Welsh Studies

EARLY AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

By JENNY RowLAND, Department of Welsh, University College, Dublin

Like its companion volume, G. 0. Watts, Llyfryddiaeth Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg: G_yjrol2 1976--I986, Cardiff, Univ. of Wales Press, xx + 286 pp., is a very useful and comprehensive research tool. D. Huws, 'Llyfrau Cymraeg I250-140o', NLWJ, 28: r-21, presents a brief, but comprehensive look at Welsh palaeography, enlivened by exciting theories on the production, preservation and loss of Welsh manuscripts which go well beyond a straightforward survey. Some So manuscripts or fragments of manuscripts from the period are listed and dated to the nearest quarter-century. P. Russell, 'Orthography as a key to codicology: innovation in the work of a thirteenth-century Welsh Scribe', CMCS, 25: 77-85, describes changes in the ortho• graphic practice of a scribe in the three MSS attributed to him and its significance for relative dating of his work. Cautious analysis of possible diagnostic features leads P. W. Thomas to suggest a north Cardigan origin for the Llanstephan 4 version of Chwedlau Odo, in 'Cysylltiadau Daearyddol Chwedlau Odo'' YB, I 9:59-85. T. M. Charles-Edwards, Early Irish and Welsh Kinship, Oxford, Clarendon Press, xvi + 597 pp., is invaluable for study of the law tracts, but also the social background of literary texts. The book compares and contrasts kinship in medieval Ireland and Wales. The nature of kinship, the kin's role in land claims, and relationship oflordship and kinship, and kin groups to their neighbours are all discussed exhaustively. G.]. R. Jones, 'The models for organisation in Llyfr Iorwerth and Llyfr Cyfnerth', BEGS, 39, 1992: 95-r r 8, looks at the royal administration of lands for renders in the lorwerth and Cyfnerth redactions of the Welsh laws. He suggests a late roth-c. date for the lorwerth model, and the probability that the Cyfnerth represents an earlier form of organization. P. Sims-Williams, 'The provenance of the Llywarch Hen poems: a case for Llan-gors, Brycheiniog', CMCS, 26: 27-63, argues convinc• ingly for the origin of the Llywarch Hen englynion in Brycheiniog rather than Powys. He points specifically to Llan-gors, where a recently-excavated high status secular site of 9th-c. date is linked to an important early monastery. T. ]. Clarkson, 'Richmond and Catraeth', ib ., 15-20, dimisses lfor Williams's theory that the site of Catraeth named in The Gododdin and two of the 'historical' Taliesin poems could lie under Richmond castle near the falls on the Swale. He discusses the doubt that the cataract originally gave its name to the river and then Roman settlement, and notes lack of evidence for early settlement of Richmond. Another established identification is Early and Medieval Literature challenged by J. Gould, 'Caer Lwytgoed: its significance in early medieval documents', Trans. of the South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Soc., 33: 7-ro, who points out that Caer Lwytgoed cannot be equated with Lichfield which shows no evidence of pre-conquest defences; he suggests the early Welsh examples with caer refer to the Roman Letocetum nearby. Archeological and documentary evidence for a 7th-c. British kingdom in the region is mustered, which despite some uncertainty in his handling of the Welsh material, may aid in the interpretation of 'Marwnad Cynddylan'. See also I d., 'Lichfield-Ecclesiastical Origins', In Search of Cult: Archaeological Investigations in Honour ofPhilip Rahtz, ed. M. Carver, Boyd ell, I o I -04. P. Zanna, '"Descriptiones urbium" and elegy in latin and vernacu• lars, in the Early Middle Ages', SM, 32, I99I, 523-96, briefly places 'Aelwyd Rheged' and 'Stafell Gynddylan' in his comprehensive survey of the genres of urban description and the 'ruin motif'. In a wide-ranging article centred on Armes Prydein, B. Jones, 'Ein Cerdd Genedlaethol Gyntaf', Barddas, I90: I2-I9, discusses aspects of nationalism in medieval Welsh literature. Nationalism in the Middle Ages is also the theme of J. E. C. Williams, 'Cenedlaetholdeb yng Nghymru'r Oesoedd Canol', in Cof Cenedl8, ed. G. H. Jenkins, Llandysul Gwasg Gomer, I-35, who draws his evidence from a wide range ofliterary and historical texts. B. Rees, 'Y Pencerdd a'r Brenin', BBCS, 39, I 992:46-55, draws further attention to parallels between the king's inauguration ceremony in ancient India and Ireland. N. Jacobs, 'Clefyd Abercuog', ib., 56-7o, casts doubt on the identifica• tion of the narrator persona of these englynion as a leper, basing his argument on examination of terms in Welsh, Irish, and Breton. J. Rowland, 'Old Welsh franc: an Old English borrowing?', CMCS, 26:2 I-25, demonstrates that the recently proposed interpretation of franc in two early Welsh saga poems as a borrowing from Old English franca 'spear' is unlikely. B. Jones, 'Cerdd Fwya'r laith: Cerdd Bradwr', Barddas, I94: I I• I 5, I 95-96: 34-39, justifies his opinion that 'Marwnad Llywelyn' by Gruffudd ap yr Ynad Coch is the greatest Welsh poem with a full discussion, based on a modernized text and his translation. The references by the Gogynfeirdd to the earlier poets they so often imitated are compiled by M. E. Owen, 'Chwedl a Hanes: Y Cynfeirdd yng Ngwaith y Gogynfeirdd', YB, I9: I3-28. 0. notes the rarity of references to Aneirin despite echoes of the Gododdin, the pre-eminence of Taliesin and surprisingly complex citations of the legendary Myrddin. P. Lynch, 'Can Gwalchmai "Y Eua u Wreic" ', ib., 29-45, closely analyses a perplexing poem by Gwalchmai, arguing that it shows unexpected expression of personal feeling by one of the official poets par excellence, conveyed through nature description and