Fonds GB 0210 MSPENIARTH - Peniarth Manuscripts Collection

Gwaith Guto'r Glyn, etc. Barddoniaeth, Barddoniaeth Hywel Dafi, Barddoniaeth, Barddoniaeth, Barddoniaeth, Cywyddau ac odlau Guto'r Glyn, Barddoniaeth Lewis Glyn Cothi, Barddoniaeth, Barddoniaeth Huw Arwystl, Llyfr Moelyrch, Barddoniaeth, Poetry, Cerddi serch, Barddoniaeth Dafydd Nanmor a Dafydd ap Gwilym Llyfr Syr Hugh Pennant, Disticha Catonis, Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch, Steganographiae, Brut y Brenhinedd
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Identity area

Reference code

GB 0210 MSPENIARTH

Title

Peniarth Manuscripts Collection

Date(s)

  • [12 cent.]-[1957] (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

547 manuscripts (comprising some 604 volumes, 14 rolls and 1 bundle).

Context area

Archival history

Much of the collection was acquired and collected by the seventeenth-century antiquary Robert Vaughan (1592?-1666) of Hengwrt, Merionethshire. The collection remained at Hengwrt until the death of Vaughan's great-great-great-great grandson, Sir Robert Williames Vaughan, 3rd baronet, in 1859. The books and manuscripts at Hengwrt then passed by bequest to William Watkin Edward Wynne (1801-1880) of Peniarth, near Tywyn, Merionethshire, adding to his already substantial collection. In May 1904 his son, W. R. M. Wynne, agreed to sell to Sir John Williams (1840-1926) the reversion of the Peniarth manuscripts after the death of the survivor of Wynne and his brother, with the intention that they should become part of the foundation collection of the proposed National Library of Wales. On W. R. M. Wynne's death in February 1909 the majority of the Peniarth collection, including the entire Hengwrt portion, was duly transferred to the newly established National Library. For further information see Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, 10 vols (1940-2003), I (1940-43), pp. iii-xxiii.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Peniarth MSS 1-233, 235-48, 250-337, 339-425, 427-49, 440i, 441-7, 449, 464-75, 477-80, 486, 494, 496-7, 500-508, 510-18, 520-29, 532-41, 555: Sir John Williams; Aberystwyth; Donation; [February] 1909.

Peniarth MSS 249, 448, 450-1, 454, 459-60, 462, 476, 485, 487-93, 495, 499, 542-54, 556-61: Colonel J. F. Williams-Wynne; Peniarth; Purchase; 1980.

Peniarth MSS 481-2: Misses Gwendoline and Margaret Davies; Gregynog; Donation; 1921.

Peniarth MS 234i: Sotheby's; London; Purchased at auction, lots 179-180; 21 July 1980.

Peniarth MSS 440ii and 483: Sotheby's; London; Purchased at auction, lot 2 (MS 483); 23-24 March 1981.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

A collection of manuscripts, [12 cent.]-1909, from the library of Peniarth, Merionethshire, the core of the historic collection being that of the library accumulated at Hengwrt, Merionethshire, by Robert Vaughan during the seventeenth century. The collection includes many of the most important Welsh language manuscripts, including the Black Book of Carmarthen (Peniarth MS 1), the Book of Taliesin (Peniarth MS 2), the White Book of Rhydderch (Peniarth MSS 4-5) and Brut y Tywysogion (the Chronicle of the Princes) (Peniarth MS 20), as well as important manuscripts in other languages such as the Hengwrt Chaucer (Peniarth MS 392), the Law of Hywel Dda (Peniarth MS 28), Beunans Meriasek (Peniarth MS 105) and Bede's De natura rerum (Peniarth MS 540B).

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Arranged according to reference numbers: Peniarth MSS 1-337, 339-451, 454, 458-460, 462, 464-483, 485-497, 499-508, 510-518, 520-529, 532-561.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Access to the original manuscripts by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.

Conditions governing reproduction

Usual copyright laws apply.

Language of material

  • English
  • French
  • Latin
  • Welsh

Script of material

Language and script notes

Welsh, Latin, English, French, Cornish.

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

For further information on the Latin manuscripts see NLW, Catalogue of Peniarth Manuscripts which are Wholly or Partly in Latin, compiled by Prof. Edward Bensley (typescript in NLW reading room only).

Generated finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

For papers relating to the Peniarth estate see NLW, Peniarth Estate Records.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Previous titles and classifications of manuscripts can be found in the individual file descriptions. Except when a well-known historic or recognised title exists the title is based on the contents of the manuscript. The collection was catalogued in the 1860s by W. W. E. Wynne, who retained earlier Hengwrt MS numbers, mainly the work of Aneurin Owen, and numbered the Peniarth MSS for the first time (these are now referred to as 'Ancient Peniarth' numbers). J. Gwenogvryn Evans radically re-numbered all the Hengwrt and Peniarth manuscripts in a single sequence whilst compiling his Report on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language (1898-1905). With the exception of Peniarth MSS 540-561, which were numbered at NLW, these remain the Peniarth numbers in use today. Unless otherwise noted suggested dates have been based on the information found in the previous catalogues (see file descriptions); the dates for manuscripts earlier than 1540 containing Welsh material have been taken from Daniel Huws, Medieval Welsh Manuscripts (Aberystwyth, 2000).

Note

Peniarth MSS 338, 426, 452-3, 455-8, 461, 463, 484, 498, 509, 519, 530-1 were not included in the sale to Sir John Williams or in subsequent sales and presumably remain at Peniarth.

Note

In November 1957 Colonel J. F. Williams-Wynne of Peniarth loaned Peniarth MSS 234, 426 and 458 to the Library in order to allow facsimiles to be made. The manuscripts listed in this catalogue as Peniarth MSS 426 and 458 are those facsimiles, rather than the originals; when Peniarth MS 234 was purchased at auction in 1980 its facsimile became Peniarth MS 234ii.

Note

Title based on contents.

Note

The collection was included on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register in July 2010.

Alternative identifier(s)

Virtua system control number

vtls004438078

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales

Rules and/or conventions used

Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

June 2006, July 2013.

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: J. Gwenogvryn Evans, Report on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language, vol. I (London, 1898-1905); Daniel Huws, Medieval Welsh Manuscripts (Aberystwyth, 2000); Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, 10 vols (1940-), I (1940-43).

Archivist's note

Compiled by Hywel Gwynn Williams and revised by Rhys Morgan Jones.

Accession area