Rhiannon

Rhiannon (Welsh pronunciation: [r̥iˈan.ɔn]) is a female figure in Welsh mythology and a protagonist of the Mabinogi, in its First and Third Branches. She has been described by Ronald Hutton as "one of the great female personalities in World literature", adding that "there is in fact, nobody quite like her in previous human literature". Rhiannon also appears as a character in 14th century Medieval Welsh poetry. In the Mabinogi, Rhiannon is a strong-minded ruler, a lady of the courts, and a devoted mother. She is intelligent, politically strategic, famed for her sophisticated conversation and striking looks, as well as her wealth and the generosity of her gifts especially to minstrels. In the First Branch Rhiannon chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfed (south-west Wales), as her consort, breaking her contract with Gwawl, another prince. Her fateful choice employs two hudiau (enchantments): an uncatchable horse, and an almost unfillable bag. With Pwyll she has a son, Pryderi. She endures tragedy when her newborn child is abducted, and she is accused of infanticide. She is later cleared of this calumny when the child is restored, and her son Pryderi duly inherits the lordship of Dyfed. In the Third Branch Rhiannon as a widow marries Manawydan, the usurped heir of the British royal family. She has further trials and adventures with him, her son and his wife, involving various enchantments: chiefly the Desolation of all Dyfed, seven years of vengeance by Gwawl's magician friend Llwyd. Rhiannon may have originally derived from a goddess, first on record by William Owen Pughe (1803), strongly developed as Mother Goddess and Horse Goddess by Edward Anwyl (1906) whose work appears uncredited by W. J. Gruffydd (1953); the goddess theme is structurally analysed by Patrick K. Ford (1977), critiqued by Roberta Valente as obscuring Rhiannon the woman (1986). There may...