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Tudur Aled, approximately 1465-approximately 1525 Poets -- Wales -- Glamorgan
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Brut Ieuan Brechfa; Brut Aberpergwm; triads, etc.

A composite volume containing miscellaneous historical and literary material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg'). Pp. 24-36 contain a transcript of a version of the medieval Welsh Chronicle of the Princes associated with the name of the fifteenth century poet and genealogist Ieuan Brechfa with the title or superscription 'Brut y Tywysogion . . . a dynnwyd o Lyfrau Caradawc Llancarfan ac eraill o hen Lyfrau Cyfarwyddyd a ysgrifenodd Ieuan Brechfa'. The transcript was allegedly made by Edward Williams from a volume in the possession of Rhys Thomas, printer, of Cowbridge, and the text was published in The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, vol. II, 1801, pp. 470-565 (bottom section of pages). Pp. 37-135 contain one of the two known reputed transcripts by Edward Williams of the allegedly variant version of the aforesaid Welsh Chronicle of the Princes known as 'Brut Aberpergwm' or the 'Gwentian Brut'. The title or superscription reads 'Llyma Vrut y Tywysogion val y bu Ryfeloedd a Gweithredoedd enseiliaid a Dialeddau a Rhyfeddodau gwedi eu tynnu o'r hen gofion cadwedig a'u blynyddu'n drefnedig gan Garadawc Llancarfan', and the text was reputedly transcribed by [Edward Williams] 'Iorwerth Gwilym' in 1790 from one of the manuscripts of the Reverend Thomas Richards, curate of Llangrallo [co. Glamorgan], who, in turn, had reputedly copied the work in 1764 from a manuscript in the possession of George Wiliams of Aber Pergwm [co. Glamorgan] (see p. 135). For the other reputed transcript of this text allegedly from the same source see NLW MS 13113B (Llanover C. 26) above. Other items in the volume include pp. 13-18, variant versions of parts of the introductory section to Lewis Dwnn's Visitations (see S. R. Meyrick (ed.): Heraldic Visitations of Wales . . . by Lewys Dwnn (Llandovery, 1846), pp. 7 and 9); 18-20, a list of eleven Welsh writers who had recorded the genealogies and deeds of the Welsh ('sgrifennyddion a gadwasant gof am achau a gweithredoedd y Cymry') allegedly copied from a book in the possession of Ben Simon 'y Bardd o Borth Myrddin'; 20-24, a further list of twenty Welsh poets or writers who had written about Wales and the island of Britain ('Enwau'r Prydyddion Awdurdodol . . . a ysgrifenasant am Wlad Gymru ac am Ynys Prydain') (see IM, t. 308); 136-7, a note by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' in 1801 on the attribution of works to ancient writers and poets such as Caradawc o Lancarfan, Taliesin, etc.; 138-57, another account of the quarrels between Iestin fab Gwrgan, lord of Glamorgan, and Rhys fab Tudur, prince of South Wales, and between the said Iestin and Einion ab Collwyn, the invitation to Sir Rhobert fab Hamon and the Norman knights to intervene, the consequent conquest of Glamorgan by the Normans, and the division of the country between Sir Rhobert and his twelve knights, with brief notes on the subsequent holders of the thirteen original divisions ('Hanes y Tri Marchog ar Ddeg a ddaethant i Forganwg yn Amser Iestin ab Gwrgan', allegedly transcribed from a volume in the possession of the Reverend Thos. Basset of Lann y Lai, co. Glamorgan); 158- 61, notes on variations in a second version of the account of the conquest of Glamorgan (pp. 138-57) to be found in the aforesaid Mr. Bassett's volume; 163-4, a list of Glamorgan bards with the places where they lived; 179 + 182, a brief chronicle of historical and pseudo-historical events in British history, 2nd - 5th century A.D.; 183, notes on an 'eisteddfod' held at Carmarthen in the time of Rhys ab Tewdur; 191-4, notes on Sir Robert Fitzhamon and his twelve knights and 'chronological notes from the Encyclopaedia Britanica'; 195-223, transcripts of three series of triads with the superscriptions 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain o'r Delyn Ledr ymha Lyfr yr oeddent wedi eu hysgrifennu o Lyfr Mr. Robert Vaughan o Hengwrt' (91), 'Trioedd y Meirch' (11), and 'Llyma ychwaneg o Drioedd Ynys Prydain allan o Lyfr Mr. Robert Vaughan o Hengwrt' (4); 224, an anecdote relating to Maelgwn Gwynedd; 225-31, transcripts of Welsh verse attributed to Lewys Môn, Taliesin, and Cattwg ddoeth; 231-3, lists of proverbial or wisdom sayings headed 'Llyma Gynghorion Cattwg ddoeth', 'Llymma Goreuau Cattwg Sant ab Gwynlliw', and 'Llymma Goreuau Meugant Bardd Cystenin Fendigaid'; 233-51, transcripts of series of triads with the superscriptions 'Llyma Drioedd a gant Iolo Morganwg', 'Trioedd Cattwg Sant', 'Llymma Drioedd a dalant eu hystyrio cyn gwreicca', 'Llymma Drioedd y Gwragedd priod', and 'Llyma Drioedd o hen Lyfr Lewys Hopcin'; 257-66, transcripts of Welsh poems and exemplary verse attributed to Mab claf i Lywarch, Y Cwtta Cyfarwydd, and Dafydd Nanmor; 271-5, an incomplete series of triads (5 + part of 6) with the superscription 'Llymma Drioedd Cof Cyfarwydd yn son am hynodion o wyr ac o betheu a fuant gynt yn Ynys Prydain . . .' (pp. 267-70, with p. 267 inscribed 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain o Lyfr Iaco ab Dewi gan Rys Thomas, Argraphydd, a fu gynt yn eiddo Twm Siôn Catti', were probably formerly the upper and lower covers of a home-made booklet intended to contain a version of the third series of 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain' of which the contents of pp. 271-5 are probably a fragmentary draft (see Rachel Bromwich: 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain' in Welsh Literature and Scholarship (Cardiff, 1969), p. 13)); 287-300, an alphabetical list of old Welsh words with modern equivalents; 303-09, brief notes headed 'Some account of the Welsh Bards'; 315-17, etymological and other miscellaneous notes; 318, transcripts of a short series of Welsh triads called 'Trioedd yr Addurneu' and of four 'englynion' attributed to [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg'; 319, a brief note relating to ? Nonconformist meetings associated with Blaen Gwrach [co. Glamorgan]; 327-34, a transcript of the poem 'Kad Goddeu' attributed to Taliesin; 335-8 notes relating to a Unitarian society called 'Gwyr Cwm y Felin' which allegedly flourished at Cwrn y Felin, co. Glamorgan, in the eighteenth century with a reference to Edward Williams's attitude to Unitarianism (see TLLM, tt. 215, 239, 314, and IM, t. 73); (continued)

339-47, notes relating to developments in Welsh metrics and literature to the late eighteenth century; 349-50, notes on the 'Cimmerii' or 'Cimbri', etc.; 351, a note on the connection between the freemasons and St. Alban; 352, a list of the princes of Glamorgan from the time of Aedd Mawr to the time of Iestin ap Gwrgan; 363-5, transcripts of two poems attributed to Morgan Talhai 'o Lansanffraid Fawr ym Morganwg'; 371-4, historical memoranda relating to Gower including an incomplete list of the lords of Gower from the time of Henry I onwards; 375-82, etymological and historical notes relating to the names and regions of Gwent / Essyllwg / Morganwg (mention of 'Ragland Castle Library, the best collection of old Welsh MSS. that ever existed'); 383-4, a note on the possible antiquity of the period of the formation of the Welsh language; 384-90, miscellaneous poetic and other extracts mainly Welsh, and lists of the names of the months in Armoric and Cornish; 393-4 a transcript of an eight-stanza English poem by Taliesin Williams 'written at the Lamb and Flag, Vale of Neath, 1816'; 401-03, a draft copy of an advertisement for the proposed publication of a Welsh quarterly magazine to be called 'Goleugrawn Deheubarth', the first issue to appear in June 1818; 407-11, extracts from [William] Coxe: [An Historical Tour in] Mon[mouth]shire . . . (London, 1801), part 11, appendix 1; 415-18, a copy of a tale relating to King Arthur and his knights sleeping in a cave full of treasure at Craig y Ddinas; 419-22, extracts from [P. H.] Mallet [: Northern Antiquities . . .] and the works of Caedmon; 423-30, notes headed 'Plan of the Analytical Dissertation on the Welsh Language by E[dward] W[illiams]'; 431-5, brief notes relating to the cultivation of literary languages and 'the mode of examining or investigating the principles on which any language has been formed'; 436, a brief list of the 'numerous names of God' in Welsh; 440 + 453, notes relating to ? earth tremors in the area between Cowbridge and the sea in July and August 1809; 445-8, notes headed 'Preface to History of the Bards - hints', with references to the work of [Edward] Jones ['Bardd y Brenin']; 455-7, extracts from [George] Lytte[l]ton : [The] History of [the Life of King] Henry the Second; 457-9, miscellaneous triads; 460-61, extracts from poems by Tudur Aled and G[uto'r] Glyn to abbots of Lanegwystl; 471-82, two sets of notes headed 'On Welsh Literature. Miscellaneous' and 'Cardigan and North Pembroke Dialects' containing general observations on the nature, etc., of Welsh literature and the Welsh language with references to classes held for learning to read Welsh; 482-6, notes on a reputed Welsh bard 'Keraint Vardd Glas otherwise Y Bardd Glas Keraint seemingly the Glaskerion of Chaucer'; 487-91, copies of two rhetorical prose exercises in the form of two love-letters in Welsh addressed by a member of the Powel family of Llwydiarth [co. Glamorgan] to a young lady; 491-500, a brief sketch in Welsh of the history of Morgannwg from the time of Morgan Mwynfawr to the time of the Tudors reputedly from a volume once in the possession of the Reverend Mr. Gamais (Gamage), vicar of St. Athan [co. Glamorgan], and then in the possession of Mr. John Spencer of the same parish; 501-05, transcripts of two letters reputedly exchanged between the sixteenth century poets Siôn Mowddwy and Meirig Dafydd concerning criticism by the latter of the former's verse, mention being made by Meirig Dafydd of the rival Welsh strict-metre systems of Dafydd Emwnt and the bards of Morgannwg (for references to manuscript and published versions of these letters see IMCY, t. 167, and TLLM, t. 86, n. 26-7, and for the opinion that Meirig Dafydd's reply was composed by Edward Williams himself see TLLM, t. 78, n. 6, and t. 86); 505, 'Llyma bump Tywysawglwyth Cymru'; 507- 12, an incomplete list of twenty four early kings of Britain recounting their feats and accomplishments ('Hanes Pedwar Brenin ar hugain a varnwyd yn henna ac yn wrola o'r Brutaniaid i Ddeiliaid ag i Gwncwerio'); 513-16, notes on the lineage of Iestyn ap Gwrgan ('Llyma wehelyth Iestyn ap Gwrgan un o bump Brenhinllwyth Cymru a Phen hynaif Tywysogion Ynys Prydain' reputedly 'o Lyfr Thomas Hopkin o Langrallo'); etc. In three instances notes have been written on the blank verso or margins of printed copies of the following - an abstract of a report on a meeting, May 1820, of the governors and friends of the medical charitable organisation known as the Welsh Dispensary (171-8), proposals for publishing Edward Williams's two volumes of English verse Poems Lyric and Pastoral in 1792 (180-81), and an advertisement for letting 'a desirable family residence' in Cardiff (184-5).

Miscellanea,

A composite volume containing miscellaneous lists, notes, jottings, etc., of a very varied nature in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg'). Included are pp. 1-22, miscellaneous extracts allegedly from a manuscript in the hand of Siôn Bradford (extracts - single words or lines, couplets, stanzas, etc. - from the works of Welsh bards, occasional annotations by Siôn Bradford, an anecdote relating to a bard named Ieuan ap y Diwlith, notes relating to fifteen strict poetic metres in a system described by Antoni Pywel, 'englynion' attributed to Siôn Bradford himself ); 38, a brief note on the colour of bardic robes; 39, lists of 'graddau cenhedlaeth hyd y nawfed ach'; 41-4, notes relating to the introduction of 'a new musical system or theory into Wales' possibly from Ireland in the time of Gruffudd ap Cynan including a comment to the effect that no musical instrument was mentioned by Welsh bards circa 1080-1280; 45-6, 181- 4, 247-51, notes on the word 'Cimmeri' and its variants as a national appelative and the formation of the language of the said people; 51-2, brief notes on steel making; 53-4, notes ? relating to the Glamorgan system of Welsh metrics; 55-6, a list of bards headed 'Llyma enwau Beirdd Cadeirogion Tir Iarll amser yr ymryson a fu ryngddynt am farwnad Ieuan a Hywel Swrdwal', and a note relating to 'Cadair Tir Iarll'; 59, a note relating to Gruff. ap Cynan's flight to, and return from, Ireland; 60, triads relating to 'cerdd deuluaidd' or 'cerdd arwest'; 61-3, notes on an 'eisteddfod' organised by Gruff. ab Nicolas at Carmarthen [circa 1450], the part played by D[afydd] ab Edmwnd, the reluctance of the bards of Morgannwg to accept the rules, etc., devised by Dafydd ab Edmwnd, the research undertaken by the said bards into the bardic system, rules, etc.; 66-9, statistics relating to the population of Wales (N.D.) with comments on the English element in Pembrokeshire and Gower, co. Glamorgan, and the English influence on the Welsh border; 70-71, a note on the 'Scaldic School' of poets in Wales; 81 + 93, notes on the words 'Llysdanc' i.e. ' juridical peace', and 'cyfallwy'; 97, a note on Rhobert, iarll Caerloyw (earl of Gloucester), his acquisition of Tir Iarll, and his organising of the bardic order, with mention of the poets Rhys Goch ap Rhiccert (temp. Robert), Ieuan fawr ap y Diwlith, and Trahaearn Brydydd mawr; 101-03, notes on Davydd ap Gwilym more particularly chronological; 105-07, notes relating to an 'eisteddfod' held at Glynn Achlach in Ireland [temp. Gruffudd ap Cynan], an opinion on the alleged connection between the said Gruffudd, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Rhys ap Tewdwr, and Gruffudd ap Rhys successively and the formulating of regulations for the Welsh bardic order, and a comment on the probability of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 'having instituted some Regulations respecting Pedigrees and Land rights' and of Gruffudd ap Cynan having 'introduced Irish or Scaldic music and rules of good order amongst Musicians into North Wales'; 111, a list of place-names containing the element Bangor; 138-9, notes relating to 'Cadeiriau ag Eisteddfodau wrth gerdd dafod' ('Cadair Tir Iarll', 'cadair ym Marchwiail', 'eisteddfodau' at Caerfyrddin and Caerwys, 13th-16th cent.); 140, a note on the poet Gwilym Tew; 141-8, notes on 'eisteddfodau' held at Caerfyrddin in 1451 and N.D., and decisions taken relating to the bardic order and 'cerdd dafawd'; 149-51, genealogical data relating to Iestin ab Gwrgan, lord of Morgannwg; 152 + 157, a brief chronicle of historical and pseudo- historical events in Britain, 1300 B.C. - 230 A.D.; 156, an anecdote relating to Gwaithfoed, lord of Cibion and Ceredigion, and the Saxon king Edgar; 158-9, notes relating to Welsh strict metres referring to 'Cwlm Cadair Caerfyrddin' based upon metrical systems arranged by Gwilym Tew, Dafydd ap Edmwnd, and Llawdden; 165, transcripts of five 'englynion' attributed to Dafydd Benwyn; 167, notes on Owain ap Cadwgan and his son Einion, temp. Henry I; 171-2, notes on Thomas Jones of Tregaron ('Twm Siôn Catti'); 178-9, an anecdote relating to the bard Siôn Cent; 185, notes headed 'Origin of letters in Britain'; 187, a note relating to derivative and compound words in Welsh; 188, a list of fourteen ? rules under the heading 'Theophilanthropists of Wales or Berean Society'; 189, a note on an 'eisteddfod' held by Rys ap Tewdwr at Castell Nedd in 1080; 213, a short list of Glam[organ] proverbs and idioms; 230, a note on 'Hopcin ap Thomas ap Einion Hen a elwir Einion Offeiriad' and the said 'Einion Hen'; 233-41, extracts from [Joseph Robertson:] An Essay on Punctuation (1785); 243-6, transcripts of seven stanzas of English religious verse, an English prayer, and the music of two psalm tunes; 253, an extract from a 'cywydd' attributed to R[hys] G[och] Eryri, and a list of words headed 'Geiriau Gofram yr Alban Eilir, 1815'; 254-61, lists of words and other extracts from Henry Perri [: Eglvryn Phraethineb sebh dosparth ar] Retoreg [ Lhundain, 1595], and other poetic extracts; 262-3, a copy of a 'Sonnet on the prospect of Vaucluse from Petrarch' and an epitaph on an infant by Edwd. Williams, and a list of 'Places to enquire where they are'; 269-74, miscellaneous poetic extracts to illustrate specific words such as 'barddas', 'gwyddfa', etc., and lists headed 'Pumwydd Celfyddyd' and 'Naw Cynneddf Doethineb'; 275, a brief note on the practice of planting trees at crossroads in Glamorganshire; 277-9, a description of the method of swearing the bardic oath; 281-2, a list of the names by which God is known in Welsh with English definitions; 284-5, brief notes relating to the poet Llywelyn Llogell Rhison and his two brothers of Marchwiail [co. Denbigh], and the poet Mab Claf ab Llywarch, with a reference to the attribution of 'Englynion Eiry Mynydd' to the said Llywelyn and Mab Claf; 286, notes on the written version of the tale 'Hanes Taliesin'; 291-2, a list of 'Prif gyfoethau Gwlad Gymru', (continued)

298-300, an extract from the Saxon Chronicle with an English translation; 302, a comment on adverse opinions concerning the antiquity of 'Glam[organ] bardism and its concommitant literature'; 303, notes relating to the bardic 'chair of Glamorgan in Tir Iarll', 'Cadair Taliesin', and 'Cadair Urien'; 304-06, notes headed 'Llyma ddosparth yr awgrym' with lists of numerals headed 'Llyma lafariaith awgrym herwydd a'i dangosir dan a[r]wyddon rhif sathredig y cenedloedd . . .' (see J. Williams ab Ithel: Barddas . . ., vol. I, pp. 98-103); 309, a copy of the civil marriage vow of the time of Oliver Cromwell in Welsh; 311-12, a note on Gruffudd ap Cynan's institution of ? triennial 'eisteddfodau' at Aberffraw and of rules for the bardic fraternity; 316, a biographical note on the Bradford family of Tir Iarll or Bettws [co. Glamorgan]; 319, a note on 'cynghanedd' prior to the time of Gruffudd ap Cynan; 324, a transcript of an 'englyn' attributed to Lewys Mon; 325-6, three triads headed 'Bardic Theology'; 329-30, eight triads headed 'Trioedd amrafaelion'; 335-6, a transcript of six stanzas of Welsh verse attributed to Rhobert, tywysog Norddmandi; 340, notes on the means adopted by Welsh bards to earn a living, circa 1500-1680; 341, six triads headed 'Trioedd Iaith ag Ymadrodd'; 344-8, notes on the development of alliteration in Welsh poetry and the 'rules of . . . the Scaldic School of Welsh versification'; 357-8, a few bardic triads; 374-5, notes relating to various bardic 'chairs'; 379, questions and answers relating to 'Pair Ogrwen', 'Cariadwen', and 'Pair Dadeni'; 387, a short list of four triads; 390-91, notes relating to 'chware hud a Iledrith' of Math ap Mathonwy; 397-9, 402-03, lists of proverbial or idiomatic expressions in Welsh; 407-11, a list of thirty triads headed 'Llyma'r Trioedd a ddatcanodd Iolo Morganwg yng Ngorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain ar Frynn Dinorweg yn Arfon, Alban Elfed 1799'; 411-20, notes relating to ? bardic ceremonial and the duties of bards, and seven triads headed 'Llyma Drioedd cynghlo Cadair a Gorsedd'; 421-2, a list of Welsh phrases with English equivalents headed 'Address of letters - salutations in Glamorgan'; 442-3, a list of rules headed 'Rules to know when two languages have had the same word from remote antiquity which may claim it as originally its own'; 445-6, brief notes relating to the early bishops of Bangor, and Ylldud farchog and Eilifri, his mother; 447, transcripts of two 'englynion' attributed to Huw Cornwy and Huw Llwyd Cynfel; 447-8, notes on a ruin called Myrddin Taliesin on the banks of Llynn Geirionydd [co. Caernarvon]; 449, notes headed 'Pedwar Cerddawr Graddawl'; 450-51, an anecdote relating how [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' nearly lost his life through sleeping near a lime kiln at Llanelltyd [co. Merioneth] in June 1799; 452-7, transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Siôn Philip, Edmund Prys, Huw Ednyfed, Lewis Môn, Tudur Aled, Owain Ifan, Iorwerth Fynglwyd, Rhys Tyganwy, Huw Llwyd Cynfel, and Gruffudd Philip, and other poetic extracts; 472 + 475, transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Richard Philip and Gruff. Hiraethog; 479, notes headed 'Edward Williams's idea of Public worship or Religious instruction rather'; 481-5, notes referring to Welsh literature in the late medieval period after the Edwardian conquest and, in connection therewith, the development of alliteration, the production of triplet verse and prose triads, the triads and verses of Llewelyn Llogell Rhison of Marchwiail, and the works of Hopcin Thomas ap Einion in South Wales, references to the existence of 'triades, triplet verses, etc., of very great antiquity', and to Druidic, Scaldic, Norman, Roman, and Saxon influences ? on literature, and a note on the lasting effects of the Edwardian conquest on political and religious attitudes in North Wales; 506, lists of 'flowering shrubs', 'native flowers rare', and 'evergreens' in Glamorgan; etc. Interspersed amongst the above items throughout the volume are lists or groups of Welsh words, notes on Welsh words, etymological notes, genealogical data, miscellaneous extracts from a variety of printed sources, and other miscellaneous items.