Y Gogynfeirdd: The Poets of the Princes

Editions and Studies

• J. Morris-Jones and T.H. Parry-Williams (goln), Llawysgrif Hendregadredd (NLW MS 6880B) (1933, 1978). This edition of the oldest collection of the poetry of the Gogynfeirdd ('the not so early poets') completes the series inaugurated by J. Gwenogvryn Evans of diplomatic editions of important Welsh medieval manuscripts. Hendregadredd was written by various hands from c.1300 through the following century, and contains the work of named poets who composed between c.1100 and 1282, from Meilyr Brydydd to Bleddyn Fardd. On blank spaces there have been added extracts by a later generation of poets, including Gruffudd Gryg and Dafydd ap Gwilym. This is the only source for Dafydd ap Gwilym's early poem `I'r Grog o Gaer', and it is possible that it was written here in his own hand. [Essential discussion is by Daniel Huws, `Llawysgrif Hendregadredd' Journal of the National Library of Wales xxii (1981), 1-26.
• R.G. Gruffydd (gol. cyff.) Cyfres Beirdd y Tywysogion (Series of the Poets of the Princes) (7 vols, 1991-6). A collection of eulogistic and religious poetry, addressed to their patrons, to God, or to one or other of the Welsh saints, by the official poets attached to the Welsh princes during the period of independence from c.1100 to the Edwardian Conquest of 1282. The work of each of the poets is edited separately by a different scholar, with a separate introduction to each poem, which discusses its date, historical background, metre and manuscript sources: these are mainly from H (Hendregadredd) or RBP (Poetry from the Red Book of Hergest), but a stemma is given indicating any later copies. The edited poem follows, first in its original form, then in modernized spelling, and finally by a modern paraphrase, with notes, glossary and an index of names and places. The Cyfres provides an unprecedented comprehensive edition of the bardic poetry of the last two centuries of Welsh independence. Editing has been the work of a team of scholars employed during a six-year period by the Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd/Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth. The seven volumes are: I: Gwaith Meilyr Brydydd a'i ddisgynyddion, ynghyd â dwy awdl fawl ddienw o Ddeheubarth (Meilyr Brydydd and his Descendants, with two anonymous early twelfth-century `awdlau') (1994); II: Gwaith Llywelyn Fardd I ac eraill o feirdd y ddeuddegfed ganrif (Llywelyn Fardd I and other twelfth-century poets) (1994); III: Gwaith Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr I (1991); IV: Gwaith Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr II (1995); V: Gwaith Llywarch ap Llywelyn `Prydydd y Moch' (1991); VI: Gwaith Dafydd Benfras ac eraill o feirdd hanner cyntaf y drydedd ganrif ar ddeg (Dafydd Benfras and other poets of the first half of the thirteenth century) (1995); VII: Gwaith Bleddyn Fardd a beirdd eraill ail hanner y drydedd ganrif ar ddeg (Bleddyn Fardd and other poets of the second half of the thirteenth century) (1996).
• H. Lewis (gol.), Hen Gerddi Crefyddol (Early Religious Poems) (1931, 1974). A collection of religious verse, with introduction, notes and glossary. The early (anonymous) poems are from the Black Book of Carmarthen and the Book of Taliesin; the Gogynfeirdd poems are from the Hendregadredd manuscript and the Red Book of Hergest; some variants from later manuscripts are noted. Texts are reproduced with the minimum of alteration, but line-division and punctuation are supplied.
• M.E. Owen and B.F. Roberts (goln), Beirdd a Thywysogion (Poets and Princes) (1996). A collection of studies concerning the poetry of the Gogynfeirdd, by friends, pupils and colleagues, presented to Professor R. Geraint Gruffydd on his retirement, and concerning various aspects of the panegyric and religious verse composed by the Poets of the Princes to their patrons in the period c.1100- 1282. With contributions on bardic poetry from Irish and Gaelic sources.
• J.E. Caerwyn Williams, The Poets of the Welsh Princes (`Writers of Wales', 1978; new edn 1994). JECW outlines the characteristics of twelfth- and thirteenth-century court poetry - `mawl', `marwnad', `gorhoffedd', `rhieingerdd' etc. He stresses the continuity of the Gogynfeirdd from the Cynfeirdd in vocabulary and technique, as well as their earlier inheritance from the bards and druids of Britain and Gaul. The Gogynfeirdd aimed to recreate in their work the essential character of the poetry of their predecessors, and on occasion they repeated identifiable lines from Aneirin and Taliesin. The ancient heroic ethos survived the transition to Christianity. Contemporary evidence from the Welsh Laws as to the status and functions of the `pencerdd' and `bardd teulu' is cited. The revised edition ends with a useful list of the poets' names, together with the names of the princes whom they addressed, and has a select bibliography.
• D. Myrddin Lloyd, Rhai Agweddau ar Ddysg y Gogynfeirdd (Darlith Goffa G.J. Williams, 1977). An analysis of the references made by the Poets of the Princes to the traditional heroes of Wales, whether these were known to them by oral tradition, from the genealogies of the rulers of Gwynedd, Powys and Deheubarth, or were characters derived from the `Trioedd' and `chwedlau'. After 1282 the poets' field of reference widened considerably to include the heroes and heroines known from the romances, both Welsh and foreign.
• D. Simon Evans, Medieval Religious Literature (`Writers of Wales', 1986). DSE shows how from the beginning the Christian religion was blended with the native culture, and how in Wales the theme of praise remained as dominant in religious as in secular poetry. The book outlines the variety of religious themes to be found in the verse of the Gogynfeirdd and their successors the Cywyddwyr, such as the Signs before Domesday, the Dispute between Body and Soul, and the Harrowing of Hell. It is shown how the poetry of the Cywyddwyr reflects the alterations in religious attitudes which were brought about by the social and political changes which followed the Edwardian Conquest. The Lives of the Welsh Saints (Y Bucheddau) are also discussed, as are the increasing influences on poetry of foreign religious works.
  [Generous selections from the poetry of the Cynfeirdd and the Gogynfeirdd are given in English translation by A. Conran, The Penguin Book of Welsh Verse (1967; revised edn Welsh Verse (Bridgend, 1986), and by J.P. Clancy, The Earliest Welsh Poetry (London, 1970) and Medieval Welsh Lyrics (London, 1965).

Y Cywyddwyr Cyntaf: Fourteenth-Century Poetry