Pennyn y Fenter Amgodio Testunau (TEI) ar gyfer Rhydychen, Llsgr. Coleg yr Iesu 111 (Llyfr Coch Hergest)

In the main decoration consists of large initial letters in red ink. In some places there are line-drawings in the margins. An example of a winged beast in red ink may be seen at the bottom margin of 130r.

In some cases there are line-drawings in the bottom margin associated with catchwords. Examples may be seen at:

• 10v: ?horse's head
• 102v: beast with man's head on one end and horse's head on the other
• 205v: beast with human head in red ink, beast with animal head in brown ink
• 217v: beast in red ink
• 229v: beast in red ink

In some places the scribe or decorator has drawn pictures – often of fish or human faces – into the decorated letters found at the tops of lines. Examples may be seen at:

• <b>: 475.1, 479.1, 480.1, 483.1, 487.1 (face)
• <d>: 470.1, 469.1, 471.1, 472.1, 479.1, 480.1, 483.1, 484.1, 485.1, 488.1 (fish)
• <d>: 468.1, 474.1, 482.1, 483.1 (face)
• <h>: 468.1, 469.1, 470.1, 471.1, 473.1, 474.1, 475.1, 476.1, 477.1, 478.1, 480.1, 481.1, 484.1, 486.1, 487.1, 488.1, 489.1 (face)
• <j>: 469.1 (face)
• <l>: 469.1, 470.1, 476.1, 477.1, 478.1, 484.1, 485.1 (face)
• <l>: 483.1 (two faces)

In some cases the person responsible for filling in the decorated initials has missed one and only a space indicates where the letter should be. Examples may be seen at:

• <A>: 480.11
• <C>: 486.25
• <G>: 470.41

At 497.19, the person responsible for filling in the decorated initials has filled in the wrong letter: here we have <Aan> instead of the expected <Pan>.

There are some marginalia in later hands in the manuscript which have not been included in the transcription:

• 32 RM.9
• 33 LM.8
• 33 IL.17-18, 28-9
• 34 RM.36, 44-6
• 36 RM.47, 50
• 38 RM.39
• 42 RM.9
• 47 RM.13, 30
• 47 LM.22-32
• 47 IL.29-30
• 49-50 TM
• 50 RM.1-5
• 59 LM.23-9
• 64 RM.31
• 65 LM.36-8
• 66 RM.4-8
• 75 LM.16
• 76 IL.19-20
• 94 RM.29
• 96 RM.24: RM
• 102 RM.25-6
• 103 LM.18-22, 24
• 106 RM.30-1, 39-41
• 484 LM.22: 'Rolant' (unclear, later hand)
• 502 IL.17:' Delw yr [...] Byd' (later hand)
• 502 IL.18: 'imago mundi.' (unclear, later hand)
• 537 RM.33: 'Quaedam' (later hand)
• 550 LM.42: 'ar ffỽrỽr y sỽr.' (later hand)
• 550 LM.44: 'ysclyfyeit' (later hand)
• 554-555 TM: 'chwedleu y Seith [...]' (later hand)
• 555 IL.9: 'Llywelyn offeiriat' (unclear, later hand)
• 555 BM: 'nillystwn trefan' (later hand)
• 558 LM.17: 'Jdawc cord prydein' (later hand)
• 561 RM.24: 'gwaith badon' (later hand)
• 561 RM.33: 'karadawg' (later hand)
• 571d BM: 'Cystennin' (later hand)
• 590 LM.7: 'Constantinus in agnus Arthur [...] Avus fuit. viz Arthur ab Uthur ab Cystennin' (later hand)
• 592.7 SL: 'Balfawt' (later hand)
• 609 TM: 'ystoria Charlys' (later hand)
• 625 TM: 'ystoria Charlys' (later hand)
• 633 BM: illegible (later hand)
• 650 BM: 'athristeu' (later hand)
• 652 BM: 'athyieu' (modern hand)
• 654 BM: 'a vynnei drigiaỽ yn llys arthur' (modern hand)
• 687-688 BM: illegible (later hands)
• 730 LM.18, 40
• 730 BM
• 734 RM.40
• 734 BM
• 738 LM.30
• 738 BM
• 741 RM.2, 19, 25
• 765 RM.40
• 765 BM
• 770 LM.34
• 781 BM
• 837d LM.25
• 849 LM.40
• 841 BM
• 888 IL.19-20
• 957.1 TM: 'vwyta' (later hand)
• 1012 TM: 'Brut y Normanied' (later hand)
• 1015 TM: 'Brut y Normanied' (later hand)
• 1016 TM: 'Brut y Normanied' (later hand)
• 1018 TM: 'Brut y Normanied' (later hand)
• 1019 BM: '1382' (later hand)
• 1020-1021 TM: 'Rif y vlyneddci rwng vn venydys oe gilyd a cewvo laeth [...] er amser a weitheieu hyt John brenhin.' (later hand)
• 1022 BM: illegible (later hand)

Notes in a number of modern hands precede the manuscript and are bound with it:

• i:
• ii:
• iii r-iv v: The beginning of Darius Phrygius in a late hand
• v: blank
• vi: A brief index in a late hand
• vii r-xi v: blank

The manuscript was produced at the end of the fourteenth century in Wales, and is named after Hergest Court in Herefordshire, where it was kept from about 1465 until perhaps the mid sixteenth century.

G. J. Williams (1948: 147) was the first to propose that the manuscript might have been commissioned by Hopcyn ap Tomas. This suggestion was made on the grounds that the manuscript contains five poems addressed to Hopcyn and one addressed to his son Tomas ap Hopcyn, as well as a short wisdom text called Casbethau Gwilym Hir Saer Hopkin ap Thomas. The suggestion is borne out by the fact that the scribe Hywel Fychan is known to have produced manuscripts for Hopcyn ap Tomas of Ynystawe, as his colophon in Philadelphia 8680 attests: 'y llyuyr hwnn a yscriuennwys howel vychan uab howel goch o uuellt yn llwyr onys gwnaeth agkof adaw geir neu lythyren. o arch a gorchymun y vaester nyt amgen Hopkyn uab thomas uab einawn'. Prys Morgan (1978: 46-47) has shown that Hopcyn ap Tomas was actually connected to the estate at nearby Ynysforgan rather than to Ynystawe. A full account of Hopcyn ap Tomas may be found in James (1993).

Prys Morgan(1978) traces the reasons behind the transfer of the manuscript from the possession of the descendants of Hopcyn ap Tomas to the Vaughans of Hergest. It appears that the manuscript was amongst the goods belonging to Hopcyn ap Rhys ap Hopcyn forfeited to the Vaughans of Tretŵr in 1465 as a result of Hopcyn's support for the Lancastrian Jasper Tudor's uprising against Edward IV in 1464. Morgan conjectures that the manuscript may have remained with the Vaughans at Tretŵr for a time before being passed to the Hergest branch of the family, because they maintained an interest in bardism and Welsh letters longer than the branch at Tretŵr. This suggestion is based on the presence of two awdlau in the manuscript by Lewis Glyn Cothi which are addressed to Sir Thomas Vaughan of Tretŵr and his three sons.

About 1565-8, William Salesbury stated that he had seen the manuscript in the possession of Sir Henry Sidney (1529-1586) at Ludlow when Sir Henry was president of the council of Wales and the Marches, and that it was borrowed from him by Siancyn Gwyn of Llandiloes. The manuscript appears to have been in the possession of the Mansels of Margam by the early seventeenth century. According to Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt, the Red Book was in the possession of Sir Thomas Mansel (d. 1631) at Margam, and John Davies of Mallwyd borrowed it from his son, Sir Lewis Mansel of Margam (d. 1638) in 1634. Morgan (1978: 54) suggests that the manuscript came into the possession of the Mansels through the agency of Catherine Sidney, grand-daughter to Henry Sidney, who went on to marry Sir Lewis Mansel.

Morgan (1978: 55) conjectures that the manuscript was loaned to Thomas Wilkins the elder, rector of Saint Mary Church, by Sir Edward Mansel (1637-1706), who was the patron of the living at this time, but that it was never returned to the Mansels. Edward Lhuyd claims to have spent two months having a manuscript copied during his visit to Thomas Wilkins in 1697, and scholars have assumed that this must refer to the Red Book.

A note in column 1371 of the manuscript attests that it was given to Jesus College, Oxford on February 17, 1701 by the Reverend Thomas Wilkins the younger of Llanblethian, the son of Thomas Wilkins the elder. A note in the hand of Thomas Wilkins now bound at the beginning of the manuscript states that the manuscript was sent out to be bound by Edward Lhuyd, and not returned to the college for the next 13 years.

The binding of the manuscript dates to 1851 (Evans 1898-1910: 1).

Information on the dating and hand of this manuscript is based on the following authorities:

• Charles-Edwards, Gifford. 1980. The Scribes of the Red Book of Hergest. The National Library of Wales Journal 21. 246-256.
• Evans, D. Simon. ed. 1959. Buched Dewi. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
• Evans, J. Gwenogvryn. 1898-1910. Jesus 1=CXI. Report on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language 2. London: HMSO. 1-29.
• Huws, Daniel. 2000. Medieval Welsh Manuscripts. Cardiff and Aberystwyth: University of Wales Press and the National Library of Wales.
• Huws, Daniel. A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Scribes. draft.
• James, Christine. 1993. 'Llwyr Wybodau, Llên a Llyfrau': Hopcyn ap Tomas a'r Traddodiad Llenyddol Cymraeg. Hywel Teifi Edwards. ed. Cwm Tawe. Llandysul: Gwasg Gomer. 4-44.
• Jones, Thomas. ed. 1955. Brut y Tywysogyon or The Chronicle of the Princes: Red Book of Hergest Version. Cardiff. University of Wales Press.
• Lewis, Ceri. 1971. The Literary Tradition of Morgannwg down to the middle of the Sixteenth century. G. Williams. ed. The Glamorgan County History 3: The Middle Ages. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. 449-554.
• Morgan, Prys. 1978. Glamorgan and the Red Book. Morgannwg 22. 42-60.
• Roberts, Brynley. 1967. Un o lawysgrifau Hopcyn ab Tomas o Ynys Dawe. BBCS 22. 223-227.
• Williams, G. J. 1948. Traddodiad Llenyddol Morgannwg. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.