The Red Book of Hergest
medieval manuscript
Quick Summary
The Red Book of Hergest is a medieval manuscript dating to around 1400. It is significant for preserving a cycle of poems about Llywarch Hen, a 6th-century Welsh hero. These poems, composed in the 9th or 10th century, recount struggles against Anglo-Saxons, heroic virtues, and laments for fallen heroes and the transience of life. The surviving verses are primarily in three-line stanzas called englynion. The manuscript also contains other Welsh tales, including those from the Mabinogion collection.12
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