A fifteenth-century manuscript of the Brut in English with continuation to 1450, written probably in the 1460s or 1470s in the West Midlands of England (indicated by the dialect) or possibly in Wales.
The text is the English translation of the Brut to 1333 followed by the usual continuation to 1377. The continuation for 1377-1450 (at which point the text ends abruptly) is, except for the years 1415-19, that of the unusual text printed by J. S. Davies in 1856, known as Davies's Chronicle. A quire and a half are wanting at the end of the manuscript; originally no doubt the text continued to 1461, as does Davies's Chronicle. The Brut with its continuation was printed by Caxton in 1480, and then frequently until 1530. Among additions to Brie's text of the Brut are the epitaphs of the Welsh and the English clerk on Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. On a blank page is a Latin epitaph for Mathew Goch, previously only known in a shorter form from a single manuscript (f. 181 verso). The manuscript is on paper, written by three or more hands, and as pastedowns and flyleaf has three leaves of a fine English noted missal of the twelfth century.

A fragment of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Brut in English, containing most of the life of Arthur, including the prophecies of Merlin, written in anglicana by one hand of the late fifteenth century. Two-line blue initials for chapters; headings, paragraph marks and underlinings in red.
For the text of the manuscript see Brogyntyn Manuscript No. 8, trans. and transcribed by Rosalynn Voaden, introduction by Felicity Riddy (Moreton-in-Marsh: Porkington Press, 1991). For a full text of the Brut, see The Brut; or, The Chronicles of England, ed. by Friedrich W. D. Brie, 2 vols, Early English Texts Society, o.s., 131 and 136 (London, 1906, 1908). Our manuscript begins at the end of Brie's chapter 73 and continues to his chapter 101; his chapter 101 is in ours, followed on f. 18 verso by the beginning of a chapter on Cadwallader which is not in Brie (on the Cadwallader chapter see C. W. Marx, pp. 377-380, and Riddy, p. [vi]).

Two tracts - (a) a description of England, in fifteen chapters, compiled in 1445, beginning 'tractatus iste compendiose extractus de diversorum historiographorum diversis ... describit Angliam ... '; (b) a genealogical chronicle in the same hand projected from Adam to Brutus and from Brutus to Henry VI, but in execution brought only to Edward I, with a continuation in a sixteenth century hand to Henry VIII (1518). The pattern of this genealogical chronicle is that of the Promptuarium Bibliae attributed to Petrus Pictaviensis. The text begins 'Adam in agro damasceno ...' (cf. Thomas Jones, Y Bibyl Ynghymraeg (Cardiff, 1940), p. xiii) and has lines added for the Saxons, kings of Britain, princes of Wales, the different divisions of Saxon England, kings of England, princes of Demetia, princes of Venedotia, &c.

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).

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.

A composite volume in two sections, the first, [15 cent., first ¼ (after 1401)] (ff. 1-18), containing the Anglo-Norman treatise on Seneschaucy (ff. 4-7), Walter of Henley's treatise on husbandry in Anglo-Norman (ff. 7-10), and various legal texts (ff. 1-4, 10-18 verso); the second, [14 cent, first ½], a defective copy of an unidentified Latin text on vaticination (ff. 19-24). The two sections were probably not bound together until after 1837.
Section i is written by a single hand, in anglicana, in uniform script in pale ink, apart from f. 18 verso, which was evidently filled later by the same hand. Section ii is written in anglicana by a single hand of the first half of the fourteenth century, in brown ink. There is no rubrication. The scribe exaggerates ascenders in top lines and decorates them with profile heads. There are six stabmarks in the inner margin.

A volume containing three Middle English texts: The Pricke of Conscience (ff. 1-94 verso), followed by the Trentalle sancti Gregorii (ff. 94 verso-96) and the seven penitential Psalms (ff. 96-106 verso). Lewis and McIntosh (1982), p. 33, place the dialect of our text of the Pricke in Monmouthshire, west Gloucestershire or possibly south Wales. There is comment on Book iv of the Pricke, on Purgatory, Protestant in standpoint, written in an italic hand, [16 cent., second ½] (ff. 28 verso-35 passim), but no other marginalia.
Written in anglicana formata by a single, inelegant scribe. Punctuated by point at verse ends and, in Latin text, by point and punctus elevatus. Ink brown, with greenish appearance through the parchment. The following, despite some appearances to the contrary, are probably by the scribe: (i) corrections, (ii) sidenotes in Latin, (iii) a substantial number of additional and variant verses, presumably deriving from a MS other than the exemplar, and (iv) headings, mostly in English, some long and explanatory, marked for insertion in the text and followed by the letter r (for rubric), derived perhaps from the same source as the additional and variant verses. All but (i) occur only in the text of the Pricke; (iii) and (iv) were added after (ii). The marking for rubrication suggests that our manuscript, with its additions, may have been intended to serve as the exemplar of another.