Middle Welsh was the language spoken in medieval Wales in a period stretching (roughly) from the mid-twelfth to the sixteenth century. Surviving Middle Welsh texts represent virtually all the major genres of medieval writing, including chronicles, legal texts, theological works, medical treatises, and especially extensive collections of poetry and prose texts, reflecting a society deeply engaged with contemporary medieval European intellectual culture. Some of the most famous medieval Welsh texts, including the haunting Gododdin elegies, the chivalric Arthurian romances, and the captivating mythology of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, have rightly deserved their place in the popular imagination all the way up to the present day.