Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [16 cent., second ½] (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
ii, 22 ff. (original foliation [6], 7, [8, 9], 10-13, 16-19, 22-9; ff. i-ii, 21-22 are modern fly-leaves) ; 305 x 200 mm.
Bound at NLW in dark maroon pigskin.
Context area
Archival history
Discovered amongst the papers of the late Emeritus Professor J. E. Caerwyn Williams (1912-1999); it's previous provenance is unknown.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Mrs Gwen Caerwyn Williams, widow of J. E. Caerwyn Williams; Aberystwyth; Donation; November 1999; 006155368.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
A volume containing a copy, in a hand of the second half of the sixteenth-century, of a verse play in Middle Cornish, based upon the life of St Kea, a Celtic saint venerated in Cornwall and Brittany (see Albert le Grand (de Morlaix), Les vies des saints de la Bretagne Armorique (Quimper, 5th edition, 1901), pp. 561-567) (ff. 1-8 verso).
The second part of the text (ff. 9-20 verso) derives from the accounts given in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniæ (Books ix.15, x.1-13, xi. 1-2) of King Arthur's quarrel with the Roman emperor Lucius Hiberius over the tribute which the Britons were required to pay to Rome, and of the clandestine relationship of Arthur's nephew, Modred, with Queen Guenevere.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies;
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
- Cornish
Script of material
Language and script notes
Cornish.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
The text is imperfect owing to the loss of at least five folios at both the beginning and end and two folios each between ff. 8 and 9 and ff. 12 and 13; the words 'Secundo', 'Tertio' and 'Quarto' at the top of ff. 9, 10 and 11 verso respectively would imply that only one folio is missing at the beginning of the Arthurian play and by inference only one folio before the Arthurian sequence; several folios damaged, and repaired with some loss of text.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Digital version available http://hdl.handle.net/10107/4395865 (June 2016)
Digital version available https://www.library.wales/discover-learn/digital-exhibitions/manuscripts/early-modern-period/beunans-ke
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1050).
Related units of description
Publication note
Bewnans Ke: The Life of St. Kea: A Critical Edition with Translation, ed. by Graham Thomas and Nicholas Williams (Exeter, 2007).
Publication note
Bywnans Ke, ed. by Ken George ([n.p.], 2006).
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23849D.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Kea, Saint -- Drama. (Subject)
- Arthur, King -- Drama. (Subject)
- Geoffrey, of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1100?-1154. Historia regum Britanniae. (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
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
March 2012.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Description revised by Rhys Morgan Jones.