Iolo Morganwg - Literary Career

Literary Career

From an early date Williams was concerned with preserving, and maintaining, the literary and cultural traditions of Wales. To this end he produced a large number of manuscripts as evidence for his claims that ancient druidic tradition had survived the Roman conquest, the conversion of the populace to Christianity, the persecution of the bards under King Edward I, and other adversities. In his forgeries he develops an elaborate mystical philosophy which he claimed represented a direct continuation of ancient druidic practice. Williams's reported heavy use of laudanum may have been a contributing factor.

Williams first came to public notice in 1789 when he produced Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym, a collection of the poetry of the 14th-century Dafydd ap Gwilym. Included in this edition was a large number of previously unknown poems by Dafydd that he claimed to have discovered; these poems are regarded as Williams's first forgeries. His success led him to return to London in 1791. There he founded the Gorsedd, a community of Welsh bards, at a ceremony on 21 June 1792 at Primrose Hill. He organised the proceedings, which he claimed were based on ancient druidic rites. In 1794 he published some of his own poetry, which was later collected in the two-volume Poems, Lyric and Pastoral. Essentially his only genuine work, it proved quite popular.

Williams worked with Owen Jones and William Owen Pughe on The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, a three-volume collection of medieval Welsh literature published between 1801 and 1807. The Myvyrian Archaiology relied partially on manuscripts in Williams's collection, some of which included his forgeries. Forged material included a false Brut chronicle and a book attributed to Saint Cadoc. The second volume, which collected the Welsh Triads, contained an additional "third series" of forged triads, as well as Williams's alterations to the authentic ones.

After Williams's death some of his collection was compiled into The Iolo Manuscripts by his son, Taliesin Williams. His papers were used by many later scholars and translators, and were used for reference by Lady Charlotte Guest as she was translating the prose collection Mabinogion. Guest did not, however, rely on William's editions of the tales themselves except for Hanes Taliesin. Later still, more of Williams's forgeries were published in the text known as Barddas. This work, published in two volumes in 1862 and 1874, was claimed to have been a translation of works by Llywelyn Siôn detailing the history of the Welsh bardic system from its ancient origins to the present day. Though it contains nothing of authentic druidic lore, it is the fullest account of the mystical cosmology Williams developed. Other works by Williams include the "Druid's Prayer", still used by the Gorsedd and by neo-druid groups; a treatise on Welsh metrics called Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain ("The Mystery of the Bards of the Isle of Britain"), published posthumously in 1828; and a series of hymns published as Salmau yr Eglwys yn yr Anialwch in 1812.