Forgotten Medieval Welsh Territory: Cantref and Cwmwd

I warned you. You were warned. "Oh, we'd love a video or three on the toponymy and administration of medieval Wales" you said. Well now it's all started, hasn't it? You've got me on Welsh land division in the medieval period and its administration by the kingdoms and petty kingdoms of the time. So prepare to hear me waffle on about cantrefi, cymydau, maerdrefi, llysoedd and all manner of other wonderful words from my culture's history all the way up to the Acts of Union and Henry VIII as we have a brief introductory look at how the medieval Welsh kingdoms divided their territory.
It's actually really interesting, I promise!
historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov...
rcahmw.gov.uk/mapping-the-his...
www.researchgate.net/publicat...
Intro by ‪@Anttimation‬
Song: Sosban Fach (Trad.)
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[@donaldwert7137]

In a graveyard with a cat, a couple of squirrels and maybe a bee hive. Sounds like the start of a Monty Python skit. Welcome back!

[@Aswaguespack]

We need a cool wicked theme song for that skit 😂

[@kennethknoppik5408]

Hahaha 😂 😂 😂

[@Ace-Lee]

“ the amount of land a team of eight oxen could plough in a season” is a fantastically specific unit of measurement.

[@elizabethwadsworth5167]

When I heard that, all I could think of was Monty Python's The Background To History "OH it's written in the village rolls, that if a plough team wants an oxen, and that oxen is lent...then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent"

[@kerriemckinstry-jett8625]

I love those wacky units of measurement! As a science teacher, I end up having to explain why sometimes power is in units of horsepowers... 🤣

[@ulrike9978]

Especially since I imagine this would be partially dependent on the skill of the ploughman^^ The Mycenaen Greeks on the other hand measured land in grain - aka the amount of grain you needed to sow the equiavalent amount of land. No idea whether this ended up being more standardised

[@Ace-Lee]

@@djhalling I found one definition which suggested a ‘yoke of oxen in a day’ but I couldn’t find the other root words to look them up. Maybe in the Greek or Latin? 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@historiansrevolt4333]

Jimmy never arrives late, only when he is meant to. I found it fascinating!

[@sarahwatts7152]

So you're saying if we want to get silly, Jimmy could do a tier list of the number of people who die per Welsh myth? Depending on the amount of detail Jimmy wants to do, could be a series

[@TheWelshViking]

Happening. On it.

[@nickverbree]

​@@TheWelshVikingso looking forward to this!

[@sarahwatts7152]

@@TheWelshViking I'm so excited!!

[@RandiPoitras]

Yes. This.

[@magpieMOB]

When you include myths involving magic cauldrons, the number of deaths get really tricky to count

[@januzzell8631]

Ooooh the flowing into Welsh and back again - so lovely - Diolch yn fawr

[@TheWelshViking]

I code switch like billy-o when I’m down a rabbithole!

[@Chifaire]

It's almost midnight here so in all honesty, all I took away from this video was "Magpie!", the random mutterings in Welsh, a sense of jealousy over Jimmy's eyelashes, and the fact that there was a cat somewhere out of frame. And also that the breakdown of land into ever smaller parts is even more complex in Wales than it is here in Sweden. I think we only have about six or seven ways of saying where someone lives or somes from, depending on if you use the old boundary terms or not.

[@LadyValkyri]

"Magpie!" And SO MUCH Welsh! Love it!

[@kristincramer1033]

You keep calling yourself a nerd... 😅 I can't speak for everyone, but i feel like birds of a feather... flock to youtube. Lol. Bring the nerdiness! 🎉🎉🎉 I love to learn about niche history subjects from people who are truly passionate about them❤

[@American_frugal_hussif]

Not going to lie: I saw that the video was up during work and seriously considered how I could both avoid doing my actual job and act like listening to a discussion of 1000+ year old Welsh land laws was a thing I needed to be getting paid for. I hope life smooths itself out a little for you Jimmy💚

[@virginiacardinal9563]

I LOVE learning about why mundane things, or "uninteresting" things, or things you don't think about things, are the way they are. Usually, excellent logic there and gives meaning to life at that time. Like your example of how much can a team of eight oxen plough in a season. Right, because that would have been the best way for them to determine that. Would be different today with modern farm equipment.

[@ladyliberty417]

Love hearing you waffle on and speak Welsh❣️ The more details of the Welsh past the better- it’s all fascinating, thanks Jimmy 🥰 Hope things get easier for you✌🏼🙏

[@andrewbutler7681]

I do like learning about things like this. I remember being fascinated by a reference to my branch of the family being granted a 'bovate' (one-eighth of a carucate) of land within the Hundred of Amounderness by a more senior branch of the family back in 1281...

[@kerriemckinstry-jett8625]

Can we all take a moment to appreciate that the thumbnail says, "with a very nerdy man"? Truth in advertising, man. 🤣 We love nerdiness of all types here!

[@BrotherJing1]

To be fair mysterious drowned villages/regions are a staple of Brythonic literature. Cornwall has Lyonesse after all though the name is obviously a later addition. Quite possibly linked to the fact that the Scilly Isles changed from a singular island into a series of islands sometime around the 500/600s drowning at least some older settlements and burials etc. in what is now effectively the inland sea between them all.

[@roxiepoe9586]

I find this fine grained sifting of the way things actually work to be fascinating. Thank you. I live in Texas, in the USA, so our demarking of population and of land is vastly different from the ancient systems of Wales. The interest I find here is how the micro areas are adapted by the early European settlers. It is often subtle and almost invisible, but there are differences between areas of influence. Place names are often the first clue. The older the map the better the clue. :)

[@RichWoods23]

News on the attempted redistricting of Galveston county has even reached the UK. Racist and corrupt is only the start of it. You have to wonder why the Republicans thought they could get away with it. Will the Texas electorate punish them for being so blatantly anti-democratic, do you think, or will there be a backlash against the courts?

[@LifKaldorei]

I have to say, your passion for Welsh medieval History is really contagious. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next episode!

[@eazy8579]

Excellent! Land delineation is super fascinating and super underrated. Very important and very cool! Thank you for making this!

[@AnnAnonyme]

Oh! Just this morning, I showed my grade 8/9s a clip from one of your videos about hose. They're auditioning for a show, and there's a lyric about "manly hose" and they wanted to know what it meant. They were giggling. I assured them it was just clothing.

[@TheWelshViking]

Of course! “Ho” being an African-American pronunciation of “whore” whose popularity has led to a widespread adoption of the phonetic spelling, and confusion with the gardening implement! Also, glad to be of service!

[@michellecornum5856]

This was actually far more fun than it should have been! Waffle is a good term, lovely little rises and falls. AND CATS!!!!!

[@Jerepasaurus]

This is actually SUPER HELPFUL in my personal medieval welsh research! Thank you SO MUCH! :D ♥

[@TheWelshViking]

Oh da iawn! I’m so pleased to have helped!

[@szasstam204]

I'm so excited for a new Dr. Jimmy video!! thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! You are amazing and deserve to take all the time you need for yourself. Please keep sharing your knowledge with us, but please take of your self.

[@TheWelshViking]

Not a doctor! :) Thanks, will do!

[@azteclady]

I love the historical minutia of administration, land division, who dispenses judgement and so forth, so this video hit all the sweet spots--looking forward for more of this! Sending all the good vibes for things to become easier for you, Jimmy; I hope you can put your own wellbeing first. We'll be here when you are ready.

[@CleverNameTBD]

And here I go again, shouting on horseback, about Jimmy's return

[@KarelPKerezman]

"information information information magpie continued information" ha!

[@averyfineloafer]

Please don't apologize for being nerdy about anything related to Welsh history, of any kind; I've had a story burning a hole in my brain for a long time and one of the things keeping me from writing it is not being able to find enough sources on details of Welsh history, pre- and post-Roman. I will DEVOUR anything you upload, no matter how nerdy you might think it is.

[@CambrianChronicles]

Endlessly interesting, I love the cymydau and cantrefi, and I’ll be looking forward to any more future videos on the topic! The names that have survived are really interesting, although personally I’m more intrigued by the names we’ve lost. Out of the four cantrefi of Ceredigion in the Mabinogion for example, we only have one name (Penweddig), and I don’t think Is Aled and Uwch Aled were used as names in the medieval era. Being from Powys also, the fact that the number of Cantrefi there seems to change based on the story you’re reading is also pretty cool, although I may be biased on that one. An interesting topic if you do revisit it could be the cantrefi lost to modern day England. Places like Ergyng and Ewias are fairly famous, but there are some more towards Shropshire, and Cantref Goch somewhere across the border in the south if my memory serves me correctly.

[@TheWelshViking]

You’d do a far better and more thorough job, I’m sure! The Aleds were used in the 13th and 15th centuries, so arguably high medieval/early modern, but they’re a good example of the use of Uwch/Is so I included them as a fun example anyway, and the names changed whenever someone nearby sneezed, so who even knows :) Yeah, I thought about doing things like Cantref Coch (in I think Gloucestershire?) and some of the now English areas, but my brain is in bits at the moment and I just forgot to even mention them. Probably why this video has flopped so dramatically!

[@CambrianChronicles]

⁠​⁠@@TheWelshVikingHaha thank you, that’s very kind, but I certainly don’t have the knowledge like yourself! Perhaps we could collaborate:) Thanks for the information on the Aleds also, I recalled reading in one of those old county antiquarian journals a complaint about how they weren’t properly medieval, although the 13th century really should count so I suppose he was just having a moan. KZbin can be very tricky, it took me ages to figure out to get a video to get more than a few hundred views. If I can offer unsolicited advice: asking people what kind of titles and thumbnails they like in community polls I think has helped the most, and I’d definitely recommend if you’d ever be interested in something like that!

[@RandomAFP]

we have cheese, wine, raspberries and, now, plans to visit llangollen, because I have just discovered that Himself has never really Been to Wales, just done a reenactment in Amlwch. Which surprised me because I was sure he'd been at the New Year things in Brynamman. And I may have been singing International Velvet. And now I shall be showing him a clip of King Rollo if I can find one because that judge just reminded me of it and... Life is good.

[@scousecaraid97]

Black cat strolling around, checking on it´s cantref of 100 mice families :-D Great to hear from you Jimmy, whenever the time is right for you, and pretty interesting topic - keep it coming.

[@cennethadameveson3715]

Slowly through the seasons, sun kissed to shadow dappled graveyard conversation will soon become cosy fireside chats as winter approaches. As always great video, diolch yn fawr.

[@Cydonius1701]

Very interesting, thank you. Given that I can't read modern Welsh, much less Middle Welsh, I'm very much indebted to you for all this excellent early mediaeval info. I have far more Cornish ancestors than Welsh, but I'd like to think that a better understanding of Welsh practices also sheds some light on the potential ways that the Cornish would have run their lives before first Wessex and then the Normans turned up. Given the obvious cultural and linguistic closeness of both goups 😅 You do have to be cautious of simply assuming, obviously. There's no direct cognate term for cantref, for example. If you calque cantref you get *kanstre, while the actual word used was keverang. But the cultures were still so similar that I'd contend it's highly probable that the two are closely comparable.

[@lindsaydrewe8219]

I 1st heard of cantref in the Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael series set in 1130's-40's about 40 years ago. Thank you for refreshing my memory about them. Love the Welsh language bits,I am trying to pick up the odd bit here and there. Take care Jimmy...and hope your bees don't get Varroa mites, they are starting to cause problems here in Australia. Look after yourself and hope the studies are going well❤❤

[@thecourtlyalchemist]

A medieval Welsh address sounds like a lot to get on the front of an envelope. Really enjoyed this! It pretty much proves that you can be entertaining even when hardly anyone knows what you are talking about.

[@erinrising2799]

sorry to hear you've been having a rough time recently. sending you virtual hugs

[@lordofuzkulak8308]

Being a touring monarch is presumably a good way to keep your expenses down; no need to pay to keep your castle heated and it’s larders stocked when you can get your nobles to put you up in their gaffs, probably accompanied by a lavish feast or two. 😉 On the upper/lower topic, it’s similar to how Lower Egypt is _north_ of Upper Egypt, not south, because in this case upper/lower is referring to its relation to the Nile and it’s elevation (plus north being up and south being down universally is fairly recent).

[@KateVeeoh]

I share your interest in land divisions and their administrative systems haha, glad you came through on your 'threat' 😅! Highly informative as always. Cambrian Chronicles did a video on Maes Gwyddno/Cantre'r Gwaelod a while ago if you do want to have the topic picked apart (not saying that you wouldn't, Jimmy, it just wasn't relevant to this video 😄), worth a watch 🤓

[@DderwenWyllt]

I've never clicked on a video so quickly before, I'm entirely fascinated by y Cantrefi, Cydweli is hands down the best, you may have the incredible Castell Caernarfon, but we have a little old lady that sells losin ddu and Gwenllian, not to mention the gates of Annwn itself.

[@TheWelshViking]

Personally I’m an Aberffraw stan and always will be. Though your walls are very pretty!

[@gota7738]

Not too impressed with that little old lady. She gave me 10 sweets for a halfpenny but I saw her give my friend 11!

[@DderwenWyllt]

@@gota7738 So the rumours are true, hmm this changes everything

[@DderwenWyllt]

@@TheWelshViking I can't argue with that Aberffraw is top tier, nothing can beat the birthplace of Gwenllian, I concede.

[@elizabethsloan3192]

You always make me want to go back to Wales! Hadrians wall is amazing!

[@_epimetheus_]

I went to a talk last Thursday by Jon Dollery where he talked about working on the Deep Mapping Project and showed the various kinds of maps compiled in it and what they've plotted onto it so that you can directly access information about the areas you look at without having to go searching through archives. It looks amazing. The topography layer is especially impressive and showed how accurate some of the shading done by a cartographer was, it perfectly matched up with the shape of the hills. I really hope they get the funding to do it for the rest of Wales too and complete their 'Historical Atlas'.

[@TheWelshViking]

DMP is soooo cool

[@beamteammom5431]

My experience with the word Cantref was from Lloyd Alexander’s Taran novels. Very interesting to learn more. Thank you!

[@experimentallytheoretical3116]

I loved all the Welsh, and information about land division. Any rambling you want to do about medieval welsh law would be very welcome :)

[@sariannach]

As someone much more familiar with Bangor in Maine but who loved my one visit to North Wales pre-pandemic, this kind of history of the land and settlement is particularly fascinating to me. Really appreciate the specific sources and maps too. Very much looking forward to the next in this series. Hope things start to go easier for you as well! 💜

[@chrisball3778]

Absolutely loved this one. I've never met a head of state, but I've had to deal with local council nonsense my whole life. Learning about the medieval equivalent probably tells you more about most people's lives than learning about a king. Definitely up for details of Ye Olde Industrial Injuries Compensation Scheme (YOIICS).

[@elizabethsmith3553]

Waffle away, Jimmy 😂 You make even a potentially dry subject fascinating. And never worry about taking time out from doing videos x

[@Sarah.p.Stewart8654]

my wanting to go to Wales is ever increasing, love the videos and topics

[@tiffanytomasino335]

I actually find this fascinating. I feel like in America there is so much space that reasonable boundaries are hard to wrap the head around. I've always maintained I want a property large enough I can't see my neighbors from my porch-which I've had the privilege of experiencing at one property I lived in. It made me really hate the crowding of cities and suburbia. I recently talked to someone who bought 150 acres, I'm so jealous... I'm in the market for property (me and everyother Millenial in America but whatever). Now I'm just rambling so. Thank you for sharing, Jimmy ❤

[@janetmackinnon3411]

THank you for another interesting vid. Glad to hear some Welsh, too, and to learn more about Welsh history.

[@Loweene_Ancalimon]

Liked, played through on silent, comment posted, the algorithm has been fed

[@TheWelshViking]

You’re so good

[@davidcheater4239]

The story of Cantre'r Gwaelod really reminds me of the legend of Ys. Debussy wrote a piano piece about the submerged city rising above the waters and the bells ringing free before re-submerging. (La Cathedrale Engloutie).

[@steveschnetzler5471]

Very interesting. I did not realize that Welsh was so small, and with so much history, thanks.

[@Alex-Sews]

okay total nerd here but this video is FANTASTIC. absolutely fascinating and will be re-watching later to get more out of it because there are a lot of new terms here for me and i need to absorb them all slowly. the auto-captioning is an utter joke for the Welsh tho and that makes it much harder for me to understand sometimes. if and only if you really have the time and energy, or a welsh-speaking friend with such, getting that fixed would do wonders for my comprehension. otherwise you'll just get more hits from my re-watches. looking forward to the next videos in this series of utter high nerdery. this is the fun stuff! welcome back, jimmy.

[@ChildOfDarkDefiance]

I read a novel based on the Gwaelod story not too long ago, The Drowned Wood author's name is Lloyd-Jones. I'm actually rereading another one of hers, The Bone Houses. A teen grave digger tries to protect her cantref from zombies. Low & behold, KZbin reminds me that I've been meaning to watch this.

[@salomealhusami594]

His face and facial expressions immediately put a smile on my face! 😍❤

[@Zharkov1969A]

Absolutely fascinating, as ever. You mentioned working at Caernarfon Castle and it started me thinking that something that was built to oppress is now a wealth generator for the areas concerned so you got the last laugh. Keep going.

[@benjamingosselin7946]

As a young farmer looking for land, I find old/historic land division fascinating. Land is very expensive where I live and there is a recent development of diverse way of renting from a commune or private in ways that are starting to feel more and more like a huber version of serfdom.

[@Poohze01]

Ta for including video of the cat! I studied a lot of this over 45 years ago, and it's really lovely to be reminded of it. And you go into a lot more detail than I remember! I'll happily watch as much of this as you care to make - it's the core of history, and us nerds find it fascinating. I wish you all the best with your troubles! ❤

[@sampatch5909]

As someone who is looking into their family history and found out there's a Welsh branch is is fascinating thank you so much.

[@1Bibliotech]

I live in are area of the State of Pennsylvania (USA) near Philadelphia, which was settled by the Welsh. We have many of towns named (proportedly) in Welsh. I live in Wynnewood, near Bryn Mawr, and neighboring Bala Cynwyd. I can see a glimering of how some of these place names may have been chosen! Facinating!!

[@jonathangoll2918]

An English reaction. I absolutely loved this. I've always wanted to get cantrefi and cymydau sorted out, and you've done it for me. I must be a nerd too! I've always been interested in the English Hundreds, which lasted for a surprisingly long time. In the 'Church and King' riots in Birmingham in 1791, right-wing thugs caused a great deal of damage to the property of members of the Lunar Society, an internationally-famous grouping of makers of the modern world, including Erasmus Darwin, Matthew Boulton and James Watt, William Withering, Joseph Priestley, and many others. (They'd worded a poster incautiously.) Priestley's home was particularly damaged, so he left in disgust to America. But they did get compensation from the authorities for the riot damage. Birmingham wasn't then incorporated, so they had to go to the Hundred Court at a minor village called Kingsbury to get justice. So Hundreds were still important administratively even then. I really love listening to your Welsh, and the proper pronunciations. 'Bangor' still causes me problems, and I listened avidly to your 'Aberystwyth', which town I visited about a two years ago. I've long worked out that the common pronunciation, with an 'i' sound for the first 'y', had to be wrong. I can't do it right, but it surely should be more like an 'er' sound. ( I'm glad to say that the Tourist Information agreed with me! ) So I really enjoyed listening to your version.

[@SkylerLinux]

Honestly most of the time it's not really about interesting, but enrapturing. It was a good watch and very informative.

[@txtardis7887]

Interesting, my Mom's family (Henion) was from Wales and I am being drawn to learning about my connection to our people. - Thank you.

[@jaded_gerManic]

More of all the above! (Excepting of course the memory card tanking) 💜👾💜

[@Skooby59]

Always a good day when yu boi uploads. Love to see it, great Disney princess vibes with the woodland friends

[@hircenedaelen]

Have you seen Cambrian Chronicles, they've done an excellent video on Cantre Gwaelod. A colab between the 2 best Welsh KZbinrs would be amazing

[@TheWelshViking]

I’d be down

[@invisiblegoats9380]

Jimmy: sorry I've been posting less Me, only just getting around to watching: how dare /s fucking love landscape archaeology

[@stefflus08]

I love that welsh is so close to latin, it feels ancient. Cantref, centi. Wyr, vir.

[@sophiejones3554]

Would love to hear about the medieval small claims courts, both the laws themselves and the stories (real or legendary).

[@jinxedfates]

jimmy has such a way with rabbit holes. and words.

[@orchardhouse9241]

The dragon in your intro looks like my imagination of Smaug from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Not movie Smaug. Movie Smaug is fine in a different way. Ahem. That is not what I am writing this for. What I meant to ask is, have you ever read The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, and what you think of it. It is the only book that I have read that has much to do with Wales. I thought of this because I think it mentions some of these words in it somewhere. I have another thought: I need to go and read some Welsh mythology. Do you know of any good English translations of Welsh mythology?

[@catherinerw1]

Facinating! I don't think I've ever paused a video so many times, to have a look at all the maps!

[@funonyoutube1716]

Yes, please do more videos about administrative matters! Truly fascinating, especially with your insights based on learning about administrative divisions by Romans, how this relates to political warfare, social organization, taxation, and so on.

[@braggarmybrat]

For someone so detail-oriented, your presentations come off as ADHD-flavored. 😁 Listening to you is like trying to have a conversation with the dog, Doug from the movie "Up!" I caught the "magpie!" reference among the Cats, Squirrels!, and Bees. I'm sorry you're having a rough time, go give the cat a stroke and make it share its peaceful 'cat-ions' with you. The information you gave helps my fiction writing be better.

[@MeliMiyoko]

Love a good Welsh waffle. Welcome back, Jimmy! Enjoyed the topic as well, really interesting stuff. You’re so natural on camera we’d all enjoy listening to you go on about literally anything. Sending well wishes from Washington State, USA ❤️

[@fionaellem4379]

Loved this! (And I understood most of the Welsh, so feeling very smug!). Have you read The Book of Three series by Lloyd Alexander? Cantrefi (I can’t spell in either language…) are an important part of the story, and the Tylwedd Teg are a delight!

[@CleoHarperReturns]

I'm so sorry you're going through a rough time; I'm going through one as well. If we were on the same continent I'd offer my admittedly rusty skills as a drinking companion. I'm always game for a pint in a cemetery. Wishing you well across the globe.🥲 edit: Also I like your hair!

[@TheWelshViking]

Next time you’re over we’ll have a jar in a graveyard :) Hope tgings improve!

[@TheCurtainLift]

we all have so much respect for you!

[@sageandstone8977]

Brilliant! Diolch yn fawr! Can't wait to hear more. I recommend your channel to all my re-enactment and history-phile friends here in the US. I started to learn Welsh because of the old "word of the day." You used to do. Thank you, Jimmy.

[@SaszaDerRoyt]

I had to come back since I watched this last week while I was still struggling to stay awake after coming back from Hastings, well worth the rewatch! Medieval administration is so fascinating, love it. Love hearing a lot of Welsh too, it's got a lot of sounds in common with Hebrew (which I kinda speak) and also interestingly Nahua (which I very much don't speak)

[@lizzaturnbull]

I have stayed a weekend in that little white pub next to Caernarfon castle! It was awesome - so quirky and great food! 🥰

[@anieth]

I've heard quite a bit about cantrefs and commotes. But this was excellent. I love hearing how you pronounce things. I've only known southern Welsh people who have less "air" and more English in their accents. So fascinating that we have so many names here in the states (like Bangor) for towns and cities, not just the "new" (i.e. New Hamshire). Have you read the Rhys's book about Celtic symbolism? They talk about the division of the Celtic countries into five. The east in Europe was always the center of merchants and farms. Balance of power, Jimmy. I like different courts for different kinds of crimes, but seriously, please do a video about wergild and fines.

[@TheWelshViking]

Thank you! I’ve not read the book but I’m not sure I subscribe to that theory. The idea of “Celtic countries” is in itself difficult, let alone the idea of their sharing a single monolithic culture or form of land division. The main powerhouse of Wales was in the northwest for many centuries, for instance, and I’m not sure the number five was as important as 3, 4, 7 and 8 traditionally. And the maerdredi of many cantrefi were in the west or north as well. Also Rome is on the west side. Many mercantile centres have been historically as well, like Glasgow, Hedeby, Liverpool, and places like Hamburg and Prague don’t fit the scheme. Farms generally occupy a vast amount of land in east, west, north, and south. The situation is probably more nuanced than they’re suggesting from the sounds of it

[@anieth]

@@TheWelshViking I agree completely. I think that myths and patterns often persist, not because of a basis in reality, but because of some mapping compulsion in the "group" mind. Thanks for taking me seriously to discuss it, Jimmy! I dread going on KZbin because so much of my information may be outdated, but comments like yours are always welcome, even if you say, "that's bullshit." You always have a reason for saying so, not just because you like to flame people (although that dragon does a good job of it. :D) I always find your videos thought provoking and leaving me with a great desire to spend hours talking with people like you! Thanks again!

[@ryuuakiyama3958]

That story of Cantre'r Gwaelod reminds me very much of the Breton Cêr Ys, which you probably already know it to parallel. I had no idea till now there was a Welsh iteration of the tale, and it's very interesting to see how they've diverged.

[@lucyj8204]

Always love your infodump-style videos. This was great and we look forward to hearing more from you when things are easier.

[@lilykatmoon4508]

I’m sorry you’ve been going through a tough time, no apologies necessary. I hope things get better soon. Certainly, needing out on arcane topics helps me too, so I can certainly appreciate your efforts. As a fan of Time Team, I always found the landscape archeology fascinating. Stewart Ainsworth could practically rebuild entire villages from the lumps and bumps left behind, so I find this topic interesting as well. Thanks for sharing your hard work with us❤

[@angryhistoryguy5657]

The "lower/upper" distinction makes sense if you think of it as closer to "inner/outer". A truly modern equivalent would probably be "uptown/downtown" in the sense of downtown being the central business district and uptown being the quieter suburbs.

[@rasferrastfarian739]

So interesting! thanks for the chat!

[@RandiPoitras]

Ive lived in New Westminster, canada and one of the main streets downtown is "Carnarvon". The city was also the original provincial capital before it moved for reasons i forget

[@julesmorgan5986]

Welcome back Jimmy, glad you're good :) Now. YES!! Please, please to more on Medieval Welsh administrative stuff. The inner Nerd is shivering in antici...............

[@dyedinthewoolster]

Actually, genuinely, fascinating. Thank you! Love these deep niche dives.

[@SkylerLinux]

(I warned you I'd do it. You did this) I liked the video before even watching because of this

[@mikakestudios5891]

It's a deep sense of, I'll call it comfort, that people have changed very little 😅

[@user-vn4sf4yk4g]

Greetings and congratiulations from Göppingen, Germany. I like your channel very much for the last 4 yers.

[@TheWelshViking]

Danke! I’m very glad you’re here :)

[@haakdraakje]

Loved your own 'classification'. Reminder me of a question that's disappearing here: 'wiens manneke zijde gij?´ Roughly translated: 'who´s child are you?´

[@Bildgesmythe]

Wonderful, my evening is made!

[@arwenwestrop5404]

Fascinating as always, Jimmy! I love Wales and hope to move back there one day and actually, finally, learn the language. It sounds so beautiful! And your explanations help me understand some of the Mabinogion better as well, so thank you!

[@Bearleena]

Diolch Jimmy, that was fascinating. Think it taught me more about Welsh history than 14 years in a Welsh school and an A-level in history. You do look like you could do with a cwtch though, cariad. Take care.

[@my_handle....]

Thought this was going to push something important out of my head, but you surprised me. Bendigedig washi. 👌

[@_Michiel_]

Fascinating bit of Welsh history, Jimmy! Thank you for posting and please continue! 👍

[@corrugatedcavalier5266]

Fantastic video, Jimmy. I only have a master's but I know the struggles of academia. I hope that you're well and "keep on keeping on" as Joe Dirt would say.

[@lynn858]

Thank you for the info dump internet friend! Sewing is much more enjoyable with company! Kitteh!

[@robintheparttimesewer6798]

It's always great to see you!! It's always interesting to realise just how long things have been the way they are there. From a North American view point it's so different. You pick wonderful topics that give me context to bits and pieces I've learnt over the years. Thanks

[@samuelleask1132]

Petition for Jimmy to do a breakdown/video discussing the Mabinogion 🙏😁

[@cypriennezed5640]

Buckle up, y'all!! (honestly excited about this, thank you Jimmy)