The Mabinogion - An introduction.
The
tales of the Mabinogion are not the product of any single
hand; evolving over the centuries, passed from storyteller
to storyteller, until some master bard put them together
around the twelfth century. Its contents draw upon the
myths and history of Celtic Britain: four branches of a
storyline set largely within the confines of Wales and the
otherworld.
The tales create a dreamlike atmosphere and preserve much
of the primitive, fascinating world of Celtic myth. They
exemplify the heroic and idealistic world of Celtic
literature. The Mabinogion does not seem to have been very
well known until its translation into English in 1849 when
Lady Charlotte Guest's version appeared. The tales comprise
an ensemble of parts, the first four "Pwyll", "Branwen",
"Manawydan", and "Math" comprising 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 'son'. Lady Charlotte concluded
that 'mabinogi' was a noun meaning 'a story for children'
and that the word 'mabinogion' was its plural. Another
interpretation is that the word mabinog refers to "a
student in the bardic class" and mabinogi (pl. mabinogion)
therefore being "a tale belonging to the mabinog's
repertoire".
The Mabinogion are found in the "Red Book of Hergest", a
large fourteenth-century manuscript kept at Jesus College,
Oxford. An earlier manuscript called 'The White Book of
Rhydderch' (c. 1325) is incomplete but more than likely
contained all the 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 were probably drawn up in their present shape
towards the end of the twelfth century, but the stories are
of much greater antiquity, some belonging even to the more
distant past of Celtic paganism and to the period of
Gallo-Breton unity. Welsh scholars tend to favour an
earlier amalgamation, wanting to maximize the extent of
their ancestors' contribution to The Mabinogion, while
French scholars argue for 1200 - 1250 CE with the same
thing in mind. Ifor Williams proposed 1060 CE 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outdated word forms in the text, the scarcity of French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.
It is interesting to note that in the main "Four Branches"
there is no mention of Arthur. Besides these four tales,
the Mabinogion includes two from romantic British history
("The Dream of Maxen Wledig" and "Lludd and Llevelys"), two
more interesting ones ("Rhonabwy's Dream" and "Kilhwch and
Olwen"), "Taliesin", and, finally, three tales ("Owain or
The Lady of the Fountain", "Gereint the Son of Erbin",
"Peredur ab Evrawc") which show a marked kinship with
certain medieval French tales.
The three-volume edition with English translation by Lady
Charlotte Guest was printed by Llandovery in 1849 with the
English translation alone appearing in an edition of 1879.
The Welsh text has been printed in a diplomatic edition,
"The Red Book of Hergest", by J. Rhys and J. Gwenogfryn
Evans (Oxford, 1887). Lady Guest's translation has been
re-edited with valuable notes by Alfred Nutt (London,
1902).