Liber Landavensis.

The Gospel of St Matthew and a compilation, [c. 1120]-[c. 1133], of copies of charters, saints' Lives and other records and literary material relating to the medieval diocese of Llandaf. The text of the earliest charters appears to date from c. 500, and additions have been made up to c. 1619, but the bulk of the historical, legal and hagiographical material was copied and compiled under the auspices of bishop Urban (consecrated in 1107), with the purpose of using the historical and legal record to provide his newly-styled diocese of Llandaf with antecedents that would assist his efforts to convince the papacy of the ancient primacy of the bishopric over its neighbours, Hereford and St Davids, and also to define its position in relation to the metropolitan claims of Canterbury.

Arranged at NLW into 3 items: Manuscript; Old Covers; and Associated Letters and Notes.

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

Varying forms of title: Book of Llandaff; Llyfr Llandaf.

Title based on contents. The manuscript was primarily associated with Saint Teilo for many years, but the term Liber Landavensis was used by John Selden in the seventeenth century and has become the accepted title.

Formerly Gwysaney MS 1.

The covers of the manuscript were removed at NLW in 2006 in order to facilitate digitisation of the complete text, and they have been kept separately since then; the manuscript was re-bound with new covers in 2007. Full details are given at the appropriate level of description.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 17110i-iiiE [RESTRICTED ACCESS].

Online version available on the Library’s website: https://www.llgc.org.uk/discover/digital-gallery/manuscripts/the-middle-ages/the-book-of-llandaff/ (viewed May 2016)

March 2012.

Description compiled by David Moore, drawing on the work of Daniel Huws.

Item: 1.1 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E). Action: Condition reviewed. Action identifier: 5787935. Date: 20060911. Authorization: Selected for conservation. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Thomas. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E) : Staining caused by mould, British Museum repaired paper gives reading of pH5, gelatine glue penetration between leaves, binding in good condition, some original edges of damaged parchment/vellum leaves pared by knife. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.2 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E). Action: Conserved. Action identifier: 5787935. Date: 20061115. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Thomas. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MF 17110E) : Disbound, removed old repairs of paper, flatten, repair for digitisation. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.3 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E). Action: Condition reviewed. Action identifier: 5787935. Date: 20070122. Authorization: Selected for conservation. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Thomas. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E) : Oak boards and leather spine forming case, manuscript removed for repair, digitisation and rebinding, manuscript last rebound with new leather spine in British Museum in late C19th. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.4 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E). Action: Conserved. Action identifier: 5787935. Date: 20070126. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: E. Pugh. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MF 17110E) : Made false book block and attached to case. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.5 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E). Action: Condition reviewed. Action identifier: 5787935. Date: 20070530. Authorization: Selected for conservation. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Thomas. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E) : Gilded bronze figure and oak covers with rebacked goatskin spine, false book block of paper provided by NLW within covers. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.6 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E). Action: Conserved. Action identifier: 5787935. Date: 20070807. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: E. Pugh. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MF 17110E) : Attached gilded figure with brass nuts and bolts, made foam lined box and lettered spine in gold. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.7 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E). Action: Condition reviewed. Action identifier: 5787935. Date: 20100924. Authorization: Selected for conservation. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Thomas. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E) : Make drop back box. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.8 Manuscript Volume (NLW MS 17110E). Action: Conserved. Action identifier: 5787935. Date: 20070807. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: E. Pugh. Status: Manuscript Volume (NLW MF 17110E) : Drop back box made. Institution: WlAbNL.

The manuscript appears to have been created at the cathedral church of Llandaf, and it was kept there for several centuries, probably in the Bishop's Palace. Then, in 1619x1627, bishop Theophilus Field lent it to the antiquarian John Selden, who bequeathed his library to the 'publique library at Oxford' [the Bodleian] on his death in 1654. Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt applied to John Vaughan of Trawsgoed, one of Selden's executors, for the loan of the manuscript in February 1655, and he finally obtained it in 1659; it seems that by this time an assumption had been made that the manuscript no longer belonged to the diocese of Llandaf. Subsequently, the manuscript was acquired by the antiquary Robert Davies (1678-1710) of Llannerch and later Gwysaney in Flintshire, through his marriage to Letitia, a grand-daughter of John Vaughan of Trawsgoed; his book-plate is inside the upper cover. The manuscript remained at Gwysaney and passed by marriage to the family of Philip Tatton Davies-Cooke, who deposited it at NLW in 1942. The Library purchased it from the family in 1959.

A detailed account of the construction and content of the manuscript is given in Daniel Huws, 'The making of Liber Landavensis', in idem, Medieval Welsh manuscripts (Cardiff and Aberystwyth, 2000), 123-157.

Published