Manuscripts

Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 24029A Boston manuscript

  • Welsh
  • s. xiv/xv
  • Welsh manuscripts
  • vellum

Welsh lawbook of the Blegywryd redaction, previously kept in the private collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston.

Identifiers
Shelfmark
24029A
Classification
Massachussetts Historical Society manuscript collections, 5
Previously in the private collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, where it was catalogued as MS 5.
Previously 101.23 and 10.13.
Title
Boston manuscript
Provenance and related aspects
Language
Welsh
Date
s. xiv/xv
14th/15th century
Origin, provenance
Later provenance: ass. with Philipps (William) [of Brecon, d. 1686]Philipps (William) ... of Brecon, d. 1686
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Philipps (William) [of Brecon, d. 1721]Philipps (William) ... of Brecon, d. 1721
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Lhuyd (Edward)
Lhuyd (Edward)
(d. 1709)
No short description available

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Wotton (William)
Wotton (William)
(1666–1727)
English cleric and scholar, known for having produced a text and Latin translation of the Cyfraith Hywel (published, posthumously, in 1730).

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Williams (Moses)
Williams (Moses)
(1685–1742)
Welsh scholar, antiquarian and clergyman.

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Scourfield familyScourfield family
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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In the 17th century, the manuscript was in the possession of the antiquary William Philipps of Brecon, on whose death in 1686 it passed to his son William (d. 1721). It was this William who was happy to make the MS available to several scholars: to Edward Lhuyd, who foliated the leaves; to William Wotton, who drew on it for an edition of the Welsh laws; and in the 1720s, to Moses Williams, who had it transcribed (Llanstephan MS 75). Philipps’ library passed to his daughter Anne and her husband William Scourfield.

Later provenance: Boston, Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston, Massachusetts Historical Society
No short description available

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ass. with Scourfield familyScourfield family
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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By 1831, the MS had surfaced in Boston, in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. There is no record of its existence in the intervening period but it is assumed that the MS had crossed the Atlantic through Morris Scourfield, a descendant at one remove or another who emigrated from Pembrokeshire to Pennsylvania. The MS remained in the collection of the Society until 2012.
Later provenance: Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales
Cardiganshire
No short description available

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In July 2012, the present manuscript was purchased by the National Library of Wales.(2)n. 2 Link.
Hands, scribes
Exemplars
A photostat facsimile of the present MS, which was created in 1937, is Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 11125A.
Codicological information
Material
vellum
The list below has been collated from the table of contents, if available on this page,Progress in this area is being made piecemeal. Full and partial tables of contents are available for a small number of manuscripts. and incoming annotations for individual texts (again, if available).Whenever catalogue entries about texts are annotated with information about particular manuscript witnesses, these manuscripts can be queried for the texts that are linked to them.

Sources

Notes

Primary sources This section typically includes references to diplomatic editions, facsimiles and photographic reproductions, notably digital image archives, of at least a major portion of the manuscript. For editions of individual texts, see their separate entries.

[dig. img.] National Library of Wales, National Library of Wales: archives and manuscripts, Online: NLW, ?–present. URL: <https://archives.library.wales>. 
Previously Digital Mirror / Drych Digidol (www.llyfrgell.cymru/darganfod/oriel-ddigidol, later www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=digitalmirror), the digital library of the National Library of Wales gives access to digitised manuscripts, printed works, archival materials and other media.
[dipl. ed.] Thomas, Peter Wynn [ed.], D. Mark Smith, and Diana Luft [transcribers and encoders], Welsh prose (Rhyddiaith Gymraeg) 1300–1425, Online: Cardiff University, 2007–present. URL: <http://www.rhyddiaithganoloesol.caerdydd.ac.uk>.

Secondary sources (select)

De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson, Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada, 2 vols, Reprint ed., New York: Kraus, 1961.
[id. 5.]
Owen, Morfydd E., “Llawysgrif gyfreithiol goll”, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 22 (1966–1968): 338–343.
Cyfraith-hywel.cymru.ac.uk: <link>
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
November 2010, last updated: November 2022