Gwyn ap Nudd: Transfigurations of a Character on the way from Medieval Literature to Neo-Pagan Beliefs’, Angelika H. Rüdiger (original) (raw)

Abstract

Gwyn ap Nudd is a fictional character appearing in poem XXXIV of the Black Book of Carmarthen for the first time. The earliest prose text mentioning his name is the tale “Culwch ac Olwen” found in the White Book of Rhydderch. The present redaction of the text is assumed to date back to 1100 AD. In the medieval time Gwyn must have played a considerable role in Welsh folk beliefs, as a text fragment from the Speculum Christiani dating back to the 14th century proves. In modern times he became known as the “Fairy King” of Wales. However, he vanishes in folk tradition during the time of reformation, but re-surfaces during the Classical Revival as “blessed astronomer”. In Welsh poetry his come-back is established by Elfed in the “literary revival” of the late 19th /early 20th century. With the strengthening of neo-paganism, Gwyn was reclaimed again as character playing a role in popular belief. However, his re-discovery is largely based on literary secondary sources. The distortions transmitted by these sources (eg. the translations of the Black Book poem by Sir John Rhŷs and the image of Gwyn as presented by Robert Graves in his famous “White Goddess”) formed the substrate from which the modern neo-pagan image of Gwyn ap Nudd was formed, often in a process of cross-cultural synchretism and an artificial construction of parallels to Greek mythology. This paper will exemplarily elucidate the origin of characteristics of Gwyn ap Nudd in neo-paganism and popular literature influenced by a neo-pagan background.

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