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"Pwyll Prince of Dyved, was lord of the seven Cantrevs of Dyved; and once upon a time he was at Narberth his chief palace, and he was minded to go and hunt, and the part of his dominions in which it pleased him to hunt was Glyn Cuch. So he set forth from Narberth that night, and went as far as Llwyn Diarwyd. And that night he tarried there, and early on the morrow he rose and came to Glyn Cuch, when he let loose the dogs in the wood and sounded the horn, and began the chase."

- The Mabinogion


 

 


  


themabonogion

The Mabinogion

Unknown , Wales, 1100

The Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. While the two main manuscripts from which the modern version of the Mabinogion derive
the White Book of Rhydderch (Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch) and the Red Book of Hergest (Llyfr Coch Hergest) were written in the late 1300s, most scholars agree that the tales are older.
Scholars have noted that the language of the stories best fits the period between 1000 and 1100. Dating the stories of the Mabinogion is important because if it can be shown to have been written before Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britaniae, then some of the tales, especially those dealing with Arthur, provide important evidence for the development of Arthurian legend.
They are also an important source of many Celtic legends and myths.

mabinogion

The Mabinogion


The Four Branches of the Mabinogi tell the stories of  Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed his birth,  parents and his disappearance; the stories of Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr and her marriage to the King of Ireland;  the return home of Pwll with Manawydan, brother of Branwen and resulting adventures and  misfortunes that follow them there; and finally the story of Math, son of Mathonwy who comes into conflict with Pwyll.
Also included in most compilations are five other Welsh tales and  three romances: The five tales are Dream of Macsen Wledig, Lludd and Llefelys; Culhwch and Olwen; The Dream of Rhonabwy; and The Tale of Taliesin.
The tales Culhwch and Olwen and The Dream of Rhonabwy preserve older elements of the legends of King Arthur. The tale The Dream of Macsen Wledig is a romanticized story about the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus.
The three romances, Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain, Peredur, son of Efrawg and Geraint and Enid, are Welsh versions of Arthurian tales that also appear in the work of the French writer Chrétien de Troyes. There is some debate as to whether the Welsh romances are based on Chrétien's poems or if they derive from a shared original. It is known that Chretien based his poems in older Celtic sources and there a number of completely different elements.