Miscellanea,

A composite volume containing miscellaneous lists, notes, jottings, etc., of a very varied nature in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg'). Included are pp. 1-22, miscellaneous extracts allegedly from a manuscript in the hand of Siôn Bradford (extracts - single words or lines, couplets, stanzas, etc. - from the works of Welsh bards, occasional annotations by Siôn Bradford, an anecdote relating to a bard named Ieuan ap y Diwlith, notes relating to fifteen strict poetic metres in a system described by Antoni Pywel, 'englynion' attributed to Siôn Bradford himself ); 38, a brief note on the colour of bardic robes; 39, lists of 'graddau cenhedlaeth hyd y nawfed ach'; 41-4, notes relating to the introduction of 'a new musical system or theory into Wales' possibly from Ireland in the time of Gruffudd ap Cynan including a comment to the effect that no musical instrument was mentioned by Welsh bards circa 1080-1280; 45-6, 181- 4, 247-51, notes on the word 'Cimmeri' and its variants as a national appelative and the formation of the language of the said people; 51-2, brief notes on steel making; 53-4, notes ? relating to the Glamorgan system of Welsh metrics; 55-6, a list of bards headed 'Llyma enwau Beirdd Cadeirogion Tir Iarll amser yr ymryson a fu ryngddynt am farwnad Ieuan a Hywel Swrdwal', and a note relating to 'Cadair Tir Iarll'; 59, a note relating to Gruff. ap Cynan's flight to, and return from, Ireland; 60, triads relating to 'cerdd deuluaidd' or 'cerdd arwest'; 61-3, notes on an 'eisteddfod' organised by Gruff. ab Nicolas at Carmarthen [circa 1450], the part played by D[afydd] ab Edmwnd, the reluctance of the bards of Morgannwg to accept the rules, etc., devised by Dafydd ab Edmwnd, the research undertaken by the said bards into the bardic system, rules, etc.; 66-9, statistics relating to the population of Wales (N.D.) with comments on the English element in Pembrokeshire and Gower, co. Glamorgan, and the English influence on the Welsh border; 70-71, a note on the 'Scaldic School' of poets in Wales; 81 + 93, notes on the words 'Llysdanc' i.e. ' juridical peace', and 'cyfallwy'; 97, a note on Rhobert, iarll Caerloyw (earl of Gloucester), his acquisition of Tir Iarll, and his organising of the bardic order, with mention of the poets Rhys Goch ap Rhiccert (temp. Robert), Ieuan fawr ap y Diwlith, and Trahaearn Brydydd mawr; 101-03, notes on Davydd ap Gwilym more particularly chronological; 105-07, notes relating to an 'eisteddfod' held at Glynn Achlach in Ireland [temp. Gruffudd ap Cynan], an opinion on the alleged connection between the said Gruffudd, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Rhys ap Tewdwr, and Gruffudd ap Rhys successively and the formulating of regulations for the Welsh bardic order, and a comment on the probability of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 'having instituted some Regulations respecting Pedigrees and Land rights' and of Gruffudd ap Cynan having 'introduced Irish or Scaldic music and rules of good order amongst Musicians into North Wales'; 111, a list of place-names containing the element Bangor; 138-9, notes relating to 'Cadeiriau ag Eisteddfodau wrth gerdd dafod' ('Cadair Tir Iarll', 'cadair ym Marchwiail', 'eisteddfodau' at Caerfyrddin and Caerwys, 13th-16th cent.); 140, a note on the poet Gwilym Tew; 141-8, notes on 'eisteddfodau' held at Caerfyrddin in 1451 and N.D., and decisions taken relating to the bardic order and 'cerdd dafawd'; 149-51, genealogical data relating to Iestin ab Gwrgan, lord of Morgannwg; 152 + 157, a brief chronicle of historical and pseudo- historical events in Britain, 1300 B.C. - 230 A.D.; 156, an anecdote relating to Gwaithfoed, lord of Cibion and Ceredigion, and the Saxon king Edgar; 158-9, notes relating to Welsh strict metres referring to 'Cwlm Cadair Caerfyrddin' based upon metrical systems arranged by Gwilym Tew, Dafydd ap Edmwnd, and Llawdden; 165, transcripts of five 'englynion' attributed to Dafydd Benwyn; 167, notes on Owain ap Cadwgan and his son Einion, temp. Henry I; 171-2, notes on Thomas Jones of Tregaron ('Twm Siôn Catti'); 178-9, an anecdote relating to the bard Siôn Cent; 185, notes headed 'Origin of letters in Britain'; 187, a note relating to derivative and compound words in Welsh; 188, a list of fourteen ? rules under the heading 'Theophilanthropists of Wales or Berean Society'; 189, a note on an 'eisteddfod' held by Rys ap Tewdwr at Castell Nedd in 1080; 213, a short list of Glam[organ] proverbs and idioms; 230, a note on 'Hopcin ap Thomas ap Einion Hen a elwir Einion Offeiriad' and the said 'Einion Hen'; 233-41, extracts from [Joseph Robertson:] An Essay on Punctuation (1785); 243-6, transcripts of seven stanzas of English religious verse, an English prayer, and the music of two psalm tunes; 253, an extract from a 'cywydd' attributed to R[hys] G[och] Eryri, and a list of words headed 'Geiriau Gofram yr Alban Eilir, 1815'; 254-61, lists of words and other extracts from Henry Perri [: Eglvryn Phraethineb sebh dosparth ar] Retoreg [ Lhundain, 1595], and other poetic extracts; 262-3, a copy of a 'Sonnet on the prospect of Vaucluse from Petrarch' and an epitaph on an infant by Edwd. Williams, and a list of 'Places to enquire where they are'; 269-74, miscellaneous poetic extracts to illustrate specific words such as 'barddas', 'gwyddfa', etc., and lists headed 'Pumwydd Celfyddyd' and 'Naw Cynneddf Doethineb'; 275, a brief note on the practice of planting trees at crossroads in Glamorganshire; 277-9, a description of the method of swearing the bardic oath; 281-2, a list of the names by which God is known in Welsh with English definitions; 284-5, brief notes relating to the poet Llywelyn Llogell Rhison and his two brothers of Marchwiail [co. Denbigh], and the poet Mab Claf ab Llywarch, with a reference to the attribution of 'Englynion Eiry Mynydd' to the said Llywelyn and Mab Claf; 286, notes on the written version of the tale 'Hanes Taliesin'; 291-2, a list of 'Prif gyfoethau Gwlad Gymru', (continued)
298-300, an extract from the Saxon Chronicle with an English translation; 302, a comment on adverse opinions concerning the antiquity of 'Glam[organ] bardism and its concommitant literature'; 303, notes relating to the bardic 'chair of Glamorgan in Tir Iarll', 'Cadair Taliesin', and 'Cadair Urien'; 304-06, notes headed 'Llyma ddosparth yr awgrym' with lists of numerals headed 'Llyma lafariaith awgrym herwydd a'i dangosir dan a[r]wyddon rhif sathredig y cenedloedd . . .' (see J. Williams ab Ithel: Barddas . . ., vol. I, pp. 98-103); 309, a copy of the civil marriage vow of the time of Oliver Cromwell in Welsh; 311-12, a note on Gruffudd ap Cynan's institution of ? triennial 'eisteddfodau' at Aberffraw and of rules for the bardic fraternity; 316, a biographical note on the Bradford family of Tir Iarll or Bettws [co. Glamorgan]; 319, a note on 'cynghanedd' prior to the time of Gruffudd ap Cynan; 324, a transcript of an 'englyn' attributed to Lewys Mon; 325-6, three triads headed 'Bardic Theology'; 329-30, eight triads headed 'Trioedd amrafaelion'; 335-6, a transcript of six stanzas of Welsh verse attributed to Rhobert, tywysog Norddmandi; 340, notes on the means adopted by Welsh bards to earn a living, circa 1500-1680; 341, six triads headed 'Trioedd Iaith ag Ymadrodd'; 344-8, notes on the development of alliteration in Welsh poetry and the 'rules of . . . the Scaldic School of Welsh versification'; 357-8, a few bardic triads; 374-5, notes relating to various bardic 'chairs'; 379, questions and answers relating to 'Pair Ogrwen', 'Cariadwen', and 'Pair Dadeni'; 387, a short list of four triads; 390-91, notes relating to 'chware hud a Iledrith' of Math ap Mathonwy; 397-9, 402-03, lists of proverbial or idiomatic expressions in Welsh; 407-11, a list of thirty triads headed 'Llyma'r Trioedd a ddatcanodd Iolo Morganwg yng Ngorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain ar Frynn Dinorweg yn Arfon, Alban Elfed 1799'; 411-20, notes relating to ? bardic ceremonial and the duties of bards, and seven triads headed 'Llyma Drioedd cynghlo Cadair a Gorsedd'; 421-2, a list of Welsh phrases with English equivalents headed 'Address of letters - salutations in Glamorgan'; 442-3, a list of rules headed 'Rules to know when two languages have had the same word from remote antiquity which may claim it as originally its own'; 445-6, brief notes relating to the early bishops of Bangor, and Ylldud farchog and Eilifri, his mother; 447, transcripts of two 'englynion' attributed to Huw Cornwy and Huw Llwyd Cynfel; 447-8, notes on a ruin called Myrddin Taliesin on the banks of Llynn Geirionydd [co. Caernarvon]; 449, notes headed 'Pedwar Cerddawr Graddawl'; 450-51, an anecdote relating how [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' nearly lost his life through sleeping near a lime kiln at Llanelltyd [co. Merioneth] in June 1799; 452-7, transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Siôn Philip, Edmund Prys, Huw Ednyfed, Lewis Môn, Tudur Aled, Owain Ifan, Iorwerth Fynglwyd, Rhys Tyganwy, Huw Llwyd Cynfel, and Gruffudd Philip, and other poetic extracts; 472 + 475, transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Richard Philip and Gruff. Hiraethog; 479, notes headed 'Edward Williams's idea of Public worship or Religious instruction rather'; 481-5, notes referring to Welsh literature in the late medieval period after the Edwardian conquest and, in connection therewith, the development of alliteration, the production of triplet verse and prose triads, the triads and verses of Llewelyn Llogell Rhison of Marchwiail, and the works of Hopcin Thomas ap Einion in South Wales, references to the existence of 'triades, triplet verses, etc., of very great antiquity', and to Druidic, Scaldic, Norman, Roman, and Saxon influences ? on literature, and a note on the lasting effects of the Edwardian conquest on political and religious attitudes in North Wales; 506, lists of 'flowering shrubs', 'native flowers rare', and 'evergreens' in Glamorgan; etc. Interspersed amongst the above items throughout the volume are lists or groups of Welsh words, notes on Welsh words, etymological notes, genealogical data, miscellaneous extracts from a variety of printed sources, and other miscellaneous items.

Title based on contents.

Formerly known as Llanover C. 41.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 13128A.

The description is also available in the Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IV (Aberystwyth, 1971).

Published