The Mabinogi
Legend and Landscape of Wales

The Mabinogi:
Legend and Landscape of Wales

The Mabinogi, also known as The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, is a set of four tales written in Wales in the late eleventh century by an unknown master of Medieval Welsh prose.  Each tale, or branch, can stand independently and be read on its own, but there are numerous explicit, implicit, and thematic links between them and The Mabinogi is best understood as a single, unified literary work, providing readers both then and now with a remarkable world view and a deep understanding of human nature.  While the author draws on mythological tales and characters derived from a pre-Christian Celtic mythological past, The Mabinogi is not mythology -- certainly not in the primary sense.  Rather, it uses the magic and mystery of an earlier age to explore the ways in which we create bonds of friendship, love, and loyalty, and in which we distort and break these same bonds, resulting in shame, dishonor, war, and death.

The Mabinogi is suitable for all but the youngest children, but it is not meant for children.  Indeed, it can satisfy the most demanding reader and the most sophisticated literary taste.  This new translation presents to the reader an accurate and close rendering, reflecting the original Middle Welsh text in a Modern English idiom.   And for the very first time, the tales are accompanied by stunning photographs of the places mentioned in them, allowing the reader a glimpse of the magical landscape of Wales where the tales take place and where the Welsh inhabitants today are daily reminded of the characters and events recounted in this classic of European literature.

What does Mabinogi mean?  
What is "The Mabinogion"?
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The Mabinogi
Legend and Landscape of Wales
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John K. Bollard is considered one of the world's leading authorities on the Four Branches of The Mabinogi.  He received an MA in Medieval Welsh Language, Literature, and History from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and a PhD in Medieval Celtic and English literature from the University of Leeds. 

For the author's personal website, click here.
To contact the author, click here.

Anthony Griffiths is well known as a guitarist and Welsh landscape photographer.  He is a former winner of the Photography Prize at the National Eisteddfod.  For information about his CD of traditional Celtic and original compositions, Ysbryd: The Spirit of the Celtic Guitar, click here.