Manuscripts

The text of this poem has survived in two medieval manuscripts: the Hendregadredd Manuscript, LlGC 6680B, copied c.1300 at Strata Florida by hand alpha, the main hand and compiler of the manuscript; and the Red Book of Hergest, J 111, in the hand of Hywel Fychan, 1382×1405. All later copies of the poem are direct or indirect copies of one or other of these two sources, and their evidence can therefore be ignored for the purposes of this edition (stemma).

It seems likely that the text of the poem in LlGC 6680B and J 111 derive ultimately from one common exemplar (see Jones 2003: 111–12). On the whole J 111’s copy has more errors, and there may have been more manuscript copies between it and the exemplar: e.g. l. 50 J 111 doeth for LlGC 6680B yn goeth, l. 57 garỽynnawỽc for gadỽynaỽc, l. 79 nysdiolchỽyf for nis dichonwyf, l. 138 bryst for brydest, ll. 202 a gỽesti ydei for A gỽestua y dewi; also ll. 121, 282 are missing from J 111. However J 111 does sometimes offer a better reading than LlGC 6680B: e.g. l. 217 J 111 gwythuaỽr … dedueu for LlGC 6680B gwythuaỽr … defeu, l. 104 J 111 ae eglỽys for LlGC 6680B ae glwys, l. 235 J 111 noethon for LlGC 6680B nothon. Such instances confirm that LlGC 6680B was not J 111’s direct source. Some errors common to both manuscripts suggest that the exemplar itself was not perfect: e.g. l. 182 has arnei in both, but it is erni/arni that is needed for the end-rhyme. It seems that the exemplar did not consistently show lenition (see, e.g., the textual notes on ll. 40, 147, 180, 183, 204, 244), and that it was a text where final -d represented /dd/, and where e was used for the personal pronoun ‘ei’ and also, sometimes, for /ǝ/ (e.g. see textual notes on ll. 63, 83, 169).

In 1617 John Davies of Mallwyd made a faithful copy of the poem in LlGC 6680B into his ‘Liber A’, his collection of the Poetry of the Princes in BL 14869, and his text is the source of the copies in Llst 31 (1662) and Pen 119 (c.1700). When John Davies later compared his text in BL 14869 with that of J 111, he noticed some variants and errors in J 111, and the variants and corrections added to J 111, noted within brackets {} in the transcription, are mostly in his hand. Attention is drawn in the textual notes to any notable deletions or variants by him in J 111. It appears that the copies of the poem in Pen 118, Llst 133E, Llst 147, LlGC 1984B and BL 14970 all derive from J 111.

Editorial principle: if LlGC 6680B and J 111 offer different readings and it is difficult to choose between them, the older LlGC 6680B is followed.

Title
LlGC 6680B Cānu y dewi Gwynnuart brycheinyaỽc ae cant, J 111 Canu y dewi agant gỽynnuard brecheinyaỽc.

Manuscripts
LlGC 6680B, 79r‒82v (alpha, c.1300)
J 111, col. 1186–92 (Hywel Fychan, 1382x1405)
Pen 118, 55–62 (Siôn Dafydd Rhys, c.1580–1610)
Pen 119, 374–80 (Wiliam Jones, c.1700)
Llst 31, 226–40 (William Maurice, 1662)
Llst 133, rhif 831 (Samuel Williams, early in the 18c.)
Llst 147, 59v–66v (verso only) (Samuel Williams, 1697)
Llst 147, 60r–67r (recto only) (Robert Wynn, 1697)
BL Add 14869, 107/9r–115v (John Davies, Mallwyd, 1617)
BL Add 14970, 236r–242v (Iolo Morganwg, c.1800)
LlGC 1984B (= Panton 15), 271–80 (Evan Evans, 1757)