Aberystwyth National Library of Wales Cardiff MS 3.4 (RMWL Cardiff MS 5)

Manuscript Identification
Reference Number	Welsh6
Location	Aberystwyth, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
Siglum/Shelfmark	Cardiff MS 3.4 (RMWL Cardiff MS 5)
Page/Folio range	163-225

Textual Content and Tradition
Standardised title of narrative	Ystori Saith Doethion Rufain
Incipit or textual title	Yma y dechre y llyûyr or ymadroddion avu rrw[ng] y saithwyr doythion ar ymerodur Diacklessia herrwydd...
Version (siglum)	A (Seven Sages)
└ Language Group within Version	Welsh Version A: Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein
└ Narrative/Scholarly Group within Version	Early Modern and Modern Welsh Version A
└ Further scholarly subgroup (1)
└ Further scholarly subgroup (2)
Translated/adapted from (Version/Text)
Source for information on textual relationship to broader tradition	Lewis (1925)

Languages
Language of text	Welsh
Regional or specific Language of text
Source for regional or specific Language of text

Digitisation and Editions
Digitisation
Modern Editions	Lewis, Y Seithwyr Doethion (1925)

Note
A note added to the end of the text reads: 'Elis Gruffydd ai Ennedigayth yngronnant vcha ymplwy llanhassaph yn Sir y fflint ai ysgrivenodd anno M CCCCC XXVII yn llundain ymhalas Sir Robert Wyng[field] yn yr amser hwnw depetti ynghaleis' (Evans 1902, p. 101). [Roughly translated: "Elis Gruffydd of Enedigiaeth in Gronant Ucha in the parish of Llanasa in the county of Flint wrote it in the year 1527 in London, in the house of Sir Robert Wingfield, who at that time was deputy in Calais."] See Evans (1902) pp. 96-103 (p. 101) for full manuscript contents. In his introduction to the Middle Welsh version of the story, Lewis noted the anomalous story order in this text, observing that Senescalcus had been 'lost'. The empress's last story is then, strangely, Tentamina - the details of how this is moralised and contextualised would require close examination of Lewis's text (in Welsh). The final sage, Martins, does not tell a story, but instead simply presages the prince's tale on the following day (Lewis 1925, 1958, 1967; pp. 29-30). (Note: confirmation needed from text.) Lewis also notes that the usual name of the third master, Bankarrios/Painkaros rather than Lentulus, is an anomaly shared with NLW Llanstephan MS 117. Whether than suggests a relationship between the two texts (e.g., Cardiff MS 3.4/ MS 5 as a source for Llanstephan 117, which was composed c. 1544-1552) is not discussed (Lewis (1925, 1958, 1967), p. 29). (Added by Jane Bonsall)

Authorship and Production
Scribe	Elis Gruffydd
Author	Elis Gruffydd
Place of Manuscript Production	London, UK
Date of Manuscript Production	1527
Source of Date of Manuscript Production	Lewis (1925)

Physical Description
Material	Paper
Total pages/folios in Manuscript	266
Height	284
Width	203
Script style/form
Prose or verse	Prose
Illustrations	No

Contents and Additional Texts
Other texts in the Manuscript	Evans gives a general description of the contents of The Book of Elis Grûfydd as: 'Poetry, the XXIV Chief Kings, the Genealogy of the Saints, theological and astrological tracts etc.' (p. 96)

Catalogues and Research Literature
Catalogue	https://archifau.llyfrgell.cymru/index.php/llyfr-ellis-gruffydd
Modern Research Literature	Lewis (1925), Lewis (1925, 1958, 1967), Lewis (1929), Evans (1902)

Pattern of embedded stories in this manuscript