Lewys Daron (''fl.'' ''c.'' 1495 – ''c.'' 1530) was a

Welsh-language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has al ...

professional poet from the Llŷn area of Gwynedd,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Although not considered to be one of the foremost of the Poets of the Nobility, his work provides a portrait of the gentry society of north-west Wales at the start of the Tudor period. On the basis of his name and a reference to him in a later 16th-century manuscript in the hand of the antiquary

Thomas Wiliems Thomas Wiliems (born in Ardda'r Mynaich in Arllechwedd, Wales possibly on 20 April 1545 or 1546; died in or before 13 August 1623) was a Welsh-language antiquarian.“Wiliems, Thomas (b. 1545/6?, d. in or before 1623?),” J. E. Caerwyn Williams i ...

, it can confidently be accepted that he was a native of the parish of

Aberdaron Aberdaron is a community, electoral ward and former fishing village at the western tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It lies west of Pwllheli and south west of Caernarfon, and has a population of 965. The community inc ...

in Llŷn. His date of birth is not known and our knowledge of him depends almost entirely on the evidence of his poetry, of which 28 poems survive. He was a friend of the Anglesey poet

Lewys Môn Lewys Môn ( fl. 1485 – 1527) was a Welsh-language poet, one of the Beirdd yr Uchelwyr (Poets of the Nobility), from the ''cwmwd'' (commote) of on Ynys Môn (now Anglesey), north Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of ...

, one of the most important poets of that period. He probably died in the early 1530s and was buried in

Nefyn Nefyn (, archaically anglicised as Nevin) is both a small town and a community on the northwest coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd, Wales. Nefyn is popular with visitors for its sandy beach, and has one substantial hotel. The A497 road termi ...

. Lewys Daron sang to patrons in Arfon,

Meirionnydd Meirionnydd is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a kingdom, a cantref, a district and, as Merionethshire, a county. Kingdom Meirionnydd (Meirion, with -''ydd'' as a Welsh suffix of land, literally ''Land adjoined to Meirio ...

Eifionydd Eifionydd () is an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn Peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli. The Afon Erch forms its western border. It now lies in Gwynedd. The commote of Eifionydd formed the ...

and Llŷn, an area corresponding to the modern county of Gwynedd in north-west Wales. His poems, in the Welsh traditional metres, include ''

awdl In Welsh poetry, an ''awdl'' () is a long poem in strict metre (i.e. ''cynghanedd''). Originally, an ''awdl'' could be a relatively short poem unified by its use of a single end-rhyme (the word is related to ''odl'', "rhyme"), using cynghanedd; ...

au'' and ''

cywydd The cywydd (; plural ) is one of the most important metrical forms in traditional Welsh poetry (cerdd dafod). There are a variety of forms of the cywydd, but the word on its own is generally used to refer to the ("long-lined couplet") as it is b ...

au''. His patrons included the Stradlings and the gentry families of

Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to: *Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River **Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the t ...

, Bodfel, Bodeon,

Glynllifon Glynllifon is the name of the old estate which belonged to the Barons Newborough, near the village of Llandwrog on the main A499 road between Pwllheli and Caernarfon in Gwynedd, Wales. The original mansion was until recently a privately owned ...

, Carreg, Cochwillan (near Bethesda), Plas Iolyn (near

Ysbyty Ifan Ysbyty Ifan (often formerly anglicised as Yspytty Ifan) is a small, historic village and community in the Conwy County Borough of Wales. The population in 2011 was 196 in 76 households (29 household spaces had no usual residents), over 79% of t ...

) and others. He is perhaps best known for his elegy (''marwnad'') to the renowned poet

Tudur Aled Tudur Aled (c. 1465 – 1525) was a late medieval Welsh poet, born in Llansannan, Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych). He is regarded as a master of cynghanedd. Beginnings It is uncertain when Tudur Aled started to write poetry. A remark by him in his el ...

(d. 1526), whom he knew. His work includes a ''cywydd'' on behalf of three ladies of Anglesey requesting a millstone for the parish church of Nefyn and another ''cywydd'' on behalf of Sir John Wynn of Gwydir asking for a stallion from Dafydd, Prior of

Beddgelert Beddgelert () is a village and community in the Snowdonia area of Gwynedd, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2011 census was 455, and includes Nantmor and Nant Gwynant. It is reputed to be named after the legendary hound ...

. He also wrote a praise poem to Pîrs Conwy, Archdeacon of Llanelwy (

St Asaph St Asaph (; cy, Llanelwy "church on the Elwy") is a city and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2011 Census it had a population of 3,355, making it the second-smallest city in Britain in terms of population and urban ...

Bibliography

*A. Cynfael Lake (ed.), ''Gwaith Lewys Daron'' (University of Wales Press, 1994). {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewys Daron 15th-century births 1530 deaths People from Gwynedd Year of birth missing 15th-century Welsh poets 16th-century Welsh poets