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Who was Saint Valentine, the saint who gave his name to the festival of lovers? Where do red hearts and roses fit in? Or do they? This volume addresses these questions, but focuses more specifically on the previously unpublished Welsh poetry written over the centuries on the feast day of Saint Valentine in mid- February, the one saint’s day in the Christian calendar of saints that does not depend on the Church for its celebration. Far from resembling anything else on offer in any other part of the UK, these Welsh songs are lyrical, expressive, and often in cynghanedd. This volume analyses this rich collection of extant Welsh Saint Valentine’s Day poems, and advances a new understanding of societal propriety in settings where citizens paid great attention to tradition. In so doing, it offers new insights into the tradition of observing Saint Valentine’s Day in Wales and, indeed, argues that although it is the fifth-century Dwynwen who is today considered to be the patron saint of Welsh lovers, Saint Valentine also handed out aid and sympathy to lovers in Wales over many centuries.

To read Rhiannon Ifans article on her volume, visit Parallel.Cymru website https://parallel.cymru/rhiannon-ifans-red-hearts-and-roses/

Sujets

Themes

Subjects

Poetry

Erotica

Love

Wales

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Publié par	University of Wales Press
Date de parution	09 janvier 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781786833730
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Welsh Valentine Songs and Poems
RHIANNON IFANS
© Rhiannon Ifans, 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78683-371-6
eISBN 978-1-78683-373-0
The right of Rhiannon Ifans to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The University of Wales Press acknowledges the financial support of the Welsh Books Council.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover heart image: Mega Pixel/Shutterstock.com
Cover design: Olwen Fowler
I dedicate this book to my three sons, Gwyddno, Seiriol and Einion, with profound appreciation for friendship, encouragement and much practical assistance in the art of living.
Acknowledgements
I AM GRATEFUL for the assistance of the following family members and friends while I was preparing this volume: Huw Ceiriog, Dr Martin Crampin, Dr D. Islwyn Edwards, Professor E. Wyn James, D. Geraint Lewis and Professor William Marx. I am particularly indebted to Dr Rhidian Griffiths for reading the original typescript and for many valuable comments regarding the music; Miss Mair Jenkins of Waunfawr, Aberystwyth, for her kind permission to photograph and publish a series of family Valentine cards; Ric Lloyd of Cleftec for the preparation of the music for publication; and Dafydd Ifans for compiling the General Index. I wish to thank the staff of the National Library of Wales for their professional assistance, and I am grateful to Dr Llion Wigley and his colleagues at the University of Wales Press for their support throughout the publishing process.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
List of abbreviations
Introduction: Who was Saint Valentine?
The seventeenth century
The eighteenth century
The nineteenth century
Post-1900
Conclusions
Tunes
Amaryllis
Belle Isle March
Bryniau’r Werddon
Charity Mistress or Elusenni Meistres
Difyrrwch Gwŷr Emlyn
Diniweidrwydd
Fenyw Fwyn
Y Folantein
Hud y Frwynen
King’s Round or Iechyd o Gylch
Leave Land or Gadael Tir
Let Mary Live Long or Hir Oes i Fair
The Lord Monk’s March or Ymdaith Mwngc
Milking Pail
See the Building or Gwêl yr Adeilad
Spanish Minuet
Stanes Morris
Sunselia
Synnwyr Solomon
Welsh Valentine Songs and Poems
Bibliography
Verse forms
List of illustrations
Map: Geographical distribution of Welsh Valentine songs and poems.
Figure 1: St Valentine, stained glass by Glantawe Studios, designed by Colwyn Morris, 1994, St Mary’s Church, Swansea; Photo © Martin Crampin.
Figure 2: Handmade Valentine from Llanbryn-mair in Powys; © National Museum of Wales.
Figure 3: Comic Valentine; © National Museum of Wales.
Figure 4: ‘Guess who sends this’: Valentine card sent by John Owen to Eleanor Pritchard; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 5: ‘Yours for ever’: padded and perfumed Valentine card sent by John Owen to Eleanor Pritchard; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 6: Valentine card envelope addressed to Miss Elinor Pritchard; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 7: Valentine card envelope addressed to Miss E. Pritchiard; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 8: ‘I’ll be constant & true’: Valentine card sent by John Owen to Eleanor Pritchard; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 9: Message on the printed centre panel of ‘I’ll be constant & true’ reads ‘Let us be happy together’; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 10: Inscription on ‘I’ll be constant & true’; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 11: ‘Constancy’: Valentine card sent by John Owen to Eleanor Pritchard; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 12: Inscription on ‘Constancy’; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 13: Inscription on ‘Constancy’ continued; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 14: ‘Ever the same’: Valentine card sent by John Owen to Eleanor Pritchard; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 15: Inscription on ‘Ever the same’; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 16: Inscription on ‘Ever the same’ continued; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 17: ‘Affections Offering’: Valentine card sent by John Owen to Eleanor Pritchard; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
Figure 18: Inscription on ‘Affections Offering’; by kind permission of Miss Mair Jenkins.
List of abbreviations
Bangor Manuscript held in Archives and Special Collections, Bangor University, Bangor.
Cerddi Bangor Welsh ballads held in the Bangor University Library, Bangor.
Cardiff The Cardiff Central Library Manuscripts, Cardiff.
CG Canu Gwerin (Folk Song) (Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin Cymru/The Welsh Folk-Song Society, 1978–).
Cwrtmawr The Cwrtmawr Manuscripts collection, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
JWFSS Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin Cymru/Journal of the Welsh Folk-song Society (1909–77).
NLW The National Library of Wales Manuscripts collection, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
NLW Baledi a Cherddi Welsh ballads held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Peniarth The Peniarth Manuscripts collection, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
J. Lloyd Williams Papers Dr J. Lloyd Williams Music MSS and Papers, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Introduction: Who was Saint Valentine?
T HE NOVEL A Misalliance by Anita Brookner opens with the sentence, ‘Blanche Vernon occupied her time most usefully in keeping feelings at bay.’ 1 Countless others behave in precisely the same way for the greater part of the year, but there are occasions in life when those defensive walls come tumbling down. Saint Valentine’s Day on 14 February may be one such occasion.
Who is this saint who gave his name to the festival of lovers? And slightly more perplexing, why was it a saint that was given this honour?
Martyrologium Romanum , The Roman Martyrology, a catalogue of martyrs and saints listed according to their feast days, commemorates two saints named Valentinus on 14 February, both martyred. The former was a priest in Rome, martyred on the Flaminian Way during the persecution of Emperor Claudius II Gothicus; 2 the latter was bishop of Terni, some sixty miles from the capital city, and whose death is recorded in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum , the Martyrology of Saint Jerome. In their present form there is no strong historical foundation for either of these chronicles, and their content should possibly be listed with the legendary rather than the historical. Both records may, however, have an historical basis and it is possible that they offer two slightly different accounts of the martyrdom of one saint.
Whether there were actually one or two Valentines is disputed. O. Marucchi held for two. H. Delehaye felt that Valentine of Terni may have been brought to Rome for execution and that two cults, one at Rome, another at Terni, sprang up to the same martyr. 3
This study allows for one Saint Valentinus, born on the Via Flaminia, and martyred on 14 February c .269.
It is of little consequence whether there lived one saint or two as we text and e-mail our Valentine wishes in the twenty-first century; choosing Valentines on this day bears only an accidental relation to saints. It is far more likely that Saint Valentine was a chaste and sober man who was never once stung by Cupid’s arrow. Disappointment awaits those who hope that he enjoyed a brief romantic chapter and that subsequently his name became synonymous with lovers in every age and nation. No such record exists.

Geographical distribution of Welsh Valentine songs and poems.
On the contrary, Valentinus was famed for professing Christ during the reign of an anti-Christian governor. Valentinus valiantly and unfailingly served those Christians who suffered persecution in Rome under Emperor Claudius II, a service regarded as a crime and for which he was imprisoned. Duly called to answer the accusation, he addressed the court fearlessly, impressing many, to the extent that the emperor’s officers attempted to turn Valentinus’s loyalty towards the pagan gods of the Romans, but with no success. For refusing to adopt those pagan gods he was clubbed, stoned and executed outside the Flaminian Gate, c .269. According to legend, the saint became friendly with the prison warder’s blind daughter. Valentinus restored her sight, and on the eve of his execution is reported to have written her a note signed ‘from your Valentine’. This engaging story should be regarded as a fictional, though charming, anecdote.
What, then, is the source of this custom of presenting gifts to loved ones in mid-February? Once again the Italians provide an answer. Following the Roman conquest of Britain the ancient spring festival of Lupercalia, 4 celebrated on 15 February, was transported to Britain. When the Romans returned to their own country early in the fifth century this was one of the many traditions they left behind. The Lupercalia was a pastoral festival, held to ward off evil spirits and to promote health and fertility, its rituals carried out by priests called Luperci.