Dog-Heads
Dychryn Cŵn
In Pa gur, there is a mention of Arthur fighting “dychryn Cŵn,” meaning “the terror of dogs.”
“What man, from the time of the beginning,
Pa gur, o vynych daear,
Pan vynnwys yscwyd Caledfryn,
Dygen Cŵn a chwanwn
O’ amneint a gwnaethant brynnawn.
When the shield of Caledfryn was wielded,
Ever before bore dogs with chains,
From the high lands they made a tumult.”
Another passage says:
On the mount of Eidyn, they [Arthur and presumably Cei] found with Dog-heads; by the hundred they fell.
Opponents of Arthur, fought by Arthur or Kay in Pa gur.
They are not necessarily monsters. H. Butler has advanced the theory that they were related to the Conchind (Dog-heads), a legendary people who ruled Ireland. There may be some connection with the Cunesioi, a tribe whom Herodotus places beyond the Celts in the Iberian Peninsula, and the Concani who, according to Horace, lived in Spain.
See also
Edinburgh | The Legend of King Arthur
Eidyn | The Legend of King Arthur
Source
Pa gur yv y porthaur | Poem 31 of the Black Book of Carmarthen, probably c. 1100