The Red Book of Hergest

Grove of the Great Dragon

Llyfr Coch Hergest

Written on vellum, 13 3/8" x 8 1/4", 362 folios. Bicolumnar, numbered 1--1442. Mostly written between 1375-1425, it is the work of on Hywel Fychan fab Hywel Goch of Fuellt, for his employer, Hopcyn ap Tomas ap Einion of Ynys Tawe. So called for the red leather binding, rebound again in moroccan leather added in 1851, and for the house of Hergest, Herfordshire, where it was compiled. Presented in 1701 to Jesus College, Oxford, by a Rev. T. Wilkins, of Llanbleithain, Glamorgan in Wales. It is best known as the source of the Mabinogion, as well as having much of its poetry reproduced in The Four Ancient Books of Wales. What is hyperlinked is what I can put up on the web at this time:

Folios iii-iv: beginning of Dares Phrygia in a later hand.
Folios v: blank
Folio vi: a brief index in a late hand
Folios vii-ix: blank.
The contents of the book are thus:

Columns	Contents (English)
Histories:
1-30 1.12	On the Fall of Troy
31-230 1.11	The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth
230 1.20-367 1.8	The Chronicle of the Princes
367 1.10-377 1.18	(about St. Gildas?)
377 1.19-380	The Counties of Wales
381-497	On Charlemagne
502 1.19-516 1.26
516 128-518 1.14	A Brief Chronicle
Miscellania:
520--527 1.39	Advice from a Wise Man to his Son
527 1.10-556 1.9	The Seven Sages of Rome
555 1.10-571 1.23:	The Dream of Rhonabwy
571 1.1--577 1.6	Prophecies of the Sybil
577 1.7--583 1.38	Dialogue Between Myrddin and His Sister Gwenddydd
584	Lament of Myrddin in his Grave
585 1.24
585 1.32
585 1.39
588 1.27	The Hergest Triads
588 1.41	When a Host Went Up to Llychlyn
590 1.34	Here Begin the Noble Triads
592
596	Triads of the Horses
598
600	The Names of the Isle of Britain
Romances
605	The Expedition of Charlemagne to Jerusalem and Constantinople, and his adventures with Hu Gadarn
627	Owain Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
655	Peredur Part 1a - Part 1b - Part 2 - Part 3
697	The Dream of Maxen
705	The Adventure of Lludd and Llefelys
The Four Branches of the Mabinogi
710	Pwyll, Lord of Dyfed
726	Branwen, Daughter of Llyr
739	Manawyddan, Son of Llyr
751	Math, son of Mathonwy
Other Romances
769	Gereint Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4
810	Culhwch and Olwen Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
845	Bown of Hampton
Miscellania
928	The Physicians of Myddfai's Herbal
964	Welsh Proverbs
975
998
999	The Chronicle of the Saxons
1022 1.9--1025:	(blank)
Poetry
1026	"Llewellyn and Gwrnerth"
1028	"The Mountain Snow"
*Poems Attributed to Llwyarch Hen:*
1030	"Let the cock's comb be red"
1031	"Usual is the Wind from the South"
	"The Calends of Winter"
1032	"Entangling Is the Snare"
1033	"Bright are the Ash-tops"
1034	"Sitting High Upon a Hill"
1036	"I Was Formerly Fair of Limb"
1039	"The Death of Urien"
1041	"Maenwynn, When I was Your Age..."
Other Poetry
1042	"Gereint Son of Erbin"
1043	The Heledd Cycle
1049	A Gift to Urien
1050	"Like a Wheel"
	"A Shout of War"
1051	"The Fleet of Mona"
	"Christ Jesus, Possessor of Light"
1053	"How Dismal it Is to See"
1054	"The First Address of Taliesin"
1055	"The Viaticum of Llevoed Wyneglawr"
*Miscellania*
	Proverbs
	The Romance of Amlyn and Amic
	A Welsh Grammar
	(More Poetry not translated.)