MORRIS
,
ROGER
, of
Coed-y-talwrn
,
Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd
(
fl.
1590
),
transcriber of manuscripts
.
Nothing is known of his private life. He wrote an exceptionally neat hand, and he
had opportunities to copy some of the older
Welsh
manuscripts, e.g. the ‘
Black Book of Carmarthen
’ and the ‘
White Book of Rhydderch
,’ possibly through friendships with
Jasper
Griffith
(q.v.)
. His interests were wide and there remain of his transcription collections of lives of saints (
Llanst. 34
), a botanology (
N.L.W. 4581
), heraldic, genealogical, and historical texts in
Welsh
and
English
(
Mostyn 113
,
Pen. 168
), poetry (
Llanst. 9
,
N.L.W. 1553
), the
Mabinogion
and romances (
Mostyn 135
), grammars (
Pen. 169
), and anecdotes and miscellanea (
Llanwrin 1
). It is obvious from references by other
copyists
that all his work has not survived. A notable feature of his writing is that he adopted the orthography of
Dr.
Gruffydd
Robert
(q.v.)
, and under-dotted letters instead of doubling them. A number of his manuscripts had come into the possession of
Thomas
Evans
,
Hendreforfudd
(q.v.)
, by
1607
.
Bibliography:
-
Reports on Manuscripts in the Welsh
Language
. Historical Manuscripts Commission,
1898–1910
, and the manuscripts cited.
Author:
Evan David Jones, F.S.A., (1903-87), Aberystwyth
