Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards

original Welsh: Atorelwis Urien... This poem by Taliesin describes Urien Reged's defiant reply to the Saxon leader Fflamddwyn at the Battle of Argoed Llwyfain.
Urien answered again:
"If there is to be a meeting for a treaty,
Let us lift our banners high above the mountain,
And let us hold our faces above the ridge,
And let us lift our spears above the heads of men,
And let us attack Fflamddwyn in his prosperity,
And let us kill him and his companions!"

Day advanced: and before the sun
Reached the radiant point of noon,
Urien came with fresh supplies.
"Rise, you sons of Cambria Wales, rise,
Spread your banners to the foe,
Spread them on the mountain's brow,
Lift your lances high in air,
Friends and brothers of the war,
Rush like torrents down the steep,
Through the valleys in myriads sweep,
Fflamddwyn can never withstand
The force of our united army."

original Welsh: A rhag gwaith Argoed Llwyfain...
And because of the battle of Argoed Llwyfain,
There were many corpses;
The ravens were reddened,
By the war of men!
And the common people were exhausted by the news.
I pray that I do not live another year,

Havoc, havoc raged around,
Many a carcass strewed the ground:
Ravens drank the purple flood The "purple flood" is a poetic term for blood.,
Raven feathers were dyed in blood;
Frightened crowds from place to place
Eager, hurrying, breathless, pale
Spread the news of their disgrace,
Trembling as they told the tale.

original Welsh: Ac yn 'i fallwyf hên...
And in my failing old age,
In my heavy, necessary death;
I shall not be happy,
Unless I praise Urien!

These are Taliesin's rhymes,
These shall live to distant times,
And the Bard's prophetic rage
Animate a future age.

Child of sorrow, child of pain,
May I never smile again,
If until all-subduing death
Closes these eyes, and stops this breath,
I ever forget to raise
My grateful songs to Urien's praise!

Llywarch Hên, or Llywarch the Aged, a Cumbrian prince, is the third great Bard of the British annals. He spent his younger days at the court of King Arthur, with the honorable status of a free guest. When the British power was weakened by the death of Arthur, Llywarch was called to the aid of his kinsman Urien Reged, king of Cumbria, to defend his own principality against the raids of the Saxons.

This princely Bard had twenty-four sons, all honored with the golden torques A torque is a stiff neck ring made of twisted metal, usually gold, worn by ancient British and Celtic nobility as a symbol of high rank., which appears to have been the ancient badge of British nobility n. Many of them were killed in the Cumbrian wars, and the Saxons eventually prevailed. The unfortunate Llywarch, with his few surviving sons, fled to Powys. There, he hoped to revive the unequal and unsuccessful contest under the protection of the prince of Powys, Cynddylan. Having lost all his sons and friends by the end of these wars, he retired to a hut at Aber Ciog o in North Wales to soothe the memory of his misfortunes with his harp, and to express the sorrows of old age through mournful verses.

n Honorable is the son of the knight, wearing a collar of gold and silver, wearing a torque. original Welsh: Hybarch iw mâb y marchog...

o Now called Dôl Giog near Machynlleth in Montgomeryshire. There Llywarch died, nearly 150 years old, around the year 634. He was buried at Llanfor near Bala in Merionethshire, where a stone with an inscription remains in the west window of the church.