Manuscripts

This poem is preserved in a collection of Lewys Glyn Cothi’s poems in Llst 7, a manuscript of the first quarter of the sixteenth century. This part of Llst 7 is thought to be a copy of a manuscript in the hand of the poet himself (see GLGC xxx–xxxi). One feature which strongly suggests that is the fact that some of the lines of the text (4, 6, 8, 14, 16, 18, 20, 34, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56) are unfinished, as they often are in Lewys Glyn Cothi’s own manuscripts. Lewys’s poems in Llst 7 were copied by John Davies, Mallwyd in BL Add 14871 in 1617, and it appears that John Davies filled the gaps in most of the unfinished lines by guessing on the basis of cynghanedd and rhyme. Most of his guesses can be accepted with a fair degree of confidence, but see l. 54n (textual). BL Add 14963 is a copy of BL Add 14871 by Owain Myfyr.

Title

The poem has no title in Llst 7. The title in BL Add 14871 is I Simon a Siud.

List of Manuscripts

Llst 7, 61 (unknown, 1505 × c.1530)

BL Add 14871, 280v (John Davies, 1617)

BL Add 14963, 246v (Owen Jones ‘Owain Myfyr’, 1768 × 99)