Dangos 249 canlyniad

A late fourteenth-, or early fifteenth-century manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, lacking VIII(G)554-1481 (i.e., the Canon’s Yeoman’s Prologue and Tale); X(I)1180-end lost).
Doyle and Parkes’s ‘Scribe B’, the scribe of the Hengwrt Chaucer, has long been identified as having also been responsible for writing other manuscripts, including the Ellesmere Chaucer (Huntington Library MS 26 C 9). He was identified in 2006 by Linne Mooney as Adam Pinkhurst, a London-based scrivener associated with Chaucer.

A late 15th century, or early 16th century copy, of Brut y Brenhinedd, the Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (ff. 1-107 verso). The manuscript was written on thick parchment by one scribe, probably in north Wales, following an exemplar associated with, if not partly derived from, the early 14th century Peniarth MS 21.
For recent discussions of the text, see Brynley F. Roberts (ed.), Brut y Brenhinedd: Llanstephan MS 1 Version (Dublin, 1971), and Brynley F. Roberts, 'Geoffrey of Monmouth, Histora Regum Britanniae and Brut y Brenhinedd' in Rachel Bromwich, A.O.H. Jarman and Brynley F. Roberts (eds), The Arthur of the Welsh. The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (Cardiff, 1991), 97-116.

Notes on English law; lists of recognisances taken before Griffith Nanney, 1601-1605; rentals and accounts of payments for walling, etc., 1599-1608; lists of cattle and horses at Dolychowgrydd and Dolykynavon, 1599-1608, of licensees to sell ale in Talybont, Uwchcregenan, and Iscregenan, 1606, and of poor persons in Dolgelley, 1601; and three anonymous englynion.

Two notebooks containing annotations on the Lord's Prayer; moral verses; a list of cattle at Rhûg, 1661; apothegms; Latin-English phraseology; Latin verses; an inventory of linen; etc.

A composite manuscript, the four parts probably together from the start. Tracts on theosophy, astrology and conjuring. At first in unbound booklets (witness some soiled surviving paper covers, pp. 28, 29, 96, 120). In Welsh and English, the Welsh by four collaborating scribes, the English by three others, their texts complementing those in Welsh. All of [17-18 cent.].
(i) pp. 1-28. A tract, in Welsh, its beginning wanting; cites Peter of Abano, H.C. Agrippa and Gerard of Cremona, and on p. 14 reads: ‘Hud yma yr ysgrifenais tu ag at y ffordd blaunaf su ynghwaith Peter Albanws gwelwch wrth yr Elament fel llufr Morgan Llwud natur dyn.’ All by scribe A. The watermark of this part appears to be Churchill 243 (1707).
(ii) pp. 29-96. Beginning ‘Yn y llyfyr cynta yr hwn uw pedwerydd llyfr Agrippa’. By scribes B (pp. 29-62, 65-78), C (pp. 63-4), A (pp. 78-83b, 90-4), D (pp. 84-9).
(iii) pp. 97-120. ‘Pwy bynnag a ewllyssio wubod dirgelwch’, citing Peter of Abano, followed by ‘Aphorisms’, in Welsh, numbered 1-14 (pp. 97-110) and ‘72 [o] golofnau ar uchel henwau Duw’ (pp. 111-18). All by scribe B.
(iv) pp. 121-94. Texts in English, written by three other contemporary hands. These comprise ‘Aphorisms’, in English, numbered 15-48 (pp. 121-64); geomancy (pp. 165-94) including on pp. 167-79 ‘Gerard Cremonen[s]is of Astromonical [sic] Geomancy’; and astrology (pp. 181-94).

A well laid-out but unstructured collection of Welsh pedigrees, predominantly north-east Welsh, on the pattern of achau’r mamau, with decoration in red and green, in the excellent hand of Thomas ap Llywelyn ab Ithel of Bodfari. Written not before 1561 [see Peniarth MS 139ii, p. 403, once part of our manuscript] and not later than 1568 (there are additions in the hand of Humphrey Llwyd who died that year). Apart from some corrections and additions made by the scribe, it is otherwise little annotated. In addition to illustrative englynion (e.g. pp. 170, 348, 558) and short genealogical tracts it includes: an armorial, blazon in Welsh (pp. 98-112); annals, in Welsh, 1468-1551 (pp. 243-9); Y Tri Thlws ar Ddeg (p. 370); ‘llyma hen gymraec’ (pp. 495-503). The scribe’s foliation i-cclxxxxix survives on pp. 23-607; his index, the beginning wanting, is on pp. 1-21 (it includes references up to f. cccxiiii). The ink on some pages is faded and the upper edges of some leaves towards the end are damaged. Sections in Peniarth MS 139i and 139ii that are in the hand of Thomas ap Llywelyn but without his foliation appear to belong to the end of Peniarth MS 138.

The Welsh version of the Grail legend, translated from the French. One of the best preserved of medieval Welsh manuscripts. The text comprises: ‘Y keis’, derived from La Queste del Saint Graal (ff. 1-109 verso), printed from this manuscript in Ystoryaeu Seint Greal, ed. Thomas Jones (Cardiff, 1992), followed by the Welsh version of Perlesvaus (ff. 110-280 verso). The junction is recorded on f. 109 verso: ‘Ac uelly y teruyna y rann gyntaf or greal. nyt amgen nor keis. Bellach dywedadwy yỽ o rann gwalchmei. ac o anturyeu y milwyr ual y kyfaruu ac ỽynt’. The only lacuna in the text is in quire 18 (see collation). The text of both parts is printed in Y Seint Greal: Selections from the Hengwrt MSS, ed. Robert Williams (London, 1876). All written in the hand of Hywel Fychan ap Hywel Goch, no doubt for his patron, Hopcyn ap Tomas, probably earlier than Jesus College Oxford, MS 111 (datable post-1382), since the awdl by Dafydd y Coed in that book refers to Hopcyn’s book of the Greal.

The set of historical texts: Ystoria Dared (ff. 1-17, cols 1-66); Brut y Brenhinedd (ff. 17 verso-89, cols 67-441) and Brut y Tywysogion (ff. 89 verso-143, cols 443-665); followed by Brut y Saeson (ff. 143-145 verso, cols 665-76), breaking off abruptly in the year 979. All are very close to the corresponding texts in the Red Book of Hergest [see Brut y Tywysogyon: Red Book of Hergest Version, ed. and trans. Thomas Jones (Cardiff, 1955), pp. xxviii-xxix, and Studia Celtica, 12/13 (1977/78), 176]. All are written in two columns by the Red Book scribe, X91, with 2- and 3-line initials in red. Lacunae due to the loss of leaves 1 and 10 in quire 5, the whole of original quire 9, leaves 5 and 6 of quire 17, and the final quire. On the erratic foliation, see below; J. Gwenogvryn Evans numbered the columns allowing, however, in his numeration for the columns that would have been in lacunae. The text of the original f. 1 made good by a hand of [16-17 cent.] on a supplied leaf (f. 1). Headings in textura by a hand of [15 cent.] (e.g. ff. 59 verso, 87); annotation and textual correction by several hands of [15 cent.] and [16 cent.] (e.g. ff. 41 recto-verso and 93, ff. 79 and 82, ff. 94 verso and 114 verso, f. 56, f. 123 verso, ff. 127 verso and 135 verso). Rebound in [16-17 cent.]; at this rebinding quires were signed I-XVII, skipping a number somewhere between VII and XI (= quire 10).

A volume of collections of poems by Lewys Dwnn probably made up after his death. Lewys Dwnn customarily made retrospective copies of his own poems and usually gave their dates; he is explicit in his subscription on p. 402, dated 1607. The apparent constituent parts are six. Many leaves are damaged at their edges.
(i) pp. 1-72. Poems by Lewys Dwnn, mostly cywyddau, for the most part dated 1600-7, one as early as 1590, all probably written about 1607, together with copies of a few other cywyddau of [15 cent.], all in the hand of Lewys Dwnn.
(ii) pp. 73-432. Poems by Lewys Dwnn dated 1599-1603, a few dated 1577-83, all probably copied c. 1603, with a few cywyddau by others, of [14-16 cent.], and on pp. 231-40 ‘Ymddiddan Tristan ac Esyllt’ [printed in Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 5 (1929-31), 115-29]. Written by Lewys Dwnn (pp. 80-6, 91-9, etc.) with the help of perhaps five amanuenses: A, probably the young James Dwnn (pp. 73-80); B, the main helper (pp. 87-91, 100-6, 115-26, etc.); C (pp. 136-40, 187-94); D (pp. 195-7). Many poems copied by the amanuenses are signed by Lewys Dwnn himself.
(iii) pp. 433-46. Poems by Lewys Dwnn dated 1614-16, all autograph, his hand tremulous.
(iv) pp. 447-506. Poems by Lewys Dwnn dated 1601-4, with two earlier, 1590 and 1592, all probably written c. 1604, autograph except for pp. 491-5 (by Dwnn’s amanuensis, apparently James Dwnn).
(v) pp. 507-616. Poems by Lewys Dwnn dated 1568-84, in his early hand, all probably written c. 1584, headings in red.
(vi) pp. 617-90. Poems by Lewys Dwnn dated 1604-5, all autograph except for pp. 649-58, which are written by a good collaborating secretary hand; one poem dated 1607 (pp. 689-90).

A composite manuscript containing:
(i) pp. 1-2. A large folio sheet, folded, containing pedigrees in the hand of Robert Vaughan, evidently part of the draft of his lost ‘Llyfr Achau y Deheudir’ [see P.C. Bartrum, ‘Notes on the Welsh genealogical manuscripts’, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1968, 63-98, esp. 86].
(ii) pp. 3-106, 151-334. An informal collection of Welsh pedigrees mainly written by Gruffudd Hiraethog in a variable hand over the period 1554-64 (see dates on, e.g., pp. 47, 229, 237, 239, 264, 269, 281). There are substantial sections (e.g. pp. 5-19, 23, 25-6, 31-5) and many additions in the hand of Wiliam Llŷn, some dated, e.g. 1570 (p. 250) and 1572 (p. 312). Foliated by Wiliam Llŷn; his ‘Tabl’ is on pp. 5-19. There are contributions by other hands, all contemporary with Wiliam Llŷn if not also with Gruffudd Hiraethog: A, an educated secretary hand, concerned with Edeirnion (pp. 36-7 and 58); B, Simwnt Fychan (p. 39); C, Huw Llŷn (‘Llyma gof am yr amser y bu Eisteddvod ynghaerwys … 1567’, pp. 59-63); D (pp. 174-5, where he offers a deviant opinion on the ancestry of Owain ap Bradwen, citing ‘rai yneheubarth’ and ‘John Wynn Unllawiawc’, and pp. 219-22); E (pp. 191-2); F, apparently from south-west Wales (pp. 193-4 and 196-211); G, ostensibly ‘per me Morgan Elfel’, but in a hand not recognizably his (pp. 275-7); H, a bold secretary hand, concerned with Cegidfa (pp. 283-90); I (pp. 297-9). Predominantly, the pedigrees relate to north Wales, but those on pp. 153-229 are mainly south Welsh. Gruffudd throughout is characteristically helpful in naming his sources [see P.C. Bartrum, ‘Genealogical sources quoted by Gruffudd Hiraethog’, National Library of Wales Journal, 26 (1989-90), 1-9]. Apart from pedigrees, other texts in the manuscript include ‘Dosbarth Arvau … o gynulliad Wmffre Llwyd o dref Ddinbych’, in the hand of Wiliam Llŷn [printed in Transactions of the Denbighshire Historical Society, 17 (1968), 66-82] (pp. 67-90). On p. 102, Gruffudd notes ‘Henwe hen brydyddion’, evidence of his acquaintance with the contents of the Hendregadredd manuscript (NLW MS 6680).
(iii) pp. 107-50. A valuable collection of genealogical tracts, of south Wales bias, written by an excellent hand temp. Henry VIII (see pp. 143, 149). Tracts include Y Pedwar Brenin ar Hugain, Pum Oes Byd, Bonedd y Saint, Rhandiroedd Powys, besides south Wales pedigrees. Of the hand, Robert Vaughan notes on p. 107, ‘llaw Lewys Morganwc sydd yn calyn medd Rys Cain’. This attribution is rightly rejected in P.C. Bartrum, ‘Notes on the Welsh genealogical manuscripts’, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1968, 63-98, esp. 74, and id., 1988, 37-46, esp. 41-2, where it is observed that these pages are cited elsewhere by Gruffudd Hiraethog as ‘Llyfr Lewys ap Edwart’ and as ‘Llyfr Ieuan ap Huw Kae Llwyd’. Gruffudd Hiraethog added text on pp. 141-2, which had been left blank.

The pedigree of John Trevor III of Trefalun, in the hand of Wiliam Llŷn (pp. 25-109), and on p. 110 his coat of arms, written in 1569 (p. 26). On pp. 5-21 is his 'Tabl', covering pp. 25-109 only. On pp.1-4 are arms in trick and, on p. 3, draft couplets of a cywydd in his hand; further pedigrees in his hand are on pp. 112-28; on p. 114 is an autograph englyn by him with an anonymous englyn by a contemporary hand.

The journal of Mrs Elizabeth Baker, Dolgelley, 1778-1786. Part I in ten volumes.

The letter book of Mrs Elizabeth Baker, relating to mining ventures in Merioneth, 1770-1775. With printed appeals for contributions towards her relief, 1787-1788, and lists of donors.

A pedigree in roundlets, evidently copied from a roll, from Beli Mawr to Cynan ab Iago of Gwynedd, Tewdwr ab Einion of Deheubarth and Bleddyn ap Cynfyn of Powys (ff. 13-23 verso); an armorial in Welsh, of Pum Brenhinllwyth Cymru and other Welsh arms, painted, two to the page (ff. 24-80). All in the hand of Wiliam Llŷn. Above many of the arms in the armorial the name is written in pencil by a contemporary hand, not that of Wiliam Llŷn. On ff. 81 verso-86 verso are additions in the hand of Siôn Cain. Folios 1-12 verso and 87-102 are blank. The index on ff. 103-106 verso is in the hand of Robert Vaughan.

A Latin-Welsh dictionary in three volumes, 1604-1607, in the hand of Sir Thomas Wiliems.
The first volume contains entries A-D, the second E-P, and the third Q-Z.

Poetry of Guto'r Glyn, Iorwerth Fynglwyd, Tudur Aled and others in several hands of the second half of the 16th century.

The first part of the manuscript dates from the mid 14th century and contains an early fragment of the text of Dares Phrygius in Welsh by the scribe known as the 'Anchorite'.
The second and third parts date from the early to mid 15th century and include vaticinatory prose, other texts such as The Life of Anna, and some triads.

‘Pum Llyfr Kerddwriaeth’ (pp. 1-151), followed by William Salesbury’s treatise on rhetoric (pp. 151-88). Copied ‘allan o lyfr Simwnt Vachan’ in 1593 for Dafydd Salbri [David Salusbury of Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch and Dolbadarn] by Richard ap John (colophon on p. 140). The source was Jesus College Oxford MS 15 [Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid, eds G.J. Williams and E.J. Jones (Caerdydd, 1934), pp. liv-lv] but the intermediary was Peniarth MS 159, copied by Richard ap John himself in 1578 [see Llên Cymru, 2 (1952-3), 71-81]. On p. 189 is ‘Dewis bethau Davydd Melienydd’. Englynion by Siôn Phylip are added by a hand of [16-17 cent.] on p. 190. The contents were copied in [17 cent., first ½] in NLW MS 13065.

A composite manuscripts, with all parts joined in the time of Robert Vaughan.
(i) pp. 1-92: Wholly in the hand of Robert (ab) Ifan of Brynsiencyn, written in 1587 (pp. 30, 57, 69, 72, 89). On the manuscript and its texts, all of them containing original features, see Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid, eds G.J. Williams and E.J. Jones (Caerdydd, 1934), pp. xvi and l. Contains: a cywydd marwnad for Wiliam Tomas of Caernarfon dated 1586 by Robert ab Ifan (pp. 1-3); a diagram of y tawlbwrdd with instructions in Welsh on how to play [see H.J.R. Murray, A History of Board-games Other than Chess (Oxford, 1952), p.63] (p.4); ‘Llyfr Kerddwriaeth’ [part printed in Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid, pp. 185-9, 192-3] (pp. 5-43); ‘Bellach i dylid son am ddwned yr hwn a elwir wyth ran ymadrodd’, ‘a dynwyd allan o lyfr dwned a sgrifenasai Sion Brunog [sic] iddo i hun prydydd a ffenkerdd ag athro’ (pp. 43-57); ‘y parfila nid amgen grameriaith pa sawl kydgordiad y sydd mewn ymadrodd’ [cited for readings in Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid, pp. 67-88] (pp. 57-69), closing on pp. 69-72 with a brief history of the bardic order and a lament for the decay of patronage of the bards [printed in Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 24 (1970-2), 42-4]. The remaining texts are: ‘Bellach mi a soniaf am gerdded yn hen dadau ni ... ’, an account of the British kings (pp. 72-8); Statud Gruffudd ap Cynan (pp. 81-9); personal notes by Robert ab Ifan on himself and his ancestors (pp. 89–91).
(ii) pp. 93-6: Two leaves with astrological notes in a hand of [16-17 cent.].
(iii) pp. 97-120: Transcripts of Crown documents relating to Basingwerk abbey, from the grant to Hugh Starky in 1537 by the Court of Augmentations up to 1549. In a hand of [16-17 cent.].
(iv) pp. 121-216: A miscellany written by John Jones of Gellilyfdy in his youth, not later than 1600: what appears to be school work, including an English translation of Accusationes in Caium Verrem liber quartus (pp. 121-2, 160-73), arithmetical problems, recipes of many sorts (gilding with foil, fireworks, medical, etc.), and instructions for card games, all in English (pp. 156-7, 170-205, 213-16); the five carolau of Richard Gwyn (‘Richard White ferthyrur’) [see Carolau Richard White, ed. T.H. Parry-Williams (Caerdydd, 1931)] (pp. 123-56); an anonymous religious carol [printed in Canu Rhydd Cynnar, ed. T.H. Parry-Williams (Caerdydd, 1932), no. 87] (pp. 205-8); and the cywydd on the murder of the Prince of Orange [Carolau Richard White, p. 58] (pp. 209-11). John Jones’s signature is on p. 184; on p. 216 he writes ‘Thus endeth this booke ... 24 February [1599/1600].’
(v) pp. 217-40: ‘Rhai or Gwehelaethau’: early pedigrees for all parts of Wales, derived from Cwrtmawr MS 530 [see Ben Guy, Medieval Welsh Genealogy: An Introduction and Textual Study (Martlesham, 2020), p. 194]. In the youthful hand of John Jones, experimenting with both secretary and, for display, italic script. The hand would be unrecognizable as his were it not for two lines of heading on p. 217.

Bardic grammar, beginning ‘Llyma ddosbarth Edern dafod aur’ (pp. 5-131). On its texts, very close to those of Wiliam Cynwal in Cardiff MS 1.16, see Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid, eds G.J. Williams and E.J. Jones (Caerdydd, 1934), p. liii and pp. 183-4. All in the formal secretary hand of David Powel with display in fere-textura; a few notes (e.g. pp. 52, 92, 107) are in his characteristic italic.

Pedigrees for the three south-west Welsh counties derived from the early version of The British Geneologist of David Edwardes of Rhyd-y-gors. ‘The Pedigree of the Gentry in Cardigan shire’ (ff. 1-21 verso, original pagination 1-40, f. 16 is an insertion); Carmarthenshire (ff. 22-52 verso, original pagination 1-62); Pembrokeshire (ff. 53-73, original pagination 1-40, ff. 53-4 are misbound). The immediate source appears to be NLW MS 14214, including the earliest additions to that manuscript but not those by the second hand; and placing Cardiganshire before Carmarthenshire.
The pedigrees are printed from this manuscript in West Wales Historical Records, vols 1-2, where it is asserted (in vol. 1, p. [2]) that the scribe is ‘the same person’ as the one who wrote the Golden Grove Book. The hand is indeed similar to that of the amanuensis of Evan Evans of Carmarthen [died 1773], compiler of the Golden Grove Book, but some features of the script consistently differ.