Grammar and Poetry in Late Medieval and Early Modern Wales

The medieval Welsh bardic grammars were composed and transmitted during a period of intense social and political change in Wales. These documents, which contain both a highly Latinate description of the Welsh language and a treatment of the strict poetic metres, began their life as essentially vernacular artes poetriae. However, from the early fourteenth century to the end of the sixteenth, they were recopied and revised over and over by bards, bureaucrats, antiquarians, humanists, and the readers and reciters of poetry. At different times they served as practical handbooks, official regulatory documents and attempts to realign the Welsh texts with contemporary Latin and English scholarship. This book weaves a close textual analysis of the revisions made to the text into a broader consideration of the historical contexts that gave rise to each subsequent version. The resulting narrative offers insight into the development of Welsh bardic and scholarly practices over the course of two centuries.

‘This is a ground-breaking volume. It advances our understanding of these important grammatical texts from medieval Wales in many ways, particularly to demonstrate that the neglected later versions have been modified by contact with contemporary grammatical scholarship in England. This volume is required reading for all those interested in these intellectual developments in this period.’

Paul Russell, Professor of Celtic emeritus, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge

‘In this first thoroughgoing assessment of the Welsh bardic grammars in more than a generation, Jacques shows us that the grammars from the outset represent active, intentional engagement with the Latin grammatical tradition, mined for tools suitable to accurate description of the Welsh language. Over the course of time, the grammars were revised, abridged, updated and excerpted to serve audiences ranging from beginning readers, to the literate elite, to poets, to performers, in an ongoing dynamic process adapting them to the cultural needs of each historical moment in turn.’

Catherine McKenna, Margaret Brooks Robinson Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University

‘This is a book for which we have been waiting a very long time. It is a compelling study of the medieval Welsh grammatical tradition from the earliest texts to the Renaissance – a huge achievement in itself. What is more, Jacques has added to that achievement the inestimable service of providing the first full, scholarly English translation of any of the Welsh bardic grammars. I am confident that we will see a great resurgence of interest in these fascinating texts as a result of the present study.’

Professor Barry Lewis, School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies