The Court of Owain Glyndŵr

The Court of Owain Glyndŵr

Llys Owain Glyndŵr

 

I pledge you this: one promise,

A promising pledge of praise!

Let all pledge, as they purpose

To clasp promise like a purse,

Pledging each to leave his parish

And be pilgrim on the path

To Owain’s court: a palace

Of prosperity - and promise!

 

I leave, and go there swiftly:

I long to live there sweetly,

Seeking honour, and to dwell

Where strong, honest men do well.

My liege-lord, high of lineage

Receives, with a fine flourish

This codger. Gold the colour

Of his curls. High calibre

Alms giver, kind respecter

Of old men! I seek splendour

In your halls, and give my praise

To your house – home of poets,

Gem of Powys, Maig’s abode,

Where hope and promise abide.

 

Thus the form of Owain’s home:

Moat within a bank of loam,

A bright lake spanned by arching

Bridge – strongly built for bearing

Burdensome loads through the gate,

Each couple by a couple girt,

Bells like grapes in a cluster,

Courts like Westminster’s cloister,

Gilded chancel without stain,

Symmetry in every stone,

Bond to bond, slotted together

Cheek to cheek, defying weather,

Like tight knots, all interlaced,

Tied fast and twisted, graced

With curves. Nine-plate palaces –

Eighteen of them – wound like plaits,

Each on four pillars: haven

Held aloft, close to heaven,

And on each pillar, a loft

Perched at the peak of a croft:

Four lovely lofts, locked to keep

A perfect space. Poets sleep

Nestled there. They radiate:

Four lofts open out on eight,

Each house browed with a tiled roof,

And smoking chimney. Aloof

Stand the halls, identical.

Nine wardrobes, symmetrical,

Serve each hall, each one a shop

To knock Cheapside out of shape!

Cruciform and pale as chalk,

With glazed windows: by each walk

A bakehouse and a lush orchard,

A vineyard flanked with great arched

Oaks, on each stream, a mill,

Columbarium on the hill,

A fishpond - the idle wander

Casting nets on still water,

Hauling them in, as they like,

Catching sewin, and fat pike –

The land alive with bright birds,

Herons, peacocks – failed by words –

Bright meadows where hare-bells sway,

Wheat and barley, luscious hay,

Rabbits loping by the burrow,

Heavy horse, plough and furrow,

And in the park, with their herds

Stags who toss their haughty heads,

And serfs labouring early, late,

To enrich the Lord’s estate.

Foaming liquors, none better:

Shrewsbury’s finest bitter,

White bread, wine, and good red meat,

A kitchen fire, cosy seat,

Poet’s shelter. Everyone

Is drawn here. Look you, upon

This lovely court of stone, wood,

Fortress of the great and good,

The best women God has made,

Blessing me and pouring mead!

Fairest girls of lordly birth,

Each dignified, noble, worth

The looking. His children come:

Aspiring chieftains, every one.

 

Largesse puts an end to greed:

For bolts and locks, there’s no need,

No one loiters in the yard,

No one needs to stand on guard,

Nor, in Sycharth, does man thirst,

Hunger, want, or shake his fist.

The best of the Cymry: he

Of Pywer Lew’s family,

Lithe, strong symmetry: the place

Mirrors Owain’s splendid face.

 

Poem by Iolo Goch, paraphrased by Giles Watson. Iolo’s fawning description of Owain’s court pre-dates the latter’s rebellion against the English king. At this time, Owain was a loyal subject to Richard II, and his court is presented as a feudal idyll. The idea of symmetry stands at the heart of this profoundly conservative poem: the symmetrical design of Owain’s court is a symbol of a harmonious – but rigidly hierarchical – social order. Most of Owain’s house was built of wood; it was burned down by Prince Henry during Owain’s later rebellion. A couple (line 27) is a pair of horns which link together to support a roof, and the plates of line 37 are also architectural in nature, akin to lintels. The reference to the newly built cloister of Westminster Abbey is coupled in the original with mention of the bell-tower of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Interestingly, Iolo writes as if Owain owed fealty to Maig Mygrfras – but Maig was the brother of Brochfael Ysgithrog, who was king of Powys in the sixth century: once more reinforcing Owain’s ancient entitlement to lordship of the land. It is amusing to note that, like his older and more irreverent colleague, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Iolo was cosmopolitan enough to have heard of Cheapside.

 

The picture shows a doorway of the church at Hatherop, in the Cotswolds.

Done