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Historical Writing in Medieval Wales

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Historical Writing in Medieval Wales Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Historical writing in medieval Wales Jones, Owain Award date: 2013 Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 HISTORICAL WRITING IN MEDIEVAL WALES OWAIN WYN JONES Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Bangor University 2013 I SUMMARY This study focusses on the writing of history in medieval Wales. Its starting-point is a series of historical texts in Middle Welsh which, from the second quarter of the fourteenth century, begin to appear together in manuscripts to form a continuous history, termed the Welsh Historical Continuum. The central component of this sequence is a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s influential history of the Britons. The main questions of the first part of the thesis are when and why these historical texts were first combined, and to what degree this Welsh historiographical phenomenon reflects broader European trends. Codicology, textual typology, a geographically centred case-study and comparison with similar texts in Latin, Anglo- Norman French, Middle English and Icelandic are the main areas of research. The second part of the thesis moves on to consider the chronicle writing which formed the basis for the third part of the Historical Continuum, and then brings the study together with a discussion of the role of the Cistercians in the writing of history in medieval Wales. The fourth chapter’s re-assessment of Brut y Tywysogion offers a comprehensive re-evaluation of one of the most important narrative sources for medieval Wales. The fifth chapter discusses a neglected but significant Welsh chronicle, O Oes Gwrtheyrn, a new edition of which is appended to the thesis. The discussion of the Cistercian order in the sixth chapter serves in some ways as a synopsis and a conclusion, since it fits the diverse matters discussed in previous chapters into a general discussion of the important role these monastic institutions played in the formation and dissemination of what became the standard narrative of Welsh history for several centuries. Overall, the thesis is a wide-ranging and comprehensive investigation of the most influential and enduring historical narrative to emerge from medieval Wales. i CONTENTS List of abbreviations v List of maps and diagrams vi Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 Geoffrey of Monmouth 9 The Cistercian order in Wales 18 Part 1: Galfridian historical texts in Wales and beyond Chapter 1: The manuscript context of medieval Welsh historical texts 30 The texts 31 Manuscripts containing any of the three texts 37 Manuscripts containing all three texts 40 Development of the Historical Continuum 1. The Llyfr Coch Hergest Version 51 2. The North-Eastern Version 57 The Latin manuscript context 60 Summary: the development of the Welsh Historical Continuum 67 Chapter 2: Valle Crucis and medieval Welsh historical writing: a case study 71 Manuscripts and Valle Crucis 72 Valle Crucis abbey 78 Conquest and context 83 Epigraphic evidence and local families 89 Poetry and patrons 95 Conclusion 124 Chapter 3: The broader European context 128 ii Anglo-Norman French 129 Middle English 136 The Prose Brut 142 The passage of dominion 158 Norse versions 166 Conclusions 181 Part 2: Chronicles and Cistercians Chapter 4: Brut y Tywysogion 184 Definition 186 The Latin chronicles 190 Comparison of Cronica de Wallia and Brut y Tywysogion 200 Comparison of CW and BT: Terminology 216 The relative historical reliability of BT and the Latin chronicles 225 Rhain Wyddel and 1022 229 Latin BT: its date of composition 234 1282: the end-point of Brut y Tywysogion? 241 Brut y Tywysogion, 1100–1127 248 The Middle Welsh Chronicles 269 Conclusions 284 Chapter 5: O Oes Gwrtheyrn Gwrthenau 287 Description of manuscripts 289 Relationship of the manuscripts 296 Date and Provenance 297 Purpose 301 Historical awareness 311 iii Chronology 313 Editorial method 314 Chapter 6: The Cistercian order and historical writing in Wales 317 The Cistercians and Welsh nation-building 319 The reception of Geoffrey's history in Wales 1. Manuscript evidence 333 2. Other evidence 344 Chronicle writing 352 The combination of the Galfridian and annalistic traditions 363 The Cistercians in England and Scotland 370 After the conquest 381 Conclusion 394 Appendix 1: An Edition of O Oes Gwrtheyrn Text 409 Translation 416 Notes 422 Appendix 2: Chart of manuscripts with texts of the Welsh Historical Continuum 431 Appendix 3: Chronicle accounts of 1022 434 Bibliography 1. Manuscript sources 439 2. Printed primary sources 440 3. Secondary sources 453 4. Unpublished secondary sources 480 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BL British Library BT P20 Brut y Tywysogion, Peniarth MS. 20, ed. by T. Jones, History and Law Series 6 (Cardiff, 1941) BT P20 Tr. Brut y Tywysogion or the Chronicle of the Princes, Peniarth MS. 20 Version, ed. and trans. by T. Jones, History and Law Series 11 (Cardiff, 1952) BT RB Brut y Tywysogion or the Chronicle of the Princes, Red Book of Hergest Version, ed. and trans. by T. Jones, History and Law Series 16 (Cardiff, 1955) BS Brenhinedd y Saesson or the Kings of the Saxons: BM Cotton MS. Cleopatra B v and the Black Book of Basingwerk, NLW MS. 7006, ed. and trans. by T. Jones, History and Law Series 25 (Cardiff, 1971) CW '"Cronica de Wallia" and other documents from Exeter Cathedral Library MS. 3514', ed. by T. Jones, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 12 (1946), 27–44 NLW National Library of Wales PRO Online transcription of the PRO Chronicle (the B-text of Annales Cambriae), prepared by H. Gough-Cooper, http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=E164/1_pp .2-26._Annales_Cambriae_B-text._From_A.D._1206_to_the_end _of_the_chronicle_(A.D._1286). The entries are given as 1234=1212, the first date being the chronicle's and the second being the year to which the entry actually corresponds. v LIST OF MAPS AND DIAGRAMS Tables 1–3: stemmata illustrating relationships of the Llyfr Coch Hergest versions of Ystoria Dared, Brut y Brenhinedd and Brut y Tywysogion 54 Table 4: the dynasty of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 253 Table 5: stemma of relationship of different manuscripts of O Oes Gwrtheyrn 298 Table 6: relative chronologies of Annales Cambriae and O Oes Gwrtheyrn 304 Table 7: full chronology of O Oes Gwrtheyrn 316 Map 1: Valle Crucis and Powys Fadog 90 Map 2: Aberconwy’s lands and places mentiones in O Oes Gwrtheyrn 302 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is common to claim that during a project as large and time-consuming as a PhD one amasses considerable debts, of gratitude but it is nevertheless true. In the first place I should thank my supervisor, Huw Pryce, for his always helpful advice on the project and his astonishing eye for an errant footnote. I also owe a considerable debt to Paul Russell, whose help in securing a visiting studentship at the department of Anglo- Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies in Cambridge ensured that the project did not come to an ill-advised end and resulted in an extremely enjoyable and productive year. I have always appreciated his open door and willingness to discuss and give counsel on any matter relating to my research. Similar thanks is due to Fiona Edmonds, who supervised me for an undergraduate dissertation where I first developed my interest in Brut y Tywysogion. My supervisor for my Master's degree, Thomas Charles-Edwards, has also been a valuable source of advice. It was during this year that I first conceived the idea for this project during a conversation with Oliver Padel. I must also thank David Stephenson, for stimulating feedback on Oes Gwrtheyrn; Daniel Huws for permission to consult his forthcoming Repertory; Georgia Henley for stimulating discussion, feedback and access to unpublished work; Vicky Cribb for translating a considerable amount of Breta sögur; Edward Carlsson- Browne for similar help concerning Bǫglunga sǫgur; Janet Burton for advice on the Charltons and Powys; Erich Poppe for discussion concerning Dares Phrygius; Brynley Roberts for advice concerning Cotton Cleopatra B.v and Jesus 141; Barry Lewis for advice on Guto'r Glyn; Jo Shortt Butler for adive on matters Norse; Daisy Le Helloco for help with medieval French; Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan for an invite to an excellent symposium in Abersytwyth; and to John Grant Jones for feedback on the written work. For unceasing support and belief I also owe a huge debt to my parents and family. vii INTRODUCTION This study focusses on the writing of history in medieval Wales, this specific categorical, temporal and geographical focus being tempered by a number of different approaches. Separate sections of the thesis approach the topic from the perspective of codicology, textual typology, a geographically centred case-study, the creation of a critical edition, detailed historical reassessment of a key source, and finally through discussing the results of these approaches in the context of political developments in Wales between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. This diversity of critical approaches results in a nuanced and comprehensive investigation of the form, significance and development of historical writing in medieval Wales, focussing on texts which show the influence of Geoffrey of Monmouth's De gestis Britonum and the chronicle tradition which were eventually combined in the vernacular to form an influential history of the Welsh from classical antiquity to the late thirteenth century and beyond.
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