The Hendregadredd Manuscript (), is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Welsh

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

containing an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

of the poetry of the "Poets of the Princes" (

Gogynfeirdd Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing t ...

); it was written between 1282 and 1350. Hendregadredd Manuscript-small

The manuscript was long part of the library at

Hengwrt was a mansion near Dolgellau in Meirionnydd, Gwynedd. It lay in the parish of Llanelltyd near the confluence of the Afon Mawddach, River Mawddach and :cy:Afon Wnion, River Wnion, near Cymer Abbey. With medieval origins, it was rebuilt or remodel ...

, assembled by the antiquary Robert Vaughan (d.1667). A catalogue of the library made in the early 1800s failed to find the manuscript, it having likely been taken in 1778 by the Anglican priest and scholar

Richard Thomas Richard Thomas or Dick Thomas may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Dick Thomas (singer) (1915–2003), American singing cowboy and actor * Richard Thomas (actor) (born 1951), American actor * Richard Thomas (author) (born 1967), America ...

(1753–80), who is notorious for removing important medieval manuscripts from libraries and not returning them.Guy, R. "A Lost Medieval Manuscript from North Wales: Hengwrt 33", ''Studia Celtica'' L (2016), 75. Thomas probably also removed Hengwrt 33, the ''Hanesyn Hen'', from the library at the same time; it has not been seen since. The manuscript then disappeared for over a century. It was unexpectedly rediscovered in 1910 in a cupboard in a disused bedroom of the mansion of Hendregadredd near

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

: a note found inside, written by the Archdeacon of

Merioneth Merionethshire, or Merioneth ( or '), was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Name 'Merioneth' is an anglicisation of the Welsh placename ''Mei ...

, Richard Newcombe (1779-1857), stated "I have long been in possession of this Welsh MS. but forget where or how I obtained it".Breeze, Andrew R.: ''Medieval Welsh Literature'', Four Courts Press, 1997, p.30 – It is now part of the collection of the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

with catalogue number NLW MS 6680B. The manuscript is the earliest witness of the works of the Gogynfeirdd, the Welsh court poets who were active from the early 12th century until the 14th century. It is especially valuable as the only other major source of their work is the

Red Book of Hergest Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secon ...

. The Hendregadredd Manuscript was probably written at the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

abbey of

Strata Florida Strata Florida Abbey (; ) is a former Cistercian abbey situated just outside Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The abbey was founded in 1164. After the region around St Davids was firmly occupied by the Norman ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...

. Work began on this collection of poetry sometime after 1282 - first by one main scribe, perhaps the original architect of the volume - but nearly forty different hands were involved in two further strata of scribal activity, working well into the mid-14th century. About 1330 a number of poems by contemporary poets were added. These include a poem possibly in the hand of

Dafydd ap Gwilym Dafydd ap Gwilym ( 1315/1320 – 1350/1370) is regarded as one of the leading Welsh poets and among the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages. Dafydd’s poetry also offers a unique window into the transcultural movement of cultural pract ...

himself, the best-known poet of his time, who was closely associated with Strata Florida. Parts of the Hendregadredd Manuscript were copied in 1617 by the scholar

John Davies (Mallwyd) John Davies ( – 1644) was one of the leading scholars of the late Renaissance in Wales. He wrote a Welsh grammar and dictionary. He was also a translator and editor and an ordained minister of the Church of England. His name is tradition ...

. Early copies of sections of the manuscript show that some portions of the original have since been lost.

References

External links

The Hendregadredd Manuscript
at th
National Library of Wales
''Includes full colour images of the complete manuscript.'' 14th-century books Welsh-language manuscripts Medieval Welsh literature Welsh poetry Welsh-language literature Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales {{Wales-stub