Breudwd Rhyddiaith Gymraeg 1300-1425
English

Pennyn y Fenter Amgodio Testunau (TEI) ar gyfer LlB Llsgr. Cotton Titus D IX

: 'BL Cotton Titus D.ix: Electronic Edition' TEI Header

: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Whitefriars, Lewins Mead, Bristol BS1 2AE. 0117 987 6500

Principal Investigator: Peter Wynn Thomas

Transcribed and encoded by D. Mark Smith

Transcribed and encoded by Diana Luft

School of Welsh, Cardiff University Cardiff 2013 www.rhyddiaithganoloesol.caerdydd.ac.uk

  • : London
  • : British Library
  • : Cotton Titus D.ix
  • : British Museum 7

The manuscript is in the hand of a single unidentified scribe, and contains a copy of Cyfreithiau Hywel Dda in the version that Aneurin Owen identified as the Dimetian code, or Dull Dyfed, now referred to as Llyfr Blegywryd. This manuscript is one of three which formed the basis for Owen's version of the Dimetian code in his Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, and is referred to as 'Manuscript L' in his edition and in the subsequent literature.

The text was used by Melville Richards and Stephen J. Williams and Enoch Powell to fill gaps in their editions of Llyfr Blegywryd.

The Welsh text is preceded and followed by four pages at of a manuscript in a different hand containing extracts from a Latin breviary that was used for the proposes of binding.

Page Contents Hand
i r Cotton Library pressmark: ‘COTT. TIT. D. IX.’ unknown
i v blank
ii r-iii v Fragment of a Latin missal used in binding, not transcribed unknown
1r-88r Llyfr Blegywryd Cotton Titus D.ix hand A
88v Note in a modern hand on number of folios unknown
iv r-v v Fragment of a Latin missal used in binding, not transcribed unknown

The following texts were consulted during transcription.

  • Richards, Melville. ed. 1957. Cyfreithiau Hywel Dda o Lawysgrif Coleg yr Iesu Rhydychen LVII. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
  • Williams, Stephen J. and Powell, J. Enoch. eds. 1942. Cyfreithiau Hywel Dda yn ôl Llyfr Blegywryd (Dull Dyfed). Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

The manuscript contains four sets of page numbering.

  • One set, found in the top right hand corner of every leaf on the recto page, begins with the number 1 on the first page of the Latin text and continues numbering every leaf from that point. This system is probably the latest one as the other two sets of numbers have been crossed out.
  • Another system, in darker ink, also in the top right hand corner of every leaf on the recto page, begins with the number 1 on the first page of the Welsh text and continues numbering every leaf from that point. This system is thus two numbers behind the first throughout the entire manuscript.
  • A third system also begins on the first page of the Welsh text but numbers every page instead of every leaf. These numbers are surrounded by round brackets, and are thus probably not early. They are placed in the top right hand corner of each recto and top left corner of each verso.
  • A further set of numbers appears in the top left hand corner of the verso of every tenth leaf beginning with the number 10 at our page 9v and proceeding by tens up to 80.

The editors have followed the second system as it is the clearest and does not take the Latin text into account. It is also probably the earliest.

Most of the pages of the manuscript are intact and have suffered little damage.

The right margin of folio 14r/left margin of folio 14v has been torn out in places.

The damage on folio 43 is tagged as 'natural hole' but is in fact a tear which has been sewn up.

The bottom left margin of 80r/bottom right margin of 80v is torn and has been mended, seemingly before writing as the scribe writes around the mended area.

The top right corner of 84r/top left corner of 84v is missing.

Much of the bottom half of folio 88 has been ripped out.

The text is written in a single column of text with 23 lines to a page.

The manuscript is written in a fourteenth century rounded textura hand of an unidentified scribe who is 'associated closely' with scribes A and B of the White Book of Rhydderch, NLW Peniarth 5 (Huws 2000: 234). This scribe has been given the designation 'Cotton Titus D.ix hand A' for the purposes of this edition.
‘Cotton Titus D.ix hand A’

Some letters may be written with long tails; these were possibly meant to act as fillers. Examples are:

  • <c> 7v.7, 45r.11, 48v.26, etc.
  • <s> 24r.17, 84r.1
  • <t> 23r.25, 25r.3, 35r.3, etc.

Word-final <s> is sometimes written up into the margin when it appears at the end of a line. Examples may be seen at 49r.4, 51r.1 and 62v.1.

The scribe uses both regular and medial <a>. The medial <a> often serves almost as a capital, and is commonly found at the beginning of names and clauses.

The difference between some of the capitals and semi-caps may be slight. This is especially so when the capital is simply a slightly larger version of the small form. Examples of such semi-capitals are:

  • <A> 2r.4
  • <S> 12r.21
  • <V> 10r.4, 16v.1, 34r.14, 36v.8, etc.
  • <W> 13v.5, 21r.17, 21r.19, etc.
  • <Y> 13v.11, 24r.18, 74r.1, etc.

The scribe uses both regular and tall <w>, with the tall <w> often appearing where a capital is expected. Examples may be seen at 11v.1, 11v.3, 15r.8, etc.

Capital <L> is distinguished from small <l> by a flourish in the middle of the downstroke. In some places the scribe has written an initial capital <Ll> with a combination of capital and small as is done today; at other times he has written two capitals; cf.

  • <Ll> 17r.16, 20v.23, 20v.24, etc.
  • <LL> 13r.26, 20v.22, 34v.14, etc.

The orthography of the original text has been maintained. Notable features include:

  • <fu> for /v/, e.g. adefuedic 19v.26, 85v.17; adefuir 21r.23, 35v.2; adefuo 21v.17, 26v.26; aghyfuyeithus 34r.13-14; kyfulauaneu 31r.3-4; kyfureith 12r.13-14, 38v.21-22; kyfuryỽ 30r.19, 34r.2, 36r.9, 42v.18-19; dinefuur 3r.13; dofurethỽyr 49r.26; geifuyr 16r.18; gofuaỽdyr 49r.6; gorchyfuaerỽ[y] 31r.17; gyfuadef 18v.21, 25v.25, 27r.24; gyfuarffỽynt 36r.15; gyfureithaỽl 35v.25; llifuyr 1v.12-13; ofuỽy 6r.10; ofuyn 31r.11; ofuynno 36v.17, 36v.20; safuo 28r.12; ymdifuỽyn 25v.14
  • <ffu> for /v/, e.g. lloffurud 21r.10-11, 85v.2-3
  • <ff> for /v/, e.g. kyffreith 30r.15; loffrud 21r.14, 21r.17, 85v.3-4
  • <d> for /θ/, e.g. beunoyd 55r.14
  • <dh> for /θ/, e.g. gỽerdh 51r.20
  • <th> for /ð/, e.g. varth 30r.18

The text contains a number of common abbreviations. These have been expanded in the transcription to the forms that are given elsewhere in the text itself rather than to standard or dictionary forms. Expansions are denoted visually. Examples are:

  • macron for <n>: arnu[n]t 25r.18; be[n]n 32r.11; brenhi[n] 10r.16, 10r.20, 11r.9 etc.; kynnhennsso[n] 20r.4; dylya[n]t 21v.15; gỽnele[n]t 11v.6; gy[n]nut 78v.25; hyn[n] 26v.4; ra[n]n 8v.14; yga[n] 8v.17
  • macron for <m>: ca[m] 38r.2
  • <i> above a letter for <ri>: p[ri]odolder: 43v.19, 43v.20-1, 43v.21, 43v.22; t[ri] 16r.5, 38v.1, 55v.10, 78v.11
  • <e> above a letter for <re>: b[re]nhin: 23v.3
  • <9> for <ur>: wneuth[ur] 23r.21, 87r.22
  • <9> for <us>: dylyed[us] 47r.3
  • <’> for <yr>: lleid[yr] 26v.17
  • <’> for <er>: iaỽnd[er] 1v.7; diffod[er] 5v.19; roth[er] 27r.3; tyst[er] 29v.16; adaỽh[er] 54v.24
  • <’> for <re>: g[re]du 47r.18; t[re]f 51r.25

The scribe may also abbreviate the following commonly occurring noun:

  • <kyfu9> for <kyfureith>: 26r.4, 35r.25, 36r.26, etc.

Punctuation consists of the punctus and the punctus elevatus.

There are examples of a slightly extended punctus at 1v.15, 10r.26, 21r.9 and 23r.3. The extension may be meant to act as a space-filler.

In some places the punctus is used to set a single word off from the preceding and following words rather than to provide punctuation. This occurs with the following forms of the preposition <i>:

  • <.i.> 26r.24
  • <.idi.> 32v.18
  • <.idaỽ.> 33v.7

Lines over certain sequences indicate that the order of items should be reversed:

  • <y distein ygan> (12v.11), leg. <ygan y distein>
  • <weith werth> (17r.10), leg. <werth [y] weith>
  • <o gyureith talaỽdyr> (19r.21-22), leg. <talaỽdyr o gyureith>
  • <kyureith keinnaỽc> (69.16), leg. <keinnaỽc kyureith>

The decoration in the main consists of large decorated initials in red ink.

Large initial letters are often decorated with cut-out designs within them, and often <P>, <K> and <H> – letters with long up or down-strokes – extend into the margins.

Page 1r is surrounded by a decorated coloured border.

Where there are coloured initial letters, the scribe has often indicated what the letter should be, and this smaller form appears behind the initial.

Space has been left for coloured initials which then fail to appear at 39r.1 and 81v.23.

A round 'British Museum' stamp is to be found at the bottom of pages ii, 1v, 3v, 5v, 8v, 11v, 14v, 16v, 18v, 21v, 29v, 40v, 46v, 54v, 58v, 61v, 64v, 70v, 76v, 81v and 84v.

A square 'British Museum' stamp is to be found at the bottom of pages iii, 1r and 34r, as well as in the middle of page 88v.

There is a cross in a box at the end of line 17v.5.

Nota marks are to be found in the margins at:

  • left: 31v.7, 32v.20, 80v.13, 81v.1, 82v.3
  • right: 25v.11, 26r.10, 27v.25, 28r.11, 32v.5, 35r.12, 36r.25, 48r.9, 49v.10, 53r.5, 59r.3, 61r.6, 61v.8, 63r.2, 63r.6, 66v.14, 67r.5, 68r.9, 68r.18, 69r.23, 72r.1, 72v.17, 81r.16, 82r.5
  • 16r: Kappan glaw (John Dee)
  • 90v: Howell ap Gruff (17th century hand)

The manuscript is bound with fragments from a Latin breviary. It is unclear whether these fragments were bound with the manuscript before being acquired by Sir Robert Cotton, or whether they were added by him.

The manuscript was written in Wales in the middle of the fourteenth century (Evans 1898-1910: 947, Huws 2000: 59).

This manuscript is identified by Daniel Huws (2000: 49) as having been in the possession of John Dee (1527-1609) (see Roberts and Watson 1990: 163, where it is catalogued as DM30a). The manuscript does not figure in the 1583 catalogue of Dee's library (James (1990). Roberts and Watson suggest that Dee was unable to complete this portion of the catalogue before his hasty departure for the continent in the same year.

The manuscript was acquired by the Cotton library within the lifetime of its founder. It was probably bought by Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631) at the sale of Dee’s library in 1625/6, along with many other volumes (James 1990: 5). It does not figure in Cotton's 1621 catalogue of his books (Huws 2000: 65).

The name ‘Howell ap Gruffudd’ was added to folio 90v in a hand of the early seventeenth century.

Information on the dating and hand of this manuscript is based on the following authorities:

  • Evans, J. Gwenogvryn. 1898-1910. British Library 7.Report on manuscripts in the Welsh Language 4. London: HMSO. 947.
  • Huws, Daniel. 2000. Medieval Welsh Manuscripts. Cardiff and Aberystwyth: University of Wales Press and the National Library of Wales.
  • Huws, Daniel. A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Scribes. draft.
  • James, M. R. 1990. Lists of Manuscripts Formerly Owned by Dr. John Dee. Oxford: OUP.
  • Roberts, Julian and Andrew G. Watson. 1990. John Dee’s Library Catalogue. London: The Bibliographical Society.
  • Tite, Colin G. 2003. The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use. London: British Library.

The Welsh Prose 1350-1425 website is the product of an AHRC funded research project undertaken by staff at the School of Welsh, Cardiff University from 2004 through 2007 called Corff Electronig o Ryddiaith Cymraeg Canol. The aim of this project was to produce machine-readable editions of all the medieval Welsh prose texts which have been preserved in manuscripts dating from c.1350 to c.1425.

The project is a continuation and a development of two previous projects funded by the University of Wales which transcribed the Welsh prose in manuscripts dated to c.1250-c.1350.

The intention is to give scholars access not only to texts that have hitherto remained unedited but also to the different versions of texts that have been the subject of critical editions.

Certain decorative features have been encoded: these may trigger further study of the original manuscripts. Primarily, however, the resource provides detail which it is hoped will further the study of the language and literature of the period.

In producing this edition, we have attempted to fulfil two different and often non-complementary if not opposing goals: to present a minimally edited edition of the text, and to represent as many visual features of the manuscript as possible.

Visual features of the text such as layout, and rubrication may prove to be as essential in textual interpretation as features such as punctuation, letter forms, capitalisation and word division, which are more usually invoked by scholars in the field.

The orthography of the original text has been maintained, even where it is idiosyncratic, as the unique characteristics of the scribe's spelling may shed light upon the language of the period as he, his audience, or patron used it. Where the scribe's orthography seems to merit particular attention, an editorial gloss has been added to indicate what we believe to have been the target form.

In some places, especially where the manuscript is damaged, we have supplied text. This serves the two-fold purpose of presenting a complete text and, perhaps more importantly, of indicating the size of the damaged area.

In order to make editorial intervention as transparent as possible, supplied text is clearly marked off from the manuscript text by a different font. Also in the spirit of editorial transparency, we have wherever possible used published editions for supplied text. Text supplied from published editions may suffer from obvious errors or significant differences in orthography from the manuscript text. We have refrained from imposing our own editorial actions on such features.

The transcription of this manuscript, as well as the information in this TEI header is based on the microfilm reproduction of the manuscript produced by the British Library. As we have not checked the transcription against the original, information on features such as the colour scheme and ornamentation should be treated as provisional.

  • 25-Jan-2011 DL: edited TEI header
  • 13-Aug-2007 PWT: edited TEI header
  • 31-Jul-2006 – 7-Aug-2006 PWT: edited XML encoded files, produced table of corrections and amended where necessary
  • 12-Apr-2006 DL: converted Word files with shortcuts into XML files and corrected them
  • 3-Sep-2004 – 6-Oct-2004 DL: checked DMS’s corrections of 8r-39r, 68r-88v against microfilm; corrected electronic transcription of folios 8r-39r and 68r-88v
  • 3-Sep-2004 – 5-Oct-2004 DMS: checked DL’s transcript of folios 8r-39r, 68r-88v against prints; checked DL’s corrections of 1r-7r, 39v-67v against microfilm; corrected electronic transcription of folios 1r-7r and 39v-67v
  • 3-Sep-2004 – 5-Oct-2004 DL: checked DMS’s transcript of folios 1r-7r and 39v-67v against prints
  • 2-Sep-2004 – 4-Oct-2004 DL: transcribed folios 8r-39r, 68r-88v
  • 2-Sep-2004 – 4-Oct-2004 DMS: transcribed folios 1r-7r, 39v-67v

The material has been transcribed separately.