www.gwales.com - 9780708316023, Medieval Welsh Manuscripts

ISBN: 9780708316023 (0708316026)Dyddiad Cyhoeddi Rhagfyr 2002
Cyhoeddwr: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru / University of Wales Press, CaerdyddFformat: Clawr Caled, 242x160 mm, 354 tudalen Iaith: Saesneg Archebir yn ôl y galw Ein Pris: £65.00

Does dim Adolygiad Cwsmer i'r teitl hwn.

Ysgrifennwch Adolygiad Cwsmer

Disgrifiad Gwales

Casgliad gwerthfawr o erthyglau a darlithiau ysgolheigaidd yn adlewyrchu dealltwriaeth ddofn o draddodiad y llawysgrifau canoloesol Cymreig o fewn eu cyd-destun llenyddol a hanesyddol, ynghyd ag esboniadau manwl ar rai llawysgrifau adnabyddus gan yr awdurdod blaenaf yn y maes. Dros 50 o luniau du-a-gwyn o ffacsimiliau o'r llawysgrifau. Cyhoeddwyd gyntaf Gorffennaf 2000.

A collection of scholarly articles and lectures reflecting an articulate understanding of the Welsh manuscript tradition in its literary and historical contexts, together with detailed in-depth explorations of some well-known manuscripts by the leading authority in the field. Over 50 black-and-white illustrations of manuscript facsimilies. First published July 2000

Adolygiad Gwales

This compact and erudite book will prove indispensable to medieval scholars, bringing together as it does a number of Daniel Huws’s articles and lectures to provide a comprehensive guide to the world of the medieval Welsh manuscript.

It contains studies of the earliest Bangor missal, Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch, the Hendregadredd manuscript, the earliest version of Llyfr Iorwerth, Leges Howelda at Canterbury, the Tintern Abbey Bible, the making of Liber Landavensis, and a Welsh manuscript of Bede’s De natura rerum. There are more general chapters on the medieval manuscript in Wales, the medieval codex with reference to the Welsh lawbooks, Welsh vernacular books 1250-1400, five ancient books of Wales, and on the transmission of the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym. Also included is a table of all manuscripts in Welsh dating from the period 1250-1400. Finally, there are two chapters on the all-important collectors without whose efforts knowledge of early Welsh culture would most likely have been lost to us altogether: Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt, and Sir Thomas Mostyn.

Daniel Huws’s analysis of bindings and quires, scripts and hands is lucid, painstaking and thorough, and the 36 accompanying plates which reproduce samples of the scripts in their actual size allow readers to follow the working out of his conclusions.

For the non-specialist, the book’s value lies in the unexpected glimpses it gives of poets and patrons, monastic libraries and out-of-the-way manor houses. I wonder how many people realize, for example, that as late as in Sir Thomas Mostyn’s day (the late seventeenth century), much of the best Welsh literature was still in manuscript, and that his collection probably came into existence not out of antiquarian zeal, but for the sake of the texts the books contained. With each new manuscript his man picked up at auction, Sir Thomas acquired not so much a new piece of rare and valuable property as immediate reading material. For me at least, that puts his contribution to the survival of early Welsh literature in a whole new perspective.

Helle Michelsen

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.

Darparwyd yr isod gan y Cyhoeddwr:

Gwybodaeth Bellach:

This book, the first ever to be devoted to the manuscripts that preserved the treasures
of medieval Welsh literature, offers a fascinating introduction to the manuscript
tradition in Wales. Welsh is one of the earliest literatures of Europe and, until about
1800, most of its classics, including the Mabinogion, the poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym and
the Welsh chronicles, were transmitted by manuscript.
Twentieth-century work on Welsh manuscripts was largely dependent on the publications
of J. Gwenogvryn Evans at the beginning of that century. Medieval Welsh Manuscripts
offers a comprehensive and long overdue revision of the subject. The opening chapters,
giving a coherent view of the Welsh manuscript tradition, are followed by detailed studies
of some of the key manuscripts, such as Liber Landavensis (the Book of Llandaf),
the Hendregadredd Manuscript and the White Book of Rhydderch, and by chapters on the
Hengwrt-Peniarth and Mostyn collections of manuscripts. A list of all manuscripts in Welsh
up to 1540 will be found invaluable. The volume includes thirty-six plates, which provide
the first representative collection in one volume of facsimiles of Welsh manuscripts from
the ninth to the sixteenth century.
Daniel Huws employs the skills of palaeography and codicology, but also places the
manuscripts firmly in their literary and historical contexts. He provides a new
understanding of how Welsh manuscripts were made, of their script, their dating and of the
kind of people who wrote them and who were their patrons. Above all he succeeds in
combining lucidity and deep learning with a delight in his subject, thus ensuring a volume
that is both lively and enlightening.
This is a book that is likely to remain indispensable well into the twenty-first
century not just in relation to medieval Wales, but also in bringing Welsh manuscripts
into the general field of discussion of the medieval book.
A former Keeper of Manuscripts at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Daniel
Huws is the leading authority on Welsh medieval manuscripts.

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