native Welsh law grew and developed organically and for that reason many more copies of it have survived than of the native tales. The use of Welsh for legal texts shows that it had the words and the technical terms with definite and exact meanings needed in such circumstances. It also shows that reading and writing Welsh was not confined to priests and monks, but that there were also lawyers "whose skill is directed not to administrating the law (there were judges for that), but to writing it, to giving it permanence in words, to ordering words and sentences in such a way that what was stated should be quite clear" (Thomas Parry (1955), p. 68). Religious texts The vast majority of Welsh religious texts from the Middle Ages are translations and mostly the works of unknown monks and priests. The works themselves reflect the tastes and fashions of Christendom at the time: apocryphal narratives, dreams or visions, theological treatises and exegesis, and mystical works. Lives of the saints About thirty lives of the saints, both native ones like Beuno, Curig, and Gwenfrewi and the more general such as the Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Martin of Tours, and Catherine of Alexandria survive, all translations into Welsh from Latin. Even the lives of the native saints were composed in Latin originally, and that a long time after the saint's actual life and so of little or no interest to those looking for actual historical information. Perhaps the two most important is Buchedd Dewi ("The life of Dewi, or, David") written by Rhygyfarch in about 1094, and Buchedd Cadog ("Life of Cadog") written by Lifris of Llancarfan in c. 1100. History texts The Welsh medieval history texts belong to the class of literary creations, but the split into two distinct groups. While the first group, Brut y Tywysogion, tends to stick to historical facts, the second, Brut y Brenhinedd, is the fantastic creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Brut y Tywysogion Brut y Tywysogion (Chronicle of the Princes) consists of variant Welsh translations of Latin original annales telling the history of Wales from the seventh century to the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282. It is believed that the original and its translation were produced at the Cistercian Strata Florida Abbey. Brut y Brenhinedd Brut y Brenhinedd (Chronicle of the Kings) is the name given to a number of