Taliesin, Chief of the Bards

Taliesin (fl. 6th century) was an early Brythonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three Celtic British kings.

In legend and medieval Welsh poetry, he is often referred to as Taliesin Ben Beirdd ("Taliesin, Chief of Bards" or chief of poets). He is mentioned as one of the five British poets of renown in the Historia Brittonum, and is also mentioned in the collection of poems known as Y Gododdin. Taliesin was highly regarded in the mid-twelfth century as the supposed author of a great number of romantic legends.

According to legend Taliesin began life as Gwion Bach, a servant to Ceridwen, the wife of a nobleman Tegid Foel, in the days when King Arthur ruled. A manuscript in the hand of 18th-century literary forger Iolo Morganwg claimed he was the son of Saint Henwg of Llanhennock but this is contrary to every other fact and tradition.

He was adopted as a child by Elffin, the son of Gwyddno Garanhir, who gave him the name Taliesin, meaning "radiant brow", and who later became a king in Ceredigion, Wales. The legend states that he was then raised at his court in Aberdyfi and that at the age of 13, he visited King Maelgwn Gwynedd, Elffin's uncle, and correctly prophesied Maelgwn's death from the Yellow Plague.

In later stories he became a mythic hero, companion of Bran the Blessed and King Arthur. The idea that he was a bard at the court of King Arthur dates back at least to the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, perhaps a product of the 11th century. His legendary biography is found in several late renderings, the earliest surviving narrative being found in a manuscript chronicle of world history written by Elis Gruffydd in the 16th century.

• Adapted from Taliesin at Wikipedia.org.

In the imaginative reconstruction of Brian Starr, Taliesin was son of Lambor, husband of the fictional Viviane del Acqs, and father of the Ygerne who was mother of King Arthur. See, e.g. Brian Daniel Starr, The Saints of the Five Generations of Galilee (2010), 180.