Iolo Morganwg in the context of "Calchfynydd"

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👉 Iolo Morganwg in the context of Calchfynydd

Calchfynydd (Welsh calch "lime" + mynydd "mountain") was an obscure Britonnic kingdom or sub-kingdom of sub-Roman Britain. Its exact location is uncertain, although the name suggests somewhere in one of Great Britain's Chalk Groups and might refer to southern Scotland, the Cotswolds, or the Chilterns. Virtually nothing else definitive is known about it.

The name survives in the epithet of Cadrawd Calchfynydd, apparently a 6th-century ruler of the district. Welsh sources refer to Cadrawd as one of the Gwyr y Gogledd or 'Men of the North', suggesting the area was located somewhere in northern Britain. William Forbes Skene suggested an identification with Kelso (formerly Calchow) in southern Scotland. Rachel Bromwich agrees that Kelso or a similar location in the Hen Ogledd is most likely, while noting that Kenneth Jackson doubted this identification. Alistair Moffat in his history of Kelso supports this position, citing early references to "Chalchou," as well as the chalk area and Chalkheugh Terrace. John Morris placed it south of the realm of Urien of Rheged, "between Trent and Thames". Based at least in part on the forgeries of Iolo Morganwg, the Rev. Thomas Barns located Calchfynydd around Dunstable, however sources predating Iolo's time, notably 18th century antiquarian Henry Rowlands' Mona Antiqua Restaurata and David Powel's sixteenth century History of Wales, mention a connection with Dunstable through "Cadrod Calchfynydd" being Earl of Dunstable (a very anachronistic title) in the post-Roman period. Robert Owen placed the kingdom among the Cotswolds.

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Iolo Morganwg in the context of Goursez Vreizh

Goursez Vreizh (officially Breudeuriezh Drouized, Barzhed hag Ovizion Breizh) is the national gorsedd of Brittany ("Breizh" in Breton). It often has delegates from the Welsh gorsedd and Gorsedh Kernow in Cornwall. The Breton organisation is itself based on the Welsh-based Gorsedd, which was founded by Iolo Morganwg in 1792.

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Iolo Morganwg in the context of Eisteddfod

In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music.The term eisteddfod, which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: eistedd, meaning 'sit', and fod, meaning 'be', means, according to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "sitting-together." Edwards further defines the earliest form of the eisteddfod as a competitive meeting between bards and minstrels, in which the winner was chosen by a noble or royal patron.

The first documented instance of such a literary festival and competition took place under the patronage of Prince Rhys ap Gruffudd of the House of Dinefwr at Cardigan Castle in 1176. However, with the Edwardian Conquest of Wales, the closing of the bardic schools, and the Anglicization of the Welsh nobility, it fell into abeyance. The current format owes much to an 18th-century revival, first patronized and overseen by the London-based Gwyneddigion Society. It was later co-opted by the Gorsedd Cymru, a secret society of poets, writers, and musicians founded by Iolo Morganwg, whose beliefs were "a compound of Christianity and Druidism, Philosophy and Mysticism."

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