Seithennin

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Seithennin is the name of a poem in the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (Black Book of Carmarthen), as well as the poem's protagonist.

The poem details the inundation of the Drowned Hundred (Welsh: Cantre'r Gwaelod) or Plain of Gwyddno (Welsh: Maes Gwyddno - named for its ruler Gwyddno Garanhir, Seithennin's likely contemporary), believed to lie off the coast of Gwynedd, Wales underneath Cardigan Bay, which folklore blames upon the person of Seithennin.

This Seithennin, son of Seithyn Saidi, was Lord High Commissioner of the Royal Embankment and, as such, it was his failure to discharge his duties which led to the drowning of the Cantre'r Gwaelod. Seithennin is also listed in the Triads of the Island of Britain as one of the Three Immortal Drunkards of the Isle of Britain.

The name is also spelled Seithenyn or Seithenhin.

Sir John Rhys posited a connection between Seithennin and the Setantii, a Celtic tribe living in the north west of England.[1].

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx(1901), Ch. 6

[edit] References