Welsh Triads

Welsh Triads ( Welsh : Trioedd Ynys Prydein [ 'trioið' ənis' brədein ], "The Triads of the Isle of Britain") is the title of a collection of memorabilia that go back to historical and mythical traditions. They have survived in more than a dozen manuscripts from the 13th to 17th centuries.

Manuscripts

The oldest surviving collection of Welsh triads is found in the manuscript "Peniarth 16" now in the National Library of Wales , which is dated to the third quarter of the 13th century. It contains 46 of the 86 triads. Other important manuscripts are contained in "Peniarth 45" (from around 1275) as well as in the "White Book of Rhydderch" ( Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch ) and in the "Red Book of Hergest" ( Llyfr Coch Hergest ), one of which is clearly from the Peniarth -Collections have different annotated versions in common.

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The triads come from Welsh bards or poets who used them as mnemonic aids in the composition of their poems and stories, and which later became a rhetorical stylistic device in Welsh literature.

Each triad names three names under an umbrella term ("The three famous ...", "The three unfortunate ...") that have something in common. The medieval Welsh tale Culhwch ac Olwen ("The story of Culhwch and Olwen ", see Mabinogion ) is particularly well known because of the triads it contains. The Welsh Triads contain references to people from the legendary circle around King Arthur , but also to historical figures such as the Breton Duke Alain IV , known as Alan Ffyrgan .

In some cases, the associated legend is told after the naming.

Examples

Mordred is the originator of one of the "three unrestrained devastations of the island of Britain"
As Pryderi's murderer, Govannon carried out one of "the three most fatal blows on the island of Britain"

Coll fab Collfrewi is with Pryderi and Drystan fab Tallwch one of the "three most powerful swineherd of the island of Britain"

Gweir , like Llŷr Lledieith and Mabon fab Modron , is one of the "three exalted prisoners of the island of Britain"

Urien is one of the "three rulers of the Isle of Britain"

The burying of the head of Bendigetvran in London is one of the "three lucky hides of the island of Britain"

... the excavation of the head by King Arthur is one of the "three unfortunate revelations of the island of Britain"

March fab Meirchiawn is one of the "three sailors of the island of Britain"

Rhydderch Hael is one of the "three most generous men in Britain"

... his campaign against Gwynedd is one of the "three most rampant devastations on the island of Britain"

Afarwy (Argenteus / Mandubracius) is one of the three "dishonorable men of the island of Britain"

Caradawg fab Bran is one of the three "men whose hearts broke with grief"

Caradawg Freichfras is one of the three "Knights of the Isle of Britain", his wife Tegau Eurfron is one of the three "beautiful women at the Arthurian Court" and their marriage is one of the three "unsurpassed love affairs of the Isle of Britain"

Manawydan is one of the "three yielding nobles of the Isle of Britain"

Gwenhwyfach's slap in the face for her sister Gwenhwyfar is one of the "three unfortunate slaps of the island of Britain", another is the slap Matholwch gives his wife Branwen

literature

Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. 2nd corrected and enlarged edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
Rachel Bromwich (Ed. And Translator): Trioedd Ynys Prydein. = The Welsh Triads. 2nd edition. Edited with introduction, translation and commentary. University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1978, ISBN 0-7083-0690-X .
Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .

Web links

Xenja von Ertzdorff-Kupffer (ed.): Tristan and Isolt in the late Middle Ages . Lectures at an interdisciplinary symposium from June 3 to 8, 1996 at the Justus Liebig University Giessen (= Chloe (Amsterdam) . Volume 29 ). Rodopi, 1999, ISBN 90-420-0605-6 , ISSN 0168-9878 , p. 155 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
PJ Marshall: Proceedings of the British Academy Volume 125, 2003 Lectures (= Proceedings of the British Academy . Volume 125 ). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, ISBN 0-19-726324-0 , pp. 13 f . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).

Individual evidence

↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 474.

[1] Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 474.