This anthology of Welsh poems from c.575 to c.1525 offers the general reader the most substantial collection of medieval Welsh verse yet rendered into English, in translations that will support the claim that this poetry is one of the finest literary achievements of the Middle Ages. Drawing on Professor Clancy's acclaimed Medieval Welsh Lyrics (1965) and The Earliest Welsh poetry (1970) this comprehensive anthology presents over 150 poems, eloquently translated that render poetry as poetry. A lucid introduction, ample notes and a glossary provide the background needed for a full appreciation of the poems.

Welsh Court Poems is the first of ten volumes in the new Library of Medieval Welsh Literatureseries, which aims to make Middle Welsh literature available to English-speaking scholars and students who wish to study it in its original language. In keeping with that aim, Welsh Court Poems makes the poetry of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries available for the first time to this readership--presenting thirty-three of the 236 poems published by the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. Each poem appears in the original Middle Welsh accompanied by a full scholarly apparatus in English, providing a point of entry for any scholar interested in Middle Welsh poetry itself or researching comparative literature in other languages, other periods of Welsh literature, and medieval history.

For over a thousand years, Arthur has had widespread appeal and influence like no other literary character or historical figure. Yet, despite the efforts of modern scholars, the earliest references to Arthurian characters are still shrouded in uncertainty. They are mostly found in poetic texts scattered throughout the four great compilations of early and medieval Welsh literature produced between 1250 and 1350. Whilst some are thought to predate their manuscript sources by several centuries, many of these poems are notoriously difficult to date. None of them are narrative in nature and very few focus solely on Arthurian material but they are characterised by an allusiveness which would have been appreciated by their intended audiences in the courts of princes and noblemen the length and breadth of Wales. They portray Arthur in a variety of roles: as a great leader of armies, a warrior with extraordinary powers, slayer of magical creatures, rescuer of prisoners from the Otherworld, a poet and the subject of prophecy. They also testify to the possibility of lost tales about him, his father, Uthr, his son, Llachau, his wife, Gwenhwyfar, and one of his companions, Cai, and associate him with a wide array of both legendary and historical figures. Arthur in Early Welsh Poetry, the fourth volume in the MHRA Library of Medieval Welsh Literature series, provides discussion of each of the references to Arthurian characters in early Welsh poetic sources together with an image from the earliest manuscript, a transliteration, a comprehensive edition, a translation (where possible) and a word-list. The nine most significant texts are interpreted in more detail with commentary on metrical, linguistic and stylistic features.

The four stories that make up the Mabinogi, along with three additional tales from the same tradition, form this collection and compose the core of the ancient Welsh mythological cycle. Included are only those stories that have remained unadulterated by the influence of the French Arthurian romances, providing a rare, authentic selection of the finest works in medieval Celtic literature. This landmark edition translated by Patrick K. Ford is a literary achievement of the highest order.

Down the centuries, poets have provided Wales with a window onto its own distinctive world. This book gives a sense of the view seen through that special window in twelve illustrated poems, each bringing very different periods and aspects of the Welsh past into focus. Together, they give the flavour of a poetic tradition, both ancient and modern, in the Welsh language and in English, that is internationally renowned for its distinction and continuing vibrancy.

Publisher description: This volume is unique in offering a comprehensive discussion of the Arthurian legend in Medieval Welsh literature. Little, if anything, is known historically of Arthur, yet for centuries the romances of Arthur and his court dominated the imaginative literature of Europe in many languages. The roots of this vast flowering of the Arthurian legend are to be found in early Welsh tradition and this volume gives an account of the Arthurian literature produced in Wales, in both Welsh and Latin, during the Middle Ages. The distinguished contributors offer a comprehensive view of recent scholarship relating to Arthurian literature in early Welsh and other Brythonic sources.