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Llanstephan Manuscripts Williams, Moses, 1685-1742
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The Red Book of Talgarth

This manuscript is apparently in the same hand as large portions of the Red Book of Hergest and Peniarth MS 32. The contents, with few exceptions, are manifestly taken from Jesus College MS 2 and Peniarth MS 5. Pp. i-vi belong to the fifteenth century and contain pedigrees (p. i) which are somewhat difficult to decipher; triads (p. ii); and poetry by Dafydd ap Gwilym and Ieuan Dew Brydydd (p. iv-vi).
The twenty folios which are missing between ff. 20b and 21 now form part of Peniarth MS 12, pp. 77-116. For f. 26 (Y llyvyr hwnn yw y trydydd llyvyr or llyvyr aelwir Kyssegyrlan Vuched ...) see Llyvyr Agkyr Llandewivrevi, pp. 86-103; for f. 41b (Dangos pa delw ydyewir y tat ar mab ar yspryt glan ...) see ibid., pp. 162-3; for f. 42 (Mal hynn y digawn ytat ar mab ar yspryt glan ...) see ibid., p. 138-40; for f. 43b (Dangos y mod y dylyo dyn gredu ...) see ibid., pp. 141-4; for f. 46 (Llyma seith rinwed yr eglwys) see ibid., pp. 145-6; for f. 47 (Valhyn ydyweit hu sant o wedi y pader) see ibid., pp. 147-51, l. 3; for f. 52 (Breudwyt bawl) see ibid., p. 152-6; for f. 54b (Llyma ebostyl y sul) see ibid., pp. 157-9, l. 6; for f. 56 (Rinwedeu offeren sul) see ibid., p. 151; for f. 56b (Ypotis weithon y gelwir hwnn) see ibid., pp. 128-37; for f. 62b (Valhyn y treythir o ach dewi ...) see ibid., pp. 105-18; for f. 71b (Dywededic vu hyt hynn o vuched dewi sant ...) see ibid., pp. 119-27. The text at f. 80 (Historia de Adamo morituro et de Seth in paradiso ...) is the same as that in Peniarth MS 32, p. 239 (cf. Bodley MS Laud Misc. 471, f. 66). The Welsh text at f. 84b corresponds with chapters I-XLI of B. Harris Cowper's edition of The Apocryphal Gospels, pp. 29-82.For f. 125 (Ystorya titus aspassianus) see Peniarth MS 5, f. 36; for f. 129b (Llyma ual ytreythir o ystorya pilatus ...) see ibid., f. 10; for f. 131 (The end ... of the Life of St Catherine) see ibid., f. 21; for f. 132 (Buched meir vadlen) and for f. 135b (Llyma weithyon vuched martha) see ibid., f. 26; for f. 137 (Purdan padric ...) see ibid., f. 58, but with verbal differences throughout. At f. 160 (Athrawon agawssant y geluydyt honn ...) note that in the older MSS the month Rhagfyr (December) comes before Tachwedd (November). For f. 160b (Argoelon y vlwydyn ...) cf. Peniarth MS 12, p. 124; for f. 163 (Dy gygor ath gyssul yw ...) see ibid., p. 125. For f. 164b (Llyma ual y treythir o gynghoreu catwn ...) cf. Peniarth MS 3, p. 31 and 27, ii (pp. 16-20). For f. 172b see Peniarth MS 14, pp. 1-20, omitting items under pp. 6, 7, 14; there are slight verbal differences in the text and a tendency to insert passages about the 'Catholic faith' and the 'virgin mother'. The end of the manuscript is missing: the final words are 'Lleidyr oed gynt . ae enw ebbo ... tebygu na ladyssei y magyl arnaw . yn y lle nessau attaw aorugant ar uedyr'. A letter dated at Talgarth on 19 September 1719 and addressed to 'the Rev. Moses Williams att Dyfynnog in Breconshire' is bound in at the end of the manuscript.

Cywyddau Dafydd ap Gwilym

A manuscript mainly containing cywyddau of Dafydd ap Gwilym (pp. 1-240). Pp. i-xviii are in the autograph of Moses Williams (1685-1742) and the remainder of the text in that of his brother Samuel Williams. P. i is headed 'Welsh names of Men & Women' and p. xviii is headed 'Librorum MSS. Catalogus'. Pp. 241-250 contain a table of contents.
The one hundred and sixty three poems contained in the text have been numbered by Moses Williams's friend William Jones (1675-1749), who once owned the Shirburn collection of manuscripts.

Moses Williams and Samuel Williams.

Poetry,

Welsh poetry transcribed by Moses Williams from Llyfr Coch Hergest (the Red Book of Hergest), cols 1026, 1028-1031, 1034, 1039-1049-1056. At the end of the manuscript is a copy of a letter (f. 60), dated at Oxford, 7 September 1708, relating to the burning of Irish and British manuscripts by Jesuit missionaries in Brittany, 'excepting such as tended to Devotion'.

Moses Williams.

Triads and Gorwynnion, &c.,

A manuscript in the hand of Moses Williams containing Triads and Gorwynnion from the Red Book of Hergest, Englynion y Clywaid from Jesus College MS 3, and XIII Tlws.

Moses Williams.

Poetry,

A manuscript in the hands of the Reverend Samuel Williams, Moses Williams, Iaco ab Dewi and others, containing one hundred and sixty-eight numbered items, mainly poetry, including about two hundred and thirty-five triads (item 13). The poets cited include Taliesin, Bleddyn Fardd, Iolo Goch, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Siôn Cent and Siôn Phylip. Item 165 contains a genealogy of Welsh saints. Item 166 is a copy of cols 1165-1169 of the Red Book of Hergest. Item 167, which contains englynion, is in the hand of Edward Lhuyd, and was 'sent through the post to W. Baxter in Totnham Highcross near London'. Item 168 is a piece entitled 'A true Character ... of the Gentry within the Counties of Carmarthen, Pembroke and Cardigan during the Commonwealth'.

Reverend Samuel Williams, Moses Williams, Iaco ab Dewi, Edward Lhuyd and others.

Transcripts,

A manuscript containing transcripts by David Parry from the Red Book of Hergest, together with other poetry, the volume being compiled before it was given to Jesus College, Oxford in 1701. The contents of the volume are as follows: A Welsh Grammar copied from the Red Book of Hergest (col. 1117), with collations by Samuel Williams from Llanstephan MS 3, p. 472 (original foliation I-Vb, 1-7); a copy of the poetry on cols 1143-1356 of the Red Book of Hergest (original foliation 7-12b, original pagination 13-168, 169-265); followed by sixteen leaves at the end of the manuscript containing poems by Robin Ddu o Fôn, Tudur Aled, Rhys Nanmor and others, together with the pedigree of Sir Rhys ap Thomas.
Samuel Williams has copied a good many of the older material in a modernised orthography on the side left blank by the original copyist. There are also marginalia in the hand of Moses Williams. A note, probably in the hand of Samuel Williams, on p. 265 (original pagination) reads 'All the Poetry collated March 27 . 1722'.

David Parry, Reverend Samuel Williams and Moses Williams.