Kyledyr Wyllt’s madness

Kyledyr Wyllt’s madness is traced to a specific atrocity during Gwyn ap Nudd’s conflict with Gwythyr son of Greidawl: Nwython is killed, his heart removed, and his son Kyledyr is compelled to eat it. The account makes the violence—not an unexplained curse or a prior condition—the immediate cause of Kyledyr’s madness, and later places him again in Arthur’s northern campaigns.

The violence that causes the madness

Before Creiddylad could become Gwythyr’s bride, Gwyn ap Nudd carried her away by force. Gwythyr gathered a host and fought Gwyn, who defeated him and captured several nobles, including Nwython and Nwython’s son, Kyledyr Wyllt. The captives’ fates diverge sharply: Nwython is slain, while Kyledyr is made to eat the heart taken from his father’s body. The narrative directly links this forced act to Kyledyr’s madness, presenting it as the consequence of violence inflicted within a family bond.

The atrocity belongs to a wider episode of captivity and political reconciliation. When Arthur hears what has happened, he goes North, summons Gwyn ap Nudd, frees the imprisoned nobles, and makes peace between Gwyn and Gwythyr. Under the settlement, Creiddylad remains in her father’s house, while Gwyn and Gwythyr are to fight for her every first of May until the day of doom; the victor is to have her. Kyledyr’s madness thus emerges amid a conflict that Arthur can settle through a recurring contest, but the settlement does not erase the violence already done to Nwython and his son.

Kyledyr in Arthur’s northern campaign

Kyledyr appears again when Arthur returns to the North during the campaign to obtain the boar Yskithyrwyn Benbaedd’s tusk. The account says Arthur captured Kyledyr Wyllt before pursuing the boar. It does not explain the circumstances or purpose of this capture, nor does it describe a recovery from the madness. The repeated name connects the later campaign to the earlier captive, while leaving the condition’s further course unstated.

The hunt continues through a chain of sought-after animals and their keepers: Mabon the son of Mellt arrives with the two dogs of Glythmyr Ledewic and Drudwyn, while Arthur brings his own dog, Cavall. Yskithyrwyn is killed, and the narrative identifies Cavall—not the dogs specified by Yspaddaden—as the dog that killed the boar. Kyledyr’s presence in this sequence places him within Arthur’s expedition after the account of his father’s death, but supplies no further detail about what he does there or how his madness affects him.