View source for Culhwch and Olwen

{{Short description|Welsh tale}}
{{italic title}}
{{Lead rewrite|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox Medieval text
<!----------Name---------->
| name                 = ''Culhwch ac Olwen''
| alternative title(s) = "Culhwch and Olwen"

<!----------Image---------->
| image                = Jesus-College-MS-111 00400 200v (cropped) Culhwch ac Olwen.jpg
| width                = 
| caption              = The opening lines of Culhwch and Olwen, from the Red Book of Hergest<br/>''Kilydd mab Kelydon Wledig a fynnei wraig kyn mwyt ac ef. Sef gwraig a vynna oedd Goleudyd merch Anlawd Wledig.''

<!----------Information---------->
| author(s)            = Anonymous
| audience             = 
| language             = [[Middle Welsh]]
| date                 = c. 11th–12th century
| series               = [[The Mabinogion]]
| manuscript(s)        = [[White Book of Rhydderch]] <br/> [[Red Book of Hergest]]
| principal manuscript(s) = 
| first printed edition =
<!----------Form and content---------->
| verse form           =  Prose
| length               = 
| genre                = 
| subject              = 
| setting              = 
| period covered       = 
| personages           = 
| personages (long list) = 
| sources              = 
| below                = 
}}

'''''Culhwch and Olwen''''' ({{langx|cy|Culhwch ac Olwen}}) is a [[Welsh-language literature|Welsh]] tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with [[King Arthur|Arthur]] and his warriors: a complete version in the [[Red Book of Hergest]], {{circa|1400}}, and a fragmented version in the [[White Book of Rhydderch]], {{circa|1325}}. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales. [[Lady Charlotte Guest]] included this tale among those she collected under the title ''The [[Mabinogion]]''. 

==Synopsis==
[[Culhwch]]'s father, [[Cilydd|King Cilydd son of Celyddon]], loses his wife [[Goleuddydd]] after a difficult childbirth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Philip |title=Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190460471 |pages=205–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9qL_DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA205 |access-date=12 November 2020}}</ref> When he remarries, the young Culhwch rejects his stepmother's attempt to pair him with his new stepsister. Offended, the new queen puts a curse on him so that he can marry no one besides the beautiful [[Olwen]], daughter of the [[giant (mythology)|giant]] [[Ysbaddaden|Ysbaddaden Pencawr]]. Though he has never seen her, Culhwch becomes infatuated with her, but his father warns him that he will never find her without the aid of his famous cousin [[King Arthur|Arthur]]. The young man immediately sets off to seek his kinsman. He finds him at his court in [[Celliwig]] in Cornwall.<ref>{{harvp|Guest|1849|pp=249–257}} "Kilhwch and Olwen".</ref><ref>{{harvp|Ford|1977|pp=119–121}}, {{harvp|Ford|2019|pp=115–117}} tr. "Culhwch and Olwen".</ref><ref>{{harvp|Jones|Jones|1993|pp=80–83}}; {{harvp|Jones|2011}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3Dt8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 unpaginated] tr. "Culhwch and Olwen".</ref>

[[File:Ysbaddaden.jpeg|250px|thumb|Culhwch at Ysbaddaden's court. An illustration by [[Ernest Wallcousins|E. Wallcousins]] in ''Celtic Myth & Legend'', Charles Squire, 1920

"''Horses shall I have, and chivalry; and my Lord and kinsman [[King Arthur|Arthur]] will obtain for me all these things. And I shall gain thy daughter, and thou shalt lose thy life.''"

"''Go forward...and when thou hast compassed all these marvels, thou shalt have my daughter for thy wife.''"]]

Arthur agrees to lend help in whatever capacity Culhwch asks, save the lending of his sword [[Caledfwlch]] and other named armaments, or his wife.{{efn|Arthur's other arms being his spear Rhongomyniad, his shield [[Pridwen|Wynebgwrthucher]], and his dagger Carnwennan.}}<ref>{{harvp|Guest|1849|pp=257–258}}; {{harvp|Jones|Jones|1993|p=84}}; {{harvp|Ford|2019|p=119}}</ref> He sends not only six of his finest warriors ([[Sir Kay|Cai]], [[Bedivere|Bedwyr]], [[Gawain|Gwalchmei]], [[Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd]], [[Menw|Menw son of Tairgwaedd]], Cynddylig Gyfarwydd), but a long list of personages of various skills (including [[Gwynn ap Nudd]]) recruited to join Culhwch in his search for Olwen.<ref>{{harvp|Guest|1849|pp=258–269}}; {{harvp|Jones|Jones|1993|pp=84–93}}; {{harvp|Ford|2019|pp=119–125}}</ref> The group meets some relatives of Culhwch's that know Olwen and agree to arrange a meeting. Olwen is receptive to Culhwch's attraction, but she cannot marry him unless her father Ysbaddaden agrees, and he, unable to survive past his daughter's wedding, will not consent until Culhwch completes a series of about forty impossible-sounding tasks, including the obtaining of the basket/hamper of [[Gwyddno Garanhir|Gwyddneu Garanhir]],{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Which is one of the [[Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain|Thirteen Hallows of Britain]].{{sfnp|Guest|1849|pp=353–355}}}} the rescue of [[Mabon ap Modron|Mabon]] from his prison, and the hunt of [[Twrch Trwyth]] and  [[Ysgithyrwyn]].<ref>{{harvp|Guest|1849|pp=280–292}}; {{harvp|Ford|2019|pp=130ff}}</ref> The completion of only a few of these tasks is recorded. In the end, the giant is killed, leaving Olwen free to marry her lover.

== Scholarship ==
The prevailing view among scholars was that the present version of the text was composed by the 11th century, making it perhaps the earliest Arthurian tale and one of [[Wales]]' earliest extant prose texts,<ref name="romance">The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation, ed. James J. Wilhelm. 1994. 25.</ref> but a 2005 reassessment by linguist Simon Rodway dates it to the latter half of the 12th century.<ref>Rodway, Simon, “The date and authorship of Culhwch ac Olwen: a reassessment”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 49 (Summer, 2005), pp. 21–44</ref> The title is a later invention and does not occur in early manuscripts.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Davies |first=Sioned |date=2004 |title=Performing ''Culhwch ac Olwen'' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQf5d05PL9IC&pg=PA31 |journal=Arthurian Literature |volume=21 |page=31 |isbn=9781843840282 |access-date=20 December 2015}}</ref> 

The story is on one level a [[Folklore|folktale]], belonging to the bridal quest "the giant's daughter" tale type<ref name=ford-p013/> (more formally categorized as [[How Six Made Their Way in the World|Six Go through the Whole World]] type, [[Aarne-Thompson|AT]] 513A).{{sfnp|Owen|1968|p=29}}{{sfnp|Loomis|2015|p=28}}{{sfnp|Rodway|2019|pp=72–73}} The accompanying motifs (the strange birth, the jealous stepmother, the hero falling in love with a stranger after hearing only her name, helpful animals, impossible tasks) reinforce this typing.<ref>{{harvp|Rodway|2019|p=72}}: "jealous stepmother"; {{harvp|Loomis|2015|p=28}}: ""impossible obstacles, and the hero needs prodigiously endowed helpers".</ref><ref name=ford-p013/> 

However, the bridal quest serves merely as a [[frame story]] for the rest of the events that form the in-story,{{sfnp|Koch|2014|p=257}} where the title characters go largely unmentioned. The in-story is taken up by two long lists and the adventures of King Arthur and his men. One list is a roster of names, some two hundred of the greatest men, women, dogs, horses and swords in Arthur's kingdom recruited to aid Arthur's kinsman Culhwch in his bridal quest.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|More than two hundred fifty names,<ref name=dillon&chadwick/> including two hundred thirty warriors.<ref name=knight2015/>}} The other is a list of "difficult tasks" or "marvels" (''pl.'' {{langx|cy|anoethau, anoetheu}}),{{sfnp|Knight|Wiesner-Hanks|1983|p=13}}{{sfnp|Loomis|2015|p=28}} set upon Culhwch as requirements for his marriage to be approved by the bride's father Ysbaddaden. Included in this list are names taken from Irish legend, hagiography, and sometimes actual history. 

The fight against the terrible boar [[Twrch Trwyth]] certainly has antecedents in Celtic tradition, namely Arthur's boar-hunt with his hound [[Cafall]], whose footprint is discussed in the ''Mirabilia'' appended to the ''[[Historia Brittonum]]''.{{sfnp|Bromwich|Evans|1992|p=lxvii}} The description of Culhwch riding on his horse is frequently mentioned for its vividness, and features of the Welsh landscape are narrated in ways that are reminiscent of Irish onomastic narratives.<ref name=chadwick/> As for the passage where Culhwch is received by his uncle, King Arthur, at Celliwig, this is one of the earliest instances in literature or oral tradition of Arthur's court being assigned a specific location and a valuable source of comparison with the court of [[Camelot]] or [[Caerleon]] as depicted in later Welsh, English, and continental Arthurian legends.{{cn|date=March 2020}}

==Cultural influence==
Culhwch's horse-ride passage is reused in the 16th-century prose "parody" ''Araith Wgon'', as well as in 17th-century poetic adaptations of that work.{{cn|date=March 2020}} The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] has pointed out the similarities between ''[[The Tale of Beren and Lúthien]]'', one of the main cycles of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[Tolkien's legendarium|legendarium]]'', and ''Culhwch and Olwen''.<ref>Tom Shippey, ''The Road to Middle Earth'', pp. 193–194: "The hunting of the great wolf recalls the chase of the boar [[Twrch Trwyth]] in the Welsh ''Mabinogion'', while the motif of 'the hand in the wolf's mouth' is one of the most famous parts of the ''Prose Edda'', told of [[Fenrir|Fenris Wolf]] and the god [[Týr|Tyr]]; Huan recalls several faithful hounds of legend, [[Garmr|Garm]], Gelert, Cafall."</ref>

==Adaptations==
[[File:Ouzel of Cilgwri 2016.jpg|thumb|Questioning the Ouzel of Cilgwri in ''Culhwch and Olwen'' by [[Shirley Jones (artist)|Shirley Jones]] (2016)]]
* British painter/poet [[David Jones (artist-poet)|David Jones]] (1895–1974) wrote a poem called "The Hunt" based on the tale of ''Culwhch ac Olwen''. A fragment of a larger work, "The Hunt" takes place during the pursuit of the boar Twrch Trwyth by Arthur and the various war-bands of Celtic Britain and France.
* In 1988, [[Gwyn Thomas (poet)|Gwyn Thomas]] released a retelling of the story, ''Culhwch ac Olwen'', which was illustrated by [[Margaret Jones (artist)|Margaret Jones]]. ''Culhwch ac Olwen'' won the annual [[Tir na n-Og Award]] for Welsh language nonfiction in 1989.<ref name=winners>{{cite web|url=http://www.cllc.org.uk/gwasanaethau-services/plant-children/gwobrau-prizes/tir-na-nog/rhestr-list|title=Tir na n-Og awards Past Winners|work=Welsh Book Council|publisher=cllc.org.uk|access-date=8 July 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310093112/http://www.cllc.org.uk/gwasanaethau-services/plant-children/gwobrau-prizes/tir-na-nog/rhestr-list|archive-date=10 March 2012}}</ref>
* A [[shadow play]] adaptation of ''Culhwch and Olwen'' toured schools in [[Ceredigion]] during 2003. The show was created by Jim Williams and was supported by [[Theatr Felinfach]].
* The tale of ''Culhwch and Olwen'' was adapted by Derek Webb in Welsh and English as a dramatic recreation for the reopening of [[Narberth Castle]] in Pembrokeshire in 2005.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}
* ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan'' (2003), the fifth book of [[Gerald Morris]]'s ''The Squire's Tales'' series, features an adaptation of Culhwch's quest.
* ''The Quest'' (2016) is an [[artist's book]] by [[Shirley Jones (artist)|Shirley Jones]] focusing on the quest, which is to find the whereabouts of the prisoner, Mabon, son of Modron, in ''Culhwch and Olwen''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Shirley |author1-link=Shirley Jones (artist) |title=The Quest |date=2016 |publisher=Red Hen Press |url=https://archive.org/details/jones-the-quest/}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Rhuawn Bebyr]]

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=chadwick>{{cite book|last=Chadwick |first=Nora |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |chapter=Scéla Muicce Meicc Da Thó  |editor-last=Dillon |editor-first=Myles |editor-link=Myles Dillon |title=Irish Sagas |publisher=Irish Stationery Office |year=1959 |series=Radio Éireann Thomas Davis Lectures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dZJlAAAAMAAJq |pages=89<!--79–92-->}}: "details of Ailbe's route.. recalls the course taken by the boar Twrch Trwyth in.. ''Kuhlwch (sic.) and Olwen''</ref>

<ref name=dillon&chadwick>{{cite book|last1=Dillon |first1=Myles |author-link1=Myles Dillon |last2=Chadwick |first2=Nora K. |author-link2=Nora Kershaw Chadwick  |title=The Celtic Realms |publisher=[[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] |year=1967 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0m4TAQAAIAAJ&q=Culhwch+%22two+hundred%22 |pages=283–285 }}</ref>

<ref name=ford-p013>{{harvp|Ford|2019}} :"At the level of folktale, it belongs to a widely known type, “the giant's daughter.” A number of motifs known to students of the international folktale are clustered here: the jealous stepmother,  love for an unknown and unseen maiden, the oldest animals, the helper animals, and the impossible tasks are perhaps the most obvious".</ref>

<ref name=knight2015>{{cite book|last=Knight |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Knight |title=The Politics of Myth |location=Berkeley |publisher=[[Melbourne University Publishing]] |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_gacCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT39 |pages=<!--unpagingated–-->|isbn=978-0-522-86844-9}}<!--9780522868449--></ref>
}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last1=Bromwich |first1=Rachel |author-link1=Rachel Bromwich |last2=Evans |first2=D. Simon |author-link2=<!--D. Simon Evans-->  |title=Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] |year=1992 |url=https://archive.org/details/culhwcholwenedit00brom |isbn=0-7083-1127-X}}

* {{cite book|last=Ford |first=Patrick K. |author-link=<!--Patrick K. Ford--> |chapter=Culhwch and Olwen |title=The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales |location=Berkeley |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |edition=2 |year=1977 |pages=<!--–-->|isbn=0-520-03414-7}}

:* {{cite book|last=Ford |first=Patrick K. |author-link=<!--Patrick K. Ford--> |author-mask=2 |chapter=Culhwch and Olwen |title=The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales |location=Berkeley |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |edition=2 |year=2019 |orig-year=1977 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfGZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 |pages=113–150|isbn=978-0-520-30958-6}}<!--1st ed. 0-520-03414-7-->

* {{cite book|last=Guest |first=Charlotte |author-link=Lady Charlotte Guest |chapter=Killhwch and Olwen, or the Twrch Trwyth |title=The Mabinogion: from the Llyfr Coch o Hergest, and other ancient Welsh manuscripts |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans |year=1849 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aFUAAAAAcAAJ&q=Ysbaddaden&pg=PA249 |pages=249–}}

* {{cite book|last=Foster |first=Idris Llewelyn |author-link=Idris Foster |chapter=''Culhwch and Olwen'' and ''Rhonabwy's Dream'' |editor-last=Loomis |editor-first=Roger S. |editor-link=Roger S. Loomis |title=Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |year=1959 |pages=<!--–-->|isbn=0-19-811588-1}}

* {{cite book|last=Gantz |first=Jeffrey |author-link=<!--Jeffrey Gantz--> |chapter=Culhwch and Olwen |title=The Mabinogion |publisher=Penguin |year=1976 |isbn=0-14-044322-3}}

*{{cite book|last1=Jones |first1=Gwyn |author-link=Gwyn Jones (author) |last2=Jones |first2=Thomas |author-link2=T. Gwynn Jones |chapter=Culhwch and Olwen |title=The Mabinogion |place=London |publisher=[[J. M. Dent]] |year=1993 |orig-year=1949 |page=80-113 |series=Everyman Library |isbn=0-460-87297-4}}

:*{{cite book|last=Jones |first=Gwyn |chapter=Culhwch and Olwen |title=The Mabinogion |publisher=Read Books |year=2011|orig-year=1949 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Dt8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 |isbn=978-1446546253}} 

* {{cite book|last1=Knight |first1=Stephen |author-link1=Stephen Thomas Knight |last2=Wiesner-Hanks |first2=Merry E. |author-link2=Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks |title=Arthurian Literature and Society |publisher=[[Springer Verlag]] |year=1983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vSxCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 |pages=12–19 |isbn=1-349-17302-9}}<!--9781349173020-->

* {{cite book|last=Koch |first=John T. |author-link=<!--John T. Koch--> |chapter=The Celtic Lands |editor-last=Lacy |editor-first=Norris J. |editor-link=Norris J. Lacy |title=Medieval Arthurian Literature: A Guide to Recent Research |edition=revised |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2014 |pages=256–262<!--239–322 -->|isbn=978-1-317-65695-1}}<!--9781317656951-->

* {{cite book|last=Loomis |first=Richard M. |author-link=<!--Richard M. Loomis--> |chapter=Culhwch and Olwen |editor-last1=Lacy |editor-first1=Norris J. |editor-link1=Norris J. Lacy |editor-last2=Wilhelm |editor-first2=James J. |editor-link2=<!--James J. Wilhelm--> |title=The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation |edition=3 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6O8vCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |pages=28– |isbn=978-1-317-34184-0}}<!--9781317341840-->

* {{cite book|last=Owen |first=Douglas David Roy |author-link=<!--Douglas David Roy Owen--> |title=The Evolution of the Grail Legend |location=Oxford |publisher=University Court of the University of St. Andrews |year=1968 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xn0NAQAAIAAJ&q=%22giant%27s+daughter%22 |page=<!--–-->|isbn=9780050018361 }}

* {{cite book|last=Rodway |first=Simon |author-link=<!--Simon Rodway--> |chapter=Culhwch ac Olwen |editor-last1= Lloyd-Morgan |editor-first1=Ceridwen |editor-link1=<!--Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan--> |editor-last2=Poppe |editor-first2=Erich |editor-link2=<!--Erich Poppe--> |title=Arthur in the Celtic Languages: The Arthurian Legend in Celtic Literatures and Traditions |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] |year=2019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-yVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 |pages=67– |isbn=978-1-786-83344-0}}<!--9781786833440-->

{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|Culhwch and Olwen}}
* {{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Mary |title=Culhwch ac Olwen, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest, edited into three parts by Mary Jones |url=http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/culhwch.html |website=Mary Jones}}
* {{cite web |last1=Parker |first1=Will |title=Culhwch ac Olwen: A translation of the oldest Arthurian tale |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119061001/http://www.culhwch.info/index.html |website=Culhwch ac Olwen |access-date=6 April 2025}} <small>Contains extensive footnotes referring to the Welsh text. The original site no longer exists; this is the last Wayback Machine snapshot.</small>
* {{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Mair |title=Culhwch and Olwen (Welsh: Culhwch ac Olwen) |url=http://www.transceltic.com/welsh/culhwch-and-olwen-welsh-culhwch-ac-olwen |website=Transceltic |access-date=6 April 2025 |date=11 November 2018}}
* {{Cite web |title=BBC Wales - History - Themes - Culhwch and Olwen |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/myths_mabinogion_culhwch.shtml |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}

{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culhwch And Olwen}}
[[Category:11th-century books]]
[[Category:12th-century books]]
[[Category:Arthurian literature in Welsh]]
[[Category:Mabinogion]]
[[Category:Pigs in literature]]
[[Category:Taliesin]]
[[Category:Folklore featuring impossible tasks]]
[[Category:Medieval Welsh literature]]
[[Category:Welsh mythology]]
[[Category:Welsh-language literature]]