Legendary king of the Britons, for whose existence there is no historical evidence
An image of Bladud attempting to fly with his artificial wings (from the Lyte Pedigree of 1605. British Library Catalog entry Add. Ms. 48343).
Bladud or Blaiddyd[a] is a legendary king of the Britons, although there is no historical evidence for his existence. He is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136), which describes him as the son of King Rud Hud Hudibras, and the tenth ruler in line from the first king, Brutus, saying Bladud was contemporaneous with the biblical prophet Elijah (9th century BC).
A Bleydiud son of Caratauc is mentioned in the Welsh Harley MS 3859 genealogies (in the British Library), suggesting to some that Geoffrey misinterpreted a scrap of Welsh genealogy (such as the Harleian genealogies itself or a related text).[1] The Welsh form of the name is given as Blaiddyd in manuscripts of the Brut Tysilio (Welsh translations of Geoffrey's Historia).[2] The meaning of the name is "Wolf-lord" (Welsh blaidd "wolf" + iudd "lord").[3] In the text he is said to have founded the city of Bath. He was succeeded by his son Leir (the Shakespearean King Lear).
The tale of Bladud was later embellished by other authors, such as John Hardyng and John Higgins, writing in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.[4]
^Hutson, Eugene, British personal names in the Historia regum Britanniae, part of series University of California Publications in English, Volume 5, no. 1, University of California Press, 1940, p. 12.
^Jones, Mary. "Brut Tysilio" Archived 9 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, maryjones.us. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
^Williams, Sir Ifor, The beginnings of Welsh poetry: studies, University of Wales Press, 1972, p. 160
^Borsay, Peter (2000). The image of Georgian Bath, 1700-2000: towns, heritage, and history. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 50. ISBN 0-19-820265-2.
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