The Battles of Alexander the Great

Peniarth 481D is a manuscript written on parchment in the late 15th century. The manuscript is in two parts, and it is likely that both parts were bound together as one volume from the outset, probably in England. This is one of the most elaborately decorated medieval manuscripts in the Library, and a rare survival in its original binding.

The manuscript’s early history is shrouded in mystery. It was owned by Sir John Cutts of Childerly, Cambridgeshire (d. 1615) and his near-contemporary Thomas Gawdy of Snitterton, Norfolk. Subsequently, it may have been part of the library of Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665), whose grand-daughter married Richard Mostyn (1658-1735) of Penbedw, Flintshire. The Penbedw bookplate attests to its presence there at the beginning of the 19th century, before the manuscript passed by descent and marriage to Peniarth, Merioneth. It was excluded from the sale of Peniarth manuscripts to Sir John Williams in 1904, but was later bought by philanthropists Miss Gwendoline and Miss Margaret Davies of Gregynog, who presented the volume to the National Library of Wales in 1921.