Manawydan uab Llyr: A Tale of the Norman Occupation of Deheubarth

As they were sitting there they heard a tumultuous noise, and with the intensity of the noise there fell a blanket of mist so that they could not see each other. And after the mist, everywhere became bright. When they looked to where they had once seen the flocks and herds and dwelling-places, they could now see nothing at all, neither building nor beast, neither smoke nor fire, neither man nor dwelling- place, only the court buildings empty, desolate, uninhabited, without people, without animals in them; their own companions had disappeared, with nothing known of their whereabouts – only the four of them remained.1
With these words the storyteller introduces the matter of the Manawydan tale. This ‘enchantment’ is the catastrophe Manawydan and his companions have to deal with. In this article, I will argue that the author has drawn the enchantment from a real event, and, as the tale unfolds, draws on a historical narrative and identifiable characters from Deheubarth (south Wales) in the first half of the twelfth century. Though the tale is not a history nor even historical fiction, I want to suggest that its author has drawn the central event and its outcome from the aftermath of the insurgence of land-grabbing Norman armies into his beloved Dyfed in this period. This paper does not seek to explain the whole tale in historical terms, only that of the struggle of the two main protagonists, Manawydan and the enchanter.
£3.00
or to access all content on this site, join today

For £35 a year you can access all lectures and articles on this site, attend lectures and receive our yearly Transactions
Filter by Volume
Filter by Subject
- 16th Century
- 18th century
- 19th century
- 20th century
- Abertillery
- Acts of Union
- Archaeology
- Architecture
- Arts
- Autobiography
- Bible
- bilingualism
- Biography
- Burma
- Business
- Cardiff
- chemistry
- Climate change
- constitutional
- contemporary
- Cycling
- Cymmrodorion Society
- David History
- David Jones
- Development Bank of Wales
- Devolution
- Dylan Thomas
- ecology
- Economics
- Education
- Edward Lhuyd
- eighteenth century
- Environment
- Film
- Folk Song
- Geology
- health
- Heritage
- Higher Education
- Historiography
- History
- History of Art
- History of Medicine
- History of music
- History of the Book
- history; History
- Horticulture
- Industrial History
- Intellectual History
- Iolo Morganwg
- Islam
- Jews
- John Nash
- journalism
- Language
- Law
- Law constitutional
- Legal History
- Legal Law
- Literary History
- Literature
- Liverpool
- Lloyd George
- London Welsh
- Male voice choirs
- Manuscripts
- Media
- medieva
- medieval
- Medieval History
- Medieval Literature
- medieval Poetry
- Military History
- Museums
- Music
- Myth
- Owain Glyndŵr
- Peter Warlock
- Philadelphia
- Poetry
- political
- Political History
- Politics
- prose fiction
- Railways
- Religion
- Religious History
- Science
- sixteenth century
- social
- Social History
- Sport
- Suffragette movement
- Swansea
- Tourism
- travel
- Tudors
- twentieth century
- Urban History
- Vikings
- Waldo Williams
- Wales
- war
- wellbeing
- Welsh Development
- Welsh development and investment
- Welsh Language
- welsh society
- Welsh writing in English
- Welsh; History
- Wild Wales
- women's history
- WW1
- WW2