Harlech and Darowen Manuscript Online

The works of Dafydd ap Gwilym, Iolo Goch and Guto’r Glyn and other prominent Welsh poets from the Middle Ages are included in a manuscript written by a native of Harlech who moved to Darowen in Montgomeryshire and which can now be seen on the National Library of Wales’s website.
 
Wmffre Dafis was born near Harlech, the son of Dafydd ap Gruffudd. It is said that he was a descendant of the Fifteen Tribes of Gwynedd. He was vicar of Darowen, Montgomeryshire, from 1577 until his death in 1635. He was an extremely learned man who mastered several languages, but his greatest interest was the Welsh language and its literature, translating a number of books into Welsh. He was held in high regard by poets of the time, and cywyddau were composed in his honour by Richard, Siôn and Gruffudd of the Philip family of Ardudwy, and also by Ieuan Tew Brydydd of Arwystl, and Evan Lloyd of Waun Einion.
 
This manuscript was copied by Wmffre Dafis in 1599 for Dr. Theodore Price (1570?-1631), a nephew of his wife, Sioned daughter of Edward Stanley.
 
At the time of receiving this volume of poetry in 1599, Theodore Price was a priest at Bletchingley, Surrey, and canon at Winchester Cathedral. Like many exiled Welshmen of his generation, he appreciated the gift of a volume of Welsh poetry.
 
This manuscript contains 574 pages and was rebound early in the 19th century in pig skin. It contains examples of works by over a hundred poets, of whom the most celebrated are:  Tudur Aled, William Llŷn, Siôn Ceri, Siôn Cent, Siôn Tudur, Lewis Glyn Cothi, Dafydd Llwyd ap Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Ieuan Deulwyn
 
Price died in December 1631, but it is not known how the volume found its way to Plas Brogyntyn, near Oswestry. The volume was presented to The National Library of Wales (NLW), Aberystwyth, in 1934, when it was deposited by the 3rd Lord Harlech, together with a selection of Welsh manuscripts from his library at Brogyntyn. In March 1993 the manuscript was purchased by NLW from the 6th Lord Harlech.

Wmffre Dafis Manuscript

For more information and images:
Siôn Jobbins, NLW Press Office: 01970 632902  post@llgc.org.uk