The Welsh Triads ( cy, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, "Triads of the Island of Britain") are a group of related texts in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

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."

The texts include references to

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...

and other semi-historical characters from

sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the Anglo-Saxon settlement. The term was originally used to describe archaeological remains found in 5th- and 6th-century AD sites that hin ...

, mythic figures such as Brân the Blessed, undeniably historical personages such as

Alan IV, Duke of Brittany Alan IV (c. 1063 – 13 October 1119) was Duke of Brittany from 1072 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes (from c. 1103) and Count of Rennes. His parents were Duchess Hawise and Duke Hoel II. He is also known as Alan Fergant ...

(who is called ''Alan Fyrgan'') and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

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") while others include substantial narrative explanation. The triad form probably originated amongst the Welsh

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise ...

s or poets as a

mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and image ...

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:

36. Teir Gormes a doeth y'r Enys Hon, ac nyt aeth vrun dracheuyn:
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.
Eil, Goemes y Gwydyl Fychti. Ac nyt aeth ỽr un onadunt dracheuyn.
Tryded, Gormes y Saesson, a Hors a Hengyst yn benaduryeit arnadunt.
Three Oppressions that came to this Island, and not one of them went back:
One of them (was) the people of the Cor(y)aniaid, who came here in the time of
Caswallawn Cassivellaunus was a historical British military leader who led the defence against Julius Caesar's second expedition to Britain in 54 BC. He led an alliance of tribes against Roman forces, but eventually surrendered after his location was revea ...
son of Beli: and not one of them went back. And they came from Arabia.
The second Oppression: the
Gwyddyl Ffichti Gwyddyl Ffichti is a term that appears in the third series of Welsh Triads, apparently referring to the Picts. It was central to William Forbes Skene's argument that the Picts were a Goidelic, Celtic-speaking people and that their language was anc ...
. And not one of them went back.
The third Oppression: the
Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
, with
Horsa Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent. Most modern scholarly consensus now r ...
and
Hengist Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent. Most modern scholarly consensus now rega ...
as their leaders.

46. Teir Pryf Uuch Enys Prydein:
Brech, buwch ỽaelgỽn Gwyned,
a Thonnllwyt, buwch meibyon Eliffer Godgordỽawr,
a Chornillo, buỽch Llawuroded ỽarỽaỽc.
Three Principal Cows of the Island of Britain:
Speckled, cow of
Maelgwn Gwynedd Maelgwn Gwynedd ( la, Maglocunus; died c. 547Based on Phillimore's (1888) reconstruction of the dating of the '' Annales Cambriae'' (A Text).) was king of Gwynedd during the early 6th century. Surviving records suggest he held a pre-eminent positio ...
,
and Grey-Skin, cow of the sons of Eliffer of the Great Warband,
and Cornillo, cow of Llawfrodedd the Bearded.

Earliest surviving collection

The earliest surviving collection of the Welsh Triads is bound in the manuscript ''

Peniarth Peniarth is a village and community in Meifod, Powys, Wales. It is 87.1 miles (140.2 km) from Cardiff and 156.9 miles (252.5 km) from London. It is represented in the Senedd by Russell George (Conservative). It is part of the Mont ...

16'', now at the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million ...

, 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 The White Book of Rhydderch (Welsh: ''Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch'', National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 4-5) is one of the most notable and celebrated surviving manuscripts in Welsh. Mostly written in southwest Wales in the middle of the 14th centur ...

(Welsh: ''Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch'') and

Red Book of Hergest The ''Red Book of Hergest'' ( cy, Llyfr Coch Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111) is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It pres ...

(Welsh: ''Llyfr Coch Hergest''), which share a common version clearly different from the version behind the collections in the Peniarth manuscripts.

Later collections

The 18th-century Welsh antiquarian

Iolo Morganwg Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg (; 10 March 1747 – 18 December 1826), was a Welsh antiquarian, poet and collector.Jones, Mary (2004)"Edward Williams/Iolo Morganwg/Iolo Morgannwg" From ''Jones' Celtic Encycloped ...

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.

Notes

References

*Rachel Bromwich, editor and translator. ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, Second Edition 1978. *Rachel Bromwich, editor and translator. ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, Third Edition, 2006. *W. Probert (trans) (1977), Iolo Morganwg, '' The Triads of Britain''

External links

Triads from the Red Book of Hergest
{{Celtic mythology (Welsh) Medieval Welsh literature Welsh-language literature British traditional history Welsh mythology Works of unknown authorship