Angharad

Angharad (/əŋˈhɑːrəd/; Welsh pronunciation: [aˈŋ̊arad]) is a Welsh name, having a long association with Welsh royalty, history and myth. It translates to English as much loved one.

Mythology

Angharad, also sometimes known as Angharad Golden-Hand, is the lover of Peredur in the Welsh myth cycle The Mabinogion. In some versions of the story, Peredur meets her at King Arthur's court at Caerleon.^[1][2]

History

There have been a number of historical (or semi-historical) Angharads, most notably the daughter of Owain Gwynedd, King of Gwynedd, who married Gruffydd Maelor. Other historical Angharads include:

• Angharad ferch Owain, daughter of Owain ab Edwin of Tegeingl, mother of Owain Gwynedd, wife of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Prince of Gwynedd
• Angharad ferch Meurig, wife of Rhodri the Great
• Angharad ferch Llywelyn, daughter of Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Wales
• Angharad ferch Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor and sister to Gruffydd II ap Madog, Lord of Dinas Bran
• Angharad ferch Maredudd ab Owain, wife of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, King of Gwynedd and of Deheubarth, and mother of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn with her second husband
• Angharad ferch Rhys ap Gruffydd
• Angharad ferch Gruffydd II ap Madog, Lord of Dinas Bran
• Angharad of Brittany, wife of Idwal Iwrch
• Angharad James, Welsh poet
• Angharad Llwyd, Welsh antiquary and a prizewinner at the National Eisteddfod of Wales

Literature

Angharad is the daughter of Rhydderch Hael, a king in the Middle Ages in the Welsh Triads. Rhydderch was one of the "Three Generous Men of the Island of Britain", and his daughter Angharad Ton Felen (Angharad "Yellow Wave") appears as one of the Three Lively Maidens.

One recent Angharad is the mother of Princess Eilonwy in Lloyd Alexander's fictional land of Prydain, inspired by Wales and Welsh mythology. In the five-volume The Chronicles of Prydain she is deceased and peripheral: her daughter is "Eilonwy, daughter of Angharad, daughter of Regat, Princess of Llŷr", and some of Angharad's magical implements survive importantly. A later short story, "The True Enchanter" (1973), explains how Geraint won the hand of Princess Angharad in marriage, and they departed her home (namely, the Castle of Llyr).^[3]

The name Angharad has been used for women in modern popular fiction including the protagonists of Anne McCaffrey's The Rowan, Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword, Charles de Lint's Into the Green and Monica Furlong's Juniper.

In the novel How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn, the daughter of the Morgan family is named Angharad.

Contemporary

• Angharad Rees (1949-2012), Welsh actress
• Angharad Tomos, Welsh author
• Angharad Gruffydd Jones, Welsh soprano singer
• Angharad Segura, Spanish photographer (1980-)

Film

• In Mad Max: Fury Road, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley plays a character named "The Splendid Angharad".

References

1. "Peredur the Son of Evrawc" (translation by Lady Charlotte Guest), The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
2. "Peredur the Son of Evrawc". The Mabinogion, transl. Lady Charlotte Guest [1877], sacred-texts.com, pp. 100, 105. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
3. Alexander, Lloyd (2006). The Foundling: And Other Tales of Prydain. Henry Holt and Company (BYR). ISBN 978-1-4299-6197-4.