The Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain (Welsh: Tri Thlws ar Ddeg Ynys Prydain) are a series of items in late-medieval Welsh tradition. Lists of the items appear in texts dating to the 15th and 16th centuries. The number of treasures is always given as thirteen, but some later versions list different items, replacing or combining entries to maintain the number.
Manuscripts
Eurys I. Rowlands (1959) published a critical edition of text using 11 texts and 18 variants. Peter C. Bartrum in 1959 who had been working concurrently published an edition using 7 base texts and 13 variants, and catered it to an English readership, but compiled an omnibus version collating 32 manuscripts divided into ten groups, plus 4 published texts.
Manuscript A in the hand of Gwilym Tew dates to c. 1460 but is a plain list of the treasures without the explanatory comments as given in later manuscripts. Other mss. date from the 16th to the 19th century. MS. L or Cardiff MS. 17, dating to c. 1600 was the base text used by Bromwich in her edition, which belonged to Group vii, listing 12 items (according to Bartrum) or 13 items (for Bromwich' who counts the crock&dish as double). Bromwich also appends surplus 14th and 15th items from other mss.
Printed texts
- Edward Jones, Bardic Museum. London, 1808. pp. 47–49. Composite.
- Charlotte Guest, Mabinogion. London, 1849. II, pp. 353–354; "from an old MS. the collection of Mr Justice Bosanquet"; very close to Ks
- Y Brython 2 (1859), p. 41, And Bartrum's table's No. 12. (Gren a Dysgl Rhygannedd) counts Dish and Crock as one.
The surplus items come from literary sources (Arthurian romance) rather than traditional material, e.g., the ring's original owner Eluned is the Welsh counterpart of Lunete from Yvain, the Knight of the Lion. (cf. and , respectively).
There is yet another surplus item, the Coulter of Tringer son of Nuddnot (): "Where it was borrowed for use in a plough, it would plough until it was asked to stop". The item is also given as the Coulter of Rhun the Giant () depending on the manuscript.
Description
Some of the magical objects listed can be shown to have earlier origins in Welsh narrative tradition. Items 2 (hamper), 7 (cauldron) and 13 (Mantle of Arthur), for instance, are also described in the Middle Welsh tale Culhwch ac Olwen (tentatively dated to c. 1100), in which Ysbaddaden the Giant gives King Arthur's cousin Culhwch a list of impossible tasks (anoetheu) which he has to complete in order to win the hand of Olwen, the giant's daughter.
Myrddin Wyllt
Later lore claims that Myrddin Wyllt (≈Merlin of the Arthurian romances) took possession of the Thirteen Treasures and evacuated them to his House of Glass.
Dyrnwyn
The Dyrnwyn ("White-Hilt"), the Sword of Rhydderch Hael the Generous, one of the Three Generous Men of Britain mentioned in the Welsh Triads. When drawn by a worthy or well-born man, the entire blade would blaze with fire. Rhydderch was never reluctant to hand the weapon to anyone, hence his nickname Hael meaning "the Generous", but the recipients, as soon as they had learned of its peculiar properties, always rejected the sword. Rhyedderch was one who Myrddin Wyllt feared most in the aftermath of the Battle of Arfderydd according to allusions in the poems contained in the Black Book of Carmarthen. He is the equivalent of Rodricus rex Cumborum (with the epithet ') who appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini.
Hamper of Gwyddno Garanhir
It is told that Gwyddno Garanhir ("Long-shank") possessed a hamper (mwys) which would multiply food: if one was to put food for one man in the basket and open it again, the food was found to be increased a hundredfold. This is identified by Bromwich as the oldest item among the Thirteen to be attested, being one of the anoethau of Culhwch ac Olwen.
Horn of Brân Galed
The Horn of Brân Galed ("the Stingy" or "the Niggard") from the North is said to have possessed the magical property of ensuring that "whatever drink might be wished for was found in it". Marginal notes to the text in Peniarth MS 147 (c. 1566) elaborate on this brief entry by saying that Myrddin had approached the kings and lords of Britain to request their treasures. They consented on the condition that he obtained the horn of Brân Galed, supposing that the task would be impossible to fulfill (whether owing to Brân's reputation for being close-fisted or for some other reason). However, Myrddin somehow succeeded in obtaining the drinking horn and so received the other treasures as well. He took his hoard to the "Glass House" (Tŷ Gwydr), where it would remain forever. Tracing the prehistory of the horn to the Greek mythological past, the same notes tell that Hercules had removed the horn from the head of the centaur he had slain, whose wife then killed the hero in bloody revenge.
The discrepancy between Brân's nickname ("the Stingy") and the special property of the enchanted horn appears to be explained by the Welsh poet Guto'r Glyn, who lived in the mid-15th century and was therefore contemporary with the earliest attestations of the Tri Thlws ar Ddeg. He relates that Brân Galed was a northern nobleman, whom Taliesin transformed into a man superior to the Tri Hael, i.e. the three most generous men in Britain according to one of the Welsh Triads. Later bards to allude to the treasure include Tudur Aled and Iorwerth Fynglwyd.
The identity of Brân Galed (not to be confused with Brân the Blessed) is uncertain. His northern background, which is usually described in general terms, is specified in one place elsewhere. A 16th-century note written by the scribe Gruffudd Hiraethog (died 1564) identifies Brân as the son of one Emellyr, which appears to refer to the Brân son of Ymellyrn who is depicted in the Llywarch Hen cycle of poems as an opponent of the kings of Rheged. The latter has also been equated with the Brân fighting at Cynwyd (northern Wales) in the poem Gwarchan Tudfwlch, possibly against Owain of Rheged.
Chariot of Morgan Mwynfawr
The chariot belonging to Morgan Mwynfawr ("the Wealthy") is described as a magical vehicle which would quickly reach whatever destination one might wish to go to.
Halter of Clydno Eiddyn
Belonged to Clydno Eiddyn (Cebystr Clydno Eiddin). It was fixed to a staple at the foot of his bed. Whatever horse he might wish for, he would find in the halter. The Halter of Clydno Eiddyn was also called The Handy Halter, for it summons fine horses.
Knife of Llawfrodedd the Horseman
Llawfrodedd Farchog (from marchog "the Horseman"), or Barfawc "the Bearded" in other manuscripts, is said to have owned a knife which would serve for a company of 24 men at the dinner table.
Cauldron of Dyrnwch the Giant
The cauldron (pair) of Dyrnwch the Giant is said to discriminate between cowards and brave men: whereas it would not boil meat for a coward, it would boil quickly if that meat belonged to a brave man.
The earlier poem Preiddeu Annwfn (The Spoils of Annwfn), refers to an adventure by Arthur and his men to obtain a cauldron with similar attribute (it does not boil meat for cowards, according to the Book of Taliesin.
However, the cauldron of Dyrnwch the Giant among the Thirteen Treasures appears to derive from the cauldron among the anoetheu in the Middle Welsh tale Culhwch ac Olwen, i.e., the cauldron of Diwrnach the Irishman, steward (maer) to Odgar son of Aedd, King of Ireland. King Arthur requests the cauldron from King Odgar, but Diwrnach refuses to give up his prized possession. Arthur goes to visit Diwrnach in Ireland, accompanied by a small party, and is received at his house, but when Diwrnach refuses to answer Arthur's request a second time, Bedwyr (Arthur's champion) seizes the cauldron and entrusts it to one of Arthur's servants, who is to carry the load on his back. In a single sweep with the sword called Caledfwlch, Llenlleawg the Irishman kills off Diwrnach and all his men. A confrontation with Irish forces ensues, but Arthur and his men fight them off. They board their ship Prydwen and, taking with them the cauldron loaded with the spoils of war, return to Britain.
In the poem Preiddeu Annwfn, the owner of the cauldron is the king of Annwn, the Welsh Otherworld, whereas in Culhwch tthw owner is an Irish king, suggesting a later attempt to euhemerize an older tale.
Diwrnach's name, which derives from Irish Diugurach and exhibits no literary provenance, may have been selected by the author of Culhwch ac Olwen to emphasize the Irish setting of his story.
In Culhwch Arthur's mantle is included in the list of the only things Arthur will not give to the protagonist Culhwch, but it is not named specifically or otherwise described. However, the names of several of the other items contain the element gwyn, meaning "white; sacred; blessed", suggesting otherworldly connections for the whole list. In The Dream of Rhonabwy, the mantle is specifically named Gwenn, and has properties analogous to those given in the lists of the Thirteen Treasures, though here it is those on top of the mantle who are made invisible.
Mantle of Tegau Gold-Breast
Tegau Gold-Breast (Tegau Eurfron, wife of Caradoc) was a Welsh heroine. Her mantle would not serve for any woman who had violated her marriage or her virginity. It would reach to the ground when worn by a faithful woman but would only hang down to the lap of an unfaithful wife.
The Mantle comes from a version of the mantle of chastity story, of which there is a whole group of works in the Arthurian cycle; one representative work Livre de Caradoc from the First Perceval Continuation features Caradoc as husband of Tegau-Guinier with the Gold Breast,
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Bromwich, first published in 1961, revised ed. 1991, (also , )
- Culhwhc ac Olwen, ed. Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans, Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale. University of Wales Press, 1992; tr. Jones and Jones, The Mabinogion.
- Rowlands, Eurys I. "Y Tri Thlws ar Ddeg." Llên Cymru 5 (1958/9): 33–69, 145–7.
Secondary sources
- Carey, John. Ireland and the Grail. Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2007.
- Gantz, Jeffrey (translator) (1987). The Mabinogion. New York: Penguin. .
- Green, Thomas (2007). Concepts of Arthur. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus. .
- Jones, Mary. "Tri Thlws ar Ddeg Ynys Prydain". From maryjones.us. Retrieved June 16, 2009.
- Jones, Mary. "The Horn of Bran". From maryjones.us. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
- Sims-Williams, Patrick. "The Significance of the Irish Personal Names in Culhwch and Olwen." Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 29 (1982): 607–10.