Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- 1 The figure of David
- 2 Transition and survival: St David and St Davids Cathedral
- ST DAVIDS: FROM EARLY COMMUNITY TO DIOCESE
- THE LIFE OF ST DAVID
- THE CULT OF ST DAVID
- 8 Armes Prydain Fawr and St David
- 9 The cult of St Non: rape, sanctity and motherhood in Welsh and Breton hagiography
- 10 The cults of SS. Nonne and Divi in Brittany
- 11 St David in the liturgy: a review of sources
- 12 The office of St David in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS lat. 17294
- 13 A triad of texts about Saint David
- THE RELICS OF ST DAVID
- THE DIOCESE OF ST DAVIDS
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - Armes Prydain Fawr and St David
from THE CULT OF ST DAVID
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- 1 The figure of David
- 2 Transition and survival: St David and St Davids Cathedral
- ST DAVIDS: FROM EARLY COMMUNITY TO DIOCESE
- THE LIFE OF ST DAVID
- THE CULT OF ST DAVID
- 8 Armes Prydain Fawr and St David
- 9 The cult of St Non: rape, sanctity and motherhood in Welsh and Breton hagiography
- 10 The cults of SS. Nonne and Divi in Brittany
- 11 St David in the liturgy: a review of sources
- 12 The office of St David in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS lat. 17294
- 13 A triad of texts about Saint David
- THE RELICS OF ST DAVID
- THE DIOCESE OF ST DAVIDS
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Armes Prydain Fawr ‘the Great Prophecy of Britain’ (APF henceforth), dated to the second quarter of the tenth century, is a vaticinatory poem of 199 lines, preserved in NLW Peniarth MS 2, known informally as ‘The Book of Taliesin’. An edition, a translation and an analysis of the thematic structure of the poem will all be presented below. the poem expresses, in the form of prophecy, dissatisfaction with the interference of the English king Aethelstan (apparently) in Welsh affairs, principally by means of a tax. This implies simultaneously protest against the policies of Welsh rulers, most prominently Hywel Dda, to accept that tax and interference in return for being left alone to pursue their own dynastic agendas. The poet places these protests in the context of a scathing attack on the nature of English rule in Britain in general, how they treacherously came to power and ousted the Britons, and how they will ultimately be driven back to where they came from in a glorious rebellion led secularly by the legendary saviour-heroes Cynan and Cadwaladr, and spiritually by St David.
It is correct to state that APF contains the earliest references to St David in (extant) Welsh literature. What earlier references there are to him at all are found in chronicles, a catalogue of saints, martyrologies and calendars, with various passing references to him in lives of other saints, and Asser's references to him in the Life of King Alfred.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- St David of WalesCult, Church and Nation, pp. 161 - 181Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007