Talk:Physicians of Myddfai

Folklore
I've made a few changes to this article to better reflect that the stories are really folklore, rather than evidence of some unbroken 'tradition' of herbal medicine. The latter is a good story to bring in tourists but not much basis in reality.

The only thing really connecting the legendary herbalist Rhiwallon and his sons with the 18th-century surgeon David Jones and his son John is a manuscript, supposedly copied from one owned by John Jones, and which contains herbal prescriptions attributed to Rhiwallon and his family. The problem is that the manuscript is in the handwriting of Iolo Morganwg, who is notorious for adapting or forging materials.

While David and John Jones were undoubtedly real, whether they had any connection with Rhiwallon or a legendary dynasty of herbalists is another point. My own guess is that 19th century folklore connected the memorial to the Joneses, who were surgeons, with the story of a family of doctors from several centuries before.Svejk74 (talk) 16:15, 28 November 2018 (UTC)