Meilyr Brydydd ap Mabon (
fl. 1100–1137) is the earliest of the Welsh
Poets of the Princes or ''Y Gogynfeirdd'' (The Less Early Poets) whose work has survived.
Meilyr was the court poet of
Gruffudd ap Cynan
Gruffudd ap Cynan ( 1137), sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was rememb ...
(ca. 1055–1137), king of
Gwynedd. He composed a notable ''
awdl farwnad'' (
elegy
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
) on the death of his patron and a ''
marwysgafn'' on his own approaching end, noted for its intensity and depth of feelin
He had a son named
Gwalchmai ap Meilyr
Gwalchmai ap Meilyr (fl. 1130 – 1180) was a Welsh-language court poet, connected with Trewalchmai in Anglesey. He was one of the earliest of the ''Gogynfeirdd'' ("less early poets") or ''Beirdd y Tywysogion'' ("Poets of the Princes"). He compose ...
.
Bibliography
*J.E. Caerwyn Williams & Peredur I. Lynch (ed.), ''Gwaith Meilyr Brydydd a'i Ddisgynyddion'', Cyfres Beirdd y Tywysogion I (Cardiff, 1994).
12th-century Welsh poets
Meilyr Brydydd
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