The Royal Title that No One Can Remember

nothing. What makes someone "country"? And more importantly, what doesn't make someone “country”? Why is this epithet at the same time quite popular and yet so exclusive?   Well, the last theory I'd like to discuss, from historian T. Charles-Edwards, may provide us with a clue as to why this translation is so unusual, although ultimately solving this mystery will prove much more difficult. Charles-Edwards notes that "gwlad", the first element of "gwledig", has a related word in Irish: flaith, which he says can mean both lordship and lord. A ruler and the land he rules.   He suggests that perhaps, in Old Welsh, this was also true of the word "gwlad", which not only meant country but could also refer to a ruler, a metaphor that appears to have been used at least once by the Old Welsh.

Welsh poet Taliesin. In this case the direct translation of gwledig becomes much more verifiable, instead of "country-like", it could be "ruler-like".   And while this may provide a direct translation, demonstrate its meaning in English, or even decipher it in the first place, it's still out of our reach, as has been the case with literally every theory we've seen. Anyone can point out the traits that connect these rulers, but no one can be content with what doesn't make someone “gwledig” – what doesn't make someone “ruler-like”?   In reality, all we can understand is that it was an epithet, a potential

title

, given to rulers shortly after the Roman withdrawal from Britain, and we don't really know why.

  In stories, it is associated with famous fighters, but other warriors are not called that. Leading warmongers are nicknamed gwledig, although this term ignores other conquering generals. Powerful men, including an emperor of Rome, are given this epithet, but some of Britain's most supreme rulers are overlooked. We can't really hope to understand a metaphor used by writers more than 1,500 years ago, but in some ways, throughout this video, you can understand what they were referring to.  This strange and exclusive club, whose members appear very similar to the excluded people, is very elusive, but not completely unknown.   In some ways, it was a sign of greatness.  But what's really interesting, in my opinion, is that it's also a marker of the past.

In Culhwch ac Olwen he essentially demonstrates an entire topic that would be lost without any knowledge of Welsh.   Gwledig is an unusual name among the younger men in this story; It is much more commonly associated with his ancestors. Whatever quality these men possessed seems to have almost completely disappeared, whatever made them "as rulers" has not been passed down from generation to generation. History has something to say about the loss of some attribute, but we don't know what that attribute is. Just as the meaning of gwledig is lost to us today, the quality of what made someone gwledig was also lost to the medieval Welsh, both in their actual rulers, who quickly stopped receiving this epithet, and in their stories as well.

  Anything that made someone laugh was at the same time a rare trait, but achievable. For some warriors, for some conquerors, for some rulers, but not for the figures of the present.   Gwledig was a marker of the past and became a fixture of the past that was completely forgotten. Culhwch's grandfather had this name and his descendants do not

remember

what it meant. Thanks for watching.