Dafydd ap Gwilym

Dafydd ap Gwilym statue, Cardiff City Hall

Dafydd ap Gwilym (* around 1320 in Ceredigion ( Cardiganshire ), † around 1350 ) is regarded as the most important Welsh poet.

biography

Dafydd ap Gwilym came from a noble family, was not a professional bard , but was a master at the use of Welsh verse forms. It is thanks to him that the Cywydd metric became popular.

A large-scale European influence can be seen in his works, for example from wandering minstrels and French troubadours , which indicates a large number of trips, including to the continent. In his works he uses the contemporary colloquial language of the more educated classes, avoids ancient forms of expression, and is thus considered the founder of more recent Welsh poetry.

His main theme is love, his poems are dedicated to many women, but especially to one Morfudd . His best-known work is The Girls of Llanbadarn , where he talks about going to church on Sundays just to see the beauties of the village.

Many of his works are recorded in the Llyfr Gwyn Hergest ("The White Book of Hergest").

literature

Primary literature

Dafydd ap Gwilym: Gwaith Dafydd ap Gwilym . Ed .: Thomas Parry. 3. Edition. Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, Cardiff 1996, ISBN 0-7083-1356-6 .

Secondary literature

Rachel Bromwich: Dafydd ap Gwilym . University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1974, ISBN 0-7083-0572-5 .
Helen Fulton: Dafydd ap Gwilym and the European context . University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1989, ISBN 0-7083-1030-3 .
Ludwig Christian Stern: Davydd from Gwilym: A Welsh minstrel of the XIV century. Described from his poems . Halle on the Saale in 1908.
Sabine Heinz, Andrea Kutschke: Outstanding minstrels in comparison: the Welsh Dafydd ap Gwilym and Walther von der Vogelweide . In: Helmut Birkhan (ed.): The eight hundred year old fur skirt: Walther von der Vogelweide - Wolfger von Erla . Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3467-3 (Lectures held at the Walther Symposium of the Austrian Academy of Sciences from September 24 to 27, 2003 in Zeiselmauer).

Web links

Literature by and about Dafydd ap Gwilym in the catalog of the German National Library
New edition of the works of Dafydd ap Gwilym (English), a project of the University of Wales , Swansea

Individual evidence

↑ This year of death will u. a. mentioned in John Koch: Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (Five Volume Set) . ABC-CLIO, 2005, ISBN 1-85109-440-7 , pp. 179 .

personal data
SURNAME	Dafydd ap Gwilym
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Welsh poet
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1320
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ceredigion (Cardiganshire)
DATE OF DEATH	around 1350

[1] This year of death will u. a. mentioned in John Koch: Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (Five Volume Set) . ABC-CLIO, 2005, ISBN 1-85109-440-7 , pp. 179 .