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A collection of poetry of numerous poets of the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

A collection of pedigrees compiled by and in the hand of Robert Vaughan, with marginal notes and references.
Also included are additions in various hands and fifteen loose folios belonging to another manuscript by Robert Vaughan. Some of the text has been restored by W. W. E. Wynne.

The beginning of the story of the Grail (in Welsh) in the hand of Robert Vaughan. The remainder of the manuscript is written c. 1609 mostly in the hand of John Jones, Gellilyfdy and comprises: sections on Persian history in English and Old French; various texts and fragments written on the backs and margins of letters and other documents and sewn together, including Breuddwyd Pawl, Breuddwyd Iorwerth and medical recipes; letters addressed to the Lord President of the Marches of Wales; and a Latin theological treatise.

Single lines of poetry arranged alphabetically, most probably in the hand of John Jones, Gellilyfdy.

The manuscript is in two parts and comprises pedigrees in the hand of John Cain. The first part was written in 1638-1641 and the second part in 1613-1641.
There are also a few letters to John Cain from Dafydd Lloyd (part i, pp. 113-114, and a copy of another on p. 115) and Sion Clywedog (part i, p. 83, part ii, p. 64), and a letter from Henry Nedham to J. Cayen.

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 manuscript of the third quarter of the 16th century comprising Brut y Tywysogion; Brut y Saeson; Bonedd y Saint; Dosbarth Arfau; and the beginning of the Bible in Welsh.

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.

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.

A fragment of a tract on the war between England and France; a portion of 'the tretice off housbondry that Master Grosthed [Grosseteste] mad the which was Bischope of Lyncolne ...'; a metrical story of Saint Gregory and his mother; miscellaneous cookery recipes; 'a good book off keruynge and servis vnto a prince ...'; and medical recipes.