Latin poetry in the Welsh Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle

In the Red Book of Hergest, the Welsh translation of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle ends with a unique Latin epitaph in verse for Turpin (Oxford, Jesus College MS 111, 121v, column 1;Williams, Ystorya de Carolo Magno, p. 178). This poem was likely taken by the scribe of the Charlemagne texts in the manuscript (Hand A) from one of the multiple source texts employed during the process of copying the Welsh Turpin chronicle. But unlike other lines of verse also found in the chronicle, such as Roland’s elegy in chapter 24, this epitaph was not translated into Welsh.

This paper will thus analyse the different treatment of Latin poems in the Welsh chronicle. Roland’s elegy is particularly interesting since it is based on poems written by Venantius Fortunatus and there are interesting variants in the rendering of these lines in the Welsh manuscripts, which may point to different translation strategies and/or understandings of the ultimate Latin source. By exploring the treatment of Latin, both in linguistic and literary terms, and the interaction of Latin and Welsh in the process of translation, this paper seeks to contribute to discussions of multilingualism in medieval Wales.