When Arthur Held Court in Caer Llion: Love, Marriage, and the Politics of Centralization in Gereint and Owein

“When Arthur Held Court in Caer Llion: Love, Marriage, and the Politics of Centralization in Gereint and Owein." Owein and Gereint chronicle the process by which a group of independent kingdoms becomes subject to a central government, a process that focuses on the major concerns of the rulers of Gwynedd, most notably those of Llewelyn ap Iowerth: the desire to justify a feudal Wales united under a single monarch, the attempt to standardize law codes and introduce a central judicial system, and the need to manipulate political alliances through a careful program of advantageous marriages. The romances’ call to unification profoundly affects their telling of the basic stories common to them and their French counterparts. The Welsh narratives systematically displace the French's discussion of fin afmor in favor of tales in which marriage functions as a metaphor for political alliance. Thus, these tales present not only an argument for central government but also a vindication of the means by which Llewelyn sought to attain that government.