Breudwd Rhyddiaith Gymraeg 1300-1425
English

Pennyn y Fenter Amgodio Testunau (TEI) ar gyfer LlGC Llsgr. Llanstephan 4

: 'Llanstephan 4: An 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

  • : Aberystwyth
  • : National Library of Wales
  • : Llanstephan 4
  • : Shirburn C 21

The manuscript contains a collection of prose texts. Some of these – Buchedd Dewi, Buchedd Beuno, Breuddwyd Pawl, Purdan Padrig – are of a religious nature; others – Claddedigaeth Arthur, Chwedlau Odo – are more secular, although it was intended that Chwedlau Odo should be used in sermons. This manuscript once formed the fourth volume of a larger collection, the Didrefn Gasgliad.

Page Contents Hand
1r-3v Claddedigaeth Arthur X91
folios missing; lacuna in text
4r-5r Claddedigaeth Arthur X91
5v-17r Chwedlau Odo X91
17v note in later hand
folios missing; lacuna in text
18r-19v Buchedd Dewi, incomplete, beginning wanting X91
folios missing; lacuna in text
20r-21v Buchedd Dewi, incomplete, beginning wanting X91
22r illegible text, not transcribed -
22v-23v Bwystorïau, fragment X91
- folios missing
24r-27v Buchedd Dewi, incomplete, beginning wanting X91
28r-35r Buchedd Beuno X91
35v-38r Breuddwyd Pawl X91
38r-43v Purdan Padrig, incomplete X91
2 folios missing
44r-53v Purdan Padrig, incomplete X91

The following texts were consulted during the transcription:

  • Jones, John Morris and Rhŷs, John. eds. 1894a. Hystoria o Uuched Dewi. The Elucidarium and Other Tracts in Welsh from Llyvyr Agkyr Llandewivrevi. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 105-18.
  • Jones, John Morris and Rhŷs, John. eds. 1894b. Hystoria o Uuched Beuno. The Elucidarium and Other Tracts in Welsh from Llyvyr Agkyr Llandewivrevi. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 119-27.
  • Evans, D. Simon. ed. 1959. Buched Dewi. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
  • Parry-Williams, T. H. ed. 1926. Breuddwyd Pawl. BBCS 3. 81-89.
  • Thomas, Graham. ed. 1988. A Welsh Bestiary of Love. Dublin: DIAS.
  • Williams, Ifor. ed. 1926. Chwedlau Odo. Wrexham: Hughes a'i Fab.
  • Williams, J. E. Caerwyn. ed. 1976. Welsh Versions of Purgatorium S. Patricii. Studia Celtica 8/9. 119-94.

This manuscript has two systems of foliation:

  • One system is in black ink in the top right corner of each recto folio. It begins at folio 505 and continues without a break to folio 557. This numbering refers to the page numbering of the Didrefn Gasgliad, and was probably added by Edward Lhwyd or one of his amanuenses (Evans 1898-1910: 419). This numbering system was added after several folios became lost from the manuscript, and hence does not reflect this loss.
  • A second, later system is in pencil in the top right corner of each recto folio. It begins at folio 1 and continues without a break to folio 53. This numbering system was added after several folios became lost from the manuscript, and hence does not reflect this loss.

The editors have followed the second, later system of foliation.

There are no catchwords in the manuscript, though they might have been cut off during binding.

For the most part, the manuscript is in good condition, though the occasional page is faded and difficult to read. Folio 1r is very unclear and folio 22r is faded to the point of illegibility.

Folios are missing between folios 3 and 4, resulting in the loss of the end of the text of Claddedigaeth Arthur.

There are folios missing between folios 17 and 18, resulting in the loss of the beginning of Buchedd Dewi. Folios are also missing between folios 19 and 20, and between folios 21 and 24, which result in lacunae in Buchedd Dewi.

Folio 22 and folio 23, which contain a fragment of Bwystorïau have been bound into the middle of Buchedd Dewi in error.

There are 2 folios missing between folioa 43 and 44 resulting in a lacuna in Purdan Padrig. A note in the bottom margin of folio 43v states: 'Th/Here are 2 leaves lost.'

The text is written in one column with 26 lines to each page.

The manuscript is written in the fourteenth-century rounded textura hand of a scribe known as the scribe of Llyfr Teg (Peniarth 32>), so called for the regularity and legibility of his writing. Daniel Huws has given this scribe the designation 'X91'. This designation has been followed for the purposes of this edition. In addition to Peniarth 32, which contains a copy of the legal text Llyfr Iorwerth as well as a collection of shorter texts in Welsh and Latin, this scribe was also responsible for penning parts of the Red Book of Hergest (Oxford Jesus College 111); Peniarth 19, which contains a copy of the historical texts Ystoria Dared, Brut y Brenhinoedd, Brut y Tywysogion, and Brut y Saeson; and Peniarth 190, which contains a copy of the religious texts Ystoria Lucidar, Ymborth yr Enaid, and Penityas.
‘X91’

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

This scribe makes very occasional use of dotted <y>. It is used on a few occasions in native words, but is also used in Biblical names, when it may be meant to indicate a linguistic difference. Examples are:

  • <moysen>: 27v.16
  • <ysaias>: 27v.19

The orthography of this scribe does not differ substantially from expected forms.

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.

  • macron for <n>: a[n]ghenaỽc 5v.19; a[n]gheu 6r.1, 10r.24, 10v.6; a[n]gheuaỽl 1v.4; amge[n] 9r.7; anteruyn[n]edic 9r.22; esgy[n]nu 6v.6 etc.
  • macron for <m>: a[m]mot 13r.19; ky[m]meint 25v.18; di[m] 23r.19; faba[m] 15v.21; gedy[m]mdeith 15v.8; lly[m]ma 21r.21; meu[m] 5v.1; na[m] 23r.8 etc.
  • <’> for <er>: balchd[er] 23v.21, 23v.23, 23v.26; t[er]tio 9v.19
  • <’> for <yr>: darlleaỽd[yr]: 17v.25; llyth[yr] 22v.18; plast[yr] 9r.8
  • <a> above a letter for <ra>: t[ra]gywyd: 45v.17
  • <i> above a letter for <ri>: glastynb[ri] 4r.8; g[ri]st 27r.19, 45v.23, 52v.26; p[ri]or: 44r.15
  • <9> for <ur>: arth[ur] 1v.5, 1v.13, 2v.3; ffreut[ur] 17r.10; gỽneuth[ur] 17r.6
  • <9> for <us>: Tiberg[us] 10r.6
  • <p> with a tail for <pro>: p[ro]cessio: 44r.16, 51r.13; p[ro]pocitiones 5v.1
  • <p> with a crossed tail for <per>: p[er]pete 15v.21; p[er]sondodeu 12r.11; p[re]gethu 20v.20

The text also contains a number of common Latin abbreviations.

  • <[ab]>: 5v.1
  • <c[etera]>: 6r.12, 7v.20, 8r.22 a.y.b.
  • <diuiciar[um]>: 6r.9
  • <[et]>: 6r.12, 7r.10, 7r.18 a.y.b.
  • <gl[ori]ant[ur]>: 6r.9
  • <h[ic]>: 15r.9
  • <[initio]>: 5v.1
  • <p[ro]poc[itiones]>: 5v.1
  • <pulc[hra]>: 15r.9
  • <q[ua]m>: 15v.21
  • <suar[um]>: 6r.9
  • <vua[rum]>: 9v.20

The scribe abbreviates certain commonly occurring names and words:

  • <brenh[in]>: 32v.13
  • <d[auy]d>: 19v.16, 19v.18, 21r.4
  • <march[awc]>: 49r.13, 49v.26, 52r.20 a.y.b.
  • <Mih[angel]>: 36r.11, 36v.13, 37r.2, 37v.19
  • <Mihag[el]>: 37v.15
  • <or[uc]>: 5v.3, 7r.4, 10v.19
  • <o[ru]gant>: 24r.22
  • <P[awl]>: 36r.22, 36v.15, 37r.9 a.y.b.
  • <pa[wl]>: 37r.19

Punctuation in this hand consists of the punctus and the punctus elevatus.

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

There are some marginalia in later hands in the manuscript which have not been included in the transcription:

  • 19r RM.17-26
  • 21r RM.9
  • 21r RM.13
  • 36r TM

Notes in a number of modern hands precede the manuscript and are bound with it.

The manuscript was produced at the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century in Wales (Huws 2000: 60). The scribe who produced this manuscript was active around 1404, for a chronicle in the hand of his collaborator in Peniarth 32 was ostensibly written in that year. See Luft (2010) for that chronicle. His work on the Red Book of Hergest (Oxford Jesus College 111 ), which was produced for Hopcyn ap Tomas of Ynystawe (actually Ynysforgan), demonstrates that he was active in south-eastern Wales.

This manuscript once formed volume 4 of a larger collection, the Didrefn Gasgliad; the other volumes were Llanstephan 1 (volume 1), Llanstephan 2 (volume 2), and Llanstephan 3 (volume 3). These volumes were bound together and named by Edward Lhwyd.

This manuscript formed part of a collection brought together along with the other Llanstephan manuscripts (numbers 1-154) by the copyist Samuel Williams (c.1660-c.1722) and his son Moses Williams (1685-1742). On his death in 1742, Moses Williams’s Welsh manuscripts were sold to the mathematician William Jones (c.1675-1749). Jones in turn bequeathed the manuscripts to his pupil George Parker, the second earl of Macclesfield, upon his death in 1749 (DNB 491).

Llanstephan 4 remained in the possession of the earls of Macclesfield at Shirburn castle until 1899 when it was bought by Sir John Williams. Along with the rest of his vast collections, it was donated by Sir John to the National Library of Wales in 1909.

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

  • Evans, J. Gwenogvryn. 1898-1910. Llanstephan 4. Report on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language 2. London: HMSO. 424-5.
  • 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.
  • Jenkins, R. T. ed. 1959. The Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940. London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion
  • Luft, Diana. 2010. The Peniarth 32 Latin Chronicle. Studia Celtica 44. 47-70.
  • Williams, Ifor. ed. 1926. Chwedlau Odo. Wrexham: Hughes a'i Fab.

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 National Library of Wales in 1993. As the editors have not checked the transcription against the original, information on the scribal hands, foliation, accompanying materials, colour scheme and ornamentation should be treated as provisional.

  • 23-Feb-2011 DL: edited TEI header
  • 16-Aug-2007 PWT: edited TEI header
  • 14-May-2007 PWT: edited XML encoded files, produced table of corrections and amended where necessary
  • 9-Mar-2007 DL: converted Word files with shortcuts into XML files and corrected them
  • 15-Nov-2006 – 11-Dec-2006 DMS: corrected electronic transcription of folios 1r-53v
  • 9-Nov-2006 – 11-Dec-2006 DMS: checked transcription of folios 1r-53v against prints
  • 7-Nov-2006 – 11-Dec-2006 DMS: transcribed folios 1r-53v with shortcuts

The material has been transcribed separately.