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Tegid Foel
A Cymric Hero/god of the Mabinogi, also known as Tegit Voel: Fair-one the Bald
Tegid Foel (Tegit Voel) is a Cymric (Welsh) hero/god known from the tale of Ystoria Taliesin where he is the husband of Cerridwen and the father of Creirwy and Morfran. He is also known from the Welsh Triads and the Mabinogi of Breuddwyd Rhonabwy. He seems to have been considered a giant and may originally have been the tutelary deity of Bala lake. |
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Cym: Fair-one the Bald
Tegid Foel is a figure known chiefly from the Folkloric Ystoria Taliesin (The Tale of Taliesin) which tells of how the bard, Taliesin came to be born. According to this tale:
During the early days of Arthur's reign there lived in the region of Penllyn, by Llyn Tegid, Bala a man called Tegid Foel and his wife, Cerridwen. Between them they had a daughter, Creirwy, the fairest maiden in the world and a son, Morfrân, who because of his dark skin and hideous aspect was also known as Afagddu.
Afagddu/Morfrân is the most ill-favoured of all men and thus Cerridwen seeks to give him the gift of inspiration instead. However, it is Gwion Bach who tends Cerridwen's fire that gains the gift of inspiration and through a series of magical transformations Gwion becomes Taliesin.
As the father of Morfrân, Tegid is mentioned in the Mabinogion of Breuddwyd Rhonabwy and it is in this respect that he is also mentioned in Triads 24 and 41 of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein. Apart from Creirwy and Morfrân the Cymric genealogies also name other offspring of Tegid. The Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae et Genealogiae gives the following lineage: Auan Buellt m. Kedic m. Keredic m. Kuneda Wledic o Decued uerch Degit Voel o Benllyn e vam. The name Degfed literally means 'tenth' indicating that she was Tegid's tenth child and that she had nine other siblings. Rawlins MS B gives this genealogy Gwron ap kunedda a bleidd ap kunedda broder oeddynt o dwywai vz. degid voel o benllyn oedd i mam. Again a daughter of Tegid Foel, Dwywai is named. This name is interesting as it is suggestive of Dwyfach and the river Dyfrdwy which feeds into Llyn Tegid, Bala.
According to folklore, Tegid Foel was a giant and the tutelary deity of Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) in Penllyn. Thus it makes some sense that his daughter might be considered the sacred spirit of the river that fed the lake and the reference might point towards a lost myth concerning the origins of the lake. Indeed, one of the local legends of the Bala region had Tegid Foel originally living beneath the waters of the lake itself and he may well be considered the guardian spirit and personification of the lake that bears his name.
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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