This is the original version of the poem Marwolaeth Tawel Cynddelw Bardd Fawr (The Gentle Death of Cynddelw the Great Bard) from the the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (Black Book of Carmarthen). It is rendered as close as possible to the original using my font, Mabinogi Celtic which is free for anyone to download and install.

Mar﬍sgafn G﬍n﬒el Br﬍﬍﬒ Mar

⮙﬑ledic arbennic ebﬓn aad.
rbarc﬉ o ﬍uarc﬉. o. ﬍uaenad.
Ẏnigabil barabil a r﬍parad.
⮭﬍ er i﬉ irpuill. anuill angulad.
Can ﬋id piodaur. can ui﬒ meidra﬒ maur.
c^an ui﬒ ig﬉oaur guaur goleua﬒.
Can ui﬒ bron proffuﬓ﬒. can ui﬒ ﬓna﬒.
can uﬓ﬒ ie﬋ ﬉ael. can ui﬒. oia﬒.

Can ulﬓd. a﬉ro ﬓm. nam e﬉r﬍ad. o﬉. ﬋ann.
o﬉ ﬋aran. o﬉ ﬋ireﬓn gulad.
am diaul o﬉. . ﬋ ec﬉eiad.
am gellic ﬍m plic ﬓm pled dira﬒.
am gollug o﬉ la﬑. gualluſ read.
am ellug ga llu du digarad.

⮙ledic arbennﬓc. ban geneiſ e. o.﬉onau﬒.
id oe ae﬉au﬒ ﬓmi. ar a re﬉eiſ.
id eie﬋. ﬍ er﬒. ﬍g ein erei.
id ei﬍ed e﬒ men ﬍ keei.
id e ﬍m cre﬑i des diffleis.
﬍ guneu﬉u. am﬉uill na ﬉uill. a ﬉reis.
id e du﬉unaur a ﬉an﬒eneiſ.
i﬒ e oi ne. ir neb n﬑﬍ ei.
id ﬑﬍ o ai a en﬍eiſ.
id ﬑﬍ o o﬇ru﬍ a ob﬍neiſ.
id po﬉i ﬍uic r﬍uegeiſ im bron.
id po﬉i penid. ﬍﬋e﬍leiſ.
In adau﬒ ﬍ en ﬍dam﬑neﬓs.
R﬍did im eneid. eid r﬍iole.




Follow these links for the Celtnet Poetry archive and the Black Book of Carmarthen information page.




The poem given above is transcribed directly from the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (Black Book of Carmarthen), with reference to Blodeugerdd Barddas o'r Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Ddeg edited by Dafydd Johnston and to AHO Jarman's diplomatic edition of the text. Letters or words obviously missing from the text are enclosed in square brackets [ ] and letters or words that are either superfluous to the metre or which are erroniously copied in the original are indicated in italic text.

As well as being a treasure trove of ancient poetry the Llyfr Du also contains a number of marginalia, including drawings and notes. As such it is also a resource of Medieval imagery. I have reproduced some of these images and they are presented here.