Breudwd Welsh Prose 1350-1425
Cymraeg

Peniarth 33 (Hengwrt 47): An Electronic Edition. TEI header
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Whitefriars, Lewins Mead, Bristol BS1 2AE. 0117 987 6500
Peter Wynn Thomas, D Mark Smith, Diana Luft

Peniarth 33: An Electronic Edition

TEI header

A note on editorial principles

Corff Electronig o Ryddiaith Cymraeg Canol aims to produce machine-readable editions of all the medieval Welsh prose texts which have been preserved in manuscripts dating from c.1350 to c.1450. 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 such as layout and rubrication may prove to be as essential in textual interpretation 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 a scribe's spelling may shed light upon the language of the period as he, his audience, or patron used it, both in oral and written contexts. Where the scribe's orthography seems to merit particular attention, a 'sic' tag 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.

Manuscript description

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 we 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.

Source description

Settlement: AberystwythLle: Aberystwyth
Repository: National Library of WalesLlyfrgell: National Library of Wales
Shelf-mark: Peniarth 33Mynegrif: Peniarth 33

Contents

The manuscript contains a copy of Cyfreithiau Hywel Dda or The Laws of Hywel Dda in the version that Aneurin Owen identified as the Dimetian code or Dull Dyfed, now referred to as Llyfr Blegywryd. The manuscript was consulted though not used extensively byAneurin Owenin his edition of the of the Dimetian code in his Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, and is referred to as Manuscript M in that edition and in the subsequent literature. The text in Peniarth 33 is closest in both expression and organisation to that presented by Williams and Powell (1942). There is a lacuna in the text at 32.18.

Order of Pages

Page Number Comments Scribe
iv Notes in the hand of the person responsible for most of the marginalia (?Aneurin Evans) noting the locations of a number of tracts in the manuscript ?Evans
v Signature of William Morris (Guilhemu[m] Mauricium), dated 1662, who claims to have copied this manuscript for Robert Vaughan. This page also contains Aneurin Owen’s designation for the manuscript: ‘B. 47’ Morris
vi Mixed notes on the contents of the manuscript, perhaps in the same hand as the notes on page iv unknown
vii Note in the hand of ?J. Gwenogvryn Evans on Aneurin Evans’s dating of the manuscript ?Evans
1-186 Cyfreithiau Hywel Dda A

Editions

The following texts were consulted during transcription:

We have used both of these editions for supplied text.

Accompanying materials

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

Language

The text is written in medieval Welsh.

Layout

The text is written in a single column of 23-25 lines to each page.

Foliation

There are two systems of foliation to be found in the top right corner of each recto page, one (seemingly earlier) counting each folio and the other (?in the hand of J. Gwenogvryn Evans) counting each page. We have applied the latter system.

Origin

The manuscript was produced at the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth centuries in Wales (Huws 2000: 60).

History

Peniarth 33 was acquired by Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt (1592-1667). It is not known from where Vaughan obtained most of his manuscripts, but according to a story in the writings of Edward Lhuyd he inherited those in the possession of John Jones of Gellilyfdy on Jones’s death about 1658 (Tibbott 1943: iv). The Hengwrt manuscripts were catalogued in 1658 by William Maurice of Cefnybraich, Llansilin (Jones 1943: xvi). The manuscript was bequeathed by Sir Robert Williames Vaughan (d. 1859), the last baronet of Hengwrt, to his friend William Watkin Edward Wynne (1801-1880) of Peniarth in 1859, along with the rest of the Hengwrt collection (Tibbott 1943: viii).

The Hengwrt catalogue was revised by Aneurin Owen (d. 1851), and then by William Watkin Wynne. This catalogue was published in Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1869-1871 (Jones 1943: xv). It was catalogued and re-numbered by J. Gwenogvryn Evans when he examined the collection for the Historical Manuscripts Commission along with the rest of the Peniarth manuscripts, while in the possession of W.W.E. Wynne’s son, William Robert Maurice Wynne (d. 1909). The Peniarth collection was secured for the nascent National Library of Wales by Sir John Williams, who, in 1904, paid the Wynne brothers a sum to ensure the reversion of the collection to the Library upon the death of both brothers. The manuscript passed, along with the rest of the collection, to the Library in 1909 (Tibbott 1943: viii).

Hand

The manuscript is written in a fourteenth or fifteenth century rounded textura hand of an unidentified scribe.

Letter forms

Medial <a>

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

Dotted <y>

The scribe uses both regular and dotted <y>. The dotted <y> seems to be purely decorative with no phonological trigger for it as opposed to the undotted variant. The latter is slightly more common with capital letters than with small ones.

Capitals and semi-caps

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

<c> and <t>

This scribe often writes <t> in a very similar way to <c>, such that it is almost impossible to tell which letter is meant. We have transcribed the letters as they appear on the page, appending a ‘sic’ tag when necessary.

Ligatured <cc>, <tc> and <tt>

The scribe writes ligatured <cc>, <tc> and <tt> in such a way that they are almost indistinguishable form one another. Examples are:

Orthography

The orthography of this scribe does not differ substantially from expected forms. Apparent examples of <c> for <t>may be due to the way the scribe forms these characters. Examples are:

Abbreviations

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:

The following commonly occurring word is also frequently abbreviated:

Punctuation

Punctuation consists of the punctus and the punctus elevatus. Rather unusually, the punctus elevatus is far more common than the punctus.

The punctus often appears in pairs. This doubled form may be difficult to distinguish from the punctus elevatus, and many examples could be interpreted as either.

Marginalia

There are some marginalia in the manuscript. These have not been included in the transcription.

One marginalium is by the main scribe:

The other items are in a later hand, possibly that of Aneurin Owen. These items contain a unique character, �.

Catchwords

Catchwords are occasionally found in the bottom right hand corner of the page. Others may have been cut out during binding.

Ornament

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

In some places where there are coloured initial letters, the scribe has indicated what the letter should be, and this smaller form appears behind the initial. The <P> at 165.18 is an example.

In some cases the person responsible for filling in the decorated initials has missed one and only a space indicates where such a letter should be. Examples are:

In some cases the person responsible for filling in the decorated initials has filled the space with the wrong letter. Examples are:

Damage

The manuscript is difficut to read in places because of fading and staining.

Mistakes

In some places it is clear that the scribe has skipped from one line to another because the same word appears in successive lines. Modern published editions of the text from other sources make apparent the aberrant reading in this manuscript. Examples are:

Location Manuscript reading Edition
43.9-10 yn teir rann y rennir ar y reia etat a e vam a e vrodyr a e whioryd yn teir ran y renhir ar y reia'etalho. Y ran gyntaf a discyn ar y llofruda'etat a'e vam a'e vrodyr a'e chwioryd (LlB 31.16-17).
51.16-17 kyt as dyccocha6chtystolyaeth ll6. Elch6yl y bernir y r ty:ston ar eu llw Kyt dyccoch awch tystolyaeth arawchgeir, nys kedernhewch arawchllw. 6lchwyl y bernir y'r tyston�(LlB)
67.13-14: Teir palua6t nydyd kat a brwydyr Teir paluaut nydiwygir: vn arglwyd ar y wr ynn y reoli yndydcat a brwydyr (LlB)
119.2-3: os raculaenn hol y diwedid. ac eu kylchynu or raculaenha yr yscrybyl y bore a dyuot yn euhol y diwedyd ac eu kylchynu (LlB)
133.6-8: a charreit o r yt goreu a tyuo ar tir y tat;a hynnyyn lle blwydyn idi Odyna y tat a dyly a charreit o'r yt goreu a tyfho ar tir y tat;ahynnya perthyn y'r tayogeu. Mab bonhedic a dylyir y vagu val hyn: mam y mab gyssefin a'e hymduc naw mis yn y chroth, a thri mis gwedy ganher hi a'e mac,a hynnyyn lle blwydyn idi; odyna y tat a dyly (LlB)
152.4-6: y brenhin a e awyrda teruynad6y yr6g dylyeda6c ac andilyeda6c y brenhin a'r gwyrda teruynadwyvyd. Ac ny dylyir arhos nawuetdydrwg dylyedawc ac andylyedawc (LlB)

Works consulted

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

Revision history

14 August 2007. Peter Wynn Thomas (principal investigator), edited TEI header
14 August 2007. Peter Wynn Thomas (principal investigator), edited TEI header
19–21 June 2006. Peter Wynn Thomas (principal investigator), edited XML encoded files, produced table of corrections and amended where necessary
19–21 June 2006. Peter Wynn Thomas (principal investigator), edited XML encoded files, produced table of corrections and amended where necessary
12 April 2006. Diana Luft(transcriber, encoder), converted Word files with shortcuts into XML files and corrected them
12 April 2006. Diana Luft(transcriber, encoder), converted Word files with shortcuts into XML files and corrected them
28 September 2005. D. Mark Smith(transcriber, encoder), corrected electronic transcription of folios 35-48
28 September 2005. D. Mark Smith(transcriber, encoder), corrected electronic transcription of folios 35-48
27 September 2005 - 3 October 2005. D. Mark Smith(transcriber, encoder), checked DL's transcription of pages 1-7, 143-186 against prints
27 September 2005 - 3 October 2005. D. Mark Smith(transcriber, encoder), checked DL's transcription of pages 1-7, 143-186 against prints
12 September 2005 - 4 October 2005. Diana Luft(transcriber, encoder), corrected electronic transcription of pages 1-34, 49-186
12 September 2005 - 4 October 2005. Diana Luft(transcriber, encoder), corrected electronic transcription of pages 1-34, 49-186
12 September 2005 - 27 September 2005. Diana Luft(transcriber, encoder), checked DL's transcript of pages 1-34, 49-142 against prints, checked DMS's transcript of pages 35-48 against prints
12 September 2005 - 27 September 2005. Diana Luft(transcriber, encoder), checked DL's transcript of pages 1-34, 49-142 against prints, checked DMS's transcript of pages 35-48 against prints
8 September 2005. D. Mark Smith(transcriber, encoder), transcribed pages 35-48 with shortcuts
8 September 2005. D. Mark Smith(transcriber, encoder), transcribed pages 35-48 with shortcuts
6 September 2005 - 29 September 2005. Diana Luft(transcriber, encoder), transcribed pages 1-34, 49-186 with shortcuts
6 September 2005 - 29 September 2005. Diana Luft(transcriber, encoder), transcribed pages 1-34, 49-186 with shortcuts