Welsh Journals

REVIEWS RHWNG CHWEDL A CHREDO. By Pennar Davies. Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd, 1966. Pp. 127. 12s. 6d. This book is based upon a lecture given by the author at Aberystwyth in 1963 under the auspices of the Pantyfedwen Trust. Dr. Pennar Davies traces a continuity in philosophical thought and ethical concepts between pagan Celtic religion, on the one hand, and the Christian beliefs of early Wales as expressed in literature. The opening chapters of the book set the scene by surveying the ancestral origins of the Brittonic Celts, and their beliefs are illustrated by reference to evidence which is derived from a wide and varied range of sources relating to the Celtic peoples as a whole. It is unavoidable that this part of the book should be based largely upon the evidence collected and the conclusions reached by others. But this general survey is invaluable, since it brings out clearly the features in Brittonic mythology and belief which may properly be regarded as common to the Celtic peoples as a whole. (One may regret occasionally, both here and elsewhere in the book, that the authorities referred to have at times been followed somewhat uncritically.) The author's original contribution begins when he examines the distinctive features of pagan Celtic polytheism: underlying the belief in a multiplicity of gods, he discerns the fundamental awareness of a single divine spirit, diverse in its manifestations and emanating from the concept of a benevolent and compassionate tribal deity. The concept of a duw dioddefus-of a god who, by his sufferings, delivers his people from affliction-is traced under a number of recurrent forms in the native tales, as, for instance, in the portrayal of Bran Fendigaid and of Manawydan. It finds its Christian counterpart in the early poetry, in the re-iteration of a firm belief in a god who is both Creator and Deliverer. The author believes that this awareness of unity in multiplicity, already present in the pagan background, facili- tated the acceptance by the early Celtic Christians of the idea of the Trinity, and that they were assisted further towards this acceptance by their inheritance of a mythology in which the triple grouping of deities held a profound significance. In discussing early Welsh poetry, Dr. Pennar Davies makes some observations which are provocative of thought on the theme of tynged and traha ('Fate' and 'Arrogance') in the englynion of the Llywarch Hen Cycle. Tynged, as he shows, is not a malevolent form of pre-destination which limits human responsibility, but rather the expression of the general law which decrees the transitory nature of all things human. The theme of personal responsibility is embodied in the concept of traha, and both Llywarch and Heledd re-affirm more than once that they are reaping the consequences of their own arrogant words. The same theme of traha