View source for Welsh Triads

{{Short description|Group of related texts in medieval manuscripts}}
[[File:Jesus-College-MS-111 00288 144v.jpg|thumb|Part of the ''[[Red Book of Hergest]]'' (1385–1420), collection of manuscripts containing the [[Middle Welsh]] ''Triads''.]]
{{Celtic mythology}}
The '''Welsh Triads''' ({{langx|cy|Trioedd Ynys Prydein}}, "Triads of the Island of [[Great Britain|Britain]]") are a group of related texts in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh [[folklore]], [[Welsh mythology|mythology]] and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness; for example, "Three things not easily restrained, the flow of a torrent, the flight of an arrow, and the tongue of a fool."<ref name="Lloyd1912">{{cite book|last=Lloyd|first=John Edward|author-link=John Edward Lloyd|title=A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NYwNAAAAIAAJ|year=1912|publisher=Longmans, Green|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NYwNAAAAIAAJ/page/n144 122]}}</ref>

==Contents==
The texts include references to [[King Arthur]] and other semi-historical characters from [[sub-Roman Britain]], mythic figures such as [[Brân the Blessed]], undeniably historical personages such as [[Alan IV, Duke of Brittany]] (who is called ''Alan Fyrgan'') and [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] characters such as Caswallawn ([[Cassivellaunus]]) and Caradoc ([[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"<ref name="Lupack2007">{{cite book|last=Lupack|first=Alan|title=The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KigTAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-921509-6|page=21}}</ref>) while others include substantial narrative explanation. The triad form probably originated amongst the Welsh [[bard]]s 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.

===Examples===

As edited and translated by Rachel Bromwich, two characteristic examples of the Welsh triads are:
<blockquote>36. Teir Gormes a doeth y'r Enys Hon, ac nyt aeth vrun dracheuyn:
<blockquote>Ỽn o nadunt Kywdaỽt y Corryanyeit, a doethant eman yn oes Caswallawn mab Beli, ac nyt aeth ỽn un onadunt dracheuyn. Ac or Auia pan hanoedynt.<br>
Eil, Goemes y Gwydyl Fychti. Ac nyt aeth ỽr un onadunt dracheuyn.<br>
Tryded, Gormes y Saesson, a Hors a Hengyst yn benaduryeit arnadunt.</blockquote>

:Three Oppressions that came to this Island, and not one of them went back:
<blockquote>One of them (was) the people of the Cor(y)aniaid, who came here in the time of [[Caswallawn]] son of [[Beli Mawr|Beli]]: and not one of them went back. And they came from Arabia.<br>
The second Oppression: the [[Gwyddyl Ffichti]]. And not one of them went back.<br>
The third Oppression: the [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxons]], with [[Horsa]] and [[Hengist]] as their leaders.<ref>''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain'', ed. by Rachel Bromwich, 4th edn (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2014), {{ISBN|978-1-78316-145-4}}, p. 90.</ref></blockquote></blockquote>

<blockquote>46. Teir Pryf Uuch Enys Prydein:
<blockquote>Brech, buwch ỽaelgỽn Gwyned,<br>
a Thonnllwyt, buwch meibyon Eliffer Godgordỽawr,<br>
a Chornillo, buỽch Llawuroded ỽarỽaỽc.</blockquote>
:Three Principal Cows of the Island of Britain:
<blockquote>Speckled, cow of [[Maelgwn Gwynedd]],<br>
and Grey-Skin, cow of the sons of [[Eliffer|Eliffer of the Great Warband]],<br>
and Cornillo, cow of [[Llawfrodedd Farfog|Llawfrodedd the Bearded]].<ref>''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain'', ed. by Rachel Bromwich, 4th edn (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2015), {{ISBN|978-1-78316-145-4}} p. 264.</ref></blockquote></blockquote>

==Earliest surviving collection==
The earliest surviving collection of the Welsh Triads is bound in the manuscript ''[[Peniarth Manuscripts|Peniarth]] 16'', now at the [[National Library of Wales]], which has been dated to the third quarter of the 13th century and contains 46 of the 96 triads collated 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 common version clearly different from the version behind the collections in the Peniarth manuscripts.<ref>{{cite book |year=1978 |orig-year=1961 |editor1-last=Bromwich |editor1-first=Rachel |editor1-link=Rachel Bromwich |title=Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads |edition=2nd |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=xi-xxxi |isbn=070830690X }}</ref>

==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 Morganwg, and are widely believed to have been of his own invention.<ref>{{cite book |year=1978 |orig-year=1961 |editor1-last=Bromwich |editor1-first=Rachel |editor1-link=Rachel Bromwich |title=Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads |edition=2nd |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press |page=xii |isbn=070830690X }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Triads of Ireland]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
*Rachel Bromwich, editor and translator. ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, Second Edition 1978. {{ISBN|0-7083-0690-X}}
*Rachel Bromwich, editor and translator. ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, Third Edition, 2006. {{ISBN|0-7083-1386-8}}
*W. Probert (trans) (1977), Iolo Morganwg, ''[[Wikisource:Triads of Britain|The Triads of Britain]]''
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{wikisource}}
*[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/triads1.html Triads from the Red Book of Hergest]
*[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/triads2.html Triads from MS Peniarth 54]
*[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/triads3.html Triads of Northern Britain]
*[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/triads4.html Triads of the Knights of King Arthur's Court]
*[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/triads5.html Bardic Triads from MS Peniarth 20]
*[http://www.kingarthur.justwizard.com/Triads.html Triads of Ynys Prydein]

{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}{{Welsh language}}
[[Category:Medieval Welsh literature]]
[[Category:Welsh-language literature]]
[[Category:British traditional history]]
[[Category:Welsh mythology]]
[[Category:Works of unknown authorship]]