Welsh Journals

PEDIGREES OF THE WELSH TRIBAL PATRIARCHS MOST of the important Welsh families of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and many of the minor 'gentry' can be grouped into a number of tribes, each of which had, or claimed, a common an- cestor. These common ancestors, for want of a better term, I have called 'Patriarchs'. The manuscript codification of the family pedigrees, as far as they are extant, began towards the end of the fifteenth century and con- tinued to the end of the sixteenth century. After the year 1600 or so, very little new information appears concerning the early ancestors, what does appear is under suspicion, and in the process of copying much of the earlier material often became corrupt. The patriarchs themselves were generally provided with pedigrees which connected them with early royal lines or traditional heroes. In many cases these connecting links were probably fabrications, but even these are likely to have contained germs of tradition or legend. Before any proper study of such traditions can be made from the genealogies it is necessary to have the best possible texts on which to work, and the aim of this article is to provide such texts. In order to obtain the best versions I have worked through all the Welsh genealogical manuscripts known to me, from the earliest times up to the end of the sixteenth century, and many of those of later date. It became clear, that, as one would expect, the earlier versions were nearly always the best. By going through the manuscripts chronologically it has been possible to note the first extant appearance of any particular version (within rough limits). In the texts given below I have always listed such first appearances, although I have not always given them first priority, because, occasionally, later texts are better. Owing to the loss of early manuscripts it is certain that many, if not all, versions are older than would seem from the extant first appearance.1 They were doubtless kept as records by the families concerned long before they got into the genealogical collections which now survive. Examples which date in their original form from the thirteenth century have already appeared in ABT and HL. A fourteenth century pedigree which appears in its best form in an eighteenth century manuscript is given here (§ 25). References by the poets of the fourteenth century show that ancestral claims were being made, and probably pedigrees were being kept, by many families at that time.2 For the reasons stated above I have confined myself mainly to texts appearing up to the end of the sixteenth century. However, some families in Gwent, Brycheiniog and Morgannwg are not well represented in the earlier manuscripts and for these it has been necessary to quote from manuscripts of the seventeenth century. The lapse in style and accuracy of these is very noticeable.