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The Four Ancient Books of Wales [black Book of Carmarthen, Book of Haneirin, Book of Taliesin, Red Book of Hergest] Containing the Cymric Poems
The Four Ancient Books of Wales Containing the Cymric Poems - black Book of Carmarthen, Book of Haneirin, Book of Taliesin, Red Book of Hergest Author:William Forbes Skene Title: The Four Ancient Books of Wales [black Book of Carmarthen, Book of Haneirin, Book of Taliesin, Red Book of Hergest] Containing the Cymric Poems Attributed to the Bards of the Sixth Century, by W.f. Skene General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1868 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It... more » has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III. SOURCES OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF WALES. In order to discriminate between what is true and what is fabulous in the early history of Wales as presented to us in the historic literature subsequent to the twelfth century, and to disentangle the fragments of real history contained in them, so as to enable us to form something like a true conception of its leading features, it is necessary to test it by comparing it with the statements in contemporary authorities of other countries, and by referring to such earlier native documents as have come down to us. Of the latter class there are only three, and it is requisite that we should form a right conception of their authority. The first are the works of Gildas, who wrote in Latin. They are usually considered as consisting of two pieces, the Historia and the Epistola, but they may be viewed as forming one treatise. Questions have been raised upon the lives of Gildas, as to whether there was one or two persons of the name -- an earlier and a later ; but, viewing the question in its literary aspect, it is of little consequence, for the treatise is evidently the work of one man, and there is evidence in the work itself of his date. The writer states that he was Vol. i. i born in the year in which the battle of Badon was fought, and that he wrote forty-four years after. According to the oldest Welsh annals, the battle of Badon was fought in th...« less