William Jordan ( fl. 1611), Cornish dramatist, lived at

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map she ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, and is supposed to have been the author of the Cornish language mystery or sacred drama ''Gwreans an Bys: the Creacon of the World''. The oldest manuscript is in small folio in the Bodleian Library (N. 219); with it is a later copy; another is in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(Harl. 1867), together with a translation made by

John Keigwin John Keigwin (1641–1716) was a Cornish antiquary, born at Mousehole, Cornwall. He was a leading member of a group of antiquaries in west Penwith: this group also included John and Thomas Boson, William Gwavas, Thomas Tonkin, William Borlase, ...

; and a fourth was in 1858 in the possession of

John Camden Hotten John Camden Hotten (12 September 1832, Clerkenwell – 14 June 1873, Hampstead) was an English bibliophile and publisher. He is best known for his clandestine publishing of numerous erotic and pornographic titles. Life Hotten was born John Will ...

; a fifth copy, perhaps the same as the fourth, was in 1890 in the possession of John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute and a sixth belonged to

William Copeland Borlase William Copeland Borlase (5 April 1848 – 31 March 1899) was a British antiquarian and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 until 1887 when he was ruined by bankruptcy and scandal. Early life Borlase was born at Castl ...

. ''The Creation of the World'' was inaccurately edited with Keigwin's translation by

Davies Gilbert Davies Gilbert (born Davies Giddy, 6 March 1767 – 24 December 1839) was an English engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830. He ...

in 1827. In 1863, Mr.

Whitley Stokes Whitley Stokes, CSI, CIE, FBA (28 February 1830 – 13 April 1909) was an Irish lawyer and Celtic scholar. Background He was a son of William Stokes (1804–1878), and a grandson of Whitley Stokes the physician and anti-Malthusian (1763� ...

published in the ''Transactions of the Philological Society'' an edition consisting of a new transcript of Bodleian MS. N. 219, with an original translation and notes. Jordan's name appears at the end of the Bodleian manuscript. The drama is to some extent indebted to the Middle-Cornish drama called '' Origo Mundi'', but many parts are original. A Breton play on the same subject was published in 1888 in the ''

Revue Celtique A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own durin ...

'', ix. 149, 322, x. 192, 414, xi. 254.

Notes

References

* This entry cites: ** ** **

External links

Gwreans an Bys: the Creation of the World
at Archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, William 17th-century English male writers Cornish-language writers Dramatists and playwrights from Cornwall English plays People from Helston