[Bards] Yr Areithiau Pros: Question for Fincannon

[Peter Schorn]

>"D. Gwenallt Jones (gol.), Yr Areithiau Pros (1934). A selection of the
>`Prose Orations', which are here described as exercises in declamation
>composed for the use of apprentice bards. They consist of short anecdotes,
>lists of things liked and disliked, imaginary dreams and speeches. They
>have come down in numerous manuscript copies, none of which is earlier than
>the sixteenth century, though their contents suggest that those which
>contain echoes of the Mabinogi and other medieval tales, have developed out
>of considerably older materials. They were probably evolved gradually by
>the bards over a long antecedent period. The two first examples here given
>have phrases culled from `Culhwch and Olwen', while `Araith Iolo Goch' is
>obviously a parody of that tale. The Areithiau have been fathered on the
>names of earlier poets, especially poets of the fourteenth century - Dafydd
>ap Gwilym, Iolo Goch, Gruffudd ab Adda, Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hen. "

>~Finnacan

My lord Fincannon,

>From what manuscript source was D. Gwenallt Jones working?  

Has scholarship subsequent to 1934 confirmed or overturned his
interpretation of the text?

I'm not trying to sandbag you here: I'm genuinely curious, but also I feel I
should mention that the older a scholarly text may be, the less likely it is
to be rigorously researched and the more likely it is to have been
superseded by later studies.

Thank you,

Cadfan