Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

MS. E. i,1 and Cwrt Mawr MS. 30. Professor G. J. Williams has suggested2 that the four manuscripts (the Belmont MS. was not available) represent variations of one translation made by a member of a Glamorgan school of prose writers and translators in the sixteenth century. The subsequent discovery of the Belmont MS. does not invalidate his conclusion. Professor Williams was aware of Egerton Phillimore's view3 that Llanstephan MS. 178 was a distinct translation, differing from Llanwrin MS. 2 and Cwrtmawr MS. 30, and clearly did not subscribe to it. Llanstephan MS. 178 was written by Ieuan ab Ieuan ap Madog (Bywgraffiadur, p. 186) of Betws, Glamorgan. It was probably written about the year 1585, and is the earliest of the surviving manuscripts of the Welsh translation, but not, as we shall see, the original of the Welsh versions. The text is imperfect, wanting both the beginning (but supplied in a later hand) and the last chapter, and a few pages here and there in the body of the work. Llanwrin MS. 2 (N.L.W. MS. 15533B) was written early in the seventeenth century in an unknown hand. There are lacunae in this manuscript also, affecting particularly parts of Part I, chapter i, Part II, chapters 4, 5, 6, and Part III, chapters 11 and 12. Llanover MS. E. i is also of the early seventeenth century and it lacks the whole of Part I, chapter i, parts of chapters 2, 4, 5, the whole of Part II, chapter 8 and parts of the preceding and succeeding chapters, and parts of Part III, chapters 2 and 3. It ends in Part III, chapter 10. The hand, layout, and general character of this manuscript all suggest that it was the work of the scribe of Llanwrin MS. 2. Cwrt Mawr MS. 30 is still less complete, beginning only within chapter 5 of Part I and ending in chapter 2 of Part II. It also belongs to the seventeenth century. The Belmont Manuscript (N.L.W. MS. 15541A) is later than the four other manuscripts. According to the title page, which (with the first two folios of text) is supplied by David Powell ('Dewi Nanbran': Bywgraffiadur, p. 1062), it was translated or com- posed by Richard William of Battle, Brecknockshire, in the year 1684 or 1648. The manuscript, though later than its fellows, is unique in being the only one to contain the final chapter. Chapters 5 and 6 of Part II are imperfect and there were probably lacunae in its exemplar between chapters 6 and 7 of the same part and at the beginning of chapter 11 of Part III. The following list of chapter headings will serve to provide a synopsis of the allegory and to show the relationship between the French, English, and Welsh texts. The French extracts are from the Antwerp edition of 1595, the English from the London edition of 1650, and the Welsh from Llanstephan MS. 178, designated A. Variant readings from the other manuscripts are added as follows: B, Llanwrin MS. 2, C, Llanover MS. E. i., D, Belmont MS. and E, Cwrt Mawr MS. 30. There are no title-pages for versions B, C, and E. TITLE PAGES Le I voyage I dv chevalier I errant, Esgare dedans la Forest des Vanitez mon-Idaines, dont finablement il fut remis, & I redress,6 au droit chemin, qui I meine au Salut I eternel. Avthevr F. lean deCar-ltheny, doctevr en Theo-Ilogie, de 1 'Ordre des Carmes. 1 N.L.W. MS. 13163B. 2 Traddodiad Llenyddol Morgannwg, p. 177. 8 Reports on MSS. in the Welsh Language, Vol. II, p. 769.