The History of Brecknock (transcript)

A transcript by George Owen of a short work entitled The History of Brecknock. The work contains a short chronicle of events in British history up to the Norman invasion and the conquests of Bernard Newmarch. The manuscript is in English apart from ff. 14v-15v, which is a text in Welsh entitled '[Llyma tai]r def[od ar] dd[eg] a haner [y gafas hoe]ll ap trehaearn gan Reinall [Debre]rois arglwydd Brecheinog o gyfyndeb gwlad ag arglwydd'.

It is clear from Dr. Charles's article (see under 'Associated Material', above) that parts of the manuscript have been lost between his description in 1941 and the volume being repaired and bound in 1948. He speaks of sixteen folios, the last folio bearing George Owen's signature. This folio is now lost. Parts of the text have also been lost at the top and outer edges of many of the folios.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 13689B

A note by George Owen on f. 15v explains how the manuscript was received by him from Roger Griffes who, in turn, received it from Sir John Ganes [Games], knight, in April 1612 "and as he said the same was collected by on[e] Mr. John Jones a gent of Brecknokshire".

B. G. Charles, in NLW Journal, II (1941), pp. 43-5, mentions a similar text in BL Harleian MS 6108, of which BL Harleian MS 7017, ff. 251-9v is a transcript. Comparison shows, however, that they are different tracts, apart from the opening sentences, which are almost identical.

Published