Coelbren y Beirdd

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One of the "peithynen" frames containing the alphabet

The Coelbren y Beirdd (English: "Bards' alphabet") is a runic alphabet system created in the
late eighteenth century by the literary forger Edward Williams, best known as Iolo
Morganwg.[1]
The alphabet system consisted of twenty letters and twenty other representations of elongated
vowels that resembled Ancient Greek and could be carved on four-sided pieces of wood and
fitted into a frame he called a "peithynen". Williams presented wooden druidic alphabets to
friends and notables, and succeeded in persuading many of its authenticity.[2]
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 Iolo Manuscripts and two manuscripts in Barddas, one
with the subtitle "yn dorredig a chyllell". Iolo Morganwg suggested they were originally the
work of bards from Glamorgan who had their manuscripts copied into collections stored
at Plas y Fan, Neath Abbey, Margam Abbey and Raglan Library, and compiled by Meurig
Dafydd and Lewys Morgannwg, amongst others, in the 1700s. These were suggested to have
again been transcribed by Edward Dafydd, John Bradford and Llywelyn Siôn. Moganwg
suggested that he had collected some of Siôn and Bradford's manuscripts, while the majority,
including all of Lewys Morgannwg's sources, were lost. This claim to authenticity has been
questioned by numerous scholars such as Glyn Cothi Lewis.[5][6][7][8]
See alsoEdit
 Ogham

ReferencesEdit
1. ^ "Archived copy of "Coelbren y Beirdd – The Bardic Alphabet"". Archived from the
original on 17 November 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
2. ^ Jane Williams (18 November 2010). A History of Wales: Derived from Authentic Sources.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-1-108-02085-5. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
3. ^ Williams, Taliesin., (ab Iolo), Coelbren Y Beirdd; a Welsh Essay on the Bardic Alphabet,
W. Rees, Llandovery, 1840.
4. ^ Rob Williams (1852). A biographical dictionary of eminent Welshmen., from the earliest
times to the present. W. Rees. pp. 536–. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
5. ^ Cambrian Archaeological Association (1846). Archaeologia cambrensis. W. Pickering.
pp. 472–. Retrieved 8 November2012.
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ Marion Löffler (2007). The literary and historical legacy of Iolo Morganwg, 1826–1926.
University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-2113-3. Retrieved 24 October 2012.

External linksEdit
 Coelbren y Beirdd at the University of Wales
 Coelbren y Beirdd in Barddas on Sacred Texts
 The People's Collection Wales, Coelbren y Beirdd – The Bardic Alphabet