Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [13 cent.], [16 cent., first ¼]-[17 cent., first ¼]. (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
154 ff. (foliation in two series: first section foliated 1-18 at NLW, followed by original printed foliation of i-cxxxvi) ; 132 x 95 mm.
Bound in dark brown calf, finished with a roll border enclosing central panel with foliate stamps at corners and centre, all blind.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Bernard Quaritch; London; Purchase; November 2008; 004588341
Content and structure area
Scope and content
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.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
- Latin
- Welsh
Script of material
Language and script notes
Latin, Welsh.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Six leaves missing between ff. 16-17. Discolouration due to damp-staining on many printed leaves. Leather cover worn on lower part of spine.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23985A.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name 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
November 2010.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Description compiled by Maredudd ap Huw;