History of the Kings (Peniarth 23C)


The History of the Kings, or Brut y Brenhinedd, is a Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. The manuscript, which was copied in the late fifteenth century, is probably the only illustrated Welsh-language medieval narrative. It is part of the Peniarth Manuscripts collection at the National Library of Wales.
The text of Peniarth 23C is written on parchment and decorated with fifty-nine illustrations, of which fifty-seven are of kings, and some illuminated initial letters, including zoomorphic forms. It is probable that it was produced in North Wales.