View source for Aneirin

{{Short description|Medieval Welsh poet}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{More footnotes|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Aneirin
|image= {{#statements:P18}}
|occupation = Poet
|notable_works = [[Book of Aneirin]], including ''[[Y Gododdin]]''
}}
'''Aneirin''' ({{IPA|cy|aˈnɛirɪn}}), also rendered as '''Aneurin''' or '''Neirin''' and '''Aneurin Gwawdrydd''', was an [[Wales in the Early Middle Ages|early Medieval]] [[Celtic Britons|Brythonic]] [[war poet]] who lived during the 6th century. He is believed to have been a [[bard]] or court poet in one of the [[Cumbric]] kingdoms of the [[Old North (Britain)|Old North]], probably that of [[Gododdin]] at [[Edinburgh]], in modern [[Scotland]]. From the 17th century, he was usually known as Aneurin.<ref>Miller, Arthur (1885). "[[wikisource:Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Aneurin|Aneurin]]". In ''Dictionary of National Biography''. '''1'''. London. pp. 411-412.</ref><ref>Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "[[wikisource:1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Aneurin|Aneurin]]". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. '''2''' (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 4.</ref>

==Life==
Some records indicate that Aneirin was the son of Caunus (or Caw) and brother to [[Gildas]].<ref name="The Four Ancient Books of Wales">{{Cite journal |last=Skene |first=William F |title=The Four Ancient Books of Wales, Containing the Cymric Poems attributed to the Bards of the Sixth Century |journal=The Dublin University Magazine |date=August 1868 |volume=LXXII |issue=CCCCXXVIII |pages=226–240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YOARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1}}</ref> According to this version of his life, he was born at [[Dumbarton]] on the [[River Clyde]]. However, some scholars debate this parentage, and contend that these records are of later invention and are erroneous. Whoever his father was, Aneirin's mother, Dwywei is mentioned in ''[[Y Gododdin]]''. She may be the same lady who, according to Old Welsh pedigrees, married King Dunod who is generally thought to have ruled in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]].

==Reputation==
The ''[[Welsh Triads]]'' describe Aneirin as "prince of bards" and "of flowing verse".{{quote needs citation|date=July 2024}} [[Nennius]] praises him amongst the earliest [[Welsh poetry|Welsh poets]] or ''Cynfeirdd'', a contemporary of [[Talhaearn Tad Awen|Talhaearn]], [[Taliesin]], Bluchbardd and Cian. References to Aneirin are found in the work of the ''Poets of the Princes'' (''Beirdd y Tywysogion''), but his fame declined in the later Middle Ages until the re-assertion of [[Culture of Wales|Welsh identity]] by antiquarian writers of the [[Tudor period]]. Today, the reputation of his poetry remains high, though the exact identity of the author is more controversial.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

==Poetry==
The works attributed to Aneirin are preserved in a late 13th-century [[manuscript]] known as the ''[[Book of Aneirin]]'' ({{langx|cy|Llyfr Aneirin}}). The language has been partially modernized into [[Middle Welsh]], but other portions in [[Old Welsh]] indicate that at least some of the poetry dates from around Aneirin's time, and its attribution, therefore, may well be genuine. The work would have survived through oral transmission until first written down, perhaps in the 9th century.

Aneirin's best known work is ''[[Y Gododdin]]'', a series of elegies for the warriors of the northern [[Celtic Britons|Brittonic]] kingdom of Gododdin who, in about 600, fell against the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] of [[Deira]] and [[Bernicia]] at the [[Battle of Catraeth]] (probably [[Catterick, North Yorkshire]]). The poetry abounds in textual difficulties and consequently interpretations vary. One stanza contains what may possibly be the earliest reference to [[King Arthur]], as a paragon of bravery with whom one fallen warrior is compared – the identification is, however, conjectural. The poem tells us that Aneirin was present at this battle and, having been taken prisoner, was one of only two or four Brittonic survivors; he remained a captive until his ransom was paid by Ceneu ap [[Llywarch Hen]].

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{Cite book |author=Peter C. Bartrum |year=1966 |title=Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press|oclc=897105}}
*{{Cite book |author=Rachel Bromwich |year=1978 |title=Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=9780708306901|oclc=5334104}}
*{{cite book |last1=Bromwich |first1=Rachel |last2=Jones |first2=R. Brinley |last3=Foster |first3=Idris Llewelyn |title=Astudiaethau Ar Yr Hengerdd = Studies in Old Welsh Poetry |publisher=Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru |year=1978 |location=Caerdydd |isbn= 9780708306963|oclc=4982659}}
*{{Cite book |author=Kenneth H. Jackson |year=1969 |title=The Gododdin: The Oldest Scottish poem |location=Edinburgh |publisher=University Press|oclc=4903114|isbn=9780852243534}}
*{{Cite book |author=A. O. H. Jarman |year=1988 |title=Aneirin: Y Gododdin, Britain's Oldest Heroic Poem |location=Llandysul |publisher=Gomer|isbn=9780863833540|oclc=24070429}}
*{{Cite book |author=John Morris |year=1973 |title=The Age of Arthur |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson}}
*{{Cite book |author=William O. Pughe |year=1803 |title=Cambrian Biography |location=London |publisher=E. Williams}}
* {{cite book |last=Stephens |first=Thomas  |title=The Gododin of Aneurin Gwawdrydd |quote=An English Translation, with Copious Explanatory Notes; a Life of Aneurin; and Several Lengthy Dissertations Illustrative of the “Gododin,” and the Battle of Cattraeth |editor=Thomas Powel |translator=Thomas Stephens| author-link=Thomas Stephens (historian)|publisher=Printed for the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion by Whiting & Co. |year=1888 |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o2Y9AAAAYAAJ|oclc= 919795190}}
*{{Cite book |author=Ifor Williams |year=1938 |title=Canu Aneirin |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{subject bar|auto=y|d=y}}
{{EB1911 poster|Aneurin}}
{{wikisourcelang|cy|Categori:Aneirin|Aneirin}}

*{{Gutenberg author | id=3167| name=Aneirin}}
*{{Internet Archive author}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090607090718/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/aindex.html Celtic literature Collective: The Book of Aneurin], text and translations
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041116124659/http://www.gtj.org.uk/item.php?lang=en&id=17975&t=1 Gathering the Jewels: Llyfr Aneirin], includes full colour images of the entire manuscript


{{Hen ogledd}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aneirin}}
[[Category:6th-century  Welsh poets]]
[[Category:Welsh-language poets]]
[[Category:Arthurian legend]]
[[Category:Britons of the North]]
[[Category:6th-century writers]]
[[Category:6th-century Scottish people]]
[[Category:Scottish poets]]
[[Category:Sub-Roman writers]]
[[Category:Bards]]