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There are several genealogical tracts covering the late Brythonic/Early Cymricc kings and kingdoms. These tracts are usually included in other manuscripts and are listed below according to the date of the parent MSS. These texts show the descent of some of the early Cymric (Welsh) rulers of both Wales and the North of Britain. They also show the descent of some of the Cymric gods and this is why these texts are so important.
Hareleian MS 3859 resides in the British Library and is the only MS that contains the whole of the Historia Brittonum in its fullest form (but not the prologue). It also contains what is by far the oldest versions of the Annales Cambriae and the Welsh dynastic genealogies. It seems as if Harleian 3859 was written at the end of the 11th century from an earlier prototype and probably edited by an ecclesiastical figure (possibly the monk known as 'Nennius' to whom the Historia Brittonum is usually credited). As the genealogies themselves begin with Owain ap Hywel Dda it is generally presumed that they were originally compiled during his reign (that is between 950 and 987) but are obviously based on oral traditions of a much older date.
The 'Descent of the Saints' represents the lineages of the early Cymric saints and represents most as being of royal descent. There are a total of two dozen different manuscripts ranging in date from the early thirteenth century to the late seventeenth century, although the material is much older in origin and was probably compiled at Tŷ Ddewi (St Davids) or Mynyw.
This text exists in a number of manuscripts, the oldest of which is Peniarth MS 45 which is dated to the dated to the second half of the thirteenth century. Its genealogies overlap with those of the Harleian MS (above) and the Jesuc College MS (below).
Mostyn MS 117 (also known as Bonedd yr Arwyr (Descent of the Heroes) is a late thirteenth century manuscirpt now housed in the Llyfrgell Celedlaethol Cymru (National Library of Wales). It is one of the few documents to record the genealogy of Arthur himself.
A late fourteenth century manuscript containing prose, poetry and genealogies. The MSS is avialable in digital representation as part of the Early Manuscripts at Oxford University digital image initiative. A copy of the manuscript exists as Peniarth MS 120.
During the mid ninth century a rather interesting monument, called Colofn Eliseg (the Pillar of Elise) was erected at Valle Crucis Abbey, Powys. The pillar now lies borken (it would once have bourne a cross at its summit) near Llangollen and was erected by Cyngen, prince of Powys in memory of his grandfather, Eliseg. The shaft bears an elaborate Latin inscription (which is severlely weathered today). Thankfully the antiquarian, Edward Llwyd recorded considerable portions of the column in 1696 as a result much of the text can be re-constructed and the reconstructed text is presented on this site.
