Simwnt Fychan (c. 1530 – 1606) was a

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, 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 P ...

poet and genealogist, probably born in

Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd is a village and community in Denbighshire, Wales, situated in the Vale of Clwyd about one mile south of the town of Ruthin. By the 2001 census, it had 1048 residents and 50.6% of them could speak Welsh. The figures for t ...

in north-east

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He was a colleague of the poet and scholar

Gruffudd Hiraethog Gruffudd Hiraethog (died 1564) was a 16th century Welsh language poet, born in Llangollen, north-east Wales. Gruffudd was one of the foremost poets of the sixteenth century to use the cywydd metre. He was a prolific author and gifted scholar. Tho ...

. In 1567 Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

of England appointed a commission to control the activities of "minstrels, rhymers and bards", in Wales. They were summoned to meet at

Caerwys Caerwys is a town in Flintshire, Wales. It is just under two miles from the A55 road, A55 North Wales Expressway and one mile from the A541 road, A541 Mold, Flintshire, Mold-Denbigh road. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census, the popula ...

and Simwnt Fychan was appointed "pencerdd", i.e. the senior bard.Adam Fox & Daniel Woolf – ''The Spoken Word: Oral Culture in Britain, 1500-1850''

References

Welsh-language poets Welsh male poets 16th-century Welsh poets 17th-century Welsh poets Year of birth uncertain 1530 births 1606 deaths {{Wales-writer-stub