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A printed catalogue, [mid-19 cent.], [compiled by Sir Thomas Phillipps], entitled 'Manuscripts at Porkington, the seat of William Ormsby Gore, Esq. near Oswestry, co. Salop', with pencil additions and alterations in the hand of W. W. E. Wynne, Peniarth. To the printed list of thirty-two manuscripts Wynne has added descriptions of a further seven.

A volume entitled 'Armorial Bearings of the Bailif[f]s & Mayors of Shrewsbury From Anno Dom. MCCCLXXII', comprising 786 coats of arms, almost all painted, of the bailiffs and mayors of the town of Shrewsbury, arranged chronologically from 1372 to 1861 (the shields of the mayors from 1853 to 1861 are empty), together with notes recording historical events in Shrewsbury written on the facing pages and an index of personal names on ff. 2-3 verso. The autographs of many of the mayors, especially from the second half of the eighteenth century onwards, are supplied by cut signatures pasted alongside their respective coats of arms.
The volume was in the possession of the Shropshire antiquary Thomas Farmer Dukes (d. 1850); he was mayor of Shrewsbury in 1831 and his signature occurs here alongside his coat of arms (f. 50). The shields for the years 1851 to 1861 were added after his death. Pasted on f. 50 verso is a letter, [1852x1860], from the Shrewsbury genealogist Joseph Morris to William Ormsby-Gore, listing the names of the mayors of Shrewsbury from 1848 to 1852, with descriptions of their coats of arms; another hand has added in pencil the names of the mayors from 1853 to 1862.

A volume containing a Latin account of early British history in the form of a pedigree-chronicle from Aeneas and Julius Caesar to Yvor son of Cadwaladr and the Saxons, in the hand of Thomas Edenham (see ff. 4 verso, 7 and f. 41 verso ('Ednham' at foot of page)) at 'Berford' in 1483 (ff. 44 recto-verso, 67, 70, 79 verso, 80, 86 verso, 88 verso, 94 and 96 verso). Folios 4-19 verso were evidently written in 1487 (f. 18 verso). Thomas Edenham, O.F.M., was a native of Edenham, Lincolnshire (f. 7). The contents of ff. 31 verso-37 ('De ciuitate Lincolnie et eius preconiis') suggest that he remained within the diocese of Lincoln. The diocese offers several places called Barford (medieval 'Berford'): near Kettering, near Banbury and near Bedford; none has an obvious Franciscan connection.
Written by a single scribe in a secretary script with anglicana traits. Headings, paragraph marks, roundels and their connecting lines, foliation, underlining of proper names and most dates are in red.

A volume compiled, [1710s]-[1790s], by various hands, containing poems, songs and commonplace entries, together with miscellaneous printed material including song-sheets and newspaper cuttings. Many of the items, which have been pasted on or inserted between the leaves, are connected with Brogyntyn and Wynnstay. The volume was originally used for exercises in navigation.

A volume, [1760s]-[1770s], compiled by various hands, containing verse and prose, mainly relating to theatrical performances and to contemporary events and personalities.
Also included are a few records relating to the 57th Regiment of Foot (ff. 10, 43, 75, 88 verso-89 verso, 90 verso-91 verso, 92 verso and inside the back cover). Some of the items are numbered, and are indexed on f. 1 recto-verso.

A parchment roll, written in England, [13 cent., second ½], containing the pedigree-chronicle of biblical history attributed to Peter of Poitiers [Petrus Pictaviensis]. Text is written in textura; ink, dark brown. The scribe uses red and blue for display script; two-line initials in blue.
On the Compendium Historiæ (or Promptuarium Bibliæ), see H. Vollmer, Deutsche Bibelauszüge des Mittelalters zum Stammbaum Christi mit ihren lateinischen Vorbildern und Vorlagen (Potsdam, 1931) and Thomas Jones, Y Bibyl Ynghymraec (Cardiff, 1940), pp. xiii-xxxiv, with a listing of 33 manuscripts. On the English derivatives see Albinia de la Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, by James P. R. Lyell (Oxford, 1971), pp. 80-85, 461. See also Hans-Eberhard Hilpert, 'Geistliche Bildung und Laienbildung: Zur Überlieferung der Schulschrift "Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi", Compendium veteris testamenti des Petrus von Poitiers (+1205) in England', Journal of Medieval History, 11 (1985), 315-331 (p. 329). The texts preceding and following the Compendium in the present manuscript are also associated with it in BL, Royal 14.B.ix.

Letters and papers of Margaret Owen of Penrhos, parish of Llandrinio, Montgomeryshire, granddaughter of Sir Robert Owen of Clenennau and Brogyntyn (ff. 1-17), together with an autograph draft, 1836, by John Ralph Ormsby-Gore, of his poem 'The Knights of St John of Jerusalem' (published in 1838) (ff. 22-42).
The correspondence includes letters from Mrs Hester Lynch Thrale (later Piozzi), [1778]-1805 (ff. 2-3, 8-13), Dr Samuel Johnson, 8 March 1781 (ff. 4-5), and Fanny Burney, 11 November 1785 (ff. 6-7). A few items have been boxed seperately on account of their format (see Brogyntyn MS II.38ii).

Transcripts, [?1580s], of correspondence, dated June-September 1581, in English, French and Latin, relating to negotiations for a proposed marriage between Queen Elizabeth I and François de Bourbon, duc d'Alençon, the chief correspondents being Sir Francis Walsingham, together with his fellow diplomats Henry Cobham and John Sommers, and William Cecil, Lord Burghley.
Transcripts, [19 cent., second ½], of ff. 1-3, 3 verso and 4 are boxed with this volume (Brogyntyn MS II.22a).

A printed copy of Marcus Vigerius, Decachordum Christianum ... Controuersiaque [d]e instrumentis dominice Passionis (Paris, 1517), printed by Josse Badius Ascensius in two parts, with the printer's woodcut device on title page of both sections, decorated initials throughout and illustrative woodcuts on ff. ii verso, xxxviii, lxxi verso, lxxxii verso, cvi, cxxvii, cxxxvii verso, cccv, cccxiii verso and cccxxiv of first part (for full description see Ph. Renouard, Bibliographie des Impressions et des Oeuvres de Josse Badius Ascensius (Paris, 1908), iii, 352-353, and Brigitte Moreau, Inventaire des éditions parisiennes du XVIe siècle, tome ii, 1511-20 (Paris, 1977), p. 455, no. 1725).
Numerous marginal notes in Latin, mostly textual glosses, have been added by an unidentified hand of the sixteenth century. The preserved pastedowns (f. 4, f. xxxiv at end) are parchment leaves from a treatise on canon law in Latin, [14 cent., first ½] (two columns, written space 125 x 95 mm.).

A volume, dated 27 November 1625, containing the only known manuscript copy of John Fletcher's play Demetrius and Enanthe (see John Fletcher, Demetrius and Enanthe: A Pleasant Comedie, ed. by Margaret McLaren Cook and F. P. Wilson, Malone Society (Oxford, 1951)). It was first published in 1647, as 'The Humorous Lieutenant', in Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Comedies and Tragedies (London, 1647, Wing B1581) and later separately as The Humorous Lieutenant; or, Generous Enemies: A Comedy... (London, 1697, Wing F1344).
The manuscript contains a dedicatory letter, dated 27 November 1625, 'To the honorable Sir Kelham [sic] Digbie knight', beginning 'Worthie Sir: I know, that to a Man of your religious Inclination', and ending 'as upon one that shall still reioyce to be esteemed/Your Commaunded Beades=man/ Raph Crane' (f. v); and Demetrius and Enanthe: first line 'Round, round: perfume it round: look you dilligently...'; last line 'And hang a Coward now: and there's my Song' (pp. 1-126). This transcript, containing passages not included in the printed texts, was made by the poet and copyist Ralph Crane (c. 1550s-1632; see F. P. Wilson, 'Ralph Crane, scrivener to the King's Players', The Library, 7 (1927), 194-215), and presented by him to Sir Kenelm Digby. The title page (f. iv) attributes the play to John Fletcher alone. Ancilliary materials, comprising correspondence, 1926-1948, of F. P. Wilson relating to his research on the manuscript, are filed separately (Brogyntyn MS II.42a).

Diary of Margaret Ormsby (née Owen), of Brogyntyn, containing brief entries for the years 1757-1773, apparently copied from the original journals, and referring mainly to deaths, marriages and social engagements.

A volume containing a collection of Welsh proverbs, arranged alphabetically, and other proverbial texts in Welsh, with accompanying translations and commentaries in Latin, compiled by and in the hand of Dr John Davies, Mallwyd. Many of the entries are illustrated by quotations from Arabic, Greek and Latin sources.
The manuscript was probably Davies's working copy, which he continually revised and enlarged during the latter years of his life. Emendations and additons were made either by rewriting whole leaves, by pasting slips over existing leaves, tipping in slips of paper, or writing in the spaces between the proverbs originally written. About 2400 proverbs are contained in the volume and, of these, Davies published just under 1600, together with the other proverbial texts, all but a few without translation or commentary, in his Dictionarium Duplex ... (London, 1632). Davies later collated his manuscript with the published text and prefixed with an 'o' those proverbs not printed. Following the practice he had adopted in his dictionary, he prefixed with an asterisk those proverbs not published prior to 1632. The manuscript later came into the hands of the antiquary William Maurice (c. 1620-1680), Cefn-y-braich, Llansilin, who compiled, [c. 1674], a preface or 'prolegomena' to the volume (pp. 6-20), comprising: a title-page incorporating Marcus Zuerius Boxhorn's title-page to the condensed edition of the Welsh-Latin section of Davies's dictionary, which the former published in Originum Gallicarum Liber ... (Amsterdam, 1654); a copy of a letter from James Howell (1594?-1666) to Ben Johnson, Kal. April 1629, which includes a poem 'Upon Dr. Davies Brittish Grammer'; an extract from Davies's preface to his grammar, Antiquæ Linguæ Britannicæ ... (London, 1621); a list of Davies's works; transcripts of the Latin and Welsh prefaces to the collection of Welsh proverbs printed at the end of his dictionary; extracts relating to these proverbs from Boxhorn's treatise; a copy of the Latin poem by Edmund Prys, archdeacon of Merioneth, which was printed as part of the preface to Davies's grammar; and an extract relating to Davies and the Welsh language from Historia Universali which Boxhorn published in Metamorphosis Anglorum ... ([Leiden], 1653). William Maurice has also added notes and comments on the text throughout the volume, including the gloss 'hoc est Proverbia Cymbro-Wallica Latinitate donata et paraphrastice explicata per Doctiss. Jo. Daviesium Malluydensem SS. Th. D.' on Davies's title 'Adagia Britannica' (p. 21), and 'Hoc Opus multijugæ Prudentiæ veterum Cymmeriorum alias Cymbrorum, fideliter transcribitur secundum Archetypum hunc Daviesianum per Guilhelmum Mauricium Cymnebraçensem nunc Lansilinensem philobritannum 1o. Maij Ano. Dni 1674' (p. 202). The manuscript was also seen by Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt, as the emendations 'Vfudd' for 'Ynfyd' and 'humilis' for the corresponding Latin 'Insipiens' in his hand on p. 202 indicate.

Three dramatic Protestant dialogues translated into English, [c. 1540], by Robert Radcliffe of Jesus College, Cambridge, from the Latin Dialogi Aliquot of the French humanist and rhetorician Jean Tixier de Ravisi (Ravisius Textor), in a presentation manuscript for Henry VIII, with dedications: 'vnto oure moste Christian kynge supreme heed of the Chirche of Englande, and of oure happye remembrance, kynge henry the, viii' (p. 1); 'Your gracys humble subiect, Robert Radcliff professre of Artes, and schole maist[er] of Jesus Collegg in Cambrygg' (p. 89); the gift may be connected with Radcliffe's attempts to gain favour at court (cf. his letter, 1540, to Thomas Cromwell in Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic of the Reign of Henry VIII, 23 vols (London, 1862-1932), xvi (1898), 204 (no. 400)). Little else is known of Robert Radcliffe; he cannot be identified with the dramatist Ralph Radcliffe (c. 1519-1559), who was schoolmaster, 1546-1559, at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and is mentioned in John Bale, Scriptorum Illustrium Maioris Brytanniæ Catalogus, 2 vols (Basel, 1557-9, repr. Farnborough, 1971), I (1557), 700-701, and ibid., Index Britannniae Scriptorum (Cambridge, 1990), pp. xxxi, 332-334.
A note by Lord Harlech, November 1917, requesting prompt return of the volume, is attached inside front cover. Ancilliary materials relating to the (spurious) authorship of the manuscript are filed separately; they include four letters, 1917-1930, from Reginald L. Hine, Hitchin, and one, 1931, from Robin Flower, British Museum, to Lord Harlech, together with a press-cutting from The Morning Post, 1 September 1930 (Brogyntyn MS II.10a).

A miscellany of texts in prose and verse, mainly in English but a few in Latin. The volume was written by sixteen scribes (see Daniel Huws (1996), pp. 190-199, now superseding Auvo Kurvinen (1953)), with writing styles varying from bastard secretary (ff. 8 verso-11) to fere-textura; ink varying from light to very dark brown and dark sepia. A selection of ten texts from the manuscript was published in Early English Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, ed. by J. O. Halliwell (London, 1855).
Among the main texts are the Arthurian romance 'Sir Gawaine and the Carle of Carlyle' (ff. 12-26), a treatise on the limning of books (ff. 33-52 verso), a life of St Catherine of Alexandria (ff. 91-129) and a prose version of the Middle English poem 'The Siege of Jerusalem' (ff. 157 verso-184). Ancilliary materials, [mid-20 cent.], comprising typescript notes relating to the manuscript are filed separately (Brogyntyn MS II.1a).

The Explanatio in Psalmos attributed to Haimo of Halberstadt (ff. 1-68 verso), here imperfect by the loss of a quire at the beginning: ']ipse semper est rex iudeorum ... et corpore spirituali et subtili'. The text, corresponding to Migne, Patrologia Latina cxvi, cols. 237-693, begins in the commentary on Psalm 15 and, unaccountably, breaks off at the foot of the first column of f. 68 verso, where the remaining column would have sufficed to complete the commentary on Psalm 150. Written in England, the manner of writing in omissions and the 'dragon initials', but not the script, are suggestive of Canterbury or Rochester.
Written by one good hand. Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus; hyphens. Ink brown. Omissions are regularly made good by writing in small in the margin with a signe-de-renvoi, sometimes by the scribe, sometimes by another hand, sometimes, otiosely, by both (cf. N. R. Ker, English Manuscripts in the Century after the Norman Conquest (Oxford, 1960), p. 50). Nota marks are by the scribe. Spaces for tituli, at least up to f. 45, were originally left blank, perhaps to be filled in in red; they were later filled in in ink, by the scribe, in capitals. Between ff. 21 verso and 45, tituli, written small, now partly cropped, appear in the outer margin.

A copy of a printed book consisting of two parts, Expositio hymnorum secundum vsum Sarum, followed by Expositio sequentiarum (London, 1515, STC 16127), printed by Richard Pynson, whose full-page device appears at the end of the first part; see also colophons on f. lxiii verso of first part and f. l of second. Woodcut of a monk reading used twice before and once at end of first part, and once before second part.
Other copies are at Trinity College, Oxford, and Cambridge University Library (see William Carew Hazlitt, Bibliographical Collections and Notes, 3rd series (London, 1887), p. 77, and C. E. Sayle, Early English Printed Books in the University Library, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1900), p. 56, no. 263).

Extracts, in Latin, from Liber Landavensis (the Book of Llandaff, NLW MS 17110E), transcribed by a hand of the mid sixteenth century. The transcripts consist mostly of charters, either in full or as brief extracts (ff. 2-6, 10-36 verso).

Printed items, 1635-1684, including two prospectuses, in the form of conjoint pairs of leaves, announcing disputations, for the degrees of doctor of medicine and doctor of theology respectively, at the University of Franeker, Holland, the one: ΣΥΝΦΕΩ dispvtatio medica inavgvralis, de suppressione mensium ... ex authoritate ... Henrici Rhala, J. U. Doct. & in illustri academia, quӕ est Franekerӕ, historiarum & eloquentiӕ professoris, ac p.t. rectoris magnifici, ... tueri conabitur Johannes Sadler, Anglus ... (Franekerӕ: Uldericus Balck, 1635) (ff. 1-2 verso), and the other: Ideӕ theologiӕ disputatio xxxl de redemtorum vocatione per sacramentorum exhibitionem in genere ... sub prӕsidio ... Johannis Clutonis, S.S. theologiӕ doctoris, defendendam suscipiet Hansonius Huss, Leov. Fris. (Franekerӕ: Vldericus Balck, 1635) (ff. 5-6 verso), each containing a Latin poem to the respective candidates, John Sadler and Hans Huss, by Lambrock Thomas (Cambro-Britanni, d. 1672), later dean of Chichester.
Also included are a small portion cut from the title page of another copy of the first prospectus together with another copy of the Latin poem to Sadler (ff. 3-4 verso); and a leaf containing a poem to a rhinoceros beginning 'This noble She Rhinoceros' headed by an engraving of the animal with the caption 'The prodigious & wonderfull Rhinoceros sold for 2320£ Sterling 1684' (f. 7).

A volume containing a copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniæ in the vulgate text, written in small textura probably, despite some appearances, by one hand (Acton Griscom saw three or four; see Griscom (1929), p. 35) of the late thirteenth century. It was written in England or perhaps in Wales; the late use of green in the penwork and the dark shade of the blue, almost blue-green, are reminiscent of contemporary Welsh manuscripts.
Two poems in French have been added on ff. 86 verso-88. Punctuation is by point and punctus elevatus. Ink, brown. A six-line initial on f. 1 of parti-coloured red and blue, elsewhere, alternate red and blue two-line initials for chapters. All initials are accompanied by elaborate penwork, fern and foliage motifs in red and green, varying from half to full column height. The penwork is much cropped at all edges. Chapter headings (whose hand suggests that the scribe may also have been the rubricator) are in red, line-fillers in red and initials within the text touched in red. In the margin of f. 39, partly cropped, is a competent drawing of Merlin in red, apparently by the rubricator. In the margins of ff. 10 and 42 are ink profiles of faces, apparently by the scribe. Some words on f. 1 have been retraced in blacker ink.

Two photostat copies (one positive and one negative) of Brogyntyn MS I.7, made in New York in 1926 while the manuscript was on loan to Acton Griscom, then preparing his edition of The Historia Regum Britanniӕ of Geoffrey of Monmouth (London, 1929) (each copy 92 ff., unfoliated); together with an off-print of Acton Griscom, 'The Date of Composition of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia: New Manuscript Evidence', Speculum, I (1926), 129-156, signed by the author and sent to Lord Harlech (ff. 93-111); and twelve letters, 1925-1927, mainly from Acton Griscom, New York, to Lord Harlech, August 1925-July 1927, with one letter from J. Pierpont Morgan, Jr., New York, to Harlech, 10 December 1925, and one from Harlech to Griscom, 5 August 1927, concerning arrangements for Brogyntyn MS I.7 to be deposited temporarily in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, for Griscom's use (ff. 112-32).