BabelStone Coelbren y Beirdd is a font for the Coelbren y Beirdd "Bardic alphabet" created by the Welsh antiquarian Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams, 1747–1826) who claimed that this alphabet occured in various ancient druidic manuscripts that he had discovered. It was not until the end of the 19th century that Iolo was finally exposed as a forger of his discovered manuscripts, and the Bardic alphabets proved to be Iolo's own invention.
Various forms of the Coelbren y Beirdd letters are given by Iolo's son, Taliesin Williams, in his Traethawd, ar Hynafiaeth ac Awdurdodaeth Coelbren y Beirdd published in 1838. The BabelStone font is based on the letterforms shown by Edward Davies (1756–1831) in his Celtic Researches, On The Origin, Traditions & Language, of the Ancient Britons published in 1804, which seem to be relatively standard. The font also includes a number of variant letterforms attested in the examples shown below.
Bardic Lots of Letters (1804)
Edward Davies, Celtic Researches, On The Origin, Traditions & Language, of the Ancient Britons (London, 1804) plate 1 on page 272
Coelbren y Beirdd (1838)
Taliesin Williams, Traethawd, ar Hynafiaeth ac Awdurdodaeth Coelbren y Beirdd (Llandovery, 1838) page 26
Coelbren y Beirdd (1838)
Taliesin Williams, Traethawd, ar Hynafiaeth ac Awdurdodaeth Coelbren y Beirdd (Llandovery, 1838) pages 28–29 (Welsh language version on pp. 34–35)
There is not a large corpus of material written using Coelbren y Beirdd, but short examples of Welsh written in Coelbren y Beirdd letters can occasionally be encountered, as shown below.
Engraving of Mr. David Thomas, Eryri (1793)
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales
Y gwir yn erbyn y byd
The Doctrine of Baptism (1830)
Benjamin Jones, The Doctrine of Baptism, and the Works of Brutus, Considered = Athrawiaeth Bedydd, y'nghyd a Gweithredoedd Brutus (Caerfyrddin, [1830])
Brutus yn y rhigod
Painting of Dewi Wyn o Eifion (c. 1840)
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales
Dewi Gwyn.Eivion
Plaque commemorating Edward Williams in Cowbridge (1926)
[Y] gwir yn erbyn y byd
The table below renders each character in the BabelStone Coelbren y Beirdd font, either using the font installed on your local machine or using a WOFF font if the font is not installed on your local machine.
| Code Point | Glyph | Letter | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| U+E000 | | Awen symbol | |
| U+E001 | | a | |
| U+E002 | | â | |
| U+E003 | | e | |
| U+E004 | | ê | |
| U+E005 | | i | |
| U+E006 | | u | |
| U+E007 | | û | |
| U+E008 | | y | |
| U+E009 | | o | |
| U+E00A | | ô | |
| U+E00B | | w | |
| U+E00C | | ŵ | |
| U+E00D | | b | |
| U+E00E | | f, v | |
| U+E00F | | m | Mutated b |
| U+E010 | | m | |
| U+E011 | | v | |
| U+E012 | | p | |
| U+E013 | | ph | |
| U+E014 | | mh | |
| U+E015 | | ff, f | |
| U+E016 | | c | |
| U+E017 | | ch | |
| U+E018 | | ngh | |
| U+E019 | | g | |
| U+E01A | | ng | |
| U+E01B | | t | |
| U+E01C | | th | |
| U+E01D | | nh | |
| U+E01E | | d | |
| U+E01F | | dh, dd | |
| U+E020 | | n | Mutated d |
| U+E021 | | n | |
| U+E022 | | l | |
| U+E023 | | ll | |
| U+E024 | | r | |
| U+E025 | | rh | |
| U+E026 | | s | |
| U+E027 | | h | |
| U+E028 | | hw, chw | |
| U+E029 | | g | Alternate form shown in the painting of Dewi Wyn o Eifion |
| U+E02A | | rh | Alternate form shown in The Doctrine of Baptism |
| U+E02B | | r | Alternate form shown in the engraving of Mr. David Thomas |
| U+E02C | | â | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E02D | | m | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E02E | | m | Alternate form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E02F | | ch | Alternate form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E030 | | ngh | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E031 | | ngh | Alternate form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E032 | | e | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E033 | | ê | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E034 | | f | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E035 | | h | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E036 | | m | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E037 | | n | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E038 | | mh | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E039 | | r | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E03A | | rh | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E03B | | s | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E03C | | nh | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E03D | | u | Alternate form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E03E | | w | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E03F | | w | Alternate form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E040 | | y | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E041 | | ŷ | Form shown in Traethawd p. 26 |
| U+E042 | | ŷ | Form shown in Traethawd pp. 28 & 34 |
| U+E043 | | n (mutate) | Form shown in Traethawd pp. 29 & 35 |
| U+E044 | | h | Form shown in Traethawd p. 29 |
| U+E045 | | wh | Form shown in Traethawd pp. 29 & 35 |
| U+E07F | | period |
| Font | Version | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| BabelStone Coelbren y Beirdd | 1.00 | 2022-09-27 | Initial release |
BabelStone Coelbren y Beirdd is licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which means you are free to use it for personal or commercial purposes, and to redistribute it by itself or as part of a free or commercial software package, just as long as you do not sell the font on its own. The license also allows you to modify the font in any way you like, as long as the modified font does not use "BabelStone" in its name. Please read the license for details.
For use on your computer or mobile device please download and install the TTF file by clicking on "Download BabelStone Coelbren y Beirdd" below. The WOFF and WOFF2 files are for web hosting use only, and are not required by most users.
