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Ystoria Lucidar

  • Middle Welsh
  • prose

The Ystoria Lucidar is a Middle-Welsh translation of the Latin text Elucidarium by Honorius Augustodunensis. The Latin text is composed some time before 1098, possibly in England. The text has the form of a dialogue between master and pupil (using the structure of question and answer) and addresses various aspects of Christian teaching (Marx 2015).

Manuscripts
ff. 5r–69v
Oldest complete version of Ystoria Lucidar.
Llyfr Coch Talgarth, the relevant portion being now extant in two manuscripts:
ff. 39r–58v
Two quires containing the portion missing from Llanstephan 27.
ff. 12r–38v, 39r (top margin), 58v (after Hywel Fychan‘s text), 59r–73r
Hugh Evans, the compiler of Peniarth MS 12, not only included the fragment from Llanstephan 27 (above), but supplied the beginning and ending of the text from other copies to which he had access. The text he supplied is found on additional paper leaves (and on the beginning and end of the Llanstephan 27 fragment.
Copy from the White book of Hergest.
pp. 477–682
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 873B
Olim Wrecsam 2.
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Llanstephan MS 113
Formerly, Hafod 19.
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Llanstephan MS 155
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 21292
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 19222
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 552
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 1972B
Olim Panton MS 3.
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 1990B
Olim Panton MS 21.
Cardiff, Central Library, MS 2.615
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 319
Copied from Oxford, Jesus College, MS 119 (Book of the Achorite of Llanddewibrefi).
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Cwrtmawr MS 1155
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 3047
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS 21292B
Language
  • Middle Welsh
Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships
(Possible) sources: ElucidariumElucidarium

A Latin encyclopedic and didactic work written by Benedictine monk Honorius Augustodunensis and presented as a dialogue between teacher and pupil about a variety of theological subjects. The work enjoyed immense popularity over a long period of time and was translated into many languages, including Middle Welsh (Ystoria Lucidar).

Classification

Subjects

Honorius Augustodunensis
Honorius Augustodunensis
(fl. 1098–1140)
Honorius Augustodunensis is a medieval theologian and author, active between ca. 1190 and ca. 1140. He is also referred to as Honorius Inclusus or Honorius of Autun. He has written several works, including the Speculum ecclesiae, the Elucidarium, and the Imago mundi. Two of his works (the Elucidarium and the Imago mundi) have been translated into Middle Welsh.

See more

Keywords

Honorius AugustodunensisHonorius Augustodunensis
...

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[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>.
Contains transcriptions of Ystoria Lucidar from the following manuscripts:
NLW, Peniarth MS 15
Oxford, Jesus College, MS 119
NLW, Peniarth MS 21
NLW, Llanstephan MS 27
NLW, Peniarth MS 12
NLW, Peniarth MS 190
[ed.] Rowles, Sarah, “Yr Elucidarium: iaith, strwythur, cynnwys ac arwyddocâd y cyfieithiaddau Cymraeg”, 2 vols, PhD thesis, Aberystwyth University, Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies, 2008. URL: <http://hdl.handle.net/2160/1877>. 
abstract:

Pwnc y traethawd hwn yw’r cyfieithiadau Cymraeg o Elucidarium Honorius Augustodunensis. Er mai fersiwn Llyfr yr Ancr (1346) a olygwyd gan Syr John Rhŷs a John Morris Jones yn 1894 yw’r testun cyflawn hynaf ar glawr, canolbwyntir yma’n bennaf ar fersiwn llawysgrif Llanstephan 27, a gopïwyd c.1400, fersiwn nas golygwyd o’r blaen. Trafodir yn gryno fywyd a chefndir awdur y testun Lladin gwreiddiol, a’r dadleuon ynghylch ei enw a’i dras. Yna crynhoir cynnwys y testun, gan gyfeirio at ffynonellau’r awdur ac at y ffurf a ddewisodd i’w gampwaith. Ceisir rhoi cyfrif am boblogrwydd yr Elucidarium, a’i osod yng nghyd-destun gweithiau eraill yr awdur. Cyfeirir at fersiynau Islandeg/Hen Norwyeg cynnar, a cheir cipolwg ar gyfieithiadau i’r Saesneg ac i’r Ffrangeg, cyn trafod yn fanylach y fersiynau Cymraeg canoloesol a’r berthynas rhyngddynt, gan ystyried hefyd gefndir y cyfieithu yng Nghymru. Edrychir ar ymateb rhai o feirdd Cymru i gynnwys y testun, a dangosir bod diddordeb yn yr Elucidarium wedi parhau yng Nghymru ar ôl y Diwygiad Protestannaidd. Yna ymdrinir â fersiynau o’r testun mewn llawysgrifau diweddarach, sydd yn cael eu hystyried yn grynodebau o destun Honorius. Cymerwyd fersiwn llawysgrif Llanstephan 27 yn brif destun, gan ddangos amrywiadau arno yn y testunau cynharaf. Cynhwysir pennod ar iaith y cyfieithiadau a chynigir nodiadau testunol. Rhoddir mewn atodiad fersiwn Lladin a gyhoeddwyd gan Yves Lefèvre yn 1954 fel testun gwreiddiol Honorius. Atodir llyfryddiaeth ar ddiwedd Cyfrol 1.

[ed.] Morris-Jones, John, and John Rhŷs, The Elucidarium and other tracts in Welsh from Llyvyr agkyr Llandewivrevi A.D. 1346 (Jesus college ms. 119), Anecdota Oxoniensia, Mediaeval and Modern Series, 6, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link>
3–76 direct link

Secondary sources (select)

Marx, William, “Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 12: the development of a bilingual miscellany—Welsh and English”, in: Margaret Connolly, and Raluca Luria Radulescu (eds), Insular books: vernacular manuscript miscellanies in late medieval Britain, 201, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. 247–262.  
abstract:

Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 12 is a predominantly Welsh-language miscellany that also contains texts in Middle English and Latin. On folio 79v is the inscription ‘Llyfr Hugh Evans yw hwn Anno 1583’, that is ‘This is Hugh Evans’s book, in the year 1583’. As a miscellany the manuscript is of interest as much for what it suggests about the process of compilation as for its contents, for while it is in one sense of the late 16th century, a number of significant parts are gatherings from medieval manuscripts, both Welsh and English. The evidence of the process of compilation that the manuscript yields has much to suggest about the interplay between Welsh-language and English-language culture over a broad historical perspective, and this raises questions about the linguistic and cultural history of medieval and early modern Wales.

250, 252–253, 261 See pp. 250 (footnote 8), 252-252, and 261.
Contributors
Darina Knoops, Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
March 2022, last updated: March 2024

Medieval manuscript witnesses

(Early-)modern manuscript witnesses