Owain mab Urien
Encyclopedia
Owain mab Urien (died c. 595) was the son of Urien
, king of Rheged
c. 590, and fought with his father against the Angles
of Bernicia
. The historical figure of Owain became incorporated into the Arthurian cycle of legends where he is also known as Ywain
, Yvain, Ewain or Uwain. In his legendary guise he is the main character in Chrétien de Troyes
's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
and the Welsh Romance Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain, which corresponds to Chrétien's poem.
, Urien's bard
. In one poem, he appears as the victor of the Battle of Alclud Ford
. Another, Gweith Argoed Llwyfain ("The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain"), tells of Owain's part in a battle between the men of Rheged
under Urien and the men of Bernicia under "Fflamddwyn" (Firestealer), possibly the Anglian king Theodric
. When Fflamddwyn demands hostages, Owain shouts defiance and inspires the men of Rheged to fight rather than give tribute to the English.
Taliesin
also composed Marwnad Owain, an elegy
to Owain. In the poem, it is said that Owain slew Fflamddwyn:
He inherited the kingdom of Rheged when his father was killed, but was immediately beset by his British neighbours Dunaut Bwr
from Dunoting
and Gwallawc Marchawc Trin
of Elmet
, the latter attacking Owein's brother Elffin whilst Owein and Pasgen, another brother, fought Dunaut.
Owein was slain in battle against his father's old nemesis Morcant Bulc
of Bryneich after a short reign. His death marked the end of Rheged as an effective power.
He is said to be buried at Llan-Forfael or Llan-Heledd, which local traditions place in the churchyard of St. Andrew's at Penrith
, though it is possible that the grave is actually that of the later Owen Cesarius
.
Owein is said to be the father of St. Kentigern Garthwys
by Denw, the daughter of "Leuddun", commonly identified with Lot Luwddoc
of Lothian
.
story Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain are devoted to his exploits, and he appears prominently in the Mabinogion
tale The Dream of Rhonabwy
and briefly in Geoffrey of Monmouth
's Historia Regum Britanniae
. The character is portrayed as an excellent knight in the later romances, the Lancelot-Grail
cycle and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur
, under one spelling of his name or another.
In The Dream of Rhonabwy, he plays a game of chess against Arthur while Rhonabwy looks on and the Saxons prepare to fight. The outlines of Chrétien
's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
and Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain are essentially the same; Owain hears of a magical storm-making fountain in the forest of Brocéliande
and seeks it out, only to find it defended by an excellent knight. He defeats this warrior and marries his wife Laudine
, but forsaking his marital duties for knightly exploits, he loses her love. With the aid of a lion he rescues from a serpent, he completes several adventures and is eventually reunited with his lady. He appears in most of the later accounts, his importance indicated by his close friendship with Gawain
and the passage in the Mort Artu section of the Lancelot-Grail
cycle where he is one of the last knights to die before Arthur
.
Almost all versions of the Arthurian story have Owain as Urien
's son and Arthur
's nephew, and the later accounts assume his mother is Morgan le Fay
, if not one of the King's other half sisters. He has a half brother called Owain (or Yvain) the Bastard after him, the product of a union between Urien and his senechal's wife. The Welsh give him a twin sister, Morvydd
, and as Arthur's maternal nephew he is a cousin to Gawain and the Orkney clan.
Urien
Urien , often referred to as Urien Rheged, was a late 6th century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd . His power and his victories, including the battles of Gwen Ystrad and Alt Clut Ford, are celebrated in the praise poems to him by Taliesin, preserved in the Book of Taliesin...
, king of Rheged
Rheged
Rheged is described in poetic sources as one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the Brythonic-speaking region of what is now northern England and southern Scotland, during the Early Middle Ages...
c. 590, and fought with his father against the Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
of Bernicia
Bernicia
Bernicia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England....
. The historical figure of Owain became incorporated into the Arthurian cycle of legends where he is also known as Ywain
Ywain
Sir Ywain is a Knight of the Round Table and the son of King Urien in Arthurian legend...
, Yvain, Ewain or Uwain. In his legendary guise he is the main character in Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
Yvain, the Knight with the Lion is a romance by Chrétien de Troyes. It was probably written in the 1170s simultaneously with Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, and includes several references to the action in that poem...
and the Welsh Romance Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain, which corresponds to Chrétien's poem.
The historical Owain
Our chief references to the historical Owain appear in the poems of TaliesinTaliesin
Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...
, Urien's bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
. In one poem, he appears as the victor of the Battle of Alclud Ford
Battle of Alclud Ford
The Battle of Alclud Ford was fought in c.580 at an unknown ford near Alt Clut, the original name for Dumbarton Rock which could also be used for the whole of the kingdom of Strathclyde in modern day Scotland...
. Another, Gweith Argoed Llwyfain ("The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain"), tells of Owain's part in a battle between the men of Rheged
Rheged
Rheged is described in poetic sources as one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the Brythonic-speaking region of what is now northern England and southern Scotland, during the Early Middle Ages...
under Urien and the men of Bernicia under "Fflamddwyn" (Firestealer), possibly the Anglian king Theodric
Theodric of Bernicia
Theodric ruled from 572 to 579. He was the fifth known ruler of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia.Theodric was the son of Ida of Bernicia, founder of the kingdom of Bernicia. Little is known of Theodric's life and reign although Urien, the king of Rheged, was said to have subjected Theodric and...
. When Fflamddwyn demands hostages, Owain shouts defiance and inspires the men of Rheged to fight rather than give tribute to the English.
Taliesin
Taliesin
Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...
also composed Marwnad Owain, an elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
to Owain. In the poem, it is said that Owain slew Fflamddwyn:
-
- Pan laddodd Owain Fflamddwyn Nid oedd fwy nogyd cysgaid
- Cysgid Lloegr llydan nifer A lleufer yn eu llygaid
- A rhai ni ffoynt haeach A oeddynt hyach na rhaid
- Owain a'u cosbes yn ddrud Mal cnud yn dylud defaid
-
- When Owain slew Fflamddwyn it was no more to him than to sleep
- The wide host of Lloegr [England] sleeps with the light in their eyes
- And those that did not flee were braver than was needed
- Owain punished them harshly like a pack of wolves chasing sheep
He inherited the kingdom of Rheged when his father was killed, but was immediately beset by his British neighbours Dunaut Bwr
Dunod Fawr
Dunod Fawr is a figure known from the Welsh Genealogies believed to have been a noble in the post-Roman Hen Ogledd. Dunod was a son of Pabo Post Prydain and is believed to have succeeded his father as ruler of a small polity somewhere in what is now the North of England, possibly in Lonsdale and/or...
from Dunoting
Dent (Lonsdale)
Dent is a small village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, nestling in a narrow valley on the western slopes of the Pennines within the Yorkshire Dales National Park...
and Gwallawc Marchawc Trin
Gwallog ap Llaennog
Gwallog ap Llaennog was a hero of the Hen Ogledd and probable 6th century king of the sub-Roman state of Elmet in the Leeds area of modern Yorkshire.He joined a group of Brythonic kings, including Urien Rheged, Rhydderch Hael and Morgant Bwlch of...
of Elmet
Elmet
Elmet was an independent Brythonic kingdom covering a broad area of what later became the West Riding of Yorkshire during the Early Middle Ages, between approximately the 5th century and early 7th century. Although its precise boundaries are unclear, it appears to have been bordered by the River...
, the latter attacking Owein's brother Elffin whilst Owein and Pasgen, another brother, fought Dunaut.
Owein was slain in battle against his father's old nemesis Morcant Bulc
Morcant Bulc
Morcant Bulc was a Brythonic prince, probably a king, from Northern Britain, during the period between the end of the Roman Empire and the establishment of an English state during the early Middle Ages....
of Bryneich after a short reign. His death marked the end of Rheged as an effective power.
He is said to be buried at Llan-Forfael or Llan-Heledd, which local traditions place in the churchyard of St. Andrew's at Penrith
Penrith, Cumbria
Penrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....
, though it is possible that the grave is actually that of the later Owen Cesarius
Eógan I of Strathclyde
Owen I, Ywain I or Eógan I was ruler of the Kingdom of Strathclyde for some period in the early tenth century....
.
Owein is said to be the father of St. Kentigern Garthwys
Saint Mungo
Saint Mungo is the commonly used name for Saint Kentigern . He was the late 6th century apostle of the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in modern Scotland, and patron saint and founder of the city of Glasgow.-Name:In Wales and England, this saint is known by his birth and baptismal name Kentigern...
by Denw, the daughter of "Leuddun", commonly identified with Lot Luwddoc
King Lot
Lot or Loth is the eponymous king of Lothian in the Arthurian legend. He is best known as the father of Sir Gawain. Such a ruler evidently first appeared in hagiographical material concerning Saint Kentigern , which feature a Leudonus, king of Leudonia, a Latin name for Lothian...
of Lothian
Lothian
Lothian forms a traditional region of Scotland, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills....
.
The Owain of legend
Over the centuries, the history of Owain known to storytellers faded sufficiently that he was incorporated into Welsh Arthurian legend and stories about him spread to continental Europe. Chrétien's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and the related MabinogionMabinogion
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
story Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain are devoted to his exploits, and he appears prominently in the Mabinogion
Mabinogion
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
tale The Dream of Rhonabwy
The Dream of Rhonabwy
The Dream of Rhonabwy is a Middle Welsh prose tale. Set during the reign of Madog ap Maredudd, prince of Powys , it is dated to the late 12th or 13th century. It survives in only one manuscript, the Red Book of Hergest, and has been associated with the Mabinogion since its publication by Lady...
and briefly in Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
's Historia Regum Britanniae
Historia Regum Britanniae
The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
. The character is portrayed as an excellent knight in the later romances, the Lancelot-Grail
Lancelot-Grail
The Lancelot–Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend written in French. It is a series of five prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere...
cycle and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur is a compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of Romance tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table...
, under one spelling of his name or another.
In The Dream of Rhonabwy, he plays a game of chess against Arthur while Rhonabwy looks on and the Saxons prepare to fight. The outlines of Chrétien
Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
Yvain, the Knight with the Lion is a romance by Chrétien de Troyes. It was probably written in the 1170s simultaneously with Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, and includes several references to the action in that poem...
and Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain are essentially the same; Owain hears of a magical storm-making fountain in the forest of Brocéliande
Brocéliande
Brocéliande is the name of a legendary forest that first appears in literature in 1160, in the Roman de Rou, a verse chronicle written by Wace....
and seeks it out, only to find it defended by an excellent knight. He defeats this warrior and marries his wife Laudine
Laudine
Laudine, also known as the Lady of the Fountain, is a character from Arthurian legend who appears in Chrétien de Troyes' poem Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and all works based on it, such as the Welsh tale Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain and the German Iwein by Hartmann von Aue...
, but forsaking his marital duties for knightly exploits, he loses her love. With the aid of a lion he rescues from a serpent, he completes several adventures and is eventually reunited with his lady. He appears in most of the later accounts, his importance indicated by his close friendship with Gawain
Gawain
Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
and the passage in the Mort Artu section of the Lancelot-Grail
Lancelot-Grail
The Lancelot–Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend written in French. It is a series of five prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere...
cycle where he is one of the last knights to die before Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
.
Almost all versions of the Arthurian story have Owain as Urien
Urien
Urien , often referred to as Urien Rheged, was a late 6th century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd . His power and his victories, including the battles of Gwen Ystrad and Alt Clut Ford, are celebrated in the praise poems to him by Taliesin, preserved in the Book of Taliesin...
's son and Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's nephew, and the later accounts assume his mother is Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay , alternatively known as Morgane, Morgaine, Morgana and other variants, is a powerful sorceress in the Arthurian legend. Early works featuring Morgan do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a fay or magician...
, if not one of the King's other half sisters. He has a half brother called Owain (or Yvain) the Bastard after him, the product of a union between Urien and his senechal's wife. The Welsh give him a twin sister, Morvydd
Morvydd
Morfydd ferch Urien is a figure of Welsh Arthurian legend. She is the daughter of Urien Rheged by Modron, and twin sister to Owain. Morfydd appears in the Welsh Triads and is also referred to in Culhwch and Olwen...
, and as Arthur's maternal nephew he is a cousin to Gawain and the Orkney clan.