Welsh Triads: Encyclopedia - Welsh Triads

Welsh Triads

The Welsh Triads (Welsh Trioedd Ynys Prydein, literally "triads of the island of Britain") are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three.

Welsh Triads - Earliest surviving collection

The earliest surviving collection of the Welsh Triads is bound in the manuscript Peniarth 16, now at the National Library of Wales, which has been dated to the third quarter of the 13th century and containing 46 of the 86 triads edited by Rachel Bromwich. Other important manuscripts include Peniarth 45 (written about 1275), and the pair White book of Rhydderch (Welsh: Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch) and Red Book of Hergest (Welsh: Llyfr Coch Hergest), which share a comment version clearly different from the version behind the collections in the Peniarth manuscripts.

Welsh Triads - Later collections

The 18th century Welsh antiquarian Iolo Morganwg compiled a collection of triads, which he claimed to have taken from his own collection of manuscripts. Some of his triads are similar to those found in the medieval manuscripts, but some are unique to Iolo, and are widely believed to have been of his own invention.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Welsh Triads", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki