| Description | Pages 4 - 13 are genealogical tables, both of the ancient lines of Cymru and Strathclyde (based on the Nennian genealogies, the Annales Cambriae, Liber Landavensis, &c), and the princely houses of mediaeval Wales. But additional to these are English Pedigrees of prime importance inserted at a later date on various pages of this volume and marked by letters (a) to (x) with a red pencil; index at head of p.1. These include not only the most important Marcher Lords, but comparatively obscure knights and squires who had infiltrated into Welsh areas, especially on the borders and along the coasts (incidentally, pedigree marked (h) hives tentatively tho family forebears of Dafydd ap Gwilym).
Apart from main or inserted pedigrees, the volume contains on pp. 17 - 23 notes on docts, illustrative of the history of Upper Powys, on pp. 27 - 56, extents of North Wales in the Record of Caernarvon, with valuable entries on left-hand pages, on pp.57 - 72, a translation of the Statute of Rhuddlan, again with pertinent notes on the left, on pp. 73 - 83 translations of the Customs of Wales and the pleas Quo Warrents, both from the Record of Caernarvon, valuable notes on the left still continuing.
Pages 87 - 94 are described as a comparison of Annales Cambriae and Brut y Tywysogion, but in reality contain much more than that, as witness the discussion of David Powel and Humphrey Llwyd's dealings with the MSS., the exact significance of Brut y Saeson, Brut Aberpergwm, and Ab Ithel's unconvincing unscholarly edition.
The rest of the volume is taken up with an exhaustive Summary of Gerald of Wales's Itinerery and Description (95 - 114), Rhygyfarch's Life of St David (115 - 123). Early British Canons and Penitentials (124 - 133), aspects of early monastic conditions as pictured in the Lives of Saints Columba and Samson (134 - 135) - all with notes appendant |