Book Chapter

Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 12

Marx, William

2015

Overview

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.

• Publisher: British Academy
• Subject: 16th-century Welsh language and literature / Aberystwyth, NLW, MS Llanstephan 27 / Aberystwyth, NLW, MS Peniarth 12 / Aberystwyth, NLW, MSS Peniarth 4–5 / catechetical literature / Literary Studies (Early and Medieval) / Llyfr Coch Talgarth (Red Book of Talgarth) / Llyfr Gwyn Rhuydderch (The White Book of Rhydderch) / medieval Latin Elucidarium / medieval Welsh language and literature / medieval Welsh Ystoria Lucidar / Middle English Elucidarium / vernacular theology
• ISBN: 0197265839, 9780197265833