Lewys Glyn Cothi (c. 1420 – 1490), also known asLlywelyn y Glyn, was a prominent 15th-centuryWelsh poet who composed numerous poems in theWelsh language. He is one of the most important representatives of theBeirdd yr Uchelwyr ("Poets of the Nobility") orCywyddwyr ("cywydd-men"), the itinerant professional poets of the period between the 1284Statute of Rhuddlan and c. 1600.
He was born about 1420, possibly at Pwllcynbyd farm, near the remote hamlet of Rhydycymerau in the parish ofLlanybydder in south-west Wales: he took his bardic name from the nearby forest of Glyn Cothi in theCothi valley.[1] His given name was Llewelyn, but he generally used the common Welshhypocorism "Lewys" in his verse, and is more usually known by this name. One of his manuscripts suggests that he may have received some education atCarmarthen Priory, but his early life is otherwise rather obscure.
Lewys lived through theWars of the Roses, in which he was an adherent of theLancastrian party, supporting the interests ofJasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, and later ofHenry Tudor. He is thought to have witnessed the Lancastrian defeat at theBattle of Mortimer's Cross in the company of Owen ap Gruffudd ap Nicolas, the son of a prominentCarmarthenshire esquire, and subsequently both men spent time as outlaws inSnowdonia.[2][3] Although many of his poems are addressed to pro-Lancastrian gentry, he was not above praisingYorkist patrons when occasion demanded it,[3] such as the Vaughan family of Hergest,Herefordshire, with whom his name is often associated.
There is a story, originating in a note on a manuscript copy of his poetry, that Lewys settled atChester and was later ejected from the city by its burgesses for marrying a widow without their consent. Other stories attached to different manuscripts claim that he was instead driven out of the staunchly Yorkist city for making a verse prophecy that Henry Tudor would become king. Although unconfirmed, it seems certain that something occurred to make him a laughing-stock of Chester's citizens and to spur him to satirise them mercilessly in anawdl,[3] describing them as the offspring of "eight kinds of intercourse in the bushes" ("cyw wythryw cyfathrach — dan lwyn") and calling the vengeance of another Lancastrian retainer, Rheinallt ap Gruffydd ap Bleddyn ofMold, on their heads.[4]
Lewys travelled widely in Wales, visiting the houses of various patrons, and seems to have had a particular affection forAnglesey, where he paid tribute to the hospitality he received, writing "Gorddu yw brig Iwerddon / gan fwg ceginau o Fôn" ("Blackened are the trees of Ireland / by the smoke of the kitchens of Anglesey").
He is known to have had at least one son, John, whose death at the age of 5 led Lewys to write one of his most powerful poems, the elegyMarwnad Siôn y Glyn, part of which runs, in a translation by the academic and poetGwyn Williams, as:
| Siôn's death stands near me |
A tradition states that Lewys, who appears to have died around 1490, was buried atAbergwili, but his place of burial and exact date of death remain unconfirmed.[3] One of his last poems is addressed to Henry Tudor after the latter had been crowned as King Henry VII.
Lewys was a prolific poet, writing many celebratory poems andelegies: about 230 of his poems have survived in various manuscript sources. Although his strict-metre style is not as polished as some, it has been characterised as "fluent and natural".[6] His work ranges from elaborate poems of praise and devotional verse to broad humour, the latter particularly when begging patrons for various items. He was an accomplished scribe, and is thought to have been responsible for compiling much, if not all, ofLlyfr Gwyn Hergest (theWhite Book of Hergest), an important late-medieval Welsh manuscript which disappeared in the early 19th century (he also added several poems to theRed Book of Hergest, which is now in theNational Library of Wales). Lewys was also an expert onheraldry, and compiled several treatises on the subject. The manuscript Peniarth 109, which contains over a hundred of his poems in his own hand, was illustrated by him with the arms of many Welsh noble families.
His entire works were published in 1953 through the cooperation of theNational Library of Wales and theUniversity of Wales Press Board, and were edited byE. D. Jones.[7]
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