:Raglan Library

Image:Raglan Castle Gatehouse and library.jpg

Raglan Library was a library located in Raglan Castle in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales.{{cite book|author=William Beattie|title=The Castles and Abbeys of England: From the National Records, Early Chronicles, and Other Standard Authors : Illustrated by Upwards of Two Hundred Engravings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4NOAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA352|accessdate=19 October 2012|year=1851|publisher=Virtue, Spalding|pages=352–}}{{cite book|author1=Iolo Morganwg|author2=J. Williams Ab Ithel|author3=John Williams|author4=John Matthews|title=The Barddas of Iolo Morganwg: A Collection of Original Documents, Illustrative of the Theology, Wisdom, and Usages of the Bardo-Druidic System of the Isle of Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJrNcb-5dnEC&pg=PR7-IA10|accessdate=20 October 2012|year=2004|publisher=Weiser Books|isbn=978-1-57863-307-4|pages=7–}}{{cite book|title=The Four Ancient Books of Wales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujR__ja4L9EC&pg=PA20|accessdate=20 October 2012|date=January 2011|publisher=Abela Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-1-907256-92-9|pages=20–}}{{cite book|author1=Iolo Morganwg|author2=Owen Jones|author3=Society for the Publication of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts, Abergavenny|title=Iolo manuscripts: A selection of ancient Welsh manuscripts, in prose and verse, from the collection made by the late Edward Williams, Iolo Morganwg, for the purpose of forming a continuation of the Myfyrian archaiology; and subsequently proposed as materials for a new history of Wales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6jREAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA424|accessdate=20 October 2012|year=1848|publisher=W. Rees; sold by Longman and co., London|pages=424–}}

The library contained one of the most extensive collections of ancient Welsh manuscripts in history.{{cite book|title=The Metropolitan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_cEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA125|accessdate=20 October 2012|year=1836|publisher=James Cochrane|pages=1–}} This included works by Dafydd ap Gwilym,{{cite book|author=Benjamin Heath Malkin|title=The scenery, antiquities and biography of South Wales: from materials collected during two excursions in the year 1803|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFJGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA389|accessdate=20 October 2012|year=1807|publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme|pages=389–}} Taliesin, Rhys Goch, Jonas of Menevia, Ederyn the Golden-tongued, Einion the Priest, Cwtta Cyvarwydd, Siôn Cent and Dafydd Ddu o Hiraddug amongst others.{{cite book|author=Lewis Spence|title=Mysteries of Celtic Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBYGJUSmuwMC&pg=PA100|accessdate=20 October 2012|date=1 March 2004|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-8421-3|pages=100–}}

It was destroyed and looted by parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell in August 1646, during the English Civil War.{{cite book|author=John R. Kenyon|title=Raglan Castle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzvaAAAACAAJ|accessdate=20 October 2012|date=1 January 2003|publisher=Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments|isbn=978-1-85760-169-5}}{{cite book|author=Sharon Turner|title=The history of the Anglo-Saxons from the earliest period to the Norman conquest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2cQsAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA498|accessdate=20 October 2012|year=1841|publisher=Carey & Hart|pages=498–}} The destruction of Raglan Library was described as an "{{sic|irrepairable|nolink=y}} loss to the literature of Wales".{{cite book|author=Haneirin Gwawdrydd|title=The Gododin, and the Odes of the months, tr. by W. Probert.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWQCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA24|accessdate=20 October 2012|year=1820|pages=24–}}