University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education From

University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education From Civilisation To Barbarism? Western Britain in the Early Middle Ages Week Six: Art and Literature Tutor: Dr Kirsten Jarrett

Dido and Aeneas Mosaic, c. AD 350 Low Ham villa, Somerset

Literature Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica, Cod. Vat. Lat. 3867 British MS? ? Gildas: Cites Aeneid Vergilius Romanus: the ‘Roman Vergil’ – C 5, c. AD 500?

‘Praise poetry’: court ‘bards’ C 9+ compilations - C 6 -7+ oral traditions? ? Continuity of Roman tradition Gildas (DEB) ch. 35 (criticism of Maglocunus): “. . . the flattering tongues of thy parasites with false words pronounced it. . . ”

‘Aneirin’ Y Gododdin Battle of Catreth (c. AD 600 – Catterick, N. Yorks. ? ) Between (c. 300? elite + foot-soldiers) northern British ‘Gododdin’ – derived from later Roman ‘Votadini’ (army includes some from Gwynedd? ) Battle with Bernician & Deiran ‘Angles’ king Mynyddog Mwynfawr of Din Eitin

‘Taliesin’ Mentioned in Y Gododdin & Historia Britonnum Book of Taliesin (Llyfr Taliesin): C 14 MS c. 60 poems: 11 or 12 (max. ) late C 6? (Linguistically C 10) Reputedly court poet (‘bard’): • mid C 6 to Cynan Garwyn of Powys (c. 545 -610) (Lat. Conanus – Aurelius Caninus? ? Though too early? ) • late C 6 to Urien (*Ōrbogenos) & his son Owein, of Rheged • Gwallawg, ‘Lord’ of Elmet

• Praise poem for Cynan Garwyn • Moliant Cadwallon (632+) • Marwnad Cynddylan (640 s) • Elegy for Geraint ab Erbin (Anon. ), King of Dumnonia (grandson of Custennin map Cynfawr) Battle of Langport (AD 658? )

Mabinogion (Third Branch: Manwydan fab Llyr) C 14 MS (stories C 11+) Myth set in Dyfed LPRIA (early-mid C 1 BC) origin? pro-Roman Trinovantian (south-eastern British) king ‘Mandubracios / Mandubratius = *Mannuētiagnos’? Destruction of crops reference to Caesar’s incursion? ?

Group exercise: Literature and Mythology 1. To what extent, and in what ways, might the texts be used to understand social relationships, identities, and status during the Early Middle Ages in Britain? 2. What do the texts say about attitudes towards the Roman empire in Early Medieval Britain? 3. Examine the texts for mythological content. What do the texts tell us about beliefs? Worksheet 6 A, p. 24 -7

Later ‘Celtic’ Art? Hiberno-Romano-Germanic!

Late Antique Art Motifs 1. Voids 2. S-scroll 3. C-scroll 4. Running S-scroll 5. Eyed peak 6. Marigold 7. Greek cross 8. Step pattern 9. Lozenge 10. Dot and circle 11. Horizontal / oblique lines 12. Bead & reel 13 -19. variations on pelta & palmette

Hanging Bowls in Context C 4 mosaic on vault, Hagios Giorgios, Salonika

Dress accessories