As great store We set in Eluned,
She who the science and craft has spread,
Patron and supporter of vari’d arts,
Instigator from whom action starts,
In the kitchen, hall and sewing room,
Therefore do We pronounce this, her doom:
Let she of the rainbow’s coloured flair
Join with the Order of the Black Hare.
Presented by Dubhessa and Joffr, Baroness and Baron of Skraeling Althing, while sitting Their seats at [name of event], in [host group], [date of event].
Wording by Baron Colyne Stewart, based on “The Death-Bed Song of Meilyr, the Poet” by Meilyr Brydydd, c1137. 1
Meilyr Brydydd (fl. 1100-1137) was one of the Y Gogynfeirdd (The Less Early Poets) of 10th century Wales. These poets wrote works to praise the courts of their patrons, about the state of their souls, while also endeavouring to nurture a distinctively Welsh identity 2. Meilyr’s poem “The Death-Bed Song of Meilyr, the Poet” is part of a genre called marwysgafn which were religious odes in which the poet lamented their coming demise and expressed their sins. 3 4 This particular poem was written utilizing two different metres: cyhydedd naw ban and cyhydedd hir. 5 Cyhydedd naw ban consisted of two 9-syllable rhyming lines with the end rhyme often carrying over several lines in a row. 6 The fragment of Meilyr’s poem I used as a source seems to have been written in this meter (though the translator used lines of ten syllables rather than nine) and does not fit the definition of cyhydedd hir (two lines comprised of three 5- syllable sections that shared an end rhyme, followed by a four syllable section with a new end rhyme with the next line using c rhymes in place of a rhymes and having these internal rhymes remain within the line while the end b rhyme connected not internally but with the next line’s end rhyme). 7 I therefore used the Cyhydedd naw ban meter for my wording.
The poet and poem were selected to reflect the persona of the recipient. Eluned often dyes her hair bright colours, hence the reference to “rainbow’s coloiured flair.”
1 Graves, Alfred Perceval (transl. and ed.), Welsh Poetry Old and New in English Verse, 1912, Longmans, Green and Co: London, p. 15.
(https://archive.org/details/welshpoetryoldne00graviala)
2 Trehaime, Elaine. Medieval Literature: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2015, p. 47.
3 Obermeier, Anita. The History and Anatomy of Auctorial Self-criticism in the European Middle Ages. Rodopi B.V., 1999, pp. 174-175.
4 Editors of Encyclopaedia. “marwysgafn,”. Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica, July 20, 1998.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/marwysgafn5 Koch, J.T. & Minard, A. (eds), The Celts. History, Life, Culture, vol. 2, Santa Barbara, 2012.
https://www.academia.edu/41690687/St_Melor6 Fischer, Todd H. C. Ossa poetices: A Cyclopedia of Early, Medieval and Renaissance Poetic Forms, Devices and Genres. Stonebunny Press,2017, p. 32.
7 Ibid. Pp. 28-29.
