- White Book of Rhydderch
The White Book of Rhydderch (Welsh: "Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch") is one of the most notable and celebrated
manuscript s in Welsh. Written in the middle of the14th century (ca.1350 ) it is the earliest collection of Welsh prose texts, though it also contains some examples of earlyWelsh poetry . It is now part of the collection of theNational Library of Wales , having been preserved in the library of the seventeenth-century antiquary Robert Vaughan and passed to his descendants.What was one manuscript has now been bound as two separate volumes and are known as Peniarth MS 4 and Peniarth MS 5. Peniarth MS 4 contains the Welsh tales now collectively known as the "
Mabinogion ", and Peniarth MS 5 (the first part of the original manuscript) contains Christian religious texts in Welsh, mostly translated from Latin.The White Book was copied in the mid-fourteenth century, most probably for Rhydderch ab Ieuan Llwyd (ca. 1325-1400) from Parcrhydderch in the parish of
Llangeitho inCeredigion . Rhydderch, who came from a family with a long tradition of literary patronage, held posts under the English Crown but was also an authority on nativeWelsh law . The hands of five scribes have been identified in the manuscripts, very likely working inStrata Florida Abbey , not far from Rhydderch's home.ources
*'White Book of Rhydderch'. In Meic Stephens (Ed.) (1998), "The new companion to the literature of Wales". Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1383-3.
*Parry, Thomas (1955), "A history of Welsh literature". Translated by H. Idris Bell. Oxford : Clarendon Press.External links
* [http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=whitebookofrhydderchpeniart The White book of Rhydderch] at the [http://www.llgc.org.uk National Library of Wales] website. "Gives access to colour images of Peniarth MS 4".
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.