Coelbren y Beirdd
The Coelbren y Beirdd (English: "Bards' lot") is an script created in the late eighteenth century by the literary forger Edward Williams, best known as Iolo Morganwg.[1]
The script, an alphabet compared to that of Ancient Greek by Welsh writer Jane Williams, consisted of forty letters- twenty base letters, and a further twenty devoted to long vowels and consonant mutations. It could be carved on four-sided pieces of wood and fitted into a frame called a "peithynen".[1][2] Morganwg presented wooden druidic alphabets to friends and notables, and succeeded in persuading many of its authenticity.
A Welsh Bardic and Druidic essay, written by his son Taliesin Williams and published as a pamphlet in 1840, defended the authenticity of the alphabet and won the Abergavenny Eisteddfod in 1838.[3][4]
Taliesin Williams's book was written about other Coelbrennau'r Beirdd, which is the name of a Welsh language manuscript in the
Table of letters in Celtic Researches (1804) by Edward Davies (1756–1831):
See also
References
- ^ a b "Archived copy of "Coelbren y Beirdd – The Bardic Alphabet"". Archived from the original on 17 November 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
- ISBN 978-1-108-02085-5. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- ^ Williams, Taliesin., (ab Iolo), Coelbren Y Beirdd; a Welsh Essay on the Bardic Alphabet, W. Rees, Llandovery, 1840.
- ^ Rob Williams (1852). A biographical dictionary of eminent Welshmen., from the earliest times to the present. W. Rees. pp. 536–. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-9500251-9-3. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ Lewis (Glyn Cothi) (1837). Gwaith Lewis Glyn Cothi: The Poetical Works of Lewis Glyn Cothi, a Celebrated Bard, who Flourished in the Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry VII. Hughes. pp. 260–. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ Iolo Morganwg; Owen Jones; Society for the Publication of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts, Abergavenny (1848). Iolo manuscripts: A selection of ancient Welsh manuscripts, in prose and verse, from the collection made by the late Edward Williams, Iolo Morganwg, for the purpose of forming a continuation of the Myfyrian archaiology; and subsequently proposed as materials for a new history of Wales. W. Rees; sold by Longman and co., London. pp. 10–. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-7083-2113-3. Retrieved 24 October 2012.