Medieval Welsh literature
By: Andrew Breeze.
Publisher: Four Courts Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Dublin; Portland, OR
Language: eng
Number of pages: 174
Subjects: Dafydd ap Gwilym, 14th cent. -- Criticism and interpretation.; Mabinogion.; Welsh literature -- To 1550 -- History and criticism.; Wales -- Intellectual life -- To 1500.; Wales -- In literature.
Description: In this book, the first general history of the literature of medieval Wales, Andrew Breeze surveys the development of this subject over the course of a millennium, including the heroic poems of Aneirin and Taliesin, tales of magic and romance in 'The Mabinogion', and the comic genius of the fourteenth-century bard Dafydd ap Gwilym. Dr Breeze discloses the authorship of the centrepiece of medieval Welsh literature, The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, revealing it to have been written by a woman, Gwenllian, the wife of Gruffydd ap Rhys, prince of Dyfed. She emerges from this study as the greatest of Welsh prose writers, and among the first rank of medieval women writers. Written for the general reader in an accessible style, Medieval Welsh Literature incorporates the latest research in the field.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-165) and index.