Abstract/Summary

The ninth-century Welsh poem Etmic Dinbych, describing the fortress of the kings of Dyfed at Tenby, is compared with sixth-century activity at Tintagel known from archaeological evidence. Although never previously realised, the analogy is very close and the poetic description of a feast at New Year casts doubt on the claim the Tintagel could only have been used as a court in the Summer. It has also previously gone unrecognised that the poem provides the only description of a ninth-century Welsh court using a hillfort.