[30] Such, at any rate, is Rhys’s opinion. See Preface to Dent’s _Malory_, p. xxxv. [31] See p. 142 in Nutt’s reprint of Lady C. Guest’s _Mabinogion_. [32] _Op. cit._, p. 139. [33] See note _B_ on p. 138. [34] Tennyson, _The Passing of Arthur_. [35] Skene’s _Four Ancient Books of Wales_, Vol. I. p. 311. [36] _Op. cit._, p. 291. [37] Layamon, in his _Brut_ (l. 28,533), is the first to locate the battle definitely at this place. [38] Preface to Rolls Edition of Roger of Hoveden’s _Chronicle_. [39] For an interesting comparison between the _Chronicle_ and Nennius in respect to the Arthurian period, see Fletcher, _Arthurian Matter in the Chronicles_, pp. 21-23. [40] The account of this incident is given in Migne’s _Patrologia_, 156, col. 983. [41] _Prophetia Anglicana_, etc. (Frankfort, 1603), Bk. I. p. 17. [42] _Hist. Reg. Angl._, Bk. III. [43] Published in Rolls Series, _Chronicles of Stephen_, etc., iv. p. 65. [44] Quoted from the Epilogue to the late Dr Sebastian Evans’s translation of Geoffrey’s _History_ (Temple Classics, 1904). [45] Lady Charlotte Guest’s translation contains twelve tales, but one of these, the _History of Taliesin_, is from a late sixteenth century MS. and has no claim to rank with the rest as a genuine mediæval production. [46] _Arthurian Legend_, p. 6. “The Triads give us the oldest account of Arthur, and this now and then in a form which the story-tellers and romance-writers found thoroughly untractable and best ignored.” [47] There are, of course, more than four “ancient books” in the Welsh language--for example, the MS. of what is known as the Venedotian code of the laws of Wales, and _The White Book of Rhydderch_, the contents of which have recently been made accessible to Welsh readers in Dr Gwenogvryn Evans’s fine edition. But Skene’s “four books” contain all the oldest Welsh poetry that is of any account. These four, named in chronological order, are known as _The Black Book of Carmarthen_ (twelfth century), _The Book of Aneirin_, _The Book of Taliesin_, and _The Red Book of Hergest_. [48] _The Study of Celtic Literature._ [49] See Skene, _Four Ancient Books_, Vol. I. p. 295. [50] See Gwenogvryn Ewans’s edition of _The Black Book_, p. 103. [51] Skene, _Four Ancient Books_, I. p. 426. [52] Skene, _Four Ancient Books_, I. p. 308. [53] Rhys, Preface to Dent’s edition of _Malory_, p. xxv, where a full account of these three poems is given. [54] Skene, _Four Ancient Books_, I. p. 266. [55] Tryvrwyd, in the form _Tribruit_, is one of the twelve battles recorded by Nennius. See _ante_, Chap. I. [56] All the names here cited are found also in the prose story of _Kulhwch and Olwen_. The connection of the poem with _Kulhwch_ is referred to later on. [57] See Preface to Dent’s _Malory_, where a translation of the whole poem is given, and its correspondences with _Kulhwch and Olwen_ are pointed out.