The Mabinogion by Sioned Davies (review)

Abstract

YES, 38.I & 2, 2008 253 here is the translation of woroldredenne(1. I142) in the Finn episode as 'universally acknowledged duty (of vengeance)'. By discussion of the laws,Jurasinski shows thatan enthusiasm by earlyGermans for 'sacred' blood feuds is illusory. Teutons likeBeowulf actually appear reasonable fellows,who could come to terms over disputes. It is nineteenth-century philologists who seem a wild, bloodthirsty lot, always ready (metaphorically speaking), inbetween bouts of treeworship, tohack off the arms and legsof anyone who fellfoulof them. The last chapter deals with the tragedyof Hrethel andfeohleas gefeoht (1.2441), taken as 'conflictbeyond compensation'. Jurasinski dismisses the claim thatGermanic law made no distinction between redress for murder and for manslaughter. IfHrethel took no action, it would not be because (p. 148) his sonHerebeald was killed by a kinsman, but because thedeath was accidental. This isa book of distinction. It is sober, lucid, precise, and illuminating.Even those with little interest inOld English may learn from itscomments on the psychology of scholars, for whom inertia is so potent, and the echoing of one's predecessors so very softan option. AncientPrivileges, therefore,isan outstanding achievement, greatly to the credit of itsauthor and of theUniversity ofWest Virginia. UNIVERSITY OF NAVARRE,PAMPLONA ANDREw BREEZE The Mabinogion. Trans.bySIONED DAViES. Oxford: Oxford University Press.2007.xxxviii + 293 pp- ?I2.99. ISBN:978-0-i9-283242-9. TheMabinogion is the inaccurate,but convenient, name of a collection ofWelsh stories,the oldest dating from theeleventh century,the latestfrom the thirteenth. These eleven tales now appear ina handsome volume for Oxford World's Classics, with a preface, introduc tion, map, and sixty-seven pages of notes and indexes. It may be said at once thatthe trans lationwill have instantsuccess. Itwill bring the tales to thousands of new readers,while its commentary will be a vital tool forscholars.Yet ithas another,more startlingfunction. ProfessorDavies cites (p. 239)my own arguments that the finestof the stories, the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, show signsof having been composed by awoman, who (Imaintain) can be identifiedas Gwenllian, aWelsh princess active in the II20S and II30s. If so, the implications of these arguments go farbeyondWales. They mean thediscovery of a new woman writer of genius, swimming into thefirmamentofWorld Literature. Controversy on this matter will no doubt go on foryears, but twopoints can be made here. First, the evidence to attribute the FourBranches to 'a cleric, or perhaps a court lawyer' (p. xxvi) is flimsy. The storiesnevermention theBible, saints,or Christian sites; theirreferences tobaptism (pp. I8, 58) aremuddled. That must ruleout a clerical author. As forthe lawyer,it iscurious that, while royalcharacters abound, no professional judge or advocate figuresin the tales.Also strange are passages by a supposed legal (or clerical) male on a wife's thoughts in the marriage bed (p. 7), a woman's reaction to rape (p. 52), breastfeeding (p.55), or a wife's ardent feelingson takinga lover (p. 59). Remarkable too is theway thatwomen consistently overcome their (somewhat ineffectual) menfolk in argument and the like (pp. 7, 12-I3, I4, i8, I9), or use literacy to escape male violence (P. 28), or play a crucial role indiplomacy (p. 30). 254 Reviews Such featurespoint, rather, to a female author,who would have been of thehighest social rank and thus an expert on Welsh government in action, including even an invasionof Ireland (p. 28). This author knewwell the topography ofGwynedd and north Dyfed, where the court of Arberth was surely near Cardigan (p. 230), close toOther world encounters on the riverCuch. The author was also, uniquely, in favour of the political advancement of both Gwynedd and Dyfed (pp. 2I, 47, 64). Striking in that context is a passage on the humanity shown toDyfed warriors after their defeat by Gwynedd forces (pp. 51-52). Hence my own attribution of the tales toGwenllian, a Gwynedd princess married to a Dyfed prince. Secondly, there is noevidence to date the FourBranches to 'between c. Io6o and II20' (p. xxvii).What they say of Oxford, forexample, points to a laterdate. Oxford was not then an 'importantpolitical and administrative centre' (p. 253). Domesday showsmuch of it was in ruin. Its resurgence began onlywith Henry I's visits in the II20S. It isnone the...