customs of each division. If, however, in the case of the Book of Cyvnerth, we are dealing with a 'Powysian Code', how shall we explain the mention of Dinevwr and the absence of all reference to any chief royal residence in Powys such as the Mathraval mentioned in later texts?[1] It seems therefore advisable for the time being to abandon territorial designations for the two Dinevwr classes of law books, and to style them after the names of the 'jurists' preferred in their respective prefaces. The designations therefore tentatively proposed for the three kinds of Welsh law books in lieu of those invented by Aneurin Owen are as follows : —
Book of Gwynedd for Venedotian Code,
Book of Cyvnerth for Gwentian Code,
Book of Blegywryd for Dimetian Code.
I
Our present text, the Harleian MS. 4353 (MS. V) belongs to the second of these classes, viz. the Book of Cyvnerth, being, according to Dr. Gwenogfryn Evans,[2] 'the oldest and most important' of this kind. Aneurin Owen had six codices of this class before him, which he denominated U, V, W, X, Y, and Z respectively. He noticed that some of them closely resembled the Book of Blegywryd, so much so indeed in the case of Y and Z that he soon ceased to use them in his edition. Two others, viz. V (our present text) and W, which are very closely allied, also resemble in some respects the Book of Blegywryd, especially V, which actually contains the passage on the bishop-houses of Dyved. The leading peculiarity
