Showing 2 results

Archival description
Llanover Manuscripts Lewis Glyn Cothi, active 1440-1490 English
Advanced search options
Print preview View:

Barddoniaeth; doethineb Catwg Ddoeth,

A composite volume containing transcripts of prose and verse items in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg'). Pp. 1-80 contain transcripts of Welsh poems, almost entirely 'englynion', by, or attributed to, Llywelyn ab Rhosser 'o Sainffag[an]', Dafydd Llwyd Mathew, Dafydd ap Siencyn Fynglwyd, Richd. Watcins, vicar Llanellen, Thomas Llywelyn 'o Regoes', Llywelyn Thomas, Edwd. Dafydd 'o Fargam', Siôn y Cent, Siôn Morys 'o Lanfabon', Thomas Lewys 'o Lechau', Rhys Brychan, Hywel Bwr Bach, Huw Cae Llwyd, Dafydd Benwyn, Iorwerth Fynglwyd, Morys Cyffin, Hopcin Thomas 'o Faglan', Rhaff ab Rhobert, Siôn Tudur, Gwerfyl Mechain, Rhobert Cludro, Tudur Aled, Dafydd ap Edmwnd, Hywel ap Syr Matthew, Bleddyn Siôn 'o Lancarfan', Hywel Llwyd, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Siôn Philip 'o Hendrewaelod', Lewys Morys, Dafydd, abad Margam, Dafydd Dafies 'o Gastell Hywel', Iolo Morganwg, Huw Llwyd Cynfel, Siôn Cydewain, Llawdden, Syr Lewys Mochnant, Lewis Môn, Roger Cyffln, Syr Ifan o Garno, Wiliam Byrchinsha, Ednyfed Fychan, Cwnin Brydydd, Twm Siôn Catti, Lewys Morganwg, Rhys Brydydd, ? Lewys Glyn Cothi, Dafydd Nanmor, Jenkin Richards 'o Flaenau Gwent', Ieuan Gethin ab Ieuan ab Lleision, Siôn Brwynog, William Cynwal, Richard Huws, Dr. Morgan, esgob Llanelwy, Lewys Powel, William Middelton, Hopcin Tomas ab Einiawn, Elis Drwynhir, Harri ap Thomas ap Wiliam 'o'r Ddiserth', Grufydd Hiraethog, Morys Dwyfech, Owain Gronw, Hywel ap Rhys, Syr Lewys Gethin, Richard Cynwal, Roger y Gwydd, Edmwnd Prys, Dr. R. Davies, esgob Ty Ddewi, Rhys Cain, Huw Roberts Llun, Rhisiart Iorwerth 'o Langynwyd', ? Huw Ednyfed, Einion ap Dafydd Llwyd, Rhydderch Roberts, Syr Lewys y defaid, Syr Lewys Anwyl, Robert ab Han, Syr Ieuan Brydydd, Syr Owain ap Gwilym, Catherin ferch Howel, Wiliam Llyn, Owain Gwynedd, Dafydd Alaw, Evan Llwyd Sieffre, Morgan ap Huw Lewys, Robert Dafydd Llwyd, Wiliam ap Hywel ap Tomas, Morys Parri Llen, Ifan Siôn 'o Wedir', and Sils ap Siôn, and other unattributed poems. The inscriptions on p. 81 and p. 83 and the note on p. 82 appear to indicate that they were intended as cover and 'title-page' respectively for a home-made booklet containing a corpus of 'englynion' by Jenkin Richards of Blaenau Gwent, co. Monmouth, extracted mainly 'o Lyfrau Harri Siôn o Bont y Pwl a Llyfr ym Meddiant Rhys Thomas, Argraffydd o'r Bont Faen ym Morganwg', but only four 'englynion', presumably meant to be attributed to this poet, follow on p. 84. Pp. 91-198 contain miscellaneous items including 91-2, notes headed 'On the oldest places of Christian Worship in Wales'; (continued)

93-7, 105-06, notes, generally derogatory, on the character and literary and metallurgical activities of Lewis Morris; 100- 04, notes on 'Welsh Ideas of Celibacy'; 122-8, a transcript of thirty 'englynion' entitled 'Ymatreg Llywelyn a Gwrnerth' attributed to Tysiliaw fab Brochwel Ysgithrawc; 130, a note relating to an 'eisteddfod' held at Y Pil (Pyle, co. Glamorgan), 1740; 131- 41, notes relating to 'singing to the harp', the 'bardd telyn', carol and 'alsain' verse, the adapting of verse to music, etc.; 147-62, transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Rhobert, Tywysog Norddmanty, Morys Kyffin, Wm. Byrchinsha, and Gutto'r Glyn, extracts from the works of various Welsh poets, etc.; 167, a version of William Midleton's introductory epistle [to his Bardhoniaeth neu brydydhiaeth, y llyfr kyntaf (Llundain, 1593)] copied 'Ex Vol. 40. Mr. Panton' [i.e. Panton MS.40 now NLW MS 2008]; 168-9, five stanzas of a hymn tune attributed to Elis Wynn; 169, a transcript of two 'englynion' attributed to Dr. [John] Davies; 171, a list of the commotes and hundreds of Glamorgan copied from '68. P.P.' [i.e. Panton MS 68 now NLW MS 2034]; 175-88, an alphabetical list of Welsh bards 'o Lyfr D'dd Ddu o'r Eryri'; and 188-98, miscellanea including transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Siôn Mawddwy, Ieuan Tew, William Philip, and D[afydd] ab Gwilym, miscellaneous triads, genealogical data relating to various Welsh bards and Syr Rhys ap Thomas, etc. Pp. 207-390 (previously paginated 1-184) contain a collection of maxims, proverbs, triads, sayings, etc., attributed to Cattwg Ddoeth and described on a 'title-page' to the section ( p. 199) as 'Llyma Ddoethineb Cattwg Ddoeth o Lancarvan' and in a concluding note (p. 390) as 'Llyfr y cyntaf y Gwyddfardd Cyfarwydd'. In a note on the aforementioned 'title-page' (p. 199) Edward Williams claims to have transcribed this collection in 1799 from a manuscript in the possession of Siams Thomas of Maerdy Newydd, co. Glamorgan. Preceding and following the actual text of the collection are transcripts of a prefatory letter dated 1685 (pp. 201-06) and of the concluding note already referred to (p. 390) both of which are attributed to the Glamorgan scribe and copyist Thomas ab Iefan of Tre Bryn as compiler of the manuscript from which Edward Williams was allegedly copying (see TLLM, t. 172; IM, tt. 291-4). Pp. 391-477 contain a transcript of a collection, in alphabetical order, of over three thousand Welsh proverbs attributed to Cattwg Ddoeth ('Llyma Ddiarhebion Cattwg Ddoeth . . . sef yw hwnn Ail Lyfr y Gwyddfardd Cyvarwydd'). This collection, according to the aforementioned note at the end of the preceding section (p. 390) attributed to Thomas ab Iefan, had been compiled by the said Thomas from various sources and formed a continuation of the previous section. Edward Williams's claim with regard to the Siams Thomas volume is probably intended to apply to the contents of pp. 391-477 as well. The contents of pp. 199-390 have been published in The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales . . ., vol. III (London, 1807), pp. 1-99.

Miscellanea,

Miscellaneous papers and booklets or note-books containing notes, lists, transcripts, etc., in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. The contents include, pagination in brackets, a list of one hundred and sixty-one items headed 'Welsh MSS. in the Possession of E[dward] Williams ['Iolo Morganwg']. Transcripts' (1-13); a list of thirty-one items headed 'Hen Ysgriflyfrau' being apparently manuscript volumes in the aforementioned Edward Williams’'s possession (15-16; many of these items can be identified amongst the Llanover manuscripts now being described); a list of titles of ? 'cywyddau' with numbers, poets' names, and page references headed 'MS. at Revd. Mr. Peter Williams', etc. (17-19); a list of the titles and / or first lines of forty-four 'cywyddau' and 'awdlau' under the name H[ywel ap] D[afydd ap] I[euan ap] Rhys and of two 'awdlau' under the name Gwilym Tew with page references, these corresponding to the pagination of transcripts of poems with the same titles or first lines by these poets (excepting one by Bedo Brwynllys to the said Hywel Dafydd) in Cwrt Mawr MS 12 in the National Library of Wales (20-24); a list of the titles of ? 'cywyddau' with the poets' names or initials and page references headed 'D[afydd] Dd[u] Eryn Broad Folio' (25-6); a list of the titles of 'cywyddau' and 'awdlau' headed 'Long vol. folio Piser Hir' with the poets' names or initials and page references the latter corresponding to the pagination of transcripts of poems with the same titles by the said poets in the manuscript known as Y Piser Hir now NLW Deposited MS 55 (27-30); a brief note referring to 'A Book with D.T. containing a large collection of Gronwy Owain's Letters . . .', etc. (31); extracts from poems attributed to R[hys] G[och] Eryri, Gruff. ap Daf. ap Einion Lygliw, L[ewis] G[lyn] Cothi, Iolo Goch, and B[edo] Brwynllys, (41-4); (41-4); a sequence of entries consisting of titles of Welsh poems, mainly 'cywyddau', with or without the name of the poet, first lines of, or extracts from, such poems, attributions only of poems, brief data re a poem or a poet, brief comments relating to a poem such as 'good, to be copied', 'to be copied, important', often without the name of the poem or poet, etc., these entries being accompanied by page references and these obviously referring to the pagination of the Welsh Charity School MS which is now British Museum Add. MS 14866 (44-58); further extracts from, or references to, items in ? the Welsh Charity School MSS now in the British Museum including transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Wm. Cynwal, D. ab Edmund, and Tywysog Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (58-60, 69); a brief note relating to court officials in [medieval] Gwynedd, Pywys, and Deheubarth (71); an incomplete note re a linear measure called 'Mesur Llath Fleddyn' (72); a survey of Welsh bardism from the time of the Emperor Arthur to the seventeenth century attributed to Edward Dafydd referring to, inter alia, the measures taken by the Emperor Arthur to restore the bardic system, the 'eisteddfodau' of Gruffudd ab Cynan, the 'eisteddfod' at Caerfyrddin in 1452 and the twenty- four strict-metre system adopted there, 'eisteddfodau' held at Yr Adur and Aberpergwm in the time of Iorwerth Fynglwyd and at Abertawy in the time of Lewys Morganwg, a volume on the allegedly truly traditional poetic metres compiled by Lewys Morganwg and volumes by Meuryg Dafydd and Dafydd Benwyn on the same theme, an 'eisteddfod' at 'Castell Caer Dydd' convened by Sir William Herbert where Llywelyn Siôn was chief adjudicator, the condemning of the Carmarthen system of strict metres and the authorising of an alternate, truer system [the Glamorgan system] at this 'eisteddfod', a volume by Llywelyn Siôn containing an account of this system, and the writer [i.e. Edward Dafydd]'s intention of publishing this account and other bardic material in a printed volume (73-82; see the foreword in Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain attributed to the said Edward Dafydd, and for a comment on the whole matter see TLLM, t. 91); (continued)

Notes on Welsh poetic metres headed 'Llyma son am y mesurau Cerdd Dafawd ag fal au gwellhawyd o amser i amser ag o beth i beth ag o farn i farn' (82-8); an incomplete ? draft of an undated letter from . . . to . . . containing observations on a book (? in two parts or volumes entitled 'Oes Ymbwyll' and 'Oes y Pwyll') by recipient concerning revealed religion (89-104); a list of words, phrases, etc., headed 'Allusions to Coelbren y Beirdd in D.G. and to other arts and sciences' with page references to the said allusions [these, by inference, being extracted from the collection of Dafydd ap Gwilym's poems published by Owen Jones and William Owen in 1789 under the title Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym] (105-07); miscellaneous notes relating to bardic matters such as the nature or attributes of 'cerdd gadair', 'cerdd arwest', 'cerdd dant', 'arwyddfardd', and 'cerdd deuluaidd' (113-25); notes relating to the contribution of Talhaiarn Fardd, Ystudfach Fardd, Ceraint Fardd Glas, Taliesin Ben Beirdd, Rhys Goch ap Rhiccart, Casnodyn Fardd, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Ieuan fawr ap y diwlith, and Llesoed Fardd to the Welsh metric system (126-17); copies of memorial inscriptions including seventeenth century inscriptions relating to members of the Powell family in the churchyard at Llangynwyd [co. Glamorgan] (128); brief notes referring to the expressions 'Hu ynys' and 'Gwyr Hu', and to Hu Gadarn and early mythological bards of Britain (133); notes relating to 'cynghanedd unodl', 'cynghanedd gytsain', and 'corfannau' (138-9); transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Rhisiart Iorwerth, Rhys Meigen, and Wm. Llyn (140 ); a brief note relating to a poetic metre known as 'toddaid Taliesin' with transcripts of two Latin stanzas in 'englyn' form attributed to D.N. and ? Samuel Jones 'o Fryn Llywarch' (141-2); notes relating to the decline of knowledge concerning the old Welsh bardic order in Gwynedd in the late middle ages, literary patronage in Morgannwg during the post Norman conquest period, poetic composition ? in relation to the 'pedair ansawdd ar hugain Cadair Morganwg', and 'Y Bardd Glas Ceraint' (143-7); an extract from a 'cywydd' attributed to Rhys Goch Eryri, a note on the words 'clws' and 'tlws' and the use of the first for the second with a transcript of an 'englyn' attributed to Hugh Jones 'o Langwm' to illustrate this usage, and three Welsh triads (148-51); lists or groups of Welsh words sometimes with English definitions and / or illustrative excerpts from Welsh verse (152-3, 155, 164, 172-3, 200, 203, 210, 335, 337, 341, 343-6, 348, 350, 353-4 356, 360); a number of 'Quotations in exemplifications of the sense or meaning of [specific Welsh] words' (165, 168-9); a list of eleven questions, ?forming a questionnaire, relating to the Welsh language, its major dialects, local words and idioms, the possible possession of ? old Welsh manuscripts ('hen ysgrifeniadau') by the person questioned or acquaintances, etc. (174-5); brief notes relating to Siôn Rhydderch and Lewis Morris (179); transcripts of stanzas of Welsh verse attributed to Gwalchmai and Elidir Sais (189-92); notes headed 'Silurian Contractions' (197); a group of Welsh words illustrating the use of de- in Sil[urian] where dy- would be used in N[orth] W[ales] as the first syllable (198); a note on the two sounds of the symbol Y in the Welsh alphabet (199); a list of kings of the British, 481-683, and of Plantagenet and Yorkist kings of England, 1307-1483 (201); notes deriving the Latin word bellum from a Celtic word bel signifying war and referring to the cognate element -fel in Welsh words (204 + 209); a list of the kings of England, 1272-1558 (212 ); an incomplete author index to Sion Rhydderch's edition of [Thomas Jones :] Llyfr Carolau [a Dyriau Duwiol], 1745 (249); brief notes, sometimes merely dates, relating to Rowland Vaughan 'o Gaer Gai', Richard Huws, Wmffre Dafydd ab Ifan, Syr Lewys ab Hugh 'o Fochnant', Edmund Prys, Huw Morys, and Rhys Pritchard (250-5I); an extract from the Gentleman's Magazine, 1809, relating to the Mears family (253-4); (continued)

Comments reflecting the writer's attitude towards the ? introduction of an artificial regularity into the Welsh language (257-9); a very brief note on Ty Newydd, Y Fotffordd [Watford, co. Glamorgan], [Nonconformist] meeting house, and an anecdote relating to Sir Wm. Lewys of Gilfach fargod and ? a conventicle being held in the parish of Gelli Gaer [co. Glamorgan], temp. Charles II or James II (274); dates of the deaths of David Jenkins of Hensol [co. Glamorgan], judge, and his son and grandson (278); miscellaneous extracts from, or references to, various printed works (279- 81); data relating to the Kemis family of Cefn Mabli, Llanblethian, and Newport [cos. Glamorgan and Monmouth] (291, 293-4, 298); notes headed 'Peculiarities of the Dimetian Dialect' (301-03); a brief note relating to incursions into the Isle of Man and Anglesey, A.D. 431, transcripts of stanzas of Welsh verse attributed to R[hys] Goch ab Rhiccert and Taliesin, copies of two versions of an 'englyn' by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg', two Welsh triads, a list of six 'Books at Wm. Morris, 1783', a list of four 'Reasons for supposing that the South Wales Poets imitated the Troubadours', etc. (317-21); a list of twenty-four topics or subject or chapter headings with the superscription 'Hints for a Tour in Wales' (322 + 327); data relating to Thomas ap Evan ap Rhys, 16th cent. poet (324-5, 323 ); a transcript of six stanzas of Welsh religious verse (328); a list of Welsh proverbial expressions, etc. (331, 358); a list of Welsh expressions incorporating the name of God headed 'Traces of Ancient Welsh Piety' (333); and a four-line stanza of Welsh verse by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' (359). Pp. 213-48, which formerly formed a separate booklet, contain miscellaneous notes, extracts, memoranda, etc., including extracts from Welsh poems attributed to Robin Ddu, Cynddelw, Pryd[ydd] y Moch, Hywel ap Iolyn, W[illia]m Cynwal, Ed[mwnd] Prys, Daf. Goch, Inco Brydydd, Rhys Nanmor, Math. ap Lln. Goch, Ieuan Du'r Bilwg, Gruff. ab Mared., Siôn Ceri, L[ewis] G[lyn] Cothi, Lln. Fardd, Iolo Goch, Gruff. Grug, and R[hys] G[och] Eryri; comments on the need for a better grammar of the Welsh language which, inter alia, would pay attention to 'dialectical peculiarities'; a list of seven topics or subject or chapter headings for 'Historical Dissertations on the Ancient British Bards and Druids, etc.'; chronological computations concerning the possibility of a certain Dafydd Jones, a native of Cardigan, having seen, circa 1530 or 1540, an elderly woman who remembered another elderly woman who had seen D[afydd] ab Gwilym; groups of, or notes on, Welsh words; etc. Notes in two instances have been written on the verso and margins of a printed circular announcing the printing of Edward Williams's two volumes of English poems entitled Poems Lyric and Pastoral (202 + 211) and of a printed copy of the resolutions of a meeting of gentlemen and woolgrowers of the county of Glamorgan held at Cowbridge, 16 April 1806, when it was resolved to establish a wool fair for the said county to be held at Cowbridge in July (unnumbered pages between p. 317 and p. 318 and p.319 and p. 320).