File Brogyntyn MS II.56 [RESTRICTED ACCESS]. - Translation of Eikon Basilike,

A volume containing a holograph copy, finished 16 January 1649/50, of an incomplete translation into Welsh by Rowland Vaughan (c. 1590-1667), Caer Gai, Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire, of Eikon Basilike, a work attributed to King Charles I and first published a few hours after the king's execution on 30 January 1648/9.
Preceding the translation is a dedicatory epistle to Col. Sir John Owen of Clenennau, Caernarvonshire, under whom Vaughan served during the Civil War (f. 1 recto-verso), three verses on the death of Charles I and four regarding the translation (f. 2). The surviving part of the translation begins towards the end of chapter 23 (the original pagination indicates the loss of 140 pages at the beginning) and continues to the end of the work (ff. 3 23 verso); it is followed by a table of contents (ff. 23 verso-24). Vaughan translated the text at Cilgellan, Merionethshire, since his own home, Caer Gai, had been destroyed by the Parliamentarian troops. The text of the dedicatory epistle is printed in Megan Ellis, 'Pethau nas Cyhoeddwyd, 2. Cyflwyniad Rowland Vaughan, Caergai, i'w gyfieithiad o Eikon Basilike', National Library of Wales Journal, 1 (1939-40), 141-144 (pp. 143-144). See also Eikon Basilike, or the King's Book, ed. by Edward Almack (London, 1904). A negative photostat copy of the manuscript was made, [?mid-20 cent.], prior to its repairing and binding at NLW and prior to its being foliated; this copy is now Brogyntyn MS II.56a.