Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
118 pp. (thirteen pages blank; pages 91- 114 appear to be wrongly bound, the correct sequence being pp. 107-114, 91- 106. Several folios have been cut out of the volume).
Bound in quarter leather with marbled paper sides.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Evan Evans (Ieuan Fardd or Ieuan Brydydd Hir, 1731-1788), scholar, poet and critic, was born in the parish of Lledrod, Cardiganshire. Even before he entered Merton College, Oxford, in 1750 Evans had made the acquaintance of such prominent literary and antiquarian figures as the Morris brothers - Lewis, Richard and William - of Anglesey, William Wynn of Llangynhafal and Goronwy Owen. Throughout his clerical career - he was ordained in 1755 - Evans would spend much of his time collecting and copying Welsh manuscripts of literary and historical interest, including poetry from the Red Book of Hergest, all the while making contact with others engaged in the same pursuit such as David Jones of Trefriw, Rhys Jones of Blaenau and John Powel of Llansannan, as well as English antiquaries such as Daines Barrington. In 1764 Evans published his seminal work Some specimens of the Poetry of the Antient Welsh Bards, in which he attempted to interpret the substantial output of Welsh poetry, much of it produced at court, from the sixth to the sixteenth century. Arguably the greatest Welsh scholar of his age, Evans possessed an in-depth knowledge of the contents of Welsh manuscripts in the various private libraries of the time and was well acquainted with the works of the great Welsh scholars from the Renaissance onwards. He realised that the chief requirement of Welsh scholarship in his day and age was the publication of the texts of the principal manuscripts which related to the history and literature of Wales. Although Evans himself ultimately failed in his endeavours to achieve this goal, the brilliant work he did accomplish earned him a position of unquestioned importance within the field of Welsh scholarship.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
A composite volume, pages 1-74 being in the hand of William Owen [-Pughe], pp- 75-90 in the hand of Evan Evans, 'Ieuan Fardd', and the title on p. 115 in the hand of Lewis Morris. The contents include: pp. 1-24, 'Golygiad ar farddoniaeth Lewis Glyn Cothi', being a catalogue of 223 poems [apparently based on the collection in B.M. Add. MS 14963], with some brief observations; pp. 29-31, a list of some parishes and divisions in Wales; p. 33, 'Awdl a gant Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd' beginning 'Dyn [sic] dewisy riein virein veindec . . .'; pp. 35-8, an incomplete index to the poems published in Owen Jones & William Owen, Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym (Llundain, 1789), tt. 1-166; pp. 40-52, a list of the names of British saints; pp. 54-69, a further list of saints with their descent; pp. 71-4, a list of titles of the poems of [Dafydd ap Gwilym], most of which are crossed out; pp. 76-89, transcripts of 'Gwaith Argoed Llwyfein' by Taliesin, 'Arwyrein Owain Gwynedd' by Gwalchmai, and 'Marwnad Llywelyn fab Gruffudd' by Bleddyn Fardd, with parallel Latin translations; p. 90, a note by Evan Evans in Latin concerning Llywelyn ap Gruffydd and Madoc Min; pp. 91-114, four 'cywyddau' by 'Ieuan Fardd' ('Ieuan hirfardd', 'Ieuan ap Siencyn Ieuan'), [i.e. Evan Evans, 'Ieuan Brydydd Hir'), one dated 1752, and two by Gronwy [sic] Owen, one also dated 1752; pp. 115-17, 'Hyriad it Offeiriad o Dregaron, am ddywedyd nad oedd ym marwnad Ffredrig Tywysog Cymru nag Iaith na Chynganedd. 1752' by 'Ieuan Fardd', see infra, pp. 93-7.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Welsh, Latin.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Several folios excised.
Finding aids
The description is also available in the Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IV (Aberystwyth, 1971).
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Text
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Formerly known as Mysevin 13.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 13233B.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Lewis Glyn Cothi, active 1440-1490 (Subject)
- Dafydd ap Gwilym, active 14th century (Subject)
- Taliesin -- Translations into Latin (Subject)
- Owain Gwynedd, ca. 1100-1170 -- Poetry (Subject)
- Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, -1282 -- Death and burial -- Poetry (Subject)
- Bleddyn, Fardd, active 13th century -- Translations into Latin (Subject)
- Gwalchmai ap Meilyr, fl. 1130-1180 -- Translations into Latin (Subject)
- Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, -1282 (Subject)
- Madog Min (Pseudo-historical figure) (Subject)
- Morris, Lewis, 1701-1765 (Subject)
- Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd, fl. 1140-1170 (Subject)
- Taliesin (Subject)
- Gwalchmai ap Meilyr, fl. 1130-1180 (Subject)
- Bleddyn, Fardd, active 13th century (Subject)
- Owen, Goronwy, 1723-1769? (Subject)