Texts

Buchedd Collen

  • Middle Welsh, Early Modern Welsh
  • prose

Late vernacular Welsh Life of St Collen, which is attested in manuscripts from the 16th century onwards.

Language
  • Middle Welsh Early Modern Welsh
Form
prose (primary)

Classification

Subjects

Collen
Collen
(supp. fl. c.600?)
British saint associated with Llangollen (Denbighshire, Wales) and possibly with Langolen (Finistère, Brittany) and Colan (Cornwall).

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Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Williams, Hywel Gwynn, “‘Llyma ystoria Kollen vilwr’: golygiad o Fuchedd Collen”, MA thesis, University of Wales, Cardiff, 2003.
Text from Llanstephan 117.
[ed.] Delpino, Mary Irene Roach, “A study of ‘Ystoria Collen’ and the British ‘peregrini’”, PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1980.
Texts from Cardiff MS 2.629 and Llanstephan 34.
[ed.] Bartrum, Peter C., Early Welsh genealogical tracts, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1966. x + 228 pp.
30–31; 133 (notes) Extracts.
[ed.] Parry-Williams, T. H. (ed.), Rhyddiaith Gymraeg, gyfrol I: detholion o lawysgrifau, 1488-1609, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1954.
36–41 Text from Cardiff MS 2.629.
[ed.] Baring-Gould, Sabine, and John Fisher, The lives of the British saints: the saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish saints as have dedications in Britain, 4 vols, vol. 4: [S. Nectan-S. Ystyffan, Appendices], London: The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1913.
Internet Archive: <link>, <link>
375–378 Text from Cardiff MS 2.629.
[ed.] “Buchedd Collen”, Y greal 8 (Mawrth 21, 1807): 337–344.
Welsh Journals Online: <link>

Secondary sources (select)

Zhao, Xiezhen, “Dreams in medieval Welsh literature”, PhD thesis, Cardiff University, 2021.  
abstract:

This study examines dreams found in medieval Welsh literature from c. 1100 to c. 1550. The scope of the research covers secular and religious prose and poetry of the period. The purpose of this study is to provide an insight into dream literature in medieval Welsh by analysing the various functions of dreams in different types of texts in relation to the narratives and genres. Chapter 1 lays out the conceptual and methodological framework necessary for analyses in the subsequent chapters, and maps out the European context of medieval Welsh dream literature. Chapters 2 examines dreams in medieval Welsh prose, including the two ‘breuddwyd’ texts of the Mabinogion and three texts belonging to the genre of areithiau pros. Chapter 3 examines dreams in medieval Welsh secular poetry. Chapter 4 examines dreams in medieval Welsh religious writings, including hagiographies and anti-hagiographies, apocalyptic and mystic visions. Finally, a conclusion summarises the roles that dreams play in different textual contexts within the field of medieval Welsh literature, and in which I argue that ‘breuddwyd’ does not constitue a specific genre; instead, working within the various contexts and genres in which Welsh texts containing dreams are situated, the dreams play an essential and dynamic part in the formation of the plot, world-building, liminality, as well as have the capacity for revealing many interesting features of the text.

 : <link>
Williams, Hywel Gwynn, “Pope, propaganda and unchristian saint in the Life of the soldier, Collen”, Quaestio Insularis 4 (2003): 57–69.
Murphy, Gerard, Duanaire Finn: The book of the lays of Fionn, 3 vols, vol. 3: Introduction, notes, appendices and glossary, Irish Texts Society, 43, London: Irish Texts Society, 1953.
Internet Archive: <link>
203–204 (App. G) Note by Idris L. Foster on the Gwyn ap Nudd episode.
Baring-Gould, Sabine, and John Fisher, The lives of the British saints: the saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish saints as have dedications in Britain, 4 vols, vol. 2: [S. Faustus-S. Mynno], London: The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1908.
Internet Archive: <link>, <link> Internet Archive: <link>, <link>
157–161
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
June 2022, last updated: June 2023