Letters to Abraham Ortelius,

Three letters, 1568-1571, written in Latin to Abraham Ortelius, the Flemish cartographer, the first, 3 August 1568, from Humphrey Llwyd (Lhuyd), physician and antiquary, at Denbigh when he was mortally ill (a contemporary note, possibly by Ortelius, at the foot of the letter states that he died 31 August ('prid. Cal. Sept.') [1568]), the second, 2 November 1570, from Robert Owen in haste at Douai, and the third, 2 January 1570[/1], from Hu: Owen, brother of Robert Owen, at the earl of Arundel's house in London, all three letters connected with each other and with the work of Humphrey Llwyd. In the top left hand corner they are numbered in pencil 27, 31 and 34: these are the numbers which were given to them when they were published in chronological order by J. H. Hessels in Ecclesiae Londino- Batavae Archivum, Tom. 1, Abrahami Ortelii . . . epistulae (Cantabrigiae, 1887). The pagination in ink (421-4, 829-30, and 425-6) and other numbers in pencil (? 131, 211 and 210) appear to belong to earlier arrangements of the letters, one in order of Christian names, the other in order of surnames (Hessels, op. cit., pp. x-xi). The Humphrey Llwyd letter has been reproduced as a frontispiece to the Annual Report of the National Library of Wales, 1967-1968. In his letter Llwyd acknowledges receipt of Ortelius's description of Asia, refers to his own serious illness, and sends Ortelius his (Llwyd's) map of Wales, two maps of England, and what he describes as some fragments of a description of Britain written in his own hand. Only the conclusion of the letter (after 'vale'), one or two insertions and corrections, the address and an endorsement are in the handwriting of Humphrey Llwyd. The endorsement reads 'Mr Owen [i.e. Hugh Owen] fold vp these saff & delyuer theym at on EMANVEL house at Somers kay beneth bylyngesgate to be sent to Antwerp: vale' (see also Trans. Cymmr., 1937, plate facing p. 136). Hugh Owen and Robert Owen were Roman Catholics and of the Owen family of Plas-du, Llanarmon, co. Caernarvon (see D.W.B. under Owen family of Plas-du, Caerns., and the references given there). Robert Owen in his letter enquires on behalf of his brother whether the description of England and the chorography of Wales by the late Humphrey Llwyd, together with a letter written in Latin, have reached Ortelius. He asks him not to write to Douai as he will be going to England for the sake of his health following a serious illness, but rather to direct his letter to his brother or him at the earl of Arundel's house in London. Hugh Owen acknowledges receipt of a letter from Ortelius from which he learned that Humphrey Llwyd's brief commentary of Britain with the map of Wales has reached him safely and thanks him for so readily embracing the last, but immature and imperfect, works of their common friend. He is sorry knowledge of Ortelius's doubts about certain words did not reach him before his brother left the Netherlands but he will do his utmost to fill the gap if Ortelius will send him notes and lists both of the words in the commentary and of the matters and places in the map. He has kept a copy of the book lest any harm should befall it in transit and so that it need not be sent back if Ortelius is in doubt on any point [It was published under the title Commentarioli Britannicae descriptionis fragmentum. Auctore Hum/redo Lhuyd, Denbyghiense, Cambro Britanno (Coloniae Agrippinae: Apud Ioannem Birckmannum, 1572)].

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Sotheby's; London; Purchased at auction, lots 367, 380 and 379; 1968

The following source was used in the compilation of this description: Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IV (Aberystwyth, 1971).

Title based on contents.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 13187E.

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

Digital version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10107/4777923 (viewed March 2018)

June 2010.

Description compiled by Bethan Ifans for the retrospective conversion project of NLW MSS.

The letters formed part of a collection which had belonged until 1955 to the Dutch Church, Austin Friars, London.

See Theodore Max Chotzen, 'Some Sidelights on Cambro-Dutch Relations...', in Trans. Cymmr., 1937, pp. 101-44, and R. Geraint Gruffydd, 'Humphrey Llwyd of Denbigh: Some Documents and a Catalogue', in Transactions of the Denbighshire Historical Society, vol. 17, 1968, pp. 99-101 in particular, and also vol. 18, 1969, p. 179. See also Trans. Cymmr., 1937, plate facing p. 136.

Published

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales