NLW MS 20143A is a Welsh-language manuscript of the laws of Hywel Dda dating from the middle of the 14th century. It is one of the few surviving Welsh manuscripts of the period to have a medieval binding, and has been digitised by the National Library of Wales, which acquired the manuscript in 1969.
The manuscript contains a copy of some of the law that applied in medieval Wales, known as Cyfraith Hywel (the law of Hywel, after the Welsh king Hywel Dda). It includes a copy of the laws of court (the rights and duties of the king and his officers), in the Cyfnerth redaction, and some other legal material. The outer leaves of the manuscript are waste pages of parchment from other manuscript: an extract from a commentary on part of the First Epistle to the Corinthians and parts of the orders of service for marriage and visiting the sick. Two scribes wrote the manuscript together and differences in their handwriting can be seen. Drawings in the margins of the folios include symbols of the four authors of the Gospels (although those of Luke and John are transposed), a crucifixion scene, and beasts and creatures such as a mermaid, dragons, and peacocks. Blue-green and red inks are used for the drawings. Some of the initial letters are also enlarged, coloured and decorated. [1]
The manuscript is written in two columns on leaves of parchment measuring 160 by 130 millimetres (6.3 by 5.1 in). It has 115 folios and flyleaves from other manuscripts, sewn together and held between boards; the manuscript scholar Daniel Huws considers the sewing and boards to be original, noting that "it is one of the few medieval Welsh manuscripts to retain a medieval, probably original, binding structure". [1] Calf was used to recover the boards at some point in the 19th century. The spine bears a 19th-century addition, the Latin words Leges Walliaae MS Saec. 13 ("13th-century Welsh Law Manuscript"). [1]
Huws considers that the text indicates that the manuscript was written in south Wales in the second half of the 14th century, and that the drawings point towards it being written in a religious setting. Later marginalia suggest, says Huws, that the manuscript thereafter remained in south Wales. The Welsh antiquarian Edward Lhuyd (1660–1709) obtained a copy of the text in 1698, copied for him by his assistant William Jones when working in Dolgellau in north-west Wales, although the home of the manuscript is not recorded. The Welsh clergyman William Conybeare gave it to the Neath Philosophical Society in 1835. It was referred to as "Manuscript Y" by Aneurin Owen in his 1841 work Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, a record of surviving Welsh law manuscripts, but from about 1860 onwards it was held in unknown private hands. In 1969, it was acquired by the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, and added to the General Manuscript Collection with the reference NLW MS 20143A. [1] It was the first Welsh law manuscript to be digitised by the library. [2]
Hywel Dda, sometimes anglicised as Howel the Good, or Hywel ap Cadell was a king of Deheubarth who eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubarth, and proceeded to gain control over the entire country from Prestatyn to Pembroke. As a descendant of Rhodri Mawr through his father Cadell, Hywel was a member of the Dinefwr branch of the dynasty. He was recorded as King of the Britons in the Annales Cambriæ and the Annals of Ulster.
The Red Book of Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111, is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preserves a collection of Welsh prose and poetry, notably the tales of the Mabinogion and Gogynfeirdd poetry. The manuscript derives its name from the colour of its leather binding and from its association with Hergest Court between the late 15th and early 17th century.
The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the largest collections of archives, portraits, maps and photographic images in Wales. The Library is also home to the national collection of Welsh manuscripts, the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, and the most comprehensive collection of paintings and topographical prints in Wales. As the primary research library and archive in Wales and one of the largest research libraries in the United Kingdom, the National Library is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).
The Black Book of Carmarthen is thought to be the earliest surviving manuscript written solely in Welsh. The book dates from the mid-13th century; its name comes from its association with the Priory of St. John the Evangelist and Teulyddog at Carmarthen, and is referred to as black due to the colour of its binding. It is currently part of the collection of the National Library of Wales, where it is catalogued as NLW Peniarth MS 1.
The Hendregadredd Manuscript, is a medieval Welsh manuscript containing an anthology of the poetry of the "Poets of the Princes" (Gogynfeirdd); it was written between 1282 and 1350.
Cyfraith Hywel, also known as Welsh law, was the system of law practised in medieval Wales before its final conquest by England. Subsequently, the Welsh law's criminal codes were superseded by the Statute of Rhuddlan in AD 1284 and its civil codes by Henry VIII's series of Laws in Wales Acts between 1535 and 1542.
Brut y Brenhinedd is a collection of variant Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. About 60 versions survive, with the earliest dating to the mid-13th century. Adaptations of Geoffrey's Historia were extremely popular throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages, but the Brut proved especially influential in medieval Wales, where it was largely regarded as an accurate account of the early history of the Celtic Britons.
The White Book of Hergest was an important Welsh manuscript compiled in c. 1450. It contained many Welsh poems and prose texts and was a significant source for several antiquaries of the 17th and 18th centuries, but disappeared in the early 19th century, probably being destroyed in a fire in a London bookbinder's shop in around 1810.
Elis Gruffydd (1490–1552), sometimes known as "The soldier of Calais", was a Welsh chronicler, transcriber, and translator. He is known foremost for his massive chronicle Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd, which covers the history of the world from the beginning of Adam and Eve up to the year 1552 and contains the earliest text of the Tale of Taliesin. He is also well known for his eyewitness account of England's 1543 war with France in his journal transcribed in Elis Gruffydd and the 1544 'Enterprise' of Paris and Boulogue. His presence on the battlefield has given insight into the development of protests against the campaign. Thomas Jones says "despite his long years of service in France and London, [Gruffydd] was deeply interested in the oral traditions and written literature of his native land. He quotes Welsh englynion and proverbs, records a few folk-tales, and transcribes Welsh texts from such MSS as he had at his disposal". Gruffydd is an excellent source in uncovering lost and obscure traditions and he serves as a harmoniser for Welsh traditions appearing in different ages by the same poet, such as Merlin and Taliesin.
The General Manuscript Collection of the National Library of Wales includes three series of manuscripts: NLW Manuscript series; NLW ex series of Manuscripts; and, NLW Rolls. All manuscripts acquired by the library through either donation or purchase are added to this open-ended series, either singly or in groups, if they are: a) in a format compatible with the collection, i.e. manuscript books or rolls, or unbound material that can be filed; and, b) not integral to an archive or individual collection. There is, however, much archival material, mostly correspondence, held in the General Manuscripts Collection. The holdings in the General Manuscript Collection are catalogued in the Handlist of manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, which focuses on those manuscripts in the National Library which are not part of the foundation collections; there were over fifteen thousand when the first volume of the handlist appeared in 1940, and the collection had increased to 23,233 by 31 March 1994.
Peniarth Manuscript 259B, known as Pomffred since it had previously been owned by the constable of Pontefract Castle, is a version of the Laws of Hywel Dda. Aneurin Owen assigned this manuscript the siglum Z in his Ancient laws and institutes of Wales. It is one of the Peniarth Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales. It was transcribed in the mid-sixteenth century by two hands: Richard Longford and his amanuensis, from an earlier exemplar owned by Einion ab Addain, who was serving a prison sentence in Pontefract at the time that it was copied.
The Boston Manuscript of the Laws of Hywel Dda is a Welsh manuscript created in south-west Wales c.1350-1400 and added to by other scribes in the later Middle Ages. The complex composition of the manuscript has been mapped by archivists at the National library Wales. It is 99 vellum leaves and 98mm by 50mm and is not illuminated, although it does use some coloured inks. It was acquired at auction at Sotherby's by the National Library of Wales in 2012 for £541,250 and is now part of the General Manuscript Collection.
Daniel Huws is the world's leading authority of the last hundred years on Welsh manuscripts, with contributions that are held to represent a significant advance on those of John Gwenogvryn Evans.
Peniarth 28 is the earliest of the surviving copy of the Laws of Hywel Dda. The manuscript, which is written in Latin, dates from the second half of the thirteenth century. It is part of the Peniarth Manuscript Collection that was the foundation collection of the National Library of Wales.
The Llanbeblig Book of Hours is an illuminated manuscript in the National Library of Wales that dates from the close of the fourteenth century. Entries in the Calendar link the Llanbeblig Hours to Wales, and more specifically the dedication of the church of Saint Peblig, which is marked June 6th, connects it with Caernarfon.
Esboniadau ar Gyfraith Hywel Dda is a volume of commentaries on the Laws of Hywel Dda from the late fourteenth century that is known as 'siglum H'. The manuscript contains almost 500 triads and some unique material, but a large part of it is illegible because of the oak apples stains conferred on it by John Jones, Gellilyfdy.
The History of the Kings, or Brut y Brenhinedd, is a Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. The manuscript, which was copied in the late fifteenth century, is probably the only illustrated Welsh-language medieval narrative. It is part of the Peniarth Manuscripts collection at the National Library of Wales.
Hengwrt was a mansion near Dolgellau in Meirionnydd, Gwynedd. It lay in the parish of Llanelltyd near the confluence of the River Mawddach and River Wnion, near Cymer Abbey. With medieval origins, it was rebuilt or remodelled on several occasions before being demolished in 1962. It is remembered as the original home of the important collection of the Peniarth Manuscripts, now in the National Library of Wales.