THE MANUSCRIPTS / TRIOEDD YNYS PRYDEIN
A story remembered
three ways.
The Triads of the Island of Britain. Names, places and reputations held in small groups, with a larger story waiting behind each.
THE OLDER THREAD
A catalogue
with depth beneath it.
The Welsh Triads gather figures and traditions into groups of three. Many are compact catalogues rather than poems: a striking description and a cluster of names can point towards a much larger tale.
The tradition survives in medieval manuscripts, including Peniarth 16 and the later White and Red Books. Siân Echard’s manuscript guide ↗ provides a route into those witnesses.
Griffin Pendry’s reference edition is Rachel Bromwich’s fourth edition of Trioedd Ynys Prydein (2014). It is one of the major influences he identifies for The Silent Summer.
SELECTED FILES
Three starting points.
The Battle-Diademed Men
Before the familiar knight
Cai appears in an older Welsh catalogue of formidable warriors. What happens when a famous name becomes a person again?
OPEN THE FILE ↗36The Three Oppressions
The enemy that hears
The Coraniaid connect a triadic catalogue of oppression with the unsettling problem of speech that cannot remain private.
OPEN THE FILE ↗37The Three Concealments / the related disclosures
What an island keeps hidden
A head, bones and dragons: the island’s protection is remembered through things concealed in its landscape.
OPEN THE FILE ↗