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.
The texts include references to
King Arthur and other semi-historical characters from
Sub-Roman Britain, mythic figures such as
Bran the Blessed, undeniably historical personages such as
Alan IV,
Duke of Brittany (who is called
Alan Ffyrgan) and even
Iron Age characters like
Caswallawn (
Cassivellaunus) and Caradawg (
Caratacus).
Some triads simply give a list of three characters with something in common (such as "the three frivolous bards of the island of Britain") while others include substantial narrative explanation. The triad form probably originated amongst the Welsh
bards or poets as a
mnemonic aid in composing their poems and stories, and later became a rhetorical device of Welsh literature. The Medieval Welsh tale
Culhwch and Olwen has many triads embedded in its narrative.
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.
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.
*Rachel Bromwich, editor and translator.
Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1978. ISBN 0-7083-0690-X
*W. Probert (trans) (1977), Iolo Morganwg,
The Triads of Britain*
Triads from the Red Book of Hergest*
Triads from MS Peniarth 54*
Triads of Northern Britain*
Triads of the Knights of King Arthur's Court*
Bardic Triads from MS Peniarth 20
