Triads; miscellanea,

Miscellaneous papers, home-made booklets, etc., containing material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. P. xliii bears the inscription 'Trioedd amrafaelion a gynnulliwyd yng Ngwynedd yn y Flwyddyn 1799', and underneath this is a list of the names of six series of Welsh triads and a note (probably in the hand of Taliesin Williams, son of Edward Williams) which reads 'This Packet contains a variety of Triads resembl[ing] very much those of the Island of Britain and that are in all probability some of the lost ones of that Class. Jan. 17, 1831'. P. 1 bears the inscription 'Trioedd amrafaelion a gasglwyd yng Ngwynedd yn y flwyddyn 1799 Gan Iolo Morganwg', and underneath this is a list of the names of seven series of triads. Following on pp. 3-70 are series of triads with the superscriptions 'Trioedd Cerdd o Ddosparth Cerdd Dafawd Simwnt Fychan Bencerdd, A Robert Fychan o Hengwrt a'i dadysgrifennodd o Lyfr yn Llaw S.F. ei hun' (according to a note added to this superscription and a further note on p. 16 this series was copied in 1799 by Edward Williams from Panton MS 35 [now NLW MS 2003] in the hand of the Reverend Evan Evans ('Ieuan Brydydd Hir')), 'Trioedd o Lyfr y Parchedig Mr. Davies o Fangor' (with added note 'Yn Llyfr Twm o'r Nant y mae'r Trioedd hyn a'r rhai a'u canlynant dan enw Trioedd Llogell Rhison'), 'Trioedd Taliesin o'r un Llyfr' (with added note 'Trioedd Llogell Rhison yn Llyfr Twm o'r Nant'), '[Trioedd] Eraill o amryw lyfrau' (with added note 'Twm o'r Nant, D. Ddu, &c .'), 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain o Lyfr D[afydd] Ddu Eryri', and 'Llyma Drioedd Llogell Rhison o Lyfr Mr. Davies o Benegos' (with added note 'y mae y rhain yn Nosparth y Ford Gron cynn amser Llogell Rhison'). P. 81 contains a list of the contents of pp. 87-121, and is followed by pp. 83-4, a series of miscellaneous triads, p. 85, a note headed 'Mesurau Cerdd dafawd', pp. 87-112, a series of triads entitled 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain', and pp. 112-21, a list of 'Dewis bethau Taliesin', three triads, eight stanzas of Welsh verse entitled 'Cân y Magwraeth' and attributed to Gwion bach, further miscellaneous triads, and a series of triads with the superscription 'Trioedd o Lyfr Mr. Panton'. Pp. 133-202 contain a series of one hundred and twenty-six triads with the superscription 'Llyma Drioedd Ynys Prydain sef ydynt Trioedd Cof a chadw a gwybodaeth am hynodion o Ddynion ac o bethau a fuant yn Ynys Prydain ac ar ddamwain a damcwydd i Genedl y Cymry' reputedly compiled by Thomas Jones of Tregaron ['Twm Siôn Cati'] in 1601 from the works of Caradawc Nant Garfan and Ieuan Brechfa and copied [by Edward Williams] from a volume belonging to the Reverend Mr. Richards of Llanegwad [co. Carmarthen] then on loan to Rys Thomas, printer, and the Reverend Mr. Walters of Pont Faen, Glamorgan (see the notes at the beginning and end of the series on p. 133 and p. 202). This is the series of triads generally known as 'The Third Series of Trioedd Ynys Prydain' the text of which was published in The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales . . ., vol. II, 1801, pp. 57-75. (continued)
Other items in the volume include a note on the development of 'These Triades' [i.e. the Trioedd Ynys Prydain] (125), an incomplete list headed 'Pedwar Cerddawr Graddawl' (126), a note on the composition of a barony or manor (131), a list of the twenty-four knights of King Arthur's court ('Llyma enwau y pedwar marchog ar hugain a fuant gynteifion y Ford Gron gydag Arthur ymherawdr Ynys Prydain yng Nghaerllion ar wysg (o Lyfr Twm o'r Nant, 1799)') (209-14), further triads including 'Trioedd Barddas' and 'Trioedd yr Ellyllion A wnelynt Ryfeddodau a gwyrthiau . . .' (217-18, 221-2, 229-38, 241-3, 246-7, 258-65, 272, 283-5), lists Of 'y saith gelfyddyd wladaidd' and 'y saith gelfyddyd ddinesig' (219), an English translation of triads 1 and 2 of 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain' (222-3), a further list of King Arthur's knights ('Pedwar marchog ar hugain oedd [yn] llys Arthur ac arnynt gyneddfau naturiol o orchest bob un mwy nog ar arall . . .') (225-7), an anecdote relating how Papists set fire to the house and outbuildings of Dr. William Morgan, incumbent of Llanraiadr ym Mochnant, in an attempt to prevent him proceeding with his task of translating the Bible into Welsh extracted allegedly 'o Lyfr Dyddgof y Parchedig Evan Evans y Prydydd Hir . . .' (254), a sketch plan relating to a furnace and forge (270-71), a short Welsh - English word list (278), a list of 'Dewis bethau Gwion Bach' (283), notes relating to the development of Welsh strict-metre systems or schemes (291), notes relating to the so-called 'Moelmutian' triads and laws (293-300, and ? 309-12), and transcripts of, or extracts from, miscellaneous Welsh strict- and free-metre poems including stanzas, etc., attributed to Gryfydd Gruc, Rhys Tyganwy, D[afydd] ap Edmund, Gwawdrydd, Sir Thomas Jones (circa 1600), D[afydd] ab Gwilym, and Gwion Bach (219-20, 227-8, 253, 257, 279-82). In one instance notes have been written on the dorse of a printed leaflet containing proposals for publishing 'A Welsh Paraphrase on St. Matthew's Gospel or a Translation of Dr. Clarke's Paraphrase . . .' by the Rev. Richard Jones, curate of Ruthin, in 1799, and in another on the dorse of a printed leaflet announcing the printing of Edward Williams's two volumes of English verse Poems Lyric and Pastoral.

Title based on contents.

Formerly known as Llanover C. 56.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 13143A.

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

English translations of the 'Third Series of Trioedd Ynys Prydain' are to be found in Llanover MS C. 14 (NLW MS 13101B) and Iolo Aneirin Williams MS 71 in the National Library of Wales, and for these see Rachel Bromwich: 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain: The Myvyrian Third Series', The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1968, pt. 11, pp. 299-338, and ibid., 1969, pt. 1, pp. 127- 55.

For opinions that the 'Third Series of Trioedd Ynys Prydain' is a redaction or readaptation of 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain' to be attributed to Edward Williams himself see IM, tt. 396-7, and Rachel Bromwich: Trioedd Ynys Prydein. The Welsh Triads . . . (Cardiff, 1961), p. xii, and for a fuller analysis of the series see also Rachel Bromwich: 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain' in Welsh Literature and Scholarship noted above. For the source and nature of 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain' see Rachel Bromwich: 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain' in Welsh Literature and Scholarship. The G. J. Williams Memorial Lecture (Cardiff, 1969), p. 13; for the text of the note on the Triads (p. 125) and comments thereon see Rachel Bromwich: Trioedd . . . in Literature and Scholarship, pp. 16-18.

Published