Llygad Gŵr (
fl.
''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
1268 or 1258 – c. 1293,) 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 about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina).
...
poet in the court of
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ( – 11 December 1282), also known as Llywelyn II and Llywelyn the Last (), was List of rulers of Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd, and later was recognised as the Prince of Wales (; ) from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 128 ...
.
His surviving works are a sequence of five
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 for Llywelyn and four poems that praise the dynasty of
Powys Fadog
Powys Fadog (English: ''Lower Powys'' or literally ''Madog's Powys'') was the northern portion of the former princely realm of Powys. The princes of Powys Fadog would build their royal seat at Castell Dinas Brân, and their religious center at ...
.
In his poetry, he envisions
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
as a single united nation with Llywelyn as its head and supreme power: "the true king of Wales". This has been called "the most 'nationalist' poetry in Welsh before the days of
Glyn Dwr".
[Lloyd 1959]
Sources
*
*J. Lloyd-Jones, 'The Court Poets of the Welsh Princes', ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', 1948
*
P. I. Lynch, 'Court Poetry, Power and Politics' in ''The Welsh King and His Court'' pp. 167–190, edited by T. M. Charles-Edwards, Morfydd E. Owen and Paul Russell, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2000.
References
External links
Llygad Gŵr ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llygad Gwr
13th-century Welsh poets
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown
Year of birth uncertain