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Myfanwy Fychan
Myfanwy Fychan was a Welsh noblewoman, born in the mid-14th century, who was involved in a famous romance with a bard. Her story has inspired poem and song. History Only one poem by the poet has survived, but among the most famous work is an ode to Myfanwy Fychan "of Castell Dinas Brân":Lliw eiry cynnar pen Aran, Lloer bryd, lwys fryd o lys Frân. hecolour of the early snow on the top of Aran, with the countenance of the moon, from the court of BrânCastell Dinas Brân was in ruins by the time the poem was written, but it seems that Myfanwy ferch Iorwerth Ddu was the girl that Hywel was writing about. Myfanwy married Goronwy Fychan ap Tudur, and she is the subject of many poems written by her husband as well as poets. The fact that Hywel ab Einion's poem is titled "Ode to Myfanwy Fychan of Castell Dinas Brân" suggests that title was written later than the poem itself, and that the poem was written before Myfanwy married. It is however also possible that the music belongs t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castell Dinas Brân
Castell Dinas Brân is a medieval castle, built by the Princes of Powys Fadog, who occupy a prominent hilltop site above the town of Llangollen in Denbighshire, Wales. The presently visible stone castle was probably built in the 1260s by Gruffydd Maelor II, a prince of Powys Fadog, on the site of several earlier structures, including an Iron Age hillfort. ''Dinas Brân'' has been variously translated as the "crow's fortress" or "fortress of Brân", with ''Brân'' as the name of an individual or of a nearby stream. An English name, "Crow Castle", has also been used since at least the 18th century. Name The name Dinas Brân has been debated since at least the 17th century. In modern times it is sometimes incorrectly translated as ''the City of Crows'': the word ''dinas'', "city" in modern Welsh, in Middle Welsh signifies a defended enclosure, while ''brân'' is the Welsh for "crow", singular, (plural: ''brain''), suggesting a meaning "the crow's fortress". An alternative theory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aran Fawddwy
Aran Fawddwy is a mountain in southern Snowdonia, Wales, United Kingdom. It is the highest point (county top) of the historic county of Merionethshire (for local government purposes, it lies within the current council area of Gwynedd). It is the only peak in Wales outside North Snowdonia above 900m, and higher than anywhere in Great Britain outside Northern Snowdonia, the Scottish Highlands (and islands) and the Lake District. The nearest urban centres to the mountain are Dinas Mawddwy to the south, Llanymawddwy to the southeast, Llanuwchllyn on the shores of Bala Lake to the north, and Rhydymain to the west. The nearest settlements with around 2,000 people are Bala and Dolgellau. On the eastern slopes of Aran Fawddwy is the small lake named Creiglyn Dyfi, the source of the River Dyfi. Its sister peak is Aran Benllyn at . There is also a middle peak- Erw y Ddafad-ddu. A cairn is placed on the eastern ridge as a memorial to RAF Mountain Rescue team member Michael Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Courtly Love
Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing various deeds or services for ladies because of their "courtly love". This kind of love is originally a literary fiction created for the entertainment of the nobility, but as time passed, these ideas about love changed and attracted a larger audience. In the high Middle Ages, a "game of love" developed around these ideas as a set of social practices. "Loving nobly" was considered to be an enriching and improving practice. Courtly love began in the ducal and princely courts of Aquitaine, Provence, Champagne, ducal Burgundy and the Norman Kingdom of Sicily at the end of the eleventh century. In essence, courtly love was an experience between erotic desire and spiritual attainment, "a love at once illicit and morally elevating, passionate and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alabaster
Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes varieties of two different minerals: the fine-grained massive type of gypsum and the fine-grained banded type of calcite.''More about alabaster and travertine'', brief guide explaining the different use of these words by geologists, archaeologists, and those in the stone trade. Oxford University Museum of Natural History, 2012/ref> Geologists define alabaster only as the gypsum type. Chemically, gypsum is a Water of crystallization, hydrous sulfur, sulfate of calcium, while calcite is a carbonate of calcium. The two types of alabaster have similar properties. They are usually lightly colored, translucent, and soft stones. They have been used throughout history primarily for carving decorative artifacts."Grove": R. W. Sanderson and Francis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penmynydd
Penmynydd (; ), meaning "top of the mountain" in Welsh, is a village and community on Anglesey, Wales. It is known for being the birthplace of the Tudors of Penmynydd, which became the House of Tudor. The population according to the United Kingdom Census 2011 was 465. The community includes the village of Star. Description Penmynydd is located on Anglesey off the north west coast of Wales, situated on a slight hill on the B5420 road between Menai Bridge and Llangefni, at . The Royal Mail postcode begins LL61 with a community population taken at the 2011 census of 465. Edward Greenly gave the name of the village to the Monian ‘Penmynydd Zone of Metamorphism', a Precambrian blueschist terrane stretching along the hill from Red Wharf Bay to Newborough; the blueschist event has been dated to about 550 million years ago. When Welsh nobleman Rhys ap Tudur was executed in 1412, lands of the Penmynydd family were forfeited. The village is notable for its early 17th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Myvyrian Archaiology Of Wales
''The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales'' is a printed collection of medieval Welsh literature, published in three volumes by the Gwyneddigion Society between 1801 and 1807. Until John Gwenogvryn Evans produced diplomatic editions of the important medieval Welsh manuscripts, the ''Myvyrian Archaiology'' provided the source text for many translators of medieval Welsh material.Mary Jones"Y Myvyrian Archaiology" ''Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia'', 2003, accessed 10 June 2009 It was founded, and funded, by Owen Jones, who engaged William Owen Pughe as editor, and Edward Williams, better known as Iolo Morganwg, to search Wales for manuscripts. The first volume, published in 1801, attempted to collect all Welsh poetry prior to 1370, with the exception of the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym, which had already been published. Volume two, also published in 1801, contained the Welsh Triads, the chronicles (versions of the ''Brut y Brenhinedd'' and ''Brut y Tywysogion ''Brut y Tywysogion'' ( en, Chro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had a great curiosity, observing the geography, geology, plants, animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish around him and recording what he saw and heard about. He wrote acclaimed books including ''British Zoology'', the ''History of Quadrupeds'', ''Arctic Zoology'' and ''Indian Zoology'' although he never travelled further afield than continental Europe. He knew and maintained correspondence with many of the scientific figures of his day. His books influenced the writings of Samuel Johnson. As an antiquarian, he amassed a considerable collection of art and other works, largely selected for their scientific interest. Many of these works are now housed at the National Library of Wales. As a traveller he visited Sco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Ceiriog Hughes
John Ceiriog Hughes (25 September 1832 – 23 April 1887) was a Welsh poet and collector of Welsh folk tunes, sometimes termed a Robert Burns of Wales. He was born at Penybryn Farm, overlooking the village of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in the Ceiriog Valley of north-east Wales, then in Denbighshire, now part of Wrexham County Borough. One of eight children, he was a favourite of his mother, Phoebe, a midwife and herbal-medicine expert. Life At 18, Hughes left the village for Manchester to work as a grocer. He opened his own shop in 1854. There he met and was befriended and influenced by William Williams (Creuddynfab), a station master in the Pennines, who found him a job on the railway. Williams had been appointed first secretary of the National Eisteddfod Society. Hughes decided to sell his shop and concentrate on writing poetry, but he also started to drink heavily. Hughes returned to Wales in 1865 as station master at Llanidloes. From 1868, he was also manager of the Van Rai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reports Of The Commissioners Of Inquiry Into The State Of Education In Wales
The Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales, commonly referred to in Wales as the "Treason of the Blue Books" or "Treachery of the Blue Books" ( cy, Brad y Llyfrau Gleision) or just the "Blue Books''"'' are a three-part publication by the British Government in 1847, which caused uproar in Wales for disparaging the Welsh; being particularly scathing in its view of the nonconformity, the Welsh language and the morality of the Welsh people in general. The Welsh sobriquet ''Brad y Llyfrau Gleision'' was from the name of a play satirising the reports, and those who gave evidence to the inquiry, which was published seven years after the reports. The '' Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales'' says that the name "took hold of the public imagination to such an extent that ever since the report has been known by that name". According to the author and business academic, Simon Brooks, the Blue Books are regarded today as "colonial diktat", and are "the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Parry
Joseph Parry (21 May 1841 – 17 February 1903) was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best known as the composer of "Myfanwy" and the hymn tune "Aberystwyth", on which the African song "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" is said to be based. Parry was also the first Welshman to compose an opera; his composition, ''Blodwen'', was the first opera in the Welsh language. Born into a large family, Parry left school to work in the local coal mines when he was nine years of age. He then went to work at the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, where his father was also employed. In 1854 the family emigrated to the United States, settling at Danville, Pennsylvania, where Parry again found employment at an iron works. Though Parry had a great interest in music, he had no opportunity to study it until there was a temporary closure of the Rough and Ready Iron Works. Some of his co-workers were also musicians, and they offered music lessons while the iron works was closed. Parry joine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myfanwy
''Myfanwy'' (; a woman's name derived ) is a popular Welsh song, composed by Joseph Parry and first published in 1875. Background Sources differ as to whether Dr. Parry composed the music for an existing poem by Richard Davies (" Mynyddog Mwynfawr"; 1833–1877) (the common belief) or whether Davies wrote the words to Parry's melody following its use with an English lyric by Thomas Walter Price (Cuhelyn; 1829 - 1869)(*1), journalist and poet, called "Arabella". Richard Davies' lyric may have been influenced by the 14th Century love story of Myfanwy Fychan of Castell Dinas Brân, Llangollen, and the poet Hywel ab Einion(*2). That story was also the subject of the popular poem, "Myfanwy Fychan" (1858), by John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–87). Some sources say it was written with Parry's childhood sweetheart, Myfanwy Llywellyn, in mind (*3). In 1947, Merthyr-Tydfil-born author Jack Jones wrote a book entitled ''Off to Philadelphia in the morning'' where he relates the story within so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
14th-century Welsh People
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 ( MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and natural disasters in both Europe and the Mongol Empire. West Africa experienced economic growth and prosperity. In Europe, the Black Death claimed 25 million lives wiping out one third of the European population while the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France fought in the protracted Hundred Years' War after the death of Charles IV, King of France led to a claim to the French throne by Edward III, King of England. This period is considered the height of chivalry and marks the beginning of strong separate identities for both England and France as well as the foundation of the Italian Renaissance and Ottoman Empire. In Asia, Tamerlane (Timur), established the Timurid Empire, history's third largest empire to have been ever esta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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