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The Red Book of Hergest, believed to have been written some time between 1375 and 1425, includes a mixture of poetry and prose.

The manuscript was named after its former home, Hergest Court in Herefordshire, and for its red leather binding. It was presented to Jesus College, Oxford in 1701 by the Reverend Thomas Wilkins of Llanbleddian.

Of the several copyists believed to have worked on the manuscript, one was Hywel Fychan fab Hywel Goch of Buellt, working for his employer, Hopcyn ap Tomas ap Einion of Ynysforgan, Swansea, whom the manuscript may have been compiled for.

The book is best known as a source of the tales of the Mabinogion, along with the White Book of Rhydderch. Most notably, it contains tale of the Dream of Rhonabwy. It also had much of its poetry reproduced in the Four Ancient Books of Wales, William F Skene's 1868 anthology of dark-age Welsh bardic poetry.

The red book also contains historical texts, including a Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, poems and a series of Triads.

Also contained in the manuscript is a collection of herbal remedies attributed to Rhiwallon Feddyg, the first of a family of country doctors who lived in the parish of Myddfai, collectively known as the Physicians of Myddfai.