Welsh Law - Manuscripts

Manuscripts

There are no existing manuscripts of law texts dating back to the time of Hywel and Welsh law was continually being revised and updated. There has been some debate among scholars as to whether the laws were originally written in Welsh or Latin. The Surexit memorandum in the Lichfield Gospels is a record of the outcome of legal proceedings dating from the 9th century and written in Welsh, and though it is not a law manual it does indicate the use of Welsh legal terms at that time. The earliest manuscripts known are Peniarth 28, written in Latin but now generally thought to be a translation of a Welsh original, and Peniarth 29, known as the "Black Book of Chirk", written in Welsh. These are thought to date from the early or mid 13th century. There are a large number of law manuscripts, written mainly in Welsh but some in Latin, written between this period and the 16th century. Apart from the full compilations there are shorter versions thought to have been working copies used by judges. However they are all usually considered to fall into three Redactions, known as the Cyfnerth Redaction, the Blegywryd Redaction and the Iorwerth Redaction.

• The Cyfnerth Redaction, thought to be linked to the area between the River Wye and the River Severn, possibly Maeliennydd, includes some of the least developed law. It is thought to have been compiled in the late 12th century when this area came under the rule of Rhys ap Gruffydd (The Lord Rhys) of Deheubarth.
• The Blegywryd Redaction is associated with Deheubarth and shows signs of the influence of the church.
• The Iorwerth Redaction is thought to represent the law as modified in Gwynedd during the reign of Llywelyn the Great in the first part of the 13th century by the jurist Iorwerth ap Madog. This is considered to be the most developed version of the law, though it does contain some archaic passages. The version in Llyfr Colan is thought to be a revision of Iorwerth, though also from the 13th century, and there is also the Llyfr y Damweiniau (possibly best translated as "The book of happenings"), a collection of case-law linked to Colan. No manuscript has survived from Powys, though the Iorwerth Redaction does indicate where usage in Powys differs from usage in Gwynedd.