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Penarddun
An Arthurian Heroine/Goddess: Most Beautiful
Penarddun is a Cymric (Welsh) heroine known from the Mabinogi of Branwen ferch Llŷr, the Welsh geneaogies and the Welsh triads. Originally she was a goddess, the wife of Llŷr but it seems that Llŷr was ousted and Penarddun became Euroswyd wife (the tale, however, is lost to us). Penarddun is the daughter of Beli Mawr and thus ranks as one of the 'great gods' of the Cymric pantheon. |
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Cym: Most Beautiful
Peibiaw, along with the man sometimes considered to be his brother, Peibiaw are rather shadowy figures in Cymric mythos. They are first mentioned directly as a passing reference in the Mabinogion of Culhwch ac Olwen. One of the tasks assigned to Culhwch's by Ysbaddaden is to yoke together two horned oxen to the plough these oxen being on separate mountains. The tale then goes on to say that the oxen were Nyniaw and Peibiaw whom god turned into oxen on account of their sins.
Much of Penarddun's mythos is lost to us, however some of her story can be reconstructed from the genealogies, the Trioedd Ynys Prydein and the Mabinogi of Branwen ferch Llŷr. This tale from the Mabinogi names Bendigeidd Frân, Branwen and Manawyddan as the children of Llŷr and Penarddun. The half-bothers of this triad were the twins Nissien and Efnissien, with the twins' father being Euroswyd. As Brân is the elder, this suggests that somehow Euroswyd must have ousted Llŷr as Penarddun's husband to take that position himself.
A clue as to how this happened is provided by Triad 52 of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein which describes Euroswyd as being the captor of one of the 'Three exalted prisoners of the Island of Britain'; his prisoner being Llŷr Lledyeith (an epithet of Llŷr's suggesting his Irish origin) This points towards there being an enmity between Euroswyd and Llŷr and goes some way to explaining how Euroswyd somehow managed to oust ŷr and replace him as Penarddun's husband. Unfortunately, however, the original tale is entirely lost to us.
According to the Harleian MS 3958, Penarddun was the daughter of Beli Mawr and the grand-daughter of Manogan. This genealogy gives Beli's consort as Anna, though this selfsame Anna may be a conflation with the goddess Dô. If this is correct then it would make Penarddun a missing member of the Plant Dôn and one of the elder Cymric gods. It is interesting therefore that her marriage to Llŷr is what engenders the Cymric race of giants known as the Plant Llŷr who would seem, according to legend at least, to be the enemies of the Plant Dôn. Mythologically it is Penarddun who bequests divinity onto her offspring but it is Llŷr that makes them into the race of giants.
Penarddun's name is derived from the Cymric elements pen (head, main) and arddun (beautiful) and gives us 'most beautiful'. If the name is a true description of how Penarddun was thought to appear then her beauty alone would be sufficient reason for Euroswyd to seek her hand.
If you would like to try the foods of the time of the ancient Celts, then why not have a look at the ancient recipes section of this site. For the foods of the time when some of these tales were written down, take a look at the Medieval recipes section of the site and, in particular, the recipes from The Forme of Cury.
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