Notes

GDG 2

This series of nine englynion is found in five manuscripts (Pen 111 however provides two versions). The earliest is BM 32 copied by Thomas Wiliems. The line order corresponds in all versions with the exception of NLW 1578 which only contains the first five englynion. Thomas Parry chose the title 'Englynion yr Offeren' in GDG (The Englynion of the Mass) although he also acknowledged that the Latin prayer upon which the englynion were based did not in fact form part of the Mass. He suggested rather misleadingly that he took the title from the manuscript versions. With the exception of NLW 1578 which bears the generic title 'Englynion dvwiol' (Religious Englynion), the only titles appear in the two versions copied by John Jones, Gellilyfdy, in Pen 111, namely 'Gwers dyrchafiad yr aberth' (A prayer [during] the elevation of the Host) and 'llyma vydyr kymraec a wnaethbwyd ar y wers wrth ddyrchafiad yr aberth' (This is a metrical version in Welsh based on the prayer at the elevation of the Host).

The englynion are discussed in detail and a new edition provided by M. P. Bryant–Quinn, 'Ailystyried 'Englynion yr Offeren' gan Ddafydd ap Gwilym', Dwned 7 (2001), 27–42. He notes that the Anima Christi became popular as a prayer and private devotion in the early 14th c. It was also recited during the mass as the priest raised the bread and chalice between the blessing of the canon and the Agnus Dei. The two titles in Pen 111 thus seem most apt. Three translations into Welsh of the Anima Christi are discussed by Brynley F. Roberts in B xvi (1954–6), 268–71.

A single englyn is dedicated to each section of the prayer but three sections have been omitted. M. P. Bryant–Quinn questioned whether the series in its present form was complete and the seventh englyn seems to support his doubts. This englyn is based on the clause Et iube me venire ad te but Et ne permittas me separari a te are the words which precede it. M. P. Bryant–Quinn further noted that a fourth clause had been omitted but it was included at a later stage and would not therefore have formed part of the prayer known to Dafydd in the first half of the 14th c.

The prayer's clauses precede each englyn in the five manuscripts suggesting that they all ultimately derive from the same source. Four of the texts correspond closely but NLW 1578 and one of the two versions by John Jones, Gellilyfdy (which M. P. Bryant–Quinn believed to be corrupt), contain alternative readings. Thomas Parry adopted some of these readings but it also seems that he based his edition on copies which had been incorrectly transcribed. The variant readings given by Thomas Parry are also misleading and do not accurately represent the various manuscript texts.

The englynion are attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym in every single manuscript. Thomas Wiliems did not include them in H 26, his extensive compilation of Dafydd's compositions, but he recorded them in BM 32 about twenty years later. As all copies seem to derive from a common source the attribution to Dafydd must be queried. T. D. Crawford in EC xxii (1985), 235–85, and Ann Parry Owen in Dwned 1 (1995), 41–54, discussed the style and cynghanedd of Dafydd's englynion and both found unusual features in 'Englynion yr Anima Christi'. The englynion differ in diction and style; they are simpler and less skilfully structured, but the same can be said of the cywydd 'Y Drindod' (poem 3). This is the strongest argument in support of the assumption that the englynion belong to Dafydd ap Gwilym.

12. Dafydd seems to have misunderstood the significance of this part of the prayer which did not seek Christ's assistance to avoid drunkenness!

14. croes newydd   M. P. Bryant–Quinn suggested that the englynion could have been composed to celebrate the consecration of a new cross.

18. pum weli   The five wounds of Christ, see ODCC 1767.