The Mabinogion
The tales of the Mabinogion are not the product of a single hand. They evolved over a span of centuries: passed on from storyteller to storyteller, they were distorted, improved, and misunderstood. The people responsible for The Mabinogion are the Welsh who are descendants of the Celts. Its contents draw upon the myths, folklore, history and pseudo-history of Celtic Britain: four well-springs that are often indistinguishable. Set largely within the British Isles, the tales create a dreamlike atmosphere and preserve much of the primitive, fantastic, fascinating world of Celtic myth. They exemplify the heroic, romantic, idealistic world of Celtic literature.
The Mabinogion's lack of influence may be attributed to the fact that it does not seem to have been very well known, not even in Welsh literature. It lay so dormant that it wasn't translated into English until 1849 when Lady Charlotte Guest's version appeared. The tales comprise an ensemble of parts. The text identifies the first four "Pwyll", "Branwen", "Manawydan", and "Math" as the Four Branches of the Mabinogi. It was Lady Charlotte who supplied the title Mabinogion. Previously, the tales were simply identified as part of this or that manuscript. Each of the Four Branches ends with the term 'So ends this Branch of the Mabinogi.' The Welsh word 'mab' means boy. Lady Charlotte concluded that 'mabinogi' was a noun meaning 'a story for children' and that the word 'mabinogion' was its plural. Mabinogi is a genuine Welsh word, but in these texts it applies only to the Four Branches in which it appears.
Just how extensively these stories found their way into writing is uncertain. The earliest copy of the complete Mabinogion is the 'Red Book of Hergest' (c. 1400). An earlier manuscript called 'The White Book of Rhydderch' (c. 1325) is incomplete but more than likely contained all eleven tales when it was whole. Fragments of these tales appear elsewhere, the earliest of which is believed to be 'Peniarth 6' which dates to c. 1225. The stories presumably took shape to their present form between 1000 and 1250 - what they were like before that is beyond conjecture. Welsh scholars tend to favour the earlier circa, wanting to maximize the extent of their ancestors' contribution to The Mabinogion - while French scholars argue for 1200 or 1250 with the same thing in mind. Ifor Williams proposed 1060 as a likely date and gives a number of arguments: the occurrence of outdated word-forms in the text, the scarcity of French words, references to extinct customs, and the peaceful period 1055-63 which was a time of bards from north and south to exchange and tell their tales.
Regardless of their origin, The Mabinogion is a truly colourful piece of Welsh literature that gives way to compelling and
dramatic narratives that fill the readers' mind with the vibrancy and imaginative nature of the Celtic people. These tales encompass
history and pseudo-history and best known are the accounts of Arthur who appears in five tales. The harsh realities of history are
softened by wishful thinking. They enthrall the mind with ancient and primitive imagery which are true to the Celts escapist nature,
and although their form is fragmented, these tales are treasures and are now preserved for all antiquity.