List of manuscripts of works of Gerald of Wales

Gerald of Wales () wrote approximately twenty-three works in Latin, nineteen of which survive in 111 known manuscripts. His works on Ireland and Wales are the best represented. The manuscripts range from the late twelfth century to the early modern period and include translations into English, Irish, and Provençal.

Background

Gerald of Wales () was a scholar and churchman, born to a mixed Norman and Welsh family among the marcher gentry of South Wales. During his lifetime he authored around twenty-three works, many of which survive.

Manuscripts Gerald of Wales's works survive in 111 known manuscripts. Together, these manuscripts preserve 181 complete or partial copies of nineteen works, along with letters and poems. Gerald's works on Ireland and Wales are the best represented, while his hagiographies survive in only one or two manuscripts. Three works, the Mappa Kambriae, De Fidei Fructu Fideique Defectu, and De Philosophicis Flosculis, are not known to have any surviving copies.

Although Gerald desired his works be translated from Latin into the vernacular, no translations are known before the fifteenth century. Twenty-five surviving copies are translations, covering eight works. Most are in English, while two are in Irish and one in Provençal. WorkSurviving copiesSurviving translationsTopographia Hibernica493 (1 in Provençal)Expugnatio Hibernica3812 (2 in Irish)Itinerarium Kambriae172Descriptio Kambriae243Vita Sancti Dauidis2Vita Galfridi archiepiscopus eboracensis1Vita Sancti Ethelberti2Vita Sancti Hugonis1Vita Sancti Remigii1Gemma ecclesiastica2Symbolum electorum5De rebus a se gestis4De iure et statu meneuensis ecclesiae72De inuectionibus51De principis instructione5Speculum duorum1Catalogus breuior librorum suorum61Retractationes71Speculum Ecclesiae4 Most of the manuscripts are medieval. The earliest date from the late twelfth century and approximately a fifth date from within Gerald's lifetime. They are mostly written in one of four script types: Protogothic minuscule, Textualis, Cursiva, and Early modern Secretary and Italic.

Their physical properties vary among the 101 categorised by Catherine Rooney. In size, the tallest is 300mm, while the widest are 200mm. The smallest is BL Add. 34762, at 90 by 65mm. Most are written in two columns, though some are written in one; Bodleian Auctarium D.2.9 uses three for Gerald's works. Of the parchment manuscripts, most are constructed with quires of eight or twelve leaves, although three use quires of ten.

Cataloguing history Forty-one of the manuscripts were known to the editors of the 19th century Rolls Series, which published many of Gerald's works. Robert Bartlett listed 71 in his 1982 Gerald of Wales, 1146–1223, and Richard Sharpe listed 48 in his 1997 Handlist,

In 2005 Rooney identified 26 unlisted by either Bartlett or Sharpe, bringing the total to 101. Ten further manuscripts have since been identified. An additional manuscript, Cotton Vitellius E.viii, containing a copy of Vita Sancti Dauidis, was destroyed in the 1731 Ashburnham House fire, though its text survives in the Anglia Sacra.

List