Page:The Mabinogion.djvu/222
Before Geraint, the scourge of the enemy,
I saw steeds white with foam,
And after the shout of battle, a fearful torrent.
At Llongborth I saw the raging of slaughter,
And and excessive carnage,
And warriors blood-stained from the assault of Geraint.
At Llongborth was Geraint slain,
A valiant warrior from the woordlands of Devon,
Slaughtering his foes as he fell."[1]
Llongborth, where this fatal conflict took place, is by some believed to have been Portsmouth, and the name literally signifies the Haven of Ships. But the Rev. T. Price supposes it to be Langport, in Somersetshire. This opinion he founds on the similarity of the names, and the locality; Langport being situated on the river Parret, the Perydden of the Welsh pards, and the Pedridan of the Saxon Chronicle.
From the Triads we learn that Geraint was also a naval commander. Gwenwynwyn the son of Nav, and March the son of Meirchion, are ranked with him as much; and we are told that with each of them were six score ships, having six score men in each.—Tr. 68.
In the Gododin of Aneurin he is spoken of in terms of high eulogium.—Myv. Arch. I. 13.
Gersint ab Erbia has had the honour of being canonized. It is said that a church was dedicated to him at Caerffawydd, or Hereford. Four of his sons, Selyf, Cyngan, Iestin, and Cado, or Cataw, are also included in the list of Saints, and were members of the college of St. Garmon. Garwy, another of his sons, appears in a very different character from his brothers, in the Triads, where he is celebrated as one of the three amorous and courteous knights of the Court of Arthur.—Tr. 119.
We can hardly identify Geraint ab Erbin with the Geraint Carnwys or Garwys or Gruffydd ab Arthur, who, in the Brut, is called Gerin de Chartres; and in Robert of Gloucester, "Ger^yn erl of Carcoys." This hero figures in Arthur's very latest battles, whereas Geraint ab Erbin, as we have already seen, fell at Llongborth, in- ↑ See the remainder of the Elegy in Llywarch Hên's Poems, edited by Dr. Owen Pughe.