Cylchgronau Cymru

THE CAMBRIAN JOURNAL. No. VI.—FEBRUARY, 1855. BIOGRAPHY, &c. STUDIES IN BRITISH BIOGRAPHY. No. II. THE LAWS OF DYVYNWAL MOELMTJD. In the first paper of this series, an attempt was made to discover the real biography of this reputed legislator; and it will be recollected that his history proved to be exceedingly meagre and unsubstantial. It was found that no two accounts agreed respecting any part of his life and actions—that wide discrepancies exist in the dates —that two, if not three, distinct parentages are imputed to him, and that the reputed antiquity of Dyvynwal Moelmud rests wholly and solely on the authority of that convicted fabulist—Geoffrey of Monmouth. The genea¬ logies, whenever they ascend through the Roman period, have been shown to be frequently fictitious, and generally corrupt.—(Rees' Welsh Saints, pp. 90-92). They are very often discrepant, and are always unsatisfactory autho¬ rities; and though, in this instance, the balance of their testimony seems to be against the antiquity of our lawgiver* there is no great reliance to be placed upon them. Then as to the historical Triads, their testimony is doubly con¬ ditional, for they simply show that Dyvynvarth ab Pryd- ain lived in the days of Plennydd, Alawn and Gwron, whenever that was. If Dyvynvarth and Dyvynwal were VOL. II. f