Welsh Herbalism

[Deleted]

Does anyone know anything about Welsh herbalism? I know the legend that the Physicians of Myddfai were descendants of the fairy from the lake in Carmarthenshire. But there are actual herbals produced by them I think from around the 12th century. I’ll be going to the National Botanical Garden of Wales soon which is in the area of Myddfai and they have some sort of centre named after the Physicians.. So I might be able to find out more then. But if anyone knows anything about them, or anything about Welsh herbalism, I’d like to hear it.

[nellie]

I haven't read the book and so can't comment on the contents, but the author has been recommended to me.

Welsh Herbal Medecine ~ David Hoffman

[Heron]

David Hoffman's Welsh Herbal Medicine , mentioned by Nellie, is an excellent book of its kind: a short introduction which manages to contain a wide range of detail. I think it’s now out of print but I bought a second hand copy about two years ago quite cheaply. It makes extensive use of The Physicians….

The digital edition of The Physicians …, mentioned by Helen, is also available in print in a Llanerch Publications facsimile reprint, now available in paperback. I’m sure there will be a copy in the Botanic Garden bookshop if you want to inspect it.

As you read Welsh, you may also like to get Llysiau Rhinweddol by Ann Jenkins if it’s still available. This is a series of painted illustrations by the author together with verses in which the ‘virtues’ of the herbs are related. There is also a prose appendix giving more detail. A genuine modern expression of traditional folk wisdom.

We ought to get more of this out in the open, if only to show it’s not just the heathens who have source texts on leechcraft and wortcunning. And from faërie origins

[Deleted]

Thank you all for responding. I'll look for those books. I've already checked the digital Myddfai, it's a bit difficult to read properly in the format I chose, maybe I'll try another, and will certainly look in the B Gardens bookshop for a print copy or look one out somewhere else.

What would be the Brythonic equivalents of the words 'leechcraft and wortcunning'?

[Heron]

Oct 31, 2011 15:55:00 GMT -1 @hamadryad said:

What would be the Brythonic equivalents of the words 'leechcraft and wortcunning'?

I suppose something like the literal ‘gêl-grefft’ for leechcraft and ‘llyshysbysiaeth’ for wortcunning - the latter by analogy with ‘dyn hysbys’ (cunning man) might be worth trying. But I know of no original forms of these terms. Perhaps ‘gêl-feddyginiaeth’ would be more natural for ‘leechcraft’ and something like ‘llys-hudoliaeth’ for ‘wortcunning’. The hyphens may or may not be necessary.

But these are, of course, based on Welsh rather than original Brythonic forms

[Deleted]

Hm, I suppose those Welsh words work well enough ... it would be nice to hear what the older forms might be.

Thanks for the advice Helen

I've been looking at the introduction to the Myddfai book. Can anyone be certain how reliable it is? There is mention of Iolo Morgannwg. As the original is at Oxford University I suppose it can be trusted. What do modern experts think of it?

[Heron]

Nov 2, 2011 18:45:37 GMT -1 @hamadryad said:

Hm, I suppose those Welsh words work well enough ... it would be nice to hear what the older forms might be.

Thanks for the advice Helen

I've been looking at the introduction to the Myddfai book. Can anyone be certain how reliable it is? There is mention of Iolo Morgannwg. As the original is at Oxford University I suppose it can be trusted. What do modern experts think of it?

I checked this in the library this afternoon. There is one later - English-only edition of the Physicians ... with an recent Introduction. This states that "the first part ... is from the Red Book in Jesus College, Oxford, collated with ... [the legend]. The second part was from a manuscript which had been transcribed by William Bona in 1743 from the book of John Jones, who seems to have been the last lineal descendant of the Physicians...".

But this seems to be naive, especially as, ten years before this edition, Morfudd Owen had published an article in the scholarly journal Studia Celtica (X/XI, 1975/6) examining a range of early Welsh medical manuscripts. She says of The Physicians ... "The first of these texts is a copy of a genuine mediaeval text, the second appears to be a fabrication of Iolo Morganwg." She says that Iolo stitched together some genuine mediaeval fragments with additions of his own to make a coherent whole.

So you were right to be suspicious! What we clearly have in the first part is material written down in the thirteenth or fourteenth century from what seems to have been an earlier oral tradition of herbal medicine. There are other mentions of the Physicians before Ab Ithel's edition, but only there is the link with the Llyn y Fan legend made. Iolo's addition is based on scraps of genuine material that he probably dug out of various manuscript sources, but improved in his typical fashion of imagining what he thought (no doubt in an inspired way) ought to be there.

So there you have it.

[Deleted]

Oh, that’s very useful thanks

I’m just going to put something on my blog about visiting the Botanic Garden and the Physicians of Myddfai so at least I’ll know what I’m talking about.

I’ve got the Myddfai book, and I’ve also ordered ‘Welsh Herbal Medicine’ second-hand from an Amazon private seller for just one pence (plus £2.70. postage). There are a few others available at similar prices.

So thanks for all the advice.