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'Llyfr Llandaf' (dyblygiad)

  • NLW MS 7000E.
  • File
  • [1931]

A photostat facsimile of 'Llyfr Llandaf' ('Liber Landavensis') (now NLW MS 17110E).
For a detailed description of the original manuscript see E. D. Jones, 'The Book of Llandaff', in The National Library of Wales Journal, 4, pp. 123-57.

'Historia regum Britanniae'

  • NLW MS 13052E [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [13 cent., first ½]

A folio manuscript containing a Latin text of Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'Historia Regum Britanniae'. The spine is inscribed in gilt 'Galfrid Monvmetensis Historia'. A small, square label bearing the number 32 has been pasted on at the base of the spine. A note 'Bound by Lewis' and the inscription 'Sir T. P., Middle Hill, No. 32' under the figure of a lion rampant are found on the centre panel of the inner side of the upper cover. The name 'Thos. Phillipps' and the note '32 MSS. Ph.' have been inscribed on the recto of the first (modern) fly-leaf, and the bottom left - hand corner of the verso of the same leaf is stamped 'Bound by Hering'. The vellum leaves have a generous margin but some have natural medial flaws and irregular edges and a few have flaws which have been repaired. The text is written in double columns of forty lines each in a regular, somewhat angular, Gothic hand probably of the first half of the thirteenth century and possibly the first quarter. The preface and 'Historia' proper have large initials in red and blue and each chapter has a large initial in red or blue often with decorative work in the same or the contrasting colour. Most of the catchwords appear to have been cut away probably in the process of trimming for binding. The text is not divided into books. It has the customary preface (Incipit and Explicit, f. 1 recto) but there is no direct reference to a patron. Robert, earl of Gloucester, is referred to obliquely as follows - 'Si autem in hoc libello corrigendum est aliquid a to corrigatur nec gaufndi monomutensis censeatur sed sale minerue minerue (sic) tue conditus illius dicatur editio quem henricus anglorum rex generauit . . .'. The 'Historia' proper commences on f. 1 recto, and the prophesies of Merlin, with the prefatory remarks referring to Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, are introduced on f. 29 verso. The explicit of the 'Historia' (f. 60 verso) is preceded by the epilogue with references to [William] of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon. The following note in French - 'an 11? 52 mommouth an angletere' - has been inserted in the space between the heads of the two columns of f. 1 recto.

Lewis Johnes' Book,

  • NLW MS 23985A.
  • File
  • [13 cent.], [16 cent., first ¼]-[17 cent., first ¼].

An imperfect copy, lacking title-page, and all following f. cxxxvi, of an unidentified early sixteenth-century printed edition of the Latin Decretales of Gregory IX. The text ends at the beginning of c. 1, X, De fideiussoribus, III, 22. Preceding the Decretales are sixteen originally-blank paper leaves, and a vellum leaf containing a fragment of a medieval Latin text, in a XIII cent. hand, originally used as a front pastedown, now raised and left as a fly-leaf. The covers bear blind-tooled rolled decorations of Oldham's 'heads in medallions' type, similar to his HM. h (29), identified as a London production of 1533-44; see further J.B. Oldham, English Blind-Stamped Bindings (Cambridge, 1952), 54 & plate L.
The volume was owned at the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth centuries by 'Lewis Johnes', who added his name on ff. 16, xlvv, xlvi and inside rear cover. He also added pen trials and Welsh poetry to the sixteen preliminary blank leaves. The poems include an early cywydd attributed to Siôn Tudur (c. 1522-1602) (ff. 9 verso-10), a text seemingly first attested in Cardiff MS 2.114 of 1564-5, see Enid Roberts, Gwaith Siôn Tudur (Caerdydd, 1980) I, 672; an incomplete cywydd, attributed elsewhere to Gruffudd ab Ieuan ap Llywelyn Fychan (c. 1485-1553) (f. 12); and a series of 37 englynion of gnomic type, each beginning with 'Eira mynydd ...' (ff. 5 verso-9). These englynion are not among those appearing in Oxford Jesus College MS 111 (Llyfr Coch Hergest), col. 1028-9 (see Kenneth Jackson, Early Welsh Gnomic Poems, Cardiff, 1935, 22-6), and their form and contents suggest that they are later-dating imitations of the genre, seemingly unattested. The name of Lewis Johnes (or Jones), again in a late sixteenth- or early seventeenth-century hand, also appears in the first part of NLW MS 5283B (pp. 7, 98, 119, 126, 161, 166 and 170), a collection of cywyddau, mostly written in his hand, which begins with the above-mentioned poem attributed to Siôn Tudur. Johnes' legal connection, exemplified by his ownership of the Decretales, may also be reflected in the legal script which he adopts when writing his name on pp. 98 & 126 of this manuscript, a volume which also bears the names of Evan Johnes (p. 166), Hughe Johnes (p. 55) and Harry Jones (pp. 13, 43, 88, 140), possibly kinsmen.

Gregory IX, Pope, ca. 1170-1241.

Llyfr Aneirin

  • NLW Llyfr Aneirin (Cardiff MS 2.81)
  • File
  • [13 cent., second ½]

A manuscript of the second half of the thirteenth century containing 'Y Gododdin', a series of awdlau lamenting warriors slain in battle at Catraeth, and believed to have been originally composed by Aneirin at the end of the sixth century (pp. 1-24). The awdlau are followed by four poems known as the gorchanau: Gorchan Tudfwlch (pp. 25-26), Gorchan Adebon (p. 26), Gorchan Cynfelyn (pp. 26-28) and Gorchan Maeldderw (pp. 28-38).
The manuscript was written by two scribes: scribe A (pp. 1.1-23.5, 25.1-30.11) and scribe B (pp. 23.6-24.21, 30.12-38.22). The hand of scribe B is also responsible for Peniarth MS 14, pp. 1-44 and Peniarth MS 17; see Ingo Mittendorf, 'Sprachliche und orthographische Besonderheiten eines mittelkymrischen Textes aus dem 13. Jahrhundert (Gwyrthyeu e Wynvydedic Veir)', in Akten des Zweiten Deutschen Keltologen-Symposiums, ed. S. Zimmer, R. Ködderitzsch and A. Wigger, Buchreihe der Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, 17 (Tübingen, 1999), p. 129. Daniel Huws suggests the Cistercian abbey of Aberconwy as a likely location of the scriptorium; see Medieval Welsh Manuscripts (Cardiff and Aberystwyth, 2000), 75.

Aneirin.

Llawysgrif Hendregadredd

  • NLW MS 6680B [RESTRICTED ACCESS]
  • File
  • [14-15 cents]

The Hendregadredd manuscript, containing poems by the Gogynfeirdd bards, etc.
The contents of the manuscript were published by the University of Wales Press Board in 1933 under the title of Llawysgrif Hendregadredd.

Medicina

  • NLW MS 21703B.
  • File
  • [XIV cent.]

Medieval medical texts, written in Italy in the fourteenth century: Nicolaus [Salernitanus], Antidotarium (ff. 1-21 verso); [Johannes de Parma], Collectiones omnibus capitulorum libri Mesue (ff. 22-25); Compilatio flebotomie de qualibet vena (ff. 25-26); recipes, 'Cassia fistulatum...' (ff. 26-27); recipes in two later hands of XIV or XV cent. (ff. 27-37).
Folios 1 and 2, 6 and 7, 18 and 19 are palimpsests. The lower script, partly legible under ultra-violet light, is from a book of transacts of a notary, Albericus [?], 'notarius sacri palatii', written not much earlier than the medical texts; there is reference in one document (f. 12) to 'villa de quart' [?Quart, near Aosta].

Johannes, de Parma

Leaf from a mediæval Bible,

  • NLW MS 23791F [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [mid 14 cent.]

A leaf from a manuscript Bible in Latin, copied in England around the middle of the fourteenth century, comprising part of the seventh chapter of the book of Esekiel and the beginning of the eighth, which is marked by an illuminated and decorated initial.

Llawysgrif Boston o Gyfreithiau Hywel Dda

  • NLW MS 24029A.
  • File
  • [1350-1425]

A manuscript of the second half of the fourteenth century containing a Llyfr Blegywryd version of the Laws of Hywel Dda, with main text close to that of BL, Cotton, Titus D ix (siglum L). The manuscript was written by four scribes: scribe A (ff. 1-93), scribe B (f. 93), and the more cursive hand of scribe C (ff. 93 verso, 100-101 verso). Scribe D, of the early 15 cent. (f. 97), was responsible for the extraneous section of quire 12 (ff. 94-99), possibly part of another manuscript. This section includes the prayer Emyn Curig (ff. 98-99 verso).
The main text of folios 1-93 (to ln. 6 of f. 93) was transcribed line-for-line for Moses Williams, 'o lyfr William Philips o Aberhodni', in NLW, Llanstephan MS 75, when all but two leaves were present in the manuscript (ff. 7 & 17 being already lost).

A transcript of the present manuscript is available on the Welsh Prose (Rhyddiaith Gymraeg) 1350–1425 project website, and is available online at http://www.rhyddiaithganoloesol.cardiff.ac.uk/en/ms-home.php?ms=Bost5 (viewed December 2012)

Horae

  • NLW MS 17520A [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [1390s]

Book of Hours, mainly of Sarum use, with calendar. The volume has associations with the Caernarfon district.

Horae.

  • NLW MS 23731A [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [15 cent., first ½]

A book of Hours, of unidentified Use, in Latin with a few rubrics in Catalan, [first half of the fifteenth century], from Catalunya or the Pyrenees, containing Calendar (ff. 1-11 verso), Gradual Psalms (ff. 12-27), the Hours of the Virgin, the Mass of the Virgin (ff. 80-6 verso), the Office of the Dead (ff. 87-140), the Penitential Psalms (ff. 141-56), and Litany (ff. 156-66 verso).
The Calendar includes many saints whose cult was particularly important in Spain and Catalunya, including Agatha, Eulalia (of Barcelona, Feb. 12, and [?of Merida], Dec. 10), Baudelius, Quiteria, Justa and Rufina of Seville, Abdon and Senen of Cordoba, Laurence, Felix of Gerona, Theccla, patron of Tarragona, Callistus, patron of Seville, Cecilia, Barbara; similarly the Litany includes Just and Pastor of Alcala de Henares, Cyricus, Theccla and Eulalia; others, such as Radegunde of Poitiers, Tropimus of Arles and Rufus of Avignon mentioned are associated with south and western France. Prayers to St Eulalia are also included in Lauds (f. 51 verso) and Vespers (f. 74 verso). Rubrics by hand I in Catalan on ff. 85 verso-86 verso crossed out, but mostly legible, confirm provenance in the paísos catalans.

The Merthyr Fragment

  • NLW MS 21972D [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [15 cent., first ¼]

Three surviving folia of a lost manuscript in Middle English, written by a professional scribe during the first quarter of the fifteenth century, containing parts of the ‘Nun’s Priest’s Link' and 'Nun's Priest's Tale’ from Geoffrey Chaucer’s 'Canterbury Tales'. Textual contents: f. l recto, VII2784-2820 (B2, 3974-4010) and 'Here endeth the p(ro)loge and bygynneth the tale'; f. 1 verso, VII2822-2860 (B2, 4012-4050); f. 2 recto, VII3021-3058 (B2, 4211-4248); f. 2 verso, VII3060-3098 (B2, 4250-4288); f. 3 recto, VII3184-3222 (B2, 4374-4412); f. 3 verso, VII3223-3262 (B2, 4413-4452).
The folia were formerly tipped in at the back of a copy of Dr John Davies’s Antiquae Linguae Britannicae Dictionarium Duplex (1632). Linne R. Mooney has suggested that the Merthyr Fragment may be in the hand of Adam Pinkhurst; see Alexandra Gillespie and Daniel Wakelin (eds.), The Production of Books in England 1350-1500 (Cambridge, 2011), p. 199n.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400

Missale

  • NLW MS 492F [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [mid-XV cent.]

An illuminated and noted missal of the mid-fifteenth century, probably copied in a London workshop, and apparently of Sarum use. The Rev. W.H. Maskell's theory that it was the sole survivor of the 'use of Bangor' is not substantiated by subsequent authorities on liturgical studies. Originally produced for the church of Great Easton, Essex, for the Calendar includes its dedication, at 4 August ('Dedicacio ecclesie sancti Egidii de Eyston. ad montem'); a note by a later hand at 20 August of the death of William Jaye ('Obitus Willelmi Jaye') and an erased inscription in the bottom margin, show that the manuscript was still at Great Easton in 1508.
References to the pope (e.g. f. 261), to purgatory (f. 256 verso) and to St Thomas of Canterbury (e.g. f. 24) are, as usually, erased or cancelled, particularly so in the calendar. Responses for the marriage service are given in English (f. 240), with English forms of the priest's address to couples added in a late-15th or early-16th cent. hand on f. 239 verso.

Horae

  • NLW MS 15537C [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [mid-15 cent.]

The 'De Grey' Book of Hours, [mid-15 cent.].

Jean de Rovroy: Le Livre des Stratagèmes

  • NLW MS 23205D [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [late 15 cent.]

A late fifteenth-century illuminated manuscript of Les Stratagèmes, the French version of the Latin Stratagemata of Julius Sextus Frontinus, translated, [1439x1460], for Charles VII, king of France, by Jean de Rovroy (fl. 1388-1460), dean of the faculty of theology at the University of Paris, who has added extracts, in French, from the Epitoma Rei Militaris of Vegetius (see R. Bossuat, 'Jean de Rovroy, traducteur des Stratagèmes de Frontin', Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 22 (1960), 273-86, 469-89). Written by one scribe, 'H. G.', in France (f. 70 verso). Decorated initials with burnished gold for all books and chapters; other initials and paragraph marks in alternate red and blue. Four polychrome miniatures, one representing the translator presenting his book to Charles VII, probably the work of Robinet Testard (fl. 1484-1523), miniaturist to count Charles d'Angoulême (1459 or 1460-1496), later to his wife, Louise de Savoie (1476-1531); retouched in XIX cent.

Pedigrees and heraldry

  • NLW MS 596B.
  • File
  • [16 cent.]-[17 cent.]

'Alphabet of Pedegres of diverse kings, dukes, marques, erles, vicounts, barons, knights, squires and gentlemen of Englande, ffraunce, Ireland, Scotland and wales', compiled by A. Lewis, with an index in a later hand. The compiler refers to several well-known authorities, including 'Thomas Joones de Tregaron generosus'.

Lewis, A., 16th/17th cent.

Neath Ultra rent roll

  • NLW MS 24078G
  • File
  • 8 November 1540

Rent roll, dated 8 November 1540 (32 Hen. VIII), of the manor of Neath Ultra, Glamorgan, in the court of Francise Sowthewell and William Pooke, commissioners for the king, arranged into free and customary tenants.

Southwell, Francis, -1581

Humphrey Lhuyd's History of Wales

  • NLW MS 23202B.
  • File
  • [16 cent., second ½]

A volume, [16 cent., second ½], probably in the hand of Thomas Powell (d. 1588), Parc y Drewen, Whittington, co. Salop, containing a much shortened text of Humphrey Lhuyd's English version of Brut y Tywysogion, upon which version David Powel based his Historie of Cambria, now called Wales ... (London, 1584) (see Brut y Tywysogion ..., ed. by Thomas Jones (Cardiff, 1952), pp. xiv-xviii). Omissions mainly involve passages relating to events outside Wales, church affairs and the papacy, anecdotes, explanations of Welsh personal and place-names, and the arguments against Polydore Vergil. Three other copies are known: BL, MS Cotton Caligula A VI; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmolean Museum MS 847; and NLW, Llanstephan MS 177. Also included are a pedigree of the kings and princes of North Wales from Cadwaladr to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (ff. iv-v verso), a painted coat of arms of Cadwaladr (f. 1), and an index of personal and place-names (ff. 168-70 verso). Six lines of English verse are added in a contemporary hand on f. 171 verso.

Powell, Thomas, -1588

Beunans Ke

  • NLW MS 23849D [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [16 cent., second ½]

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.

Thomas Jones ('Twm Siôn Cati'): Pedigree roll

  • NLW MS 22338G.
  • File
  • 1583

Pedigree and achievement of James ap Rhydderch of Laugharne, traced from Urien Rheged, with twenty-eight other coats of arms all emblazoned and painted, 'set forth by me Thomas Jones of Tregaron and finished at Fountayne Gate ... 1583'. Cites authorities, including the roll of 'Morgan Abbott' [?Morgan ap Rhys, abbot of Strata Florida in the 1440s] and the book of 'Hoell Moythee'.

Jones, Thomas, approximately 1530-approximately 1620

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