Bitching about Medieval Literature

The prince of Dyfed pisses off the king of the otherworld and swaps places with him to earn his forgiveness. It also teaches him a few lessons about kingship. Later, he decides to go to a place where mysterious things happen, a mysterious woman shows up, and he manages to almost completely ruin things before she salvages the situation on his behalf. WARNINGS: Risk of sex by deception. A character in disguise does NOT sleep with the wife of the guy he's impersonating, which surprises both the guy and his wife when they find out about it. Violence.  A guy is trapped in a bag and a whole lot of people come by and kick the bag around.

In which a dude called Rhonabwy has a weird dream. CONTENT WARNINGS: Unhygenic environment: the protagonist takes shelter in a hut where the floor is covered in cow droppings and urine, which is described in more detail than necessary. Gore/Violence: a battle between people and ravens where both are described getting injured, dismembered, killed in a fair amount of detail.

In the final part of Geraint's adventures, he defeats a few more people, nearly gets killed by some giants, and then realises he's been an ass when he hears Elen's distress at his injury. He doesn't apologise, though. CONTENT WARNINGS: Gore, in the various combat scenes. Also, when Elen thinks Geraint is almost dead, a dude gets frustrated and hits her. Geraint is generally not much of a shit to Elen in this episode, but he also doesn't apologise.

Geraint's dad calls him home to take over his kingdom, and after a few years of glorious tournaments, Geraint runs out of people to fight and slips into a life of decadent idleness. When Enid mourns this change in him, Geraint completely misinterprets her, decides she's cheating on him, and starts a new quest out of spite.  CONTENT WARNINGS: Controlling relationship. Geraint decides (without evidence) that Enid is unfaithful, makes her go on a quest with him into the wilderness with basically no supplies, orders her to be silent, berates her when she isn't, puts her in dangerous situations, repeatedly threatens her in a way she takes seriously. Threats of sexual assault. Various people they encounter on Geraint's quest plan to kill Geraint and take Enid for themselves, and Enid overhears these plans each time. When she refuses an earl's proposition, he threatens to kill her husband, take her, and then throw her aside whenever he loses interest.

In this episode, we begin the story of Geraint, who sleeps in on the morning of a hunt, and thus happens to be with Gwenhwyfar when she is seriously insulted by the attendant of a strange knight. He goes on a quest to confront the knight and avenge the insult...as soon he can borrow some armour.  CONTENT WARNINGS: A character (who is unpleasant and rude) is described only as 'the dwarf' and is otherwise unnamed. Violence & Gore. Two characters approach a stranger to ask a question, and each are struck in the face with a whip. Later, in a tournament, the protagonist hits his opponent so hard in the head he hits bone, which is graphically described. Later, when that character arrives at a castle, someone observes that his clothing is more blood-coloured than anything else. 

In this, the final part of the tale of Peredur, a strange woman comes to Arthur's court, insults Peredur, and sends him on a quest. In the process, a lot of things happen that are left completely unexplained, but it seems to end well? CONTENT WARNINGS: The story begins with description of a woman of monstrous appearance, which dwells on her having black skin, being fat, and having various physical differences (e.g. 'back like a crutch'). Her appearance is never mentioned again, and she's not an evil character.  Gore. Near the end of the story, there is a big fight in which a character is graphically cut in two. 

In this episode, Peredur finally gets his vengeance on Cai, joins Arthur's court, and immediately disappears on another quest. As usual, he defeats hundreds of knights (as well as two different monstrous serpents), assists many ladies, and rights many wrongs. CONTENT WARNINGS: In Peredur's fight with Cai, Cai is thrown from his horse and breaks his arm and collarbone. (He's fine.)

This episode, we begin another tale of an Arthurian knight - although this episode precedes his knighthood. Peredur, son of Efrog, is raised without knowledge of war or fighting, decides to become a knight, and proceeds to defeat absolutely everyone he encounters. CONTENT WARNINGS: Gore. In several fights, injuries are graphically described. Two characters are consistently referred to as 'the dwarf and she-dwarf', and there is implication they 'belonged' in some way to the protagonists father. 

After three years happily married to the Lady of the Well, Owain is sought out by the knights of King Arthur, almost all of whom he defeats handily. Then, after another three year interlude, he descends into wildness, and gradually redeems himself through a series of vaguely connected adventures in which his ego trips him up, and an inexplicably devoted lion makes sure he survives. CONTENT WARNINGS: Gore. In various combat scenes there are vivid descriptions of serious injuries, including head wounds and disembowelment. Violence against women. One woman is imprisoned and scheduled to be burned when Owain unhurriedly rescues her. Another is protected from being taken by a giant, who is suspected of intending to assault her.

Today, we begin a new story, featuring Owain, one of King Arthur's knights. After a friend tells Owain how he went looking for an ass-kicking and got his ass kicked, Owain decides to try it for himself.  CONTENT WARNINGS: Gore. When Owain summons the knight of the well and fights him, he gets him in the head with a sword, and it is described in great detail. Shortly after, he pursues the knight on horseback to a castle, and the portcullis coming down cuts Owain's horse in half. 

In this episode, the members of Arthur's court continue to work on the impossible tasks set by Ysbaddaden Bencawr as a condition of Culhwch's marriage to Olwen - most notably, the hunt for the great boar Twrch Trwyth, which takes them all over the British Isles and involves an enormous number of previously unmentioned characters, most of whom die immediately. (After the end of the episode proper, there is a bonus fifteen minutes of me reciting a list of names that I courteously excised from the middle of part 1.) CONTENT WARNINGS: Various mentions of fairly gruesome encounters - people being chopped in half, etc. These are usually brief, but occur without warning.

Ysbaddaden Bencawr gives our hero Culhwch a list of forty impossible (or highly improbable) tasks he must complete before he will be allowed to marry Olwen. This takes the first fifteen minutes of the episode. After that, Culhwch's companions slay a giant to steal his sword, and get advice from a series of ancient animals to solve a missing persons case.  CONTENT WARNINGS: A sub character was kidnapped as a newborn and is found by the protagonists, having been imprisoned his whole life.

This episode is the first of three parts telling the story of Culhwch, King Arthur's nephew, who is cursed to marry no-one other than Olwen, daughter of the great and terrible giant Ysbaddaden Bencawr. In this part, we hear Culhwch's backstory, his request for assistance from King Arthur, and meet various characters with weird superpowers that are never explained or returned to. WARNINGS: A lot of weird shit happens in this story. Culhwch's mother goes mad for the duration of the pregnancy, his stepmother is violently abducted and her previous husband killed, Culhwch threatens to shout so loud all the women in Arthur's court go barren or miscarry, the protagonists meet a woman who has had twenty-two sons killed by her brother in law, and the protagonists kill nine dogs that guard the gates of the evil guy's castle. All of these things are mentioned in like, half a sentence, and the story moves on without comment.

In today's story, Britain is afflicted with three plagues: an invasion by enemies who can hear whatever is spoken where the wind blows; a horrible scream every year that damages everyone's health; and the mysterious disappearance each night of all prepared food and drink in the king's court. The king, Lludd, consults his brother Llefelys, and with his advice, is able to remove these three oppressions from his kingdom. WARNINGS: The injuries caused by the horrible scream include spontaneous miscarriages.

Welcome to Bitching about the Mabinogion! This season, we will be reading a set of approximately 12th to 14th century Welsh stories, with much more of a fairy tale vibe than the Decameron. In today's episode, we hear about an emperor of Rome, Macsen Wledig, who was inspired by a dream to seek out and marry Elen, a noble lady of northern Wales. CONTENT WARNING: Brief mention of genocide/mutilation. Near the end of the episode, two characters are taking a conquering army all over Europe. It is briefly explained (with very little build up) that wherever they went, they killed the men, abducted the women, and later cut out the tongues of the women to prevent them passing on their own language. This is told very matter-of-factly and briefly, but with no criticism, simply as an explanation for a place name.