Y Gododdin

Y Gododdin is like a song or poem from a very, very long time ago, maybe even before your grandparents' grandparents were born! It tells a story about a group of amazing warriors from a kingdom called Gododdin. These warriors were super brave and got together to fight against another group called the Angles.

It's like a history book, but told in a poetic way, full of tales of courage and adventure from the past.

The brave warriors of Gododdin lived in a place that is now called southeast Scotland and Northumberland. Think of it as a land with castles and green hills! They gathered at a big fort called Din Eidyn, which is now the city of Edinburgh.

From there, they went on a big adventure to a place called Catraeth to fight a tough battle. It's amazing to think about these ancient lands and the people who lived there so long ago.

The poem talks about a very special group of 300 (or maybe 363!) super-tough warriors. They were the best of the best! They traveled from far away to join this fight. After feasting for a whole year, they went to battle at Catraeth. Even though they fought incredibly hard for many days, sadly, almost all of them were lost in the fight. It's a sad but heroic story about their bravery.

This poem is super old, and we only have one copy of it, written down a long, long time ago in a special book called the 'Book of Aneirin'. It's so old that it's written in a language that's a bit different from what we speak today! Scientists think the poem was written down between 700 and 1100 years ago.

It's like finding a treasure from the past that tells us about brave people and their stories.