Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan
s. xx–xxi
Works authored
This is the sixth volume in a continuing series of publications listing and identifying all illustrations contained in English manuscripts from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII. This was an important period in the history of book production in Britain, and the range of subject-matter illustrated is of significance to historians of art, religion, literature, costume, natural science, and social custom. The present volume extends the survey to Wales and catalogues not only English manuscripts in Welsh collections but also Welsh manuscripts, including those held outside Wales. The catalogue contains entries for 128 manuscripts and notes the subject-matter of every illustration in each manuscript, from full-page miniatures and historiated initials to marginalia, added drawings and nota bene signs. A comprehensive index of pictorial subjects provides readers with complete references to the visual material with thematic groupings making the following categories easily accessible: animals, architecture, birds, Christ, containers, costume, furniture, kings, musical instruments, occupations/professions, plants, saints, tools, Virgin Mary, weapons, and women. The volume also includes a user’s guide, an extensive glossary of subjects and terms, including Welsh terms, and indexes of authors/texts and of manuscripts with coats of arms.
This is the sixth volume in a continuing series of publications listing and identifying all illustrations contained in English manuscripts from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII. This was an important period in the history of book production in Britain, and the range of subject-matter illustrated is of significance to historians of art, religion, literature, costume, natural science, and social custom. The present volume extends the survey to Wales and catalogues not only English manuscripts in Welsh collections but also Welsh manuscripts, including those held outside Wales. The catalogue contains entries for 128 manuscripts and notes the subject-matter of every illustration in each manuscript, from full-page miniatures and historiated initials to marginalia, added drawings and nota bene signs. A comprehensive index of pictorial subjects provides readers with complete references to the visual material with thematic groupings making the following categories easily accessible: animals, architecture, birds, Christ, containers, costume, furniture, kings, musical instruments, occupations/professions, plants, saints, tools, Virgin Mary, weapons, and women. The volume also includes a user’s guide, an extensive glossary of subjects and terms, including Welsh terms, and indexes of authors/texts and of manuscripts with coats of arms.
Theses
The Middle Welsh prose romance, Y Seint Greal has long been recognised as a translation of two early thirteenth century French Grail romances, La Queste del Saint Graal and Perlesvaus, but so far no comprehensive study has been made of the relationship between them, nor of the Welsh text as a work of literature in its own right. This study first puts Y Seint Greal into its proper context, as a product of the close links between France and Wales in the later Middle Ages, and as part of a surge of translation of foreign material into Welsh that began in the mid thirteenth century. Manuscript and other evidence indicates that Y Seint Greal was commissioned by the uchelwr (nobleman) Hopcyn ap Thomas of Glamorgan, at the end of the fourteenth century, both translator and scribe probably working in Neath or Margam Cistercian Abbey. The translator presents the Queste and Perlesvaus as two parts of a whole, creating a number of problems of consistency within Y Seint Greal. Moreover, comparison of the Welsh text with its French sources shows that the translator was insensitive to some of their qualities, and that his tendency to abridge has sometimes undermined the structure and coherence of the romances. However, many of the translation's apparent weaknesses can be ascribed to the redactor's concern to adapt his French material for the new audience. Overtly foreign elements are removed and efforts made to harmonise events and characters of the French romances with those of native Welsh tradition. The translator was familiar with earlier Welsh prose narrative, which has influenced his style, and he has drawn on the earlier romance of Peredur. Y Seint Greal was not intended to be a faithful translation but a bridge between Welsh and continental Arthurian traditions.
The Middle Welsh prose romance, Y Seint Greal has long been recognised as a translation of two early thirteenth century French Grail romances, La Queste del Saint Graal and Perlesvaus, but so far no comprehensive study has been made of the relationship between them, nor of the Welsh text as a work of literature in its own right. This study first puts Y Seint Greal into its proper context, as a product of the close links between France and Wales in the later Middle Ages, and as part of a surge of translation of foreign material into Welsh that began in the mid thirteenth century. Manuscript and other evidence indicates that Y Seint Greal was commissioned by the uchelwr (nobleman) Hopcyn ap Thomas of Glamorgan, at the end of the fourteenth century, both translator and scribe probably working in Neath or Margam Cistercian Abbey. The translator presents the Queste and Perlesvaus as two parts of a whole, creating a number of problems of consistency within Y Seint Greal. Moreover, comparison of the Welsh text with its French sources shows that the translator was insensitive to some of their qualities, and that his tendency to abridge has sometimes undermined the structure and coherence of the romances. However, many of the translation's apparent weaknesses can be ascribed to the redactor's concern to adapt his French material for the new audience. Overtly foreign elements are removed and efforts made to harmonise events and characters of the French romances with those of native Welsh tradition. The translator was familiar with earlier Welsh prose narrative, which has influenced his style, and he has drawn on the earlier romance of Peredur. Y Seint Greal was not intended to be a faithful translation but a bridge between Welsh and continental Arthurian traditions.
Works edited
Contributions to journals
Contributions to edited collections or authored works
L’article porte sur la façon dont les éléments essentiels des fragments tardifs (xvie–xviie s.) d’un dialogue en vers gallois entre Melwas et Gwenhwyfar sont interprétés et réécrits, à partir d’une comparaison avec d’autres textes-témoins : témoins d’origine galloise (la Vita latine de Saint Gildas par Caradog de Lancarfan et quelques références dans la poésie des xive–xvie siècles), Lancelot de Chrétien de Troyes et le Lancelot en prose.
L’article porte sur la façon dont les éléments essentiels des fragments tardifs (xvie–xviie s.) d’un dialogue en vers gallois entre Melwas et Gwenhwyfar sont interprétés et réécrits, à partir d’une comparaison avec d’autres textes-témoins : témoins d’origine galloise (la Vita latine de Saint Gildas par Caradog de Lancarfan et quelques références dans la poésie des xive–xvie siècles), Lancelot de Chrétien de Troyes et le Lancelot en prose.
Copié à la fin du xve siècle, le manuscrit Peniarth 23 est le seul exemplaire illustré du Brut gallois que l’on connaisse. Il comporte 58 miniatures, dont la plupart représentent les personnages mentionnés dans le texte. Pour éclairer son programme iconographique, l’article le compare avec d’autres manuscrits gallois illustrés. Il en tire des conclusions non seulement sur l’illustrateur du ms. Peniarth 23 et ses modèles mais encore sur le milieu d’où pourrait provenir ce codex
Copied at the end of the 15th century, MS Peniarth 23 at the National Library of Wales is the only illustrated copy of Brut y Brenhinedd, the Welsh Brut. It contains 58 miniatures, most of them depicting people mentioned in the text. This article considers the manuscript’s origins and programme of illustration, investigating its relationship with the iconography of other Welsh manuscripts, the artist’s training and possible models for the miniatures, as well as the identity of the patron and the milieu in which this unusual codex was produced.
Copié à la fin du xve siècle, le manuscrit Peniarth 23 est le seul exemplaire illustré du Brut gallois que l’on connaisse. Il comporte 58 miniatures, dont la plupart représentent les personnages mentionnés dans le texte. Pour éclairer son programme iconographique, l’article le compare avec d’autres manuscrits gallois illustrés. Il en tire des conclusions non seulement sur l’illustrateur du ms. Peniarth 23 et ses modèles mais encore sur le milieu d’où pourrait provenir ce codex
Copied at the end of the 15th century, MS Peniarth 23 at the National Library of Wales is the only illustrated copy of Brut y Brenhinedd, the Welsh Brut. It contains 58 miniatures, most of them depicting people mentioned in the text. This article considers the manuscript’s origins and programme of illustration, investigating its relationship with the iconography of other Welsh manuscripts, the artist’s training and possible models for the miniatures, as well as the identity of the patron and the milieu in which this unusual codex was produced.
The single-text manuscript is not the norm in later mediaeval Wales and most surviving Welsh manuscripts of that period contain two or more distinct texts. The multi-text codex was the norm and a unifying principle – theme, form, or the interests of the compiler or patron – can usually be discerned. Miscellanies may be linguistically mixed or include translated material. The hegemony of plurality of content of the typical Welsh codex can be linked to the distinctive nature and history of Welsh literary tradition, including the late emergence within the prose tradition of the single, named author. A further factor may be the discernible impulse to collect and conserve textual goods in a period which saw a weakening of the traditional separation of poetry and prose, together with an increasing reliance on the written word rather than memory and performance for textual transmission.
The single-text manuscript is not the norm in later mediaeval Wales and most surviving Welsh manuscripts of that period contain two or more distinct texts. The multi-text codex was the norm and a unifying principle – theme, form, or the interests of the compiler or patron – can usually be discerned. Miscellanies may be linguistically mixed or include translated material. The hegemony of plurality of content of the typical Welsh codex can be linked to the distinctive nature and history of Welsh literary tradition, including the late emergence within the prose tradition of the single, named author. A further factor may be the discernible impulse to collect and conserve textual goods in a period which saw a weakening of the traditional separation of poetry and prose, together with an increasing reliance on the written word rather than memory and performance for textual transmission.
C. Lloyd-Morgan s’intéresse à deux récits narrant l’enfance d’Arthur qui, écrits aux xve et xvie siècles, augmentent la partie arthurienne de l’Historia regum Britannie. Ces deux récits gallois s’ouvrent à une nouvelle influence : celle des romans arthuriens.
C. Lloyd-Morgan focuses on two narratives about Arthur’s childhood from the 15th and 16th centuries. These texts have extended the Arthurian part of the Historia regum Britannie and show the influence of a new literary trend : Arthurian romances.
C. Lloyd-Morgan s’intéresse à deux récits narrant l’enfance d’Arthur qui, écrits aux xve et xvie siècles, augmentent la partie arthurienne de l’Historia regum Britannie. Ces deux récits gallois s’ouvrent à une nouvelle influence : celle des romans arthuriens.
C. Lloyd-Morgan focuses on two narratives about Arthur’s childhood from the 15th and 16th centuries. These texts have extended the Arthurian part of the Historia regum Britannie and show the influence of a new literary trend : Arthurian romances.
Whereas in England and North America much of the pioneering work of listing, identifying and surveying the literature composed by women in the past was undertaken in the 1970s, progress has been far slower in Wales. The possible reasons are many: the slower spread of feminist ideas, perhaps, in the Welsh-speaking community, where traditional gender roles are different from those in other countries of the British Isles, and the under-representation of women (or men interested in women's literature) in the academic establishment. Although the basic research tools were at hand, notably the Mynegai i farddoniaeth gaeth y llawysgrifau (a first-line index to poetry in the strict metres preserved in Welsh manuscripts), no attempt was made until the mid 1980s even to list the women poets active before 1800. Research in the field of women's poetry in Welsh is still, therefore, in its infancy. The poetry itself is almost entirely unpublished, there are no proper editions of women's poetry earlier than the works of the eighteenth-century hymnist Ann Griffiths, and only in the last few years have a few examples of criticism appeared. Women's poetry in the medieval and modern periods is still marginalised, as witness the continuing tendency to exclude women poets from anthologies.
Whereas in England and North America much of the pioneering work of listing, identifying and surveying the literature composed by women in the past was undertaken in the 1970s, progress has been far slower in Wales. The possible reasons are many: the slower spread of feminist ideas, perhaps, in the Welsh-speaking community, where traditional gender roles are different from those in other countries of the British Isles, and the under-representation of women (or men interested in women's literature) in the academic establishment. Although the basic research tools were at hand, notably the Mynegai i farddoniaeth gaeth y llawysgrifau (a first-line index to poetry in the strict metres preserved in Welsh manuscripts), no attempt was made until the mid 1980s even to list the women poets active before 1800. Research in the field of women's poetry in Welsh is still, therefore, in its infancy. The poetry itself is almost entirely unpublished, there are no proper editions of women's poetry earlier than the works of the eighteenth-century hymnist Ann Griffiths, and only in the last few years have a few examples of criticism appeared. Women's poetry in the medieval and modern periods is still marginalised, as witness the continuing tendency to exclude women poets from anthologies.
