Llawysgrif Boston o Gyfreithiau Hywel Dda

A manuscript of the second half of the fourteenth century containing a Llyfr Blegywryd version of the Laws of Hywel Dda, with main text close to that of BL, Cotton, Titus D ix (siglum L). The manuscript was written by four scribes: scribe A (ff. 1-93), scribe B (f. 93), and the more cursive hand of scribe C (ff. 93 verso, 100-101 verso). Scribe D, of the early 15 cent. (f. 97), was responsible for the extraneous section of quire 12 (ff. 94-99), possibly part of another manuscript. This section includes the prayer Emyn Curig (ff. 98-99 verso).
The main text of folios 1-93 (to ln. 6 of f. 93) was transcribed line-for-line for Moses Williams, 'o lyfr William Philips o Aberhodni', in NLW, Llanstephan MS 75, when all but two leaves were present in the manuscript (ff. 7 & 17 being already lost).
A transcript of the present manuscript is available on the Welsh Prose (Rhyddiaith Gymraeg) 1350–1425 project website, and is available online at http://www.rhyddiaithganoloesol.cardiff.ac.uk/en/ms-home.php?ms=Bost5 (viewed December 2012)

Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.

Sotheby's; London; Purchased at auction, lot 23; 10 July 2012; 006286263.

Varying form of title: Boston Manuscript of the Laws of Hywel Dda.

Title supplied by cataloguer at NLW.

Formerly Boston, Massachusetts Historical Society, MS 5.

Siglum Bost.

Collation of ff. 1-101 (undertaken whilst in an unbound state): 1 (8: wants 7, and most of 1), 2 (8: wants 1-3), 3 (8: wants 1, 3-7), 4 (8: wants 1, 3 and 8), 5-6 (8), 7 (8: wants 4 and 5), 8 (8: wants 2, 4 and 5), 9 (8: wants 3-6), 10 (8: wants 1-2), 11 (8: wants 1-8), 12 (8, and inserted gathering of 6). Folios 94-99, possibly taken from another manuscript, inserted as a gathering into final quire.

Ink: dark brown (ff. 2-93), followed by a lighter brown (ff. 94-101). Red ink for capitals, decoration, and rubrics (ff. 2-99), and green ink for other capitals and decoration (ff. 2-92). Exclusive use of brown ink on ff. 100-101. Guide holes for ruling on ff. 94-99.

Decoration: parti-coloured red and blue initials with skilled filigree infill, 2- to 6- line. Some lost, some cut out. 2 line initials extending downwards into lower margins: T faded green, with slight purple outlining (f. 33, lns. 24-25); T in purple (f. 44, lns. 25-26). Other initials 3 line: D in purple (f. 2, lns. 20-22), O in purple (f. 4, lns. 19-21); D in green (f. 8, lns. 2-4); G in green, repaired [cracked in 1937] (f. 23, lns. 1-3); C in green and red (f. 90, lns. 23-25). 4 line: T in purple (f. 28 verso, lns. 9-12); T in purple (f. 34 verso, lns. 1-4); T in green (f. 35, lns. 1-4); T in green (f. 35 verso, lns. 4-7); T in green, inside burned away [as in 1937], now filled with goldbeater skin at NLW (f. 36, lns. 9-12); T in purple (f. 36 verso, lns. 18-21); T, green burned through [as in 1937], reinforced at NLW (f. 38, lns. 8-11); T in green, some burn through [as in 1937] (f. 39, lns. 6-9); O in light purple (f. 42 verso, lns. 5-8); O in purple (f. 43 verso, lns. 18-21); O in purple, outlined in green and red (f. 58 verso, lns. 5-8); capital O, without colour (f. 64, lns. 19-22); S in red (f. 76 verso, lns. 11-14); G in red, outlined in green (f. 79 verso, lns. 12-15). 5 line: T, with green traces showing burn through of purple inside colouring (f. 32 verso, lns. 16-20); R in green (f. 54, lns. 19-23); P, inside green burned away [as in 1937], reinforced at NLW (f. 71, lns. 19-23); A in red with burn through in the border [as in 1937] (f. 90 verso, lns. 11-15). 6 line: P in purple (f. 49 verso, lns. 9-14). Red and green sectional one line capitals throughout, greens showing some corrosive tendencies. Guide letters in light brown ink evident throughout. Thin double red lines framing text throughout, with further occasional ornamentation in the same red ink in left hand margins. Decorated S in red ink, falling into lower margin (f. 58, ln. 25), and decoration in margin of last 3 lines [as in 1937], in red ink (f. 78, lns. 23-25).

Rubrication: two-line rubric (f. 41, lns. 19-20); seven-line rubric (f. 90, lns. 16-22).

Original incipit, taken from the transcript of c. 1721 in NLW, Llanstephan MS 75: Hywell da orat duv mab.

Original secundo folio, taken from the transcript of c. 1721 in NLW, Llanstephan MS 75: vdunt ar y gyfreith honno.

Condition: two folios (ff. 7 & 17) lost prior to the transcript of c. 1720 (vide inscriptions 'caret folio uno', in an early 18 century hand, on ff. 6 verso and 16 verso). Thirty folios (ff. 1, 9-11, 19-22, 24, 26, 31, 51-2, 57, 59-60, 66-69, 72-3, 80-7) lost between c. 1720 and the rebinding of c. 1840 (including the whole eleventh quire, ff. 80-87). Lost leaves now represented by new parchment stubs or leaves. Signs of cropping by binder(s), evident in later marginalia, e.g. ff. 3 verso, 4 verso, 30 verso and 46 verso. One-line capitals damaged as a result of corrosive green ink, probably copper-based verdigris, seemingly between 1720s and 1937, some now consolidated with goldbeater skin adhered with gelatin, or with parchment, at NLW: B on f. 3 verso (ln. 2); N on f. 5 verso (ln. 12); G on f. 55 (ln. 13); G on f. 56 (ln. 16); T on f. 79 (ln. 23); a on f. 88 verso (ln. 3); y on f. 89 verso (ln. 12). Other initials in a similar state include a 2 line initial P on f. 14 (lns. 21-22); 3 line initials O on f. 4 verso (lns. 6-8); P on f. 13 verso (lns. 1-3); G on f. 15 verso (lns. 13-15); M on f. 18 (lns. 20-22); 4 line initials K on f. 2 (lns. 6-9); T (partly) on f. 34 (lns. 18-21); O on f. 55 verso (lns. 16-19); O on f. 74 (lns. 12-15); O on f. 77 (lns. 16-19); 4 or 5 line initial K on f. 25 (lns. 15-?18/19); and initials of unknown size, T of f. 12 verso (lns. ?8-10), G on f. 18 verso (lns. ?11-13), N on f. 27 verso (lns. ?1-5, possibly tided with knife between 1720s and 1937), and T in purple on f. 35 (lns. 18-?). The corrosive ink has resulted in loss of text on reverse sides of pages, e.g. ff. 2 verso, 4, 5, 12, 13, 14 verso, 15, 18, 18 verso, 25 verso, 27, 32, 34 verso, 36 verso, 38 verso, 55, 74 verso and 77 verso. A 4 line initial N has been lost because of tearing of a wider section of folio (f. 74 verso, lns. 17-20). Comparison of the manuscript of 2013 with the facsimile of 1937 shows no obvious further deterioration during the 20 cent.

Secundo folio of present manuscript (i.e. f. 3): ybrenhin pan eistedo ynny gadeir.

Catchwords (all boxed, in brown ink): 'eint' (of hugeint) (f. 8 verso); 'th' (f. 16 verso); 'haet' (of sarhaet) (f. 23 verso); 'gys' (of megys) (f. 47 verso); 'punt atal' (f. 55 verso); 'that' (f. 63 verso); 'galan mei' (f. 79 verso).

Line fillers: chain decoration in red on ff. 4 verso, 12 verso (boxed), 32 verso, 36; 54; 58 verso; 76 verso. Chain decoration in green on f. 90. Lozenged boxed decoration on ff. 38, 43 verso (two).

Lost folios replaced at NLW in 2013: represented by new parchment stubs, ff. 7, 9-11, 17, 57 (remaining stub finished with new parchment), 73 (remaining stub finished with new parchment), or represented by new parchment leaves, ff. 19-22, 24, 26, 31, 51-52, 59-60, 66-69, 72, 80-87. The paper leaves inserted into the 1840s binding to represent lost leaves were removed and retained at NLW in 2012.

Detailed examination of sewing holes when the manuscript was disbound revealed the possibility of four previous stages of binding history: (1) the temporary sewing of bifolia as individual, stand-alone, gatherings, using three stitches; (2) the stab stitching of gatherings (with three groups of four holes), and attachment to flexible (possibly vellum) covers; (3) stitching of gatherings onto three cords, possibly attached to pasteboard covers; (4) following the previous stitching, attachment [c. 1840] to American covers of dark blue morocco leather over pasteboards. Worm holes in the fourth quire (ff. 25-30) reveal the possibility of that quire having been detached from the other gatherings at some time.

Purchased with financial assistance from The Heritage Lottery Fund, The Friends of the National Libraries and the Welsh Government.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 24029A.

Seymour De Ricci & W.J. Wilson, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New York, 1935-40), vol. 1, p. 938, item 5.

NLW MS 11125A is a monochrome facsimile of the manuscript, purchased by NLW from the Massachusetts Historical Society, and dated 16 July 1937.
Three facsimile copies, in colour, were created at NLW in 2013.
Online version available on the Library’s website $$u https://www.llgc.org.uk/discover/digital-gallery/manuscripts/the-middle-ages/the-boston-manuscript-of-the-laws-of-hywel-dda/ (viewed April 2016)

December 2012.

Description compiled by Maredudd ap Huw;

Item: 1.1 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 24029A). Action: Condition reviewed. Action identifier: 6286263. Date: 20120606. Site of action: Sotheby’s, New Bond Street, London. Authorization: Selected for conservation. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: I. B. James. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 24029A) : Rigid binding with resulting splitting of parchment leaves. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.2 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 24029A). Action: Conserved. Action identifier: 6286263. Date: 20121029. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: E. Pugh and D. Williams. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 24029A) : Tight binding, cockled and split leaves, fragile initials. Manuscript disbound: the leaves flattened, repaired and attached to new covers, and the whole retained in a new box. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.3. Action: Digitized. Date: 20121101. Institution: WlAbNL.

Early marginalia, in crude italic hands of possible 16th century date, are on ff. 18, 46 verso, 96 verso, 97 verso, and include the name of 'Ieuan ap Gr' ap' on f. 13. Later marginal notes, of late 17th and early 18th century dates, are on ff. 2 verso, 3 verso, 4, 4 verso, 6, 6 verso, 8, 12 verso, 13 verso, 16, 16 verso, 18, 30 verso, 37 verso, 62, 65, 78 verso, and include the name of 'Wm Phillips' and the figures '1417' (in a later hand) on f. 101 verso. Morfydd Owen (p. 342) recognises this autograph as being that of William Phillips (died 1686), Town Clerk of Brecon, whose research into town muniments in 1679 unearthed 'ancient records'. His interest in legal texts is attested by the transcript he made of Llyfr Iorwerth in 1663, now NLW, Llanstephan MS 70. According to Edward Lhuyd's Archaeologia Britannica (Oxford, 1707), p. 258, the manuscript was then owned by his son, William Phillips (1663-1721), Recorder of Brecon; see Theophilus Jones, A History of the County of Brecknock, iv (Brecknock Society, 1930), p. 135. Foliation at the foot of rectos, and annotations on ff. 2 verso and 6 verso, are by Lhuyd, whilst Moses Williams has added notes on ff. 36 verso and 65, probably whilst the manuscript was being transcribed by his amanuensis, c. 1721, for William Wotton's Cyfreithjeu Hywel Dda ac Ereill, seu Leges Wallicae (London, 1730), where the text appears under the siglum 'P' as the property of 'Gulielmus Philipps' of Brecon. The history of the manuscript's journey from Brecon to Boston, Mass., is unknown, but the volume is referred to in its Proceedings as being in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1831.

Morfydd E. Owen, ‘Llawysgrif Gyfreithiol Goll’, The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 22 (1966-1968), 338-343.

Published

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales