Book of Llandaff

The Book of Llandaff (also known in Latin as the Liber Landavensis and in Welsh as Llyfr Llandaf or, officially, the Ancient Register of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff) is a 12th century chronicle of the history of the diocese of Llandaff in Wales.

The work was compiled around 1125 by an unknown official at Llandaff Cathedral. It contains numerous records covering five hundred years of the diocese's history, including the biographies or "Lives" of Saints Dubricius, Teilo and Oudoceus and, most importantly, 149 land grant charters. These Llandaff Charters give details of property transfers to the cathedral from various local kings and other notaries, from the late 6th to the late 11th century: although 40% belong to the 8th century and 20% to the late 9th century. The manuscript includes the document "Fraint Teilo", in the original Middle Welsh with facing Latin version, an important source for the study of early Middle Welsh; although transcribed in the beginning of the twelfth century the orthography suggests a considerably earlier provenance. [Morfydd E. Owen, 'Y Cyfreithiau - (I) Natur y Testunau,' in Geraint Bowen (ed.), "Y Traddodiad Rhyddiaith yn yr Oesau Canol" (Llandysul, 1974), pp. 197-8.]

The book was compiled from a pre-existing collection of nine charter groups, originally entered in Gospel Books, and appears to have been produced to help in Bishop Urban's diocesan boundary disputes with the dioceses of St David's and Hereford. Many of the supposed early charters have therefore been 'edited' to serve Llandaff's interests. They are also undated and many are corrupt. However, through her exhaustive study of these documents, Prof Wendy Davies has reconstructed much of the original text and calculated probable time-frames. This work has been accepted by most historians, but criticised in some non-academic quarters.

The manuscript fell into the hands of the Davies family of Llanerch in the 17th century, until eventually acquired by the National Library of Wales, where it is known as MS 17110 E. It is a double-columned 168 page volume bound between oak boards.

References

Further reading

* Rhys, J. and Evans, J. G. (eds.) "The Text of The Book of Llandâv" Oxford 1893
* Davies, W. "An Early Welsh Microcosm: Studies in the Llandaff Charters" Royal Historical Society 1978 ISBN 978-0901050335
* Davies, W. "The Llandaff Charters" National Library of Wales 1980 ISBN 978-0901833884
* Davies, J.R. "The Book of Llandaf and the Norman church in Wales" The Boydell Press 2003 ISBN 978-1843830245

External links

* [http://digidol.llgc.org.uk/METS/LIB00001/physical?div=0&subdiv=0&locale=en&mode=thumbnail "Liber Landavensis: digital version," National Library of Wales]