Evans J. Gwenogbryn (ed.) The Black Book Of Carmarthen

The Black Book of Carmarthen, so called because of the colour of its binding and its connection with the Priory of St John the Evangelist and Teulyddog, Carmarthen, is now thought by modern scholars to be the work of a single scribe writing at different periods of his life before and about the year 1250. This makes it one of the earliest surviving manuscripts written solely in the Welsh language. It was designated one of the 'Four Ancient Books of Wales' by William Forbes Skene (1809-92), although he believed it to have been written much earlier in the twelfth century.