I
A’m rhoddo Dofydd (dedwydd dewaint)
Awen gan awel pan ddêl pylgaint,^{1 ⁠pylgaint⁠ An earlier form of plygain, see GPC Ar Lein s.v. It may refer specifically to one of the canonical hours, namely matins, OED s.v.; however, it is more likely that the poet is referring simply to daybreak here (GPC Ar Lein s.v. plygain (b)), in contrast to dewaint (1) ‘midnight, dead of night’. With this line, cf. Cynddelw’s description of his singing for Tysilio, TysilioCBM l. 82 Cain awen gan awel bylgaint. Was Gwynfardd Brycheiniog aware of Cynddelw’s poem?}⁠
Awydd boed cyfrwydd, cyfraith barddoni;
Cynnelw o Ddewi⁠^{2 ⁠cynnelw o Ddewi⁠ The noun and verb cynnelw is frequently used by poets of the 12th century for their praise poems, with the implicit meaning of ‘support’ for their patron: see GPC Ar Lein s.v. cynnelw⁠1. The recipient of the praise is often governed by the preposition o, cf. GCBM ii, 6.32 A’m kynhelỽ o’m perchen ‘With my praise to my lord’. But it is possible that the meaning is sometimes ‘support from my patron’. 1 ⁠o Ddewi⁠ LlGC 6680B o dewi; J 111 adeỽi. For cynnelw o, see n2(e); for J 111’s reading, see n2(t) on ei ddau cymaint.} ei ddau cymaint^{3 ⁠ei ddau cymaint⁠ The poet’s request in these opening lines is not completely clear. The pronoun ei is taken to refer to awydd in the previous line. Is the poet hoping that his zeal and inspiration to sing a song of praise for Dewi, through the help of God and the saint, will be twice as great as usual? 2 ⁠ei ddau cymaint⁠ LlGC 6680B y deukymeint; J 111 y deukymmeint. Following GLlF 449 ei ddeugymaint, the y of the manuscripts is taken to be the third singular personal pronoun, but the unmutated cymaint after the numeral, as given in the manuscripts, is retained: see GPC Ar Lein s.v.; TC 143–4; and cf. GDB 3.8 Dau cymaint rhif seithrif sêr ‘Twice more than the sevenfold number of stars’; BrM2⁠ ll. 263 eu deu kymeint o wyr ‘two times their number of men’. If y were to be interpreted as the definite article, it is unclear whether dau would mutate, because of the lack of examples from the early period; however, in TC 143 we see that y dau cymaint was usual in Early Modern Welsh; cf. also the examples in GPC Ar Lein s.v. cymaint. If we read y dau cymaint here, we would lose the mid-line alliteration between Ddewi and ddau (but note J 111 adeỽi).}⁠
5 (Ni ddyly corn medd, ceinon meddwaint,
Bardd ni wypo hwn^{4 ⁠bardd ni wypo hwn⁠ Gwypo, the third singular present subjunctive of gwybod ‘to know or be acquainted with (a person)’, with the line describing those poets who do not know St David. For this use of gwybod in a religious context, cf. GCBM ii, 16.201 Gỽr a’n gỽyr ‘A Man who knows us’, of God, 18.65 Mihangel a’m gŵyr ‘Michael who knows me’; GMB 21.5 Ef yn llwyr a’n gỽyr ‘He [i.e. God] knows us completely’. Note that it is the worshipper who is ‘known’ to his or her heavenly patron in these instances, and we could interpret this line by Gwynfardd Brycheiniog in a similar way, with hwn, St David, being the subject: ‘a poet whom this one [namely St David] does not know’. Owen 1991–2: 72 gives ‘A poet who does not know how [to sing] this’, referring to poets not acquainted with the poem (and if so, hwn probably refers to the masculine noun cynnelw in l. 4).}): hynny dygaint.
Nid ef y canaf can ddigiofaint – fy mryd,
Namwyn mi a’i pryd cywyd cywraint:
Ys mwy y canaf cyn no henaint,
10Canu Dewi mawr^{5 ⁠canu Dewi mawr⁠ Mawr is taken as modifying Dewi here, cf. Dewi mawr in ll. 85, 200, 210 (note that the soft mutation of an adjective following a personal name was a tendency and not a rule, see TC 114). The word canu may have a specific meaning here, as it is the word used to describe this poem in its title: it seems to be a term, mainly used in the 12th century, for long odes of praise which subdivide into smaller caniadau or rhyming sections.} a moli saint.
Mab Sant⁠^{6 ⁠mab Sant⁠ Sant the son of Ceredig ap Cunedda, king of Ceredigion, was David’s father according to tradition, see WLSD 16. As noted in GLlF 463, it is unlikely that we should read Mabsant ‘patron saint’ here as HG Cref 43 does.} syw gormant, gormes haint^{3 ⁠gormes haint⁠ LlGC 6680B gormes heint; J 111 gormes seint (gormes heint > gormes (h)eint > gormes seint). Even though the scribe of J 111 was copying from a written exemplar, it is quite possible that he was reading a few words at a time and remembering them before writing them down. Such a process could easily result in the incorrect division of words.} – ni ad
Na lledrad yn rhad, rhwyd ysgeraint;
Ysid rhad yn ei wlad^{7 ⁠yn ei wlad⁠ Can be contracted to ’n ei wlad, saving a syllable and ensuring that the rhagwant falls regularly on the fifth syllable of the line.} a mad a maint,
Yng nghyfoeth Dewi difefl geraint
15A rhydid heb ofud,^{4 ⁠ofud⁠ GPC Ar Lein gives gofud as a variant of gofid. Reading (g)ofid here would give an internal rhyme with rydid and cynghanedd sain; however, there is already adequate alliteration between heb ofud and heb ofyn.} heb ofyn^{5 ⁠heb ofyn⁠ Cf. Owen 1991–2: 72 (GLlF 456) where ofyn is understood as the mutated form of the verbal noun gofyn. Amgen is therefore nominal and the object of the verb, cf. GPC Ar Lein s.v. As the line thus contains 11 syllables rather than the expected 10 syllables, HG Cref 187 suggests omitting the conjunction A at the beginning; the line would then subdivide metrically into the more usual 5:5 syllables. However, if we take the manuscripts’ ofyn (LlGC 6680B heb ofyn; J 111 heb ofyn) to be the monosyllabic noun of(y)n ‘fear, terror’, the line would subdivide into 6:4 syllables, which is a pattern found in other first lines of toddaid by Gwynfardd Brycheiniog, see further Lewis 1929–31: 96–7.} amgen,
Heb ofal cynnen cylch ei bennaint^{8 ⁠cylch ei bennaint⁠ Cf. Owen 1991–2: 72 ‘around its uplands’ (GLlF 463), GPC Ar Lein s.v. pennant. For cylch as a preposition ‘about, around’, cf. l. 112 cylch ei feysydd and see GPC Ar Lein s.v.}⁠
Onid blaidd a draidd drwy ei wythaint
Neu hydd gorfynydd, rhewydd redaint.^{9 ⁠hydd gorfynydd,⁠ ⁠rhewydd redaint⁠ In ll. 17–18 the poet names two things that might cause anxiety to those living in St David’s uplands: a raging wolf and a stag on heat. The meaning of rhedaint is less certain: GPC Ar Lein tentatively gives ‘?(young) deer; ?course’, and Owen 1991–2: 73 (GLlF 456) accepts the second meaning, rejecting the previous attempt in HG Cref 188 to explain it as the third person plural imperfect form of the verb rhedeg (‘they would run lustfully’). However, in light of R 1030.9 Bit vuan redeint yn ardal mynyd ‘Swift are the young deer in the mountain region’ (see note in Jacobs 2012: 44), ‘(young) deer’ seems to be the most likely meaning. Stags in heat in autumn have been known to brutally attack people. There are also other references to wild stags or deer in conjunction with St David: Dafydd Llwyd described stags emerging o gysgod gwŷdd ‘from the shadow of the woods’ to listen to him in Llanddewibrefi (DewiDLl ll. 29–30), but more relevant, perhaps, is Iolo Goch’s reference to how David’s crozier tamed the ceirw osglgyrn chwyrn chwai ‘spirited, swift, hard-antlered stags’ (DewiIG ll. 87–8); cf. DewiRhRh ll. 9–10 Ceirw a’r adar, o’u cerrynt. / Di-led, gwâr, y’u delid gynt ‘The confined, tame stags and birds / were taken formerly from their course’. It seems rather odd that Gwynfardd Brycheiniog is suggesting that wild wolves and stags are still instilling fear in St David’s people – but perhaps the poet is implying that it is only senseless animals who dare attack the saint’s sanctuary. 6 ⁠rhewydd redaint⁠ The manuscripts do not differentiate orthographically between rh- and r- and therefore offer no help with r(h)ewydd and r(h)edaint. As regards cynghanedd, it seems to have been permissible, even in later poetry, to answer rh- with r-.}⁠
Ef cymerth er Duw dioddeifiaint – yn deg^{10 ⁠teg⁠ ‘Obedient’, a meaning given tentatively in GPC Ar Lein; but ‘fair’ or ‘just’ would also be appropriate.}⁠
20Ar don a charreg,^{11 ⁠ar don a charreg⁠ Was there a tradition that St David crossed the sea on a stone slab or a rock on his journey to Rome? Cf. ll. 190–1 A llech deg dros waneg a thros weilgi / A’i dyddug … ‘and a beautiful slate slab over the wave and the ocean / took him …’. For further references to saints crossing the sea on a rock, see Henken 1991: 98.} a chadw ei fraint,
A chyrchu Rhufain,^{12 ⁠Rhufain⁠ According to Ieuan ap Rhydderch, David visited Rome when he reached adulthood, having completed his education with Bishop Paulinus: DewiIRh ll. 43–6 Pan fu ŵr, wiw gyflwr wedd, / Aeth i ⁠Rufain⁠, waith ryfedd ‘When he became a man, his countenance being of excellent condition, / he went to Rome, an amazing feat’. When Paulinus introduced St David to the synod of Brefi, he described him as one ‘who had been a teacher, and who was ordained archbishop in Rome’ (WLSD 9.2 a uu athro, ac yn Rufein a vrddwyt yn archescob). Gwynfardd Brycheiniog, like the author of the Welsh Life, is suggesting that St David was directly answerable to the authority of the pope in Rome: a precedence for the 12th-century desire to see the bishopric of St Davids gaining the status of an archbishopric directly answerable to Rome, rather than to the intermediate authority of Canterbury. It was in Jerusalem that St David was consecrated archbishop according to the vita of Rhygyfarch (see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 140–1, 142–3; BDe xxxii–xxxiii); however, the version in Lincoln 149 agrees with the Welsh Life, in that he was consecrated in Rome.} rhan gyreifiaint,^{13 ⁠rhan gyreifiaint⁠ ‘The place of pardon’ (a description of Rome); for the soft mutation in a noun used adjectively to describe a feminine noun (rhan), cf. GLlLl 23.207 rann westiuyant ‘the place of joy’. The combination could also be interpreted as a noun with preceding modifier, literally ‘the pardon of the place’.}⁠
A gwest yn Efrai,^{14 ⁠Efrai⁠ ‘The land of the Hebrews or Jews, Palestine’, GPC Ar Lein. The Welsh Life of St David makes no mention of Palestine, but in Rhygyfarch’s Latin Life, we learn that an angel came to St David in the night and instructed him to leave for Jerusalem on the following day: Sharpe and Davies 2007: 138, Nam quadam nocte ad eum angelus affuit, cui inquit, ‘Crastina die precingens calcia te, Ierusalem usque pergere proficiscens (ibid. 139 ‘one night, an angel came to him, and said, “Tomorrow, put your shoes on and set out to travel to Jerusalem” ’). We are further informed that he travelled with Teilo and Padarn. Ieuan ap Rhydderch refers to this same tradition, DewiIRh ll. 55–8 Angel a ddoeth … / I gôr ⁠Llangyfelach⁠⁠ gynt / I yrru ⁠Dewi⁠⁠ euriaith / I fedd ⁠Caerusalem⁠⁠ faith ‘An angel came… / formerly to Llangyfelach church / to send St David of excellent words / to the tomb in distant Jerusalem’, and the poet refers specifically to the patriarch of Jerusalem welcoming St David and his companions, ibid. ll. 63–5, Daethant ill tri heb duthiaw / I dref Caerusalem draw; / Y padrïarch a’u parchawdd, / Dydd a nos da oedd ei nawdd ‘The three of them without travelling on horseback / came to the city of Jerusalem yonder; / the patriarch honoured them, / his patronage was good by day and night.’ It is unclear whether Gwynfardd Brycheiniog is referring to this same journey to Jerusalem here – the Latin Life does not mention a journey to Rome, but of course any journey to Jerusalem was likely to go through Rome.} gwst diamraint,^{15 ⁠gwst diamraint⁠ For diamraint ‘privileged, exalted’, see GPC Ar Lein and G 325. The words describe the great toil or labour undertaken on the pilgrimage and the benefit implicit in completing such an act, not to mention the great honour bestowed on St David by the patriarch of Jerusalem when he gave him four gifts, see n114(e).}⁠
A goddef palfawd, dyrnawd^{7 ⁠dyrnawd⁠ Cf. J 111 dyrnaỽt; LlGC 6680B has dernaỽt, which may indicate the use of e for /ǝ/ in the exemplar, a feature of some archaic orthographical systems.} tramaint,
I gan forwyn ddifwyn, ddiwyl ei daint.^{16 ⁠diwyl ei daint⁠ Daint is understood as the plural of dant ‘tooth’, with the teeth probably to be taken figuratively for the sharp words spoken by the girl, cf. Jones 1923–5: 196 Gwenniaith yw gwaith y gwythlawn daint ‘flattery is the work of the bitter teeth’. Is this a reference to the tale about Boia’s wife ordering her handmaidens to bring shame on St David’s followers by removing their clothes and uttering geireu aniweir kywilydus ‘shameful and lustful words’ to them (see n133(e))? However, it seems from the context of the poem that the incident occurred in Palestine.⁠Owen 1991–2: 73 (GLlF 456) follows G 297 where daint is explained as the plural of dant⁠2 ‘manner’, comparing irddant ‘anguish, affliction’; cf. Vendryes 1929: 252–4 where diwyl ei daint is translated as ‘aux manières impudentes’. Daint is not given that meaning in GPC Ar Lein.⁠}⁠
25Dialwys peirglwys perging Dyfnaint,^{17 ⁠Dyfnaint⁠ Probably the old kingdom of Dumnonia, which encompassed Devon and Cornwall. There is no reference in the prose Lives to David wreaking vengeance on behalf of (or upon) a chieftain of Dumnonia, but GLlF 464 and LBS ii, 295–6 remind us that several churches were dedicated to David in south-west England. Rhygyfarch referred briefly in his vita to King Constantine of Cornwall becoming one of David’s followers, but he doesn’t mention his martyrdom (if that is what is implied in the reference to burning people in l. 26). On Constantine and Cornwall, see WCD 144. Is Gwynfardd Brycheiniog referring here to a lost tradition about this king?}⁠
Ar ni las llosged, lluoedd llesaint.^{18 ⁠llas … llesaint⁠ For llas ‘was killed’, see GMW 127; llesaint is a rare passive form, ibid., confined mostly to early poetry.}⁠
Dyrchafwys bryn gwyn^{19 ⁠bryn gwyn⁠ The poet further refers to the bryn gwyn as the location of David’s church in Llanddewibrefi in ll. 189, 260. In ll. 27–30 he explains how the ground became a hill under the saint’s feet as he preached to a great crowd in Llanddewibrefi. In the Welsh Life we are told, WLSD 10.36–11.1, kyuodes y llawr hwnnw megys mynyd vchel dan y draet ‘that ground rose like a high mountain under his feet’, following a similar wording in the Rhygyfarch’s Latin Life (Sharpe and Davies 2007: 144–7). There is nothing in the prose Lives that corresponds to bryn gwyn, but Lewys Glyn Cothi has the same phrase in DewiLGC2 ll. 27–8 Dan dy draed unDuw a droes / Bryn gwyn a bery gannoes ‘under your feet the One God raised / a white hill which will last for a hundred ages’. (It is not known how old the name Bryngwyn / Bryn Gwyn in Llanddewibrefi is, a name first attested in the 18th century, see Wmffre 2004: 616.) Bryn is taken to be the subject of dyrchafwys; however, St David could be the subject and bryn could be the object. In the early texts neither the subject nor the object lenited following wys, see TC 216.⁠} breiniawl ei fraint
Yng ngŵydd saith mil^{8 ⁠saith mil⁠ J 111 seint mil. An error, see n20(e).} mawr a saith ugaint:^{20 ⁠saith mil mawr a saith ugaint⁠ 147,000, literally ‘seven thousand and seven score thousand’. The prose Lives do not tell us the size of the crowd in Llanddewibrefi, but Iolo Goch gives us the exact same number as Gwynfardd Brycheiniog, DewiIG ll. 61–2 Chwemil, saith ugeinmil saint / Ac unfil, wi o’r genfaint ‘six thousand, seven score thousand saints and one thousand, what a congregation!’, as does Ieuan ap Rhydderch, DewiIRh ll. 81–2 Saith ugain mil, syth hoywgad, / A saith mil, cynnil y cad ‘seven score thousands, a lively and righteous crowd, / and seven thousand, skilfully were they counted’. Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn claimed that there were 160,000 in the crowd, DewiDLl ll. 27–8 Ydd oedd i’th bregeth ryw ddydd i’th ganmol / Wyth ugeinmil, ⁠Dafydd⁠ ‘One day praising you in your sermon there were one hundred and sixty thousand, David’. The number 147,000 seems rather random until we remember that St David was 147 years old when he died, according to Rhygyfarch, see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 148–9.There is a general similarity between the descriptions given by Iolo Goch (c. 1345–c. 1397, GIG xix) and Ieuan ap Rhydderch (c. 1390–1470) of St David’s sermon at Llanddewibrefi: see DewiIG ll. 53–62 and DewiIRh ll. 79–86. Was the one drawing on the work of the other, or were they both drawing upon a common source? Was it Gwynfardd Brycheiniog who originally came up with the number? And if so, did Iolo Goch and Ieuan ap Rhydderch find this number in the text of Gwynfardd Brycheiniog’s poem in the Hendregadredd Manuscript (LlGC 6680B)? We can be quite certain that the manuscript was in Ieuan ap Rhydderch’s home in Glyn Aeron by the second quarter of the 14th century (GLlBH 1 et passim), and that Iolo Goch received patronage there (see Johnston 2009: 136).⁠}⁠
Archafael, caffael gan westeifaint,
30Dyrchafwys Dewi Brefi⁠^{21 ⁠Brefi⁠ The poet uses Brefi throughout the poem to refer to Llanddewibrefi as well as the lands associated with the church between the rivers Teifi and Tywi, see n91(e). (Was Tyddewi sometimes used in the same way to refer to St David’s actual church, whilst ⁠Mynyw⁠ might refer to the church and associated lands? However, there is no evidence, before the 15th century, for the name ⁠Tyddewi⁠, which reflects the Irish method of naming churches (teach ‘house’ + saint’s name.) Brefi is the name of the river which flows past the church at Llanddewibrefi; the fact that the Romans adopted it as the name for their nearby fort, ⁠Bremia⁠, attests its antiquity. On the name and its derivation, see Wmffre 2004: 509–10.Soft mutation of the object was not expected in this construction in early poetry, i.e. verb (dyrchafwys) + subject (Dewi) + object (⁠⁠⁠Brefi⁠⁠), see TC 195–6.⁠} a’i braint.

II
Ei fraint wrth ei fryd i freiniawg – ysydd
A’i elfydd yn rhydd, yn rhieddawg:
Ar Iwerddon⁠^{22 ⁠Iwerddon⁠ Some of the earliest references to David come from Ireland and these are discussed in WLSD xvi–xvii; Davies 2002: 376–7. Rhygyfarch’s Latin Life testifies to David’s popularity in Ireland, see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 136, 137 Verum pene tercia pars uel quarta Hibernie seruit ⁠Dauid Aquilento⁠ ‘And nearly a third or a quarter of Ireland served David Aquilentus.’ St David is the patron saint of the important church of Naas in Kildare, see LBS ii, 295.} wlad ys rhad rannawg,
A’r Dehau ef biau a Phebidiawg;^{23 ⁠Dehau … a Phebidiawg⁠ Pebidiog was a cantref in the north-west extremity of modern-day Pembrokeshire and included the parish of St Davids, see WATU 170. A marginal note in the Annales Cambriae (C-text) states that Rhys ap Tewdwr gave Pebidiog to the bishops of St Davids in 1082; Gerald of Wales confirms ‘that it was the native princes of south Wales who had endowed St Davids with Pebidiog’, see Pryce 2007: 305. On Pebidiog, see further James 2007: 47–56, and especially ibid. 47–8 regarding this line, ‘Gwynfardd Brycheiniog in his Canu Dewi continues that distinction between St Davids’s lordship and overlordship in the world of the twelfth century.’}⁠
35A phobloedd Cymry⁠^{24 ⁠Cymry⁠ The country. This was the usual form in Middle Welsh for both the county and the people, and we must rely on the context to determine the meaning.} a gymer ataw
Ac a rydd yn llaw llwyr Deithïawg^{25 ⁠Teithïawg⁠ An adjective, often used substantively for a king or lord who has legal right to govern, cf. Gwalchmai ap Meilyr’s description of Owain Gwynedd, GMB 8.29 Teithiaỽc ⁠Prydein⁠ ‘the legal ruler of Britain’. The llwyr Deithïawg in whose care St David is placing the Welsh here is God. The poet is referring in ll. 35–6 to St David taking the people of Wales under his wing and placing them under the authority (yn llaw) of God (llwyr Deithïawg) on Judgement Day. He explains in the next couplet that Patrick and his hosts from Ireland will come to stand near David (êl yn erbyn) in a place previously ordained for him (i’r parth nodawg, l. 37). The poet is promoting St David here as the patron saint of the Welsh, equal in status to Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.}⁠
Tra êl yn erbyn, i’r parth nodawg,^{26 ⁠i’r parth nodawg⁠ Nodawg is understood as an adjective from the noun nod ‘target, … aim, objective, purpose, end’, &c. or ‘fame, renown’, &c., see GPC Ar Lein s.v. nod⁠1. This seems to be the only instance of nodawg in this meaning before the 19th century; but llawerawg, l. 46, is also a hapax form. For the meaning, see n25(e). 9 ⁠i’r parth nodawg⁠ LlGC 6680B yr parth nodaỽc; J 111 yrparth uodaỽc. It is frequently difficult, if not impossible, to differentiate between t and c and between n and u in both manuscripts, and previous transcribers have disagreed here: GLlF 26.37 yr parch uodaỽc (following LlGC 6680B, and not noting any variant in J 111), H yr parch nodaỽc, R yr parth uodaỽc. (For the reading adopted here, see n26(e).) If we follow GLlF 26.37 yr parch uodaỽc, we can compare the use of uodaỽc in GMB 3.90 [G]ruffut Gwynet gwylet vodaỽc ‘[G]ruffudd Gwynedd of constant generosity’, ibid. 9.108 Cathyl uodaỽc coed ‘constant his song [in] woods’ (of a bird); cf. Owen 1991–2: 73 (GLlF 456) ‘[… the One] for whom there is perpetual respect’.}⁠
⁠Padrig⁠^{27 ⁠Padrig⁠ The patron saint of Ireland; for the meaning of the couplet, see n25(e). There is no need to follow GLlF 465 where this line is taken to refer to some sort of conflict between Patrick and St David.} a’i luoedd yn lluosawg;
Ac ef a’n gwrthfyn, wrth^{10 ⁠wrth⁠ Omitted in J 111. Unlenited gwrth would strengthen the consonance in the middle of the line.} nad ofnawg,^{28 ⁠wrth nad ofnawg⁠ For the conjunction wrth na, GPC Ar Lein gives ‘because or since … not’; cf. Owen 1991–2: 73 (GLlF 256) ‘since he is not afraid’ where the phrase is understood as a description of St David. However, GPC Ar Lein s.v. wrth 2(c) also gives the preposition wrth the meaning ‘in order to, for (the purpose of)’, &c. and thus wrth nad ofnawg is taken here to refer to St David’s people: ‘so that we will not be frightened’. The couplet refers to St David welcoming his people on Judgement Day, when he will intercede on their behalf.}⁠
40Ar drugaredd Duw, ar Drugarawg.^{11 ⁠Ar drugaredd … ar Drugarawg⁠ J 111 ar trugared … ar trugaraỽc; this manuscript usually shows the mutation of t > d at the beginning of a word, but see n51(t) for other instances where the mutation is not conveyed orthographically.}⁠
A garo Dewi⁠^{29 ⁠A garo⁠ ⁠Dewi⁠ These are the first words of the following five couplets. ⁠Dewi⁠ is taken to be object of the verb in each instance, but he also could be the subject in this line.} da^{30 ⁠da⁠ An adjective modifying ⁠Dewi⁠, with the unmutated form giving alliteration in the middle of the line; cf. l. 45 Dewi diofredawg. Soft mutation in an adjective following a personal name was a tendency and not a rule, see n5(e). Another possibility would be to place a comma after ⁠Dewi⁠, and to take da as a noun, as in GLlF 456, or as an adjective modifying diffreidiawg, as in Owen 1991–2: 73 ‘the good protector’.} diffreidiawg^{12 ⁠diffreidiawg⁠ I follow LlGC 6680B, contrast J 111 diofreidyaỽc (possibly under the influence of l. 45 diofredỽac). Diffreidiawg is understood as an adjective; but if it is taken as a noun ‘defender, protector, guardian’ (GPC Ar Lein s.v.) we could read da ddiffreidiawg ‘good protector’ without impairing the cynghanedd, as there is already alliteration between Dewi and da in the middle of the line.}⁠
A gaho^{13 ⁠A gaho⁠ LlGC 6680B ac gaho; J 111 Ac agaho (emended by John Davies to Ac agaho).} a’i caro fal caradawg;^{31 According to ll. 41–2 the one who loves St David will have him as a friend, to plead on his behalf on Judgement Day (cf. ll. 39–40). Caradawg is taken to be an adjective used as a noun; however, it is suggested in GLlF 465 that this could be a reference to Caradog, a saint who died in 1124 and was buried at St Davids, according to Gerald of Wales: see ibid. for further references.}⁠
A garo Dewi, fal deueiriawg – na fid,
Na chared na llid na lleidr difiawg;
45A garo Dewi diofredawg,^{32 ⁠diofredawg⁠ A variant form of diofrydawg, an adjective from the verb diofryd ‘to renounce or deny on oath’, see GPC Ar Lein; it describes St David who led a life of self-denial.}⁠
Cared efferen lên^{14 ⁠lên⁠ This is the reading suggested by the orthography (len) of the manuscripts. However, as noted in GLlF 466, lên gives an incorrect rhyme between a short and a long syllable (trwm ac ysgafn) in the internal rhyme with efferen (which derives from –nn). However CD 232–3 suggests that this rhyme would have been acceptable in the poetry of the Gogynfeirdd, so there is no need to read len (< llen) here with HG Cref 189. Also the cynghanedd in Gwynfardd Brycheiniog’s poems tends to be rather lax, and it is possible that l- .. l- ( ⁠lên lawerawg⁠) is all that was intended in the way of correspondence here.} lawerawg;
A garo Dewi, da gymydawg,
Cared ymwared ag^{15 ⁠ag⁠ The ac of the manuscripts could be interpreted as the conjunction ‘and’: Cared ymwared ac anghenawg ‘may he love salvation and the needy’.} anghenawg;
A garo Dewi fal difuddiawg – doeth,
50Rhy’i gelwir ef yn goeth,^{16 ⁠yn goeth⁠ LlGC 6680B; contrast J 111 yn doeth. The scribe of J 111 probably copied doeth from the previous line by mistake.} yn gyfoethawg.
Dau ychen^{33 ⁠dau ychen⁠ Numerals were often followed by plural nouns in Middle Welsh (see GMW 47), but ychen may represent an old dual form here (ibid. 33–4). There are a number of traditions about mythical oxen in Llanddewibrefi and the surrounding area, some suggesting that the oxen helped to build the church through their immense strength: see GLlF 466; Payne 1975: 161; TWS 66–7; James 2007: 78–9. The oxen are remembered in the name Cwys yr Ychen Bannog near Llanddewibrefi, discussed in Wmffre 2004: 563, ‘The ychen bannog were reputed oxen of a gigantic size … who created this mountain embankment by the act of ploughing a single furrow-slice’; for further place names referring to oxen in the area, see ibid. However, as pointed out in Sims-Williams 2011: 42, the two oxen to which Gwynfardd Brycheiniog refers can not be identified with any certainty with the mythical Ychen Bannog ‘The Horned Oxen’: ‘Saints often tame and harness wild animals and later folklore is not a reliable key to Gwynfardd’s allusion.’} Dewi, dau odidawg,
Dodysant hwy eu gwar dan gar Cynawg;^{34 ⁠Cynawg⁠ Probably a reference to Cynog the son of Brychan Brycheiniog and Banadlwedd, the daughter of the king of Powys. Cynog is associated with a number of churches in Brycheiniog (including Merthyr Cynog, Llangynog and Ystradgynlais) and also in Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire and Herefordshire, see LBS ii, 265. Poems praising him by Hywel Dafi (CynogHD) and Dafydd Epynt (CynogDE) have survived. No traditions are known that could explain the reference here to ‘Cynog’s cart’, but see TWS 184. Was there once a tale in Brycheiniog that would explain the reference? Or is the poet referring to someone else? Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gerald of Wales both suggested that a certain Bishop Cynog, previously of Llanbadarn, succeeded St David as bishop of St Davids, WCD 182 s.n. Cynog, bishop of Llanbadarn and Mynyw.} ⁠
Dau ychen Dewi, ardderchawg – oeddynt,
Dau garn^{35 ⁠dau garn⁠ This is understood as a reference to the hills or mountainous terrain which the oxen traversed (cf. Cwys yr Ychen Bannog, near Llanddewibrefi, Wmffre 2004: 536); but the poet may be using carn figuratively for the oxen here, see GPC Ar Lein. 17 ⁠Dau⁠ ⁠garn⁠ It is unclear whether the final letter is an n or u in LlGC 6680B and J 111 & both H and R read garn but GLlF 466 has garu. The line is quoted in GPC Ar Lein s.v. carn in the sense ‘hoof; foot’ (feminine and masucline noun). Tentatively garn is accepted here, but ‘mound, rock; heap, pile’, &c. (ibid.) gives better sense, with the poet referring to the oxen crossing two cairns or two mountain tops to take the gifts from Llanddewibrefi to Glasgwm and Brycheiniog. In GLlF 26.54 the reading is emended to dau gâr, following HG Cref 45, and it is noted that an important detail in the story of the two mythical oxen, the Ychen Bannog, was the fact that they were related to each other. However, the emendation is unnecessary.} a gerddynt yn gydbreiniawg^{36 ⁠cydbreiniawg⁠ Cf. the description in Culhwch ac Olwen of the oxen of Gwlwlyd Wineu who were gytbreinawc y eredic y tir dyrys draw ‘yoked together to plough the wild land yonder’, CO3 ll. 589–90.}⁠
55I hebrwng anrheg yn rhedegawg
I Lasgwm,^{37 ⁠Glasgwm⁠ Cf. n74(e). This was St David’s main church in the cantref of Elfael, which was ruled by the princes of Powys until the late 12th century when it was taken by William de Braose, see James 2007: 80. Rhygyfarch names Glasgwm as one of the nine churches founded by St David, see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 120, 121; Evans 2007: 303. Lewys Glyn Cothi also noted the importance of Glasgwm in a poem asking for St David’s protection for Elfael: DewiLGC2 ll. 33–6 Gwnaethost ddau o blasau blwm, / Angel esgob, yng Nglasgwm, / Esgopty i Gymru a’i gwŷr, / Ac i Dduw a gweddïwyr ‘You made two palaces of lead, / [you, who are] an angel and a bishop, in Glasgwm, / a bishop’s house for Wales and her men, / and for God and for those who pray.’ Glasgwm was famous for its special relic, a bell named Bangu (n38(e)), which was taken there by two oxen, according to these lines.} nid oedd trwm tri urddasawg:^{18 ⁠urddasawg⁠ Cf. LlGC 6680B urtassaỽc, contrast J 111 urdassaỽt, whose final t is completely clear, even though -aỽc is needed for the end rhyme. It is likely that c a t were very similar in the source; cf. J 111 uodaỽt for LlGC 6680B uodaỽc in l. 62.}⁠
Edewid Bangu, gu gadwynawg,^{38 ⁠Bangu … gadwynawg⁠ Gerald of Wales noted in the account of his journey through Wales: ‘… in the church of Glasgwm, is a portable bell, endowed with great virtues, called Bangu, and said to have belonged to Saint David’, Dent 1912: 16. Gerald does not mention whether the bell had a chain attached to it (cadwynawg), but he does refer to an occasion when a woman took the bell and hung it (?by a chain) on the prison wall in Rhaeadr Gwy castle where her husband was kept prisoner, hoping that the bell would liberate him, see ibid. According to Rhygyfarch, the patriarch of Jerusalem gave St David four gifts, one of them being a bell that was famous for its miracles, but he does not name the bell, see n114(e). For the bells associated with Cadog and Illtud, and early ecclesiastical bells which have survived, see Knight 2013: 88. 19 ⁠gadwynawg⁠ J 111 garỽynnaỽc can be rejected as the bell Bangu was probably chained (cadwynawg) to the wall in the church; see n38(e).}⁠
A’r ddau eraill^{39 ⁠dau eraill⁠ St David received four gifts from the patriarch in Jerusalem: if the bell went to Glasgwm (n38(e)), and the altar went to Llangyfelach (n114(e)), was it the crozier and the tunic that went to Brycheiniog? (Note that anrheg could be a feminine and masculine noun, see GPC Ar Lein.)} fraisg i Frycheiniawg.
Ban ddêl ofn arnam, ni rhybyddwn ofnawg,^{40 ⁠ofnawg⁠ This adjective has a dual meaning: ‘fearful, afraid’ on the one hand, and ‘terrifying, frightful’ on the other, see GPC Ar Lein. The first is given in the translation, but without certainty as the context is unclear. 20 ⁠Ban ddêl ofn arnam, ni rhybyddwn ofnawg⁠ This line has twelve syllables in both manuscript versions (LlGC 6680B Ban del gofyn arnam ny ry bytỽn ofnaỽc; J 111 Bandel gouyn arnam ni rybydỽn ofynaỽc), instead of the standard nine syllables, or even 10 syllables as Gwynfardd Brycheiniog often has in his lines of cyhydedd naw ban. This poet is certainly not known for the consistency of his line lengths (in contrast, say, to Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr), but twelve instead of nine syllables seems to be unusual even for him; therefore I accept the suggestion in G 547 s.v. gofyn to emend gofyn > of(y)n, which also gives cynghanedd lusg. Another syllable could be saved by following GLlF 26.59 and taking ni to be the affixed pronoun which is often discounted in the metre; however, the negative ni gives better sense here. For the use of affixed pronouns in the poetry of the Poets of the Princes, and whether they should be counted in the line-length or not, see Andrews 1989: 13–29.}⁠
60Rhag gormes cedeirn^{21 ⁠cedeirn⁠ LlGC 6680B kedeirn; J 111 ketyrn. Both plural forms are given in GPC Ar Lein.} cad Dybrunawg,^{41 ⁠cad Dybrunawg⁠ Or possibly cad ⁠Ddybrunawg⁠, depending on whether the non-mutated form is ⁠Dybrunawg⁠ or ⁠Tybrunawg⁠ (there was usually mutation in a proper noun following the feminine noun cad, cf. GMB 3.129 Cad ⁠Geredigiaỽn ‘the battle of Ceredigion’). Haycock 2013: 57–9 discusses the form kattybrudaỽt in the prophetic poem ‘Glaswawd Taliesin’ in the Book of Taliesin (T 31.37), and suggests emending it to kattybrunawc, and that its second element, ⁠Tybrunawg⁠, is to be associated with the name Brunanburh (cf. ryfel brun in Brut y Tywysogion, see Jones 1955: 12), the location of a battle in which Aethelstan was victorious in 937. Haycock 2013: 58, suggests that ‘the decisive encounter at Brunanburh became virtually a term for a major battle’. Further on that battle, see Breeze 1999: 479–82; Bollard and Haycock 2011: 245–268.}⁠
Ar Dduw a Dewi, dau niferawg,
Yd alwn,^{22 ⁠Yd⁠ ⁠alwn⁠ LlGC 6680B yd gallỽn; J 111 yt gallỽn, with both manuscripts favouring the preverbal particle ‘yd’, used before a consonant and causing soft mutation, GMW 171–2. There is no suitable verb with the stem call-, therefore the reading must be emended either to yd alwn or y galwn. As both manuscripts sometimes fail to show soft mutation (cf. n11(t)), I read yd alwn with HG Cref 189 and GLlF 26.62. As regards the -ll- in the manuscript forms, G 520 suggests this may be an instance of ll = l⁠.⁠l, as is often found in the spelling of callon ‘calon’.} bresen breswyl fodawg.^{42 ⁠presen breswyl fodawg⁠ A difficult phrase, cf. GMB 9.108 Cathyl uodaỽc coed ‘constant [his] song [in] woods’ (of a bird). Here breswyl fodawg (‘the constant and steadfast one’) is taken nominally for St David, the combination depending on the noun presen (‘this world’). For preswyl ‘inhabited, occupied’, &c., see GPC Ar Lein. 23 ⁠bresen breswyl fodawg⁠⁠ LlGC 6680B bressen bresswil vodaỽc; J 111 pressen p’ssỽyl uodaỽt. If both texts are copies of a common exemplar, did that text have the unlenited forms in p- and did the scribe of LlGC 6680B lenite them, according to his understanding of the meaning? For a further example of -t as an error for -c in J 111, see n18(t) on urddasawg (J 111 urdassaỽt).}⁠

III
Breiniawl fyth fyddaf ban ddelwyf – yno,^{24 ⁠yno⁠ LlGC 6680B eno; J 111⁠ eno. I follow GPC Ar Lein which lists the word as an orthographical variant of yno⁠1. For e = /ǝ/, cf. n31(t).}⁠
Ni bydd yn eu bro a bryderwyf.
65Gwelaf-i^{25 ⁠Gwelaf-i⁠ The line is too long if the affixed pronoun is counted in the metre. For the use of affixed pronouns in the Poetry of the Princes, and the question of whether they should be included in the metre / syllable count, see Andrews 1989: 13–29. By discounting the pronoun here, the last syllable of effeiriaid falls regularly in the middle of the line (on the fifth syllable). For further instances of the affixed pronoun in this poem, see ll. 67, 69, 71, 74, 133 (2), 154, 197: discounting the pronoun from the syllable count makes each of the lines more regular in its length. It is interesting that the author of Gramadeg Gwysanau (c. 1375) seemed to look upon these pronouns as a feature of orthography, see Parry Owen 2010: 26 (note on l. 57 karaue eos).} effeiriaid, coethaid cannwyf,^{43 ⁠cannwyf⁠ This is taken as first person singular present indicative of canfod following the first suggestion in G 104; thus Gwelaf i effeiriaid and coethaid cannwyf are two equivalent phrases. For the syntax of coethaid cannwyf, object + verb (without a relative pronoun and without soft mutation), cf. GLlF 1.83 gwyrthyeu goleu gwelhator ‘manifest miracles are seen’, and see GMW 181(e). However, G 104 prefers to take cannwyf as a compound and lists it tentatively, ibid. 107, as a noun ‘liveliness, vigour’, &c.; cf. GGDT 4.69 gwir gannwyf ‘true vigour’. Cannwyf is not listed in GPC Ar Lein; however, if valid, the form could be compared with cannerth ‘support’ (can + nerth). In Owen 1991–2: 74 (GLlF 457) cannwyf is understood as an adjective meaning ‘lively’.} ⁠
Canaf eu moliant men y delwyf;
Gwelaf-i wir yn llwyr^{44 ⁠gwelaf-i wir yn llwyr⁠ Although yn llwyr could be an adverb modifying gwelaf (cf. n50(e)), it is taken here as a predicate, modifying gwir. The poet is praising the church’s absolute legal authority in this couplet – the authority that gives its men security. However, he may also be describing the strict nature of religious life within the church, cf. Owen 1991–2: 74 ‘I shall see true order’.} a llewenydd mawr
A llên^{26 ⁠A llên⁠ J 111 achlen; John Davies has deleted the c.} uch allawr heb allu clwyf.^{45 ⁠heb allu clwyf⁠ Owen 1991–2: 74 gives ‘unable to wound’; but gallu, like deall(u), can mean ‘to take’ (gw. GPC Ar Lein), and gallu clwyf is thus understood as ‘to receive / suffer an injury’.}⁠
Gwelais-i am ucher, uchel eu rhwyf,
70Gwragedd,^{27 ⁠Gwragedd⁠ LlGC 6680B A gỽraget; J 111 a gỽraged. The conjunction a is rather unnecessary for the meaning as there is no connective noun preceding it.} rhianedd, rhai a garwyf;
Gwelais-i glas^{46 ⁠clas⁠ A reference to the religious family in St David’s church at Llanddewibrefi, which was an old clas church before becoming a collegiate church by 1287; see Williams 1976: 17–18.} ac urddas, urddedig haelon,
Ymhlith dedwyddion doethon dothwyf.
Ym mhlwyf^{28 ⁠Ym mhlwyf⁠ LlGC 6680B ym blwyf, but this is not scribe alpha’s usual method of denoting the nasal mutation of p- following the preposition yn: contrast l. 72 ymhlith (ms. ymplith). Does this cast light on the orthography of his exemplar?} Llan Ddewi,^{47 ⁠Llan Ddewi⁠ St David’s church in Llanddewibrefi. However, this is the only reference in this poem to the church as Llanddewi rather than Brefi: see n21(e) where the use of Mynyw rather than Tyddewi for St Davids is also mentioned. Or is Gwynfardd Brycheiniog referring to a church in Brycheiniog in this couplet (see the Introduction; Lloyd-Jones 1948: 182 and n73(e))?} lle a folwyf,
Yd gaffwyf-i^{48 ⁠caffwyf⁠ First person singular present subjunctive of the verb caffael, with the present subjunctive conveying a wish or command here, see GMW 113 and cf. l. 76 dihangwyf and l. 78 diwycwyf. 29 ⁠Yd gaffwyf-i⁠ LlGC 6680B yd gaffawyfy; J 111 yt gaffỽyf y. J 111 is followed here, as caff-, not caffa-, is the verbal stem of cael, caffael (cf. G 94 – where it is suggested that the second a in gaffawyf is deleted – contrast GLlF 26.74 where LlGC 6680B is followed, without an explanation for the form). If the affixed pronoun is nonsyllabic, then the line is short of a syllable (see n25(t)).} barch, cyn nys archwyf.
75Ac o blaid Dofydd diheufardd wyf,
Ac ar^{30 ⁠Ac ar⁠ J 111 ac nar (possibly uar), John Davies having deleted the n.} nawdd Dewi y dihangwyf:^{49 ⁠ar nawdd Dewi y dihangwyf⁠ Ar is understood as the preposition ‘to’, see GMW 187. Ar nawdd could also be interpreted as an adverbial phrase ‘under the patronage’ (see ibid. 184 for ar ‘in various expressions which denote manner or condition’, and cf. ar fyrder, ar gam, ar helw, &c.). For dianc, taken here to mean ‘come safely (through perils)’, see GPC Ar Lein.}⁠
A ddigonais i o gam, o gynghlwyf – difri,
I Dduw a Dewi y diwycwyf.
Canys dichawn Dewi nis dichonwyf,
80Gwnaed eirioled ym am a archwyf.

IV
Archaf reg yn deg,^{50 ⁠yn deg⁠ An adverbial phrase (but see n44(e)). The poet is referring to the excellence of his poetry, but ‘fair, equitable, impartial, just, right, reasonable; ?obedient’ could also be possible for teg, see GPC Ar Lein.} a digerydd – wyf,
I erchi i’m rhwyf rhwydd gerennydd:^{51 The poets would frequently ask God for the ability to sing a poem so that they could do their patrons justice: cf. GCBM i, 7.1–4 Kyuarchaf y’m Ri rad wobeith, / Kyuarchaf, kyuercheis ganweith, / Y broui prydu o’m prifyeith – eurgert / Y’m arglwyt gedymdeith ‘I ask my Lord for the confidence of His blessing, / I ask, I have asked a hundred times, / so that I may compose an excellent poem in my best language / to my lord and companion.’ The ‘gift’ that Gwynfardd Brycheiniog desires is inspiration to sing a poem firstly to God (l. 83 gysefin) and then to St David.}⁠
I Dduw gysefin,^{31 ⁠gysefin⁠ LlGC 6680B gessefin; J 111 gysseuin. The form gessefin probably has e for /ǝ/ in the initial syllable, cf. n24(t) on yno (mss. eno) and n32(t).} Dewin Dofydd,^{52 ⁠Dewin Dofydd⁠ A compound where two nouns of equal status are placed next to each other, neither modifying the other, and therefore with no mutation in the second noun, TC 125. Lines 83 and 84 both have the same end rhyme (Dofydd), which is very unusual; is it acceptable here because it is God who is named twice?}⁠
Ac i Ddewi wyn wedy Dofydd.
85⁠Dewi mawr Mynyw,^{53 ⁠Mynyw⁠ The usual name for St Davids in this period; the Latin name Menevia derived from an earlier form of the word which was cognate with the Irish muine ‘thicket’ (DPNW: 431–2) or else it could be a borrowing from the Irish (Sharpe 2007: 99).} syw sywedydd,^{54 ⁠sywedydd⁠ It is translated ‘teacher’, but the following meanings given in GPC Ar Lein could also be possible, ‘seer, soothsayer, prognosticator; wizard; wise or learned man or poet’ (the poet may be referring to the saint’s supernatural wisdom).}⁠
A Dewi Brefi⁠^{55 ⁠Dewi Brefi⁠ Cf. Dewi … Mynyw in the previous line.} ger ei broydd;
A Dewi biau balchlan Gyfelach⁠^{56 ⁠balchlan⁠ ⁠Gyfelach⁠ Llangyfelach, the main church of Gŵyr (Gower), located in the centre between Gŵyr Is Coed and Gŵyr Uwch Coed: ‘This was undoubtedly the mother church in the eleventh and twelfth centuries at least’, James 2007: 70. Gŵyr seems to have became part of the bishopric of St Davids fairly recent in its history: ibid. 70, ‘It is hard to escape the conclusion that its acquisition by St Davids was late’. Is this when the church was dedicated to St David in addition to Cyfelach? Hardly anything is known of Cyfelach, and it is not certain whether he was a saint or a lay patron, see ibid. 71; LBS ii, 215–16; WCD 161. According to Ieuan ap Rhydderch, St David was at Llangyfelach when an angel visited him and instructed him to go to Jerusalem (see n14(e)), and it was there, according to⁠Rhygyfarch, that St David laterreceived a gift from the patriarch of Jerusalem, probably an altar, see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 120, 121 and especially 140, 141 deinde monasterium in loco, qui dicitur Langemelach, fundauit in regione Guhir, in quo postea altare missum accepit ‘then he founded a monastery in the place called Llangyfelach, in the region of Gower, in which he later received the altar sent to him’. The present church building is of a much later date, but the medieval tower (now standing apart from the church building) and an old stone cross in the churchyard confirm that the site is an ancient one: see Coflein s.n. St David and Cyfelach’s church pillar cross, Llangyfelach and Tower of St David and Cyfelachs Church, Llangyfelach. 32 ⁠Gyfelach⁠ LlGC 6680B gefelach; J 111 gyuelach; for gefelach in LlGC 6680B, cf. possibly n31(t).}⁠
Lle mae morach a mawr grefydd;
A Dewi biau bangeibr^{57 ⁠bangeibr⁠ Cf. l. 91 bangeibr Henllan and see n58(e).} ysydd
90⁠Meiddrym⁠^{58 ⁠Meiddrym⁠ Now Meidrim, a church dedicated to St David and a parish in cwmwd Ystlwyf, Cantref Gwarthaf, west Carmarthenshire, see WATU 154; Evans 1993. The name contains the elements meidd ‘middle’ + drum / trum ‘ridge’, see Williams 1921–3: 38. Evans 1993: 14 notes that the value of the church in the 1291 Taxatio suggests that Meidrim was the mother church of the cwmwd; cf. James 2007: 65, ‘it is evident (not least from the large size of its parish and a small detached portion) that Meidrim was the major church of this commote. It is dedicated to St David and is sited on a spur above a bridging point of the River Dewi Fawr’. The church seems to have been built on the site of a prehistoric fort, and Gwynfardd Brycheiniog may have beenaware of this, as he describes the churchyard as a ‘graveyard for multitudes’ (mynwent i luosydd): ‘The latter epithet seems probably to refer to the graveyard’s status as a sanctuary or noddfa although the enclosure is small. It is possible that there may have been some knowledge of the fortified nature of the enclosure’, James 2007: 65. The poet may also be referring to the fact that the cemetery at Meidrim was used by armies as a sanctuary in times of war, see Pryce 1993: 174n58. Regarding the description of the church as a bangeibr, l. 89, the term used also of Henllan church in l. 91, Evans 1993: 14 notes, ‘Bangeibr, appears to mean “high” or “great” church, perhaps in terms of a steeply pitched roof’, and he further suggests that the word implies a wooden building (containing the element ceibr ‘rafter’ (of wood), see GPC Ar Lein). There are two further relevant references to Meidrim (with the place-name having been corrupted), one in De Situ Brecheniauc and the other in St David’s Life, see Evans 1993: 20. 33 ⁠Meiddrym⁠ LlGC 6680B ⁠Meitrym; J 111 meidrym. Meiddrym is the form suggested by both manuscripts’ orthography: cf. GPC Ar Lein s.v. trum where trum and drum (the second element of the name) are given as unmutated forms.} le a’i mynwent i luosydd;
A Bangor esgor^{59 ⁠Bangor esgor⁠ Bangor Teifi in the cwmwd of Gwynionydd, Ceredigion. For esgor, a variant form of ysgor ‘fortress, stronghold, defence’, see GPC Ar Lein s.v. esgor⁠2, ysgor⁠3; it could refer here to the building, or figuratively to the church’s refuge and sanctuary. In ll. 91, 93 the poet names three of St David’s churches on the banks of the river Teifi: Bangor Teifi, Henllan and Maenordeifi. The present church at Bangor Teifi is of a later date: see James 2007: 61, and Coflein under St Davids Church, Bangor Teifi, ‘It was rebuilt in 1812 on the same site, but possibly not in the same location as the medieval church, and retaining nothing from the earlier fabric. This church was substantially rebuilt in 1855, and then entirely rebuilt in 1930–32.’} a bangeibr Henllan⁠^{60 ⁠bangeibr Henllan⁠ A church dedicated to St David, two miles east of Bangor Teifi, see n59(e), and on the northern bank of the river Teifi, in Ceredigion. The name suggests a place of some antiquity (Henllan = ‘old church’), however, the present church building is fairly modern, even though the cemetery itself is old, see Coflein under St Davids Church, Henllan. The description of the church as bangeibr suggests a substantial edifice of timber, see n58(e). The place should doubtless be associated with Linhenlann ‘Llyn Henllan’, where Sant, St David’s father, received three gifts according to the Latin vita, namely a stag, a fish and a swarm of bees, see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 108, 109.} ⁠
Ysydd i’r clodfan, i’r clyd ei wŷdd;^{34 ⁠i’r clyd ei wŷdd⁠ LlGC 6680B yr clyd ywyt; J 111 yrclytywyd; Owen 1991–2: 74 ‘the one of the sheltering trees’ (GLlF 26.92 clyt y wyt ‘un cysgodol ei goed’), taking the adjective clyd substantively for David; cf. the first suggestion in G 152 ‘clydwr ei goed’, i.e. ‘the shelter of his trees’. Possible also is G’s second suggestion to take ywydd as ‘yew trees’; cf. GPC Ar Lein where the form is listed tentatively as the double plural form of yw⁠2 (on the pattern of coed: coedydd, cf. l. 96); the only instance of ywydd comes from William Owen-Pughe’s dictionary, P s.v., where this line by Gwynfardd Brycheiniog is quoted. This would give us: ‘to the one of the sheltering yew trees’.}⁠
A Maenawrdeifi⁠^{61 ⁠Maenawrdeifi⁠ The third church dedicated to St David on the banks of the river Teifi (cf. n59(e), n60(e) on Bangor and Henllan), this one being in the cwmwd of Emlyn Is-Cuch, Pembrokeshire, see WATU 149. Today Maenordeifi is situated on the southern bank of the river, but the course of the river may have changed (was Maenordeifi previously in Ceredigion?), and as James 2007: 61) suggests, ‘Maenordeifi has consequently lost its twelfth-century meadows, referred to by Gwynfardd Brycheiniog’. Also, as suggested ibid. 60, the name Maenordeifi seems to imply that it was once part of an estate; however, no evidence has survived to directly link it with an episcopal estate associated with St Davids.} diorfynydd
Ac Abergwyli⁠^{62 ⁠Abergwyli⁠ A parish church dedicated to St David; the present-day church is modern, see Coflein under St David’s Church, Abergwili. For Abergwili’s connection with St Davids in the Middle Ages, see Pryce 2007: 315. Both Gwyli and Gwili are attested early (see ArchifMR), and it is suggested in DPNW: 8 that the main element is gŵyl ‘kind, generous’ with the river name suffix -i; the manuscripts’ spelling, therefore, is retained in the edited text.} biau gwylwlydd^{63 ⁠gwylwlydd⁠ Cf. G 737 and GPC Ar Lein, where it is understood as a compound adjective used as a noun (although we would perhaps expect the definite article); the poet is referring to St David, the patron saint of Abergwili church. No other instances of gwylwlydd have been found, except as a personal name in a triad in Pen 16: Teir phryf ychen … gỽineu ych gwylwylyd, gw. Bromwich 1946–8: 15.}⁠
95A Henfynyw⁠^{35 ⁠Henfynyw⁠⁠ LlGC 6680B henfyniw; J 111 hen vynyỽ. The scribe of LlGC 6680B usually has yw/-yỽ in Henfynyw a Mynyw, however, he also has instances of iw/-iỽ, cf. ll. 209, 219, 226, 230, 241; J 111’s scribe consistently has -yw/-yỽ. This may be an orthographical variation; however, the raising of y to i before w is fairly common.} deg o du glennydd – Aeron,
Hyfaes ei meillion, hyfes^{64 ⁠hyfes⁠ This is the only early instance of the word given in GPC Ar Lein; but for its meaning, cf. ibid. s.v. mesyryd ‘(abundance of) mast’. Acorns were a valuable source of income, as pigs could be allowed to feed on them for a fee: see OED s.v. pannage. 36 ⁠hyfes⁠ J 111 hyfues, with the u deleted by John Davies. fu = ‘f’ is found at times in J 111 as well as in a few other early manuscripts, e.g. BL Cotton Cleo B v. i, 10v, l. 9 cafuas, 66r, l. 11 hafuren.} goedydd;
⁠Llannarth,^{65 ⁠Llannarth⁠ A parish church dedicated to David and Meilig in the cwmwd of Caerwedros in Is Aeron, Ceredigion; on the name, see Wmffre 2004: 372, ‘Llannarth means ‘llan of the garth’ (or even possibly ‘the garth of the llan’ if it is an inverse construction), the garth being the high ground jutting up above the streams Llethi and Iwffratus.’ It seems that Meilig wasthe original patron saint of the church (Meilig possibly being a variant form of Maelog, see James 2007: 77), and it is not known when the secondary dedication to St David was made. It is likely that Llannarth was an important church, a mother church, and James, ibid., suggests an early association with Llanddewibrefi. See also LBS ii, 405.} Llanadnau,^{66 ⁠Llanadnau⁠ GLlF 26.9 and Owen 1991–2: 74 take this to be a reference to an unknown place-name; see further GLlF 468–9 where it is suggested that the name corresponds to the Depositi Monasterium of the Latin vita, noting that Wade-Evans 1923: 60 associates it with Llanfeugan in Brycheiniog, a church also dedicated to St David: Sharpe and Davies 2007: 108, 109 ad Maucanni monasterium, quod nunc usque ⁠Depositi Monasterium⁠⁠ uocatur ‘to the monastery of Meugan … To this day it is called the Monastery of the Deposit’. J.E. Lloyd believed that Llanadnau was a variant form of Llanarthnau/Llanarthne, which occurs in the form lan hardneu in the Book of Llandaf, see HW3⁠ 158n165. The church at Llanarthnau is dedicated to St David; on the church, see Lloyd &c. 2006: 233. However, the transformation of Llanadnau > Llanarthnau or vice versa is not very clear, and as there is no evidence for Llanadnau as a place-name, adnau should perhaps be taken as a common noun, following G 8 (cf. GPC Ar Lein which give amongst its meanings ‘burial, grave’ or ‘?refuge, resting-place’).} llannau llywydd,
⁠Llangadawg,^{67 ⁠Llangadawg⁠ Possibly Llangadog (Fawr) in Cwmwd Perfedd in Cantref Bychan, Ystrad Tywi, see WATU 125. This was an important church, situated on the Sarn Hir, an old roadway which connected Brycheiniog and western Wales, see James 2007: 69 ‘From Llangadog … the ancient route known as Sarn Hir, crosses Mynydd Talsarn and Mynydd Wysg across the headwaters of the River Usk to descend into the Usk valley and the ancient kingdom of Brycheiniog’. This may be significant here, as the poet names Llangadog between the churches of Carmarthenshire / Ceredigion (ll. 90–7) and those of Brycheiniog (ll. 99–102). However, the association of the church with St David is very obscure, and apart from the reference in this poem, LBS ii, 316 gives no other source to support the dedication to him; see Coflein under St Cadog’s Church, Llangadog. Also James 2007: 69 notes that Cantref Bychan was claimed by Llandaf, not St Davids, in the 12th century. We cannot be sure either whether it is the name of Saint Cadog that is commemorated in the name, rather than that of a secular patron. (However, the ending -og is usually associated with saints’ names, cf. ⁠Teyrnog⁠, ⁠Cynog⁠, &c., and see Russell 2001: 237–49.)Another possibility is that the poet is referring here to the church of Llangadog near Cydweli. The mother church of that cwmwd seems to have been located near Cydweli: James 2007: 69, ‘This may have been at Llangadog, close to the Norman borough and Priory church of St Mary, where the place-name Sanctuary Bank also suggests an important church site.’ For the distribution of churches dedicated to Cadog in Wales, see Bowen 1956: 39–40.⁠} lle breiniawg rhannawg rihydd.
Nis arfaidd rhyfel Llan-faes,^{68 ⁠Llan-faes⁠ Written as two words in the manuscripts, suggesting an accented final syllable. This is a reference to St David’s church at Llan-faes near Brecon. The present church dates from the end of the Middle Ages, but it is likely to have replaced an older church, and a nearby well, Ffynnon Dewi, confirms the site’s association with St David. See James 2007: 46, 72.} lle uchel,
100Na’r llan yn Llywel⁠^{69 ⁠Llywel⁠ A church and parish in Defynnog in Cantref Mawr, Brycheiniog, see WATU 147. Nothing is known about Llywel, the church’s patron saint: was he the same saint as remembered in the place-name Lanlouel in Finistère, Brittany? See LBS iii, 387. In 1229 the church was described as ‘the church of the three saints of Llywel’, namely Llywel, Teilo and David, and it was also known as Llantrisant ‘the church of the three saints’, see James 2007: 72; LBS ii, 317, iii, 387. Further on the church, see James 2007: 72, ‘Llywel’s medieval parish was very large, divided into sub-divisions suggesting a territorial unit possibly once a cymwd (sic). Llywel is thus a good candidate for a pre-Conquest mother church’; also Coflein under St Davids Church; St Teilo’s Church, Llywel or Llantrisant. In his ‘The Journey Through Wales’, Gerald of Wales explains that Llywel church was completely burned to the ground by enemies in his day, see Dent 1912: 16–17.} gan neb lluydd;
⁠Garthbryngi,^{70 ⁠Garthbryngi⁠ Garthbrengi, a church and parish on the eastern side of the river Honddu in the cwmwd of Pengelli, Cantref Selyf, Brycheiniog, see WATU 73. The church there is dedicated to St David, see Coflein under Church of St David, Garthbrengy, where the church is dated to the 12th century. It is located on a hill, and bryn Dewi ‘David’s hill’ is taken here to be a description of its location.} bryn Dewi digewilydd,
A Thrallwng Cynfyn⁠^{71 ⁠Trallwng Cynfyn⁠ A church dedicated to St David in Merthyr Cynog, Cantref Selyf, Brycheiniog, 8km west of Brecon, see WATU 204. James 2007: 72 notes, ‘Trallong, one of the three chapels of Llywel, was a valuable part of the medieval bishops’ Breconshire estates’. The poet’s description of the church cer ei dolydd ‘near its meadows’ draws attention to an important aspect of its wealth, cf. ibid. 73, ‘The importance of meadows for hay and also for rich grazing for fattening cattle cannot be overstressed – meadows attached to David’s churches are a constant item of praise for Gwynfardd in his Canu Dewi’.} cer ei dolydd;^{72 In ll. 99–102 the poet names a cluster of churches in the upper Usk valley in Brycheiniog: Llan-faes, Llywel, Garthbryngi and Trallwng Cynfyn. Llanddewi, l. 103, is possibly a fifth, see the following note.} ⁠
A Llanddewi y crwys,^{73 ⁠Llanddewi y crwys⁠ This is identified in GLlF 469, following CTC 264, with Llan-crwys or Llan-y-crwys in Cwmwd Caeo, Ystrad Tywi, a parish bordering on that of Llanddewibrefi, see WATU 112, 142; but as noted in James 2007: 46, 67, ‘There is no indication that St Davids gained much here other than a dedication at, perhaps, a new stone church [llogawd newyt]’. No reference has been found to Llan-y-crwys in the form Llanddewi y crwys (cf. ArchifMR). Also, we would not expect the poet to name a church in west Wales here, as he seems to be naming churches according to their geographical location in this caniad. In ll. 99–102 he names churches in the vicinity of Brecon (Llan-faes, Llywel, Garthbryngi and Trallwng Cynfyn); in ll. 104 and 106 he names a further two in Elfael (Glasgwm and Cregrina) and then in l. 107 a further church in Maelienydd (Ystradenni). We would, therefore, expect to locate Llanddewi y crwys (l. 103) either near Brecon or in Elfael. If so, then CPAT, under Llanddewi Fach, may possibly be right in identifying it with Llanddewi Fach in Elfael Is Mynydd, but admitting that ‘The significance of the “cross” element is not clear.’ Crwys could be a singular or plural noun, ‘cross(es)’, and is not necessarily part of the place-name (cf. GPC Ar Lein where this instance is listed under the plural meaning ‘crosses; crucifixes’). Could crwys refer here to a cross or crosses of note in the church or churchyard? Or is it more likely that this is a reference to the old clas church of Llan-ddew near Brecon, a church originally dedicated to God but later dedicated also to St David (the additional dedication possibly dating from the 12th century)? (See Coflein under St David’s Church, Llanddew.) We would certainly expect Gwynfardd to have included Llan-ddew in his list, as it was an important church where Gerald of Wales resided as archdeacon of Brycheiniog; the supposed lack of reference to Llan-ddew led James 2007: 71–2) to suggest ‘that Llanddew may have been a late – even post-Conquest – addition to David’s patrimony.’ It is possible that the original reading here was actually Lland(d)dew y crwys, but that the exemplar’s scribe had taken dew y to be an error for dewi y, supposing that it was St David’s name that should follow Llan (this being a poem to him). Note also, that if Llanddew y crwys is indeed the correct reading, then the line would contain the correct number of syllables (although, as we’ve seen, many of Gwynfardd’s lines are too long, so it is not safe to emend the text on the basis of line length). Llan-ddew is a cruciform church; is it possible, therefore, that crwys refers to its shape? Or does it perhaps refer to a notable cross within the church? Cf. Redknap and Lewis 2007: 179–80 for a cross-carved stone that might once have been part of an altar frontal at the church. (I am grateful to Heather James for her assistance with this note.)} llogawd newydd,
A Glasgwm⁠^{74 ⁠Glasgwm⁠ The foremost church of Elfael, see n37(e); further on its location near Glasgwm hill (ger glas fynydd ‘near a verdant mountain’, l. 104), see CPAT under Glascwm.} a’i eglwys^{37 ⁠a’i eglwys⁠ LlGC 6680B ae glwys; J 111 ae eglỽys – one of the few instances where J 111 has a better reading than LlGC 6680B.} ger glas fynydd,
105Gwyddelfod aruchel, nawdd ni echwydd,
⁠Craig Fruna⁠^{75 ⁠Craig Fruna⁠ A parish church dedicated to St David, now known as Cregrina, in Elfael Uwch Mynydd, see WATU 49. Cregrina, like Glasgwm, was an important church in Elfael, located on the banks of the river Edwy beside a significant hill (teg ei mynydd ‘beautiful its mountain’, l. 106). See further James 2007: 80; Coflein under St David’s Church, Cregrina, ‘Small 13th century church extensively restored in 1903 …’ The place-name is explained in DPNW: 100 as containing the elements craig ‘rock’ (or possibly crug ‘tumult, mound’) and an unknown personal name, Muruna. Lewys Glyn Cothi has the form Crugruna in a poem petitioning David’spatronage for⁠Elfael, DewiLGC2 ll. 51–2 Nertha Elfael dda ddwyoes, / nodda Grugruna â’th groes ‘Give strength to Elfael for two good lifetimes, / Give your patronage to Cregrina with your cross’. Craig(f)uruna / Crug(f)runa > Crugruna seems possible. For early forms of the name, see ArchifMR s.v. Cregrina and see further John Rhys’s comprehensive note in RCAHM(Rad) 39.} deg^{38 ⁠Craig Fruna deg⁠ LlGC 6680B kreic vuruna dec; J 111 kreic ur⁠⁠⁠u⁠⁠⁠na dec, with a u added after the r by John Davies, as a result of comparing his text with that of LlGC 6680B. The line as it stands in LlGC 6680B is two syllables too long. Considering the later forms of the name (Cregrina, &c., see n75(e)), the first u in LlGC 6680B⁠ vuruna could be an epenthetic vowel, and the form intended is likely to have been Craig Fruna. The adjective dec following the name must be suspect, as it occurs twice in the line: was the original reading Craig Fruna yma, teg [>deg?] ei mynydd (which would give a regular line of cyhydedd nawban dividing into 5:4 syllables)?} yma, teg ei mynydd
Ac Ystrad Nynnid⁠^{76 ⁠Ystrad Nynnid⁠ Llanddewi Ystradenni, or simply Ystradenni today, in cantref Maelienydd, see WATU 112; DPNW: 226. Nynnid derives from the Latin Nonnita, and it is unclear whether this is a form of the name of Non, St David’s mother (see EANC 173) or, rather, the name of some other, unknown person. St David’s church in Ystradenni is located on the eastern bank of the river Ithon; the present church is a modern building, see CPAT under Church of St David, Llanddewi Ystradenni.} a’i rhydid^{39 ⁠rhydid⁠ LlGC 6680B rydid (= ‘rhydid’); J 111 rydit (= ‘rhydid’ or ‘rhyddid’): for the variant forms, see GPC Ar Lein s.v. rhyddid, rhydd-did, rhydid, rhydyd.} rhydd.
Rhoddes Duw Dofydd defnydd – o’i^{77 ⁠o’i⁠ A variant form of i’w ‘to his’, see GMW 53.} foli:
⁠Dewi ar Frefi fryn llewenydd,^{40 ⁠Dewi ar Frefi fryn llewenydd⁠ LlGC 6680B Dew ar ureui urȳn llewenyt; J 111 dewi ureui vrenhin llewenyd. Apart from the fact that scribe alpha has not included the -i at the end of the saint’s name in LlGC 6680B, both readings give good sense, but l. 110 proves that the poet is referring to the land rising under David’s feet in Llanddewibrefi here, so we should therefore follow LlGC 6680B.}⁠
110Rhagor mawr uch llawr rhag lluosydd,
Pen argynnan coned cred a bedydd;^{78 ⁠cred a bedydd⁠ This could also refer to Christendom or Christianity in a more general sense, see GPC Ar Lein s.v. cred a bedydd.}⁠
A bod o’i gylchyn, cylch ei feysydd,
Haelon a thirion^{79 ⁠tirion⁠ It is defined in GPC Ar Lein as a plural or singular masculine noun, ‘?lands; territory, plain, grassland’; cf. l. 143.} a theg drefydd
A gwerin a gwin a gwirodydd
115A gorfod a gwared lliwed llonydd.
Llwyth Daniel⁠^{80 ⁠llwyth Daniel⁠ Cf. n42(t) on Llwyth Maried. It is suggested in HG Cref 190 that Daniel should be identified with Deiniol, one of the two saints who persuaded St David to go to the synod of Brefi; cf. CTC 264 and G 296. More convincing, however, is the suggestion in GLlF 470 that Daniel was somehow associated with the abbot’s lineage or that of one of the leading clerics in the religious community at Llanddewibrefi. Another suggestion offered ibid. is that this Daniel was the son of Sulien who had been archdeacon of Powys and a candidate for the bishopric of St Davids in 1115. On him, see Stephenson 2016: 12, 25.} aruchel, eu hefelydd – nid oes^{41 ⁠eu hefelydd⁠ ⁠–⁠ ⁠nid oes⁠ Cf. HG Cref 190–1 where ll. 116–17 are arranged as a toddaid. However, it seems that the scribe of LlGC 6680B interpreted the lines as a couplet of cyhydedd nawban, as he gave Nyd a rubricated capital letter; his interpretation was followed in GLlF 26.116–17. The resultant enjambement across the two lines would be rather unusual (eu hefelydd / Nid oes) and also the second line would contain eleven syllables rather than the nine or ten which is more usual in the poem.}
Yn cadw oes a moes a mynudydd;
Llwyth Maried,^{42 ⁠Maried⁠ The orthography of both manuscripts (LlGC 6680B maryed; J 111 maryet) supports the ending ‘-ied’, and it is taken to be a personal name (cf. HG Cref 47), with the formula Llwyth + personal name echoing the beginning of the previous couplet (Llwyth Daniel …), in the same way as A Dewi … is repeated at the beginning of ll. 120, 122, 124 and 126. We would expect a masculine name, but the scant evidence we have for the form seems to suggest that Mar(i)ed was a female name, cf. EWGT 202–3. Despite the form’s orthography in both manuscripts, and following CTC 264, it is interpreted in GLlF 451 as ‘mariedd’ and explained, ibid. 470, as a possible variant of the common noun maredd ‘(?)splendour, pomp’, GPC Ar Lein s.v.; this form is preferred in GLlF as it gives internal rhyme with mawreddus.} mawreddus^{43 ⁠mawreddus⁠ LlGC 6680B maỽretus (mawredd + -us); J 111 maỽrwedus (mawrwedd + -us, or mawr + gweddus). Both forms are given the same general meaning in GPC Ar Lein.} eu merwerydd,
Gwell pob un duun^{44 ⁠duun⁠ LlGC 6680B duun; J 111 dyuun. Both dyun and duun are given in GPC Ar Lein.} dewr no’i gilydd.
120A Dewi a’n differ, a’n diffyn fydd,
A’i wyrth a’n diffyrth^{81 ⁠ddiffyrth⁠ Third person singular past tense of diffryd (the third singular present differ occurs in l. 120). Could the poet be referring to a specific incident in the past here?} rhag pob diffydd;^{45 This line is missing from J 111 making l. 120 a single line of cyhydedd nawban, where we would expect it to belong to a couplet. LlGC 6680B is correct here as A ⁠Dewi⁠⁠ … begins every couplet in ll. 120, 122, 124, 126.}⁠
A Dewi a’n gweryd rhag cryd cerydd – pechawd,
Ym maes maëstawd Dyddbrawd dybydd!
A Dewi a’i gorug^{82 ⁠a’i gorug⁠ An example of the proleptic infixed pronoun, referring to the object of the verb given later in the same sentence (Magna fab yn fyw). It does not need to be translated.} (gŵr bieifydd^{83 ⁠gŵr bieifydd⁠ Pieu was originally an interrogative with the sense ‘whose is? who owns?’; see GMW 80–1 and cf. RM 239.11 (quoted there) nyt oed deu di yr un onadunt, namyn duw bioedynt ‘neither of them was thine, but it was God who owned them’. Tentatively St David is understood to be the gŵr, and the subject is that which belongs to St David, namely the miracle of Magna’s resurrection.})
125⁠Magna⁠^{84 ⁠Magna⁠ The poet is referring to the story about St David resuscitating a widow’s son on his way to the synod at Brefi, where he shone like a resplendant sun (ll. 126–7). As noted in Sharpe and Davies 2007: 145, the story echoes the description of a widow’s son being resurrected by Christ on his way to Nain, see Luke 7.11–15. The son is not named in the Welsh Life: see, for example, WLSD 9–10 ‘Resuscitating the Widow’s Son’ (BDe 15–16). In the Latin vita he is called ⁠Magnus⁠ (Sharpe and Davies 2007: 144, 145 Et ecce orbata mater corpus extincti pueri seruabat, qui Magnus uocabatur ‘And behold, a bereaved mother was holding the body of her dead son, who was called Magnus’). The form ⁠Magna⁠is unexpected, as it seems to be feminine, but this also was the form used by Ieuan ap Rhydderch in his poem for St David: DewiIRh ll. 77–8 Da y gwnâi Fagna â’i fagl / O farw yn fyw o firagl ‘With his staff he turned Magna / from being dead to being alive by a miracle’ (the miracle once again being performed on his way to Brefi), see ibid.n. Was Ieuan ap Rhydderch again relying on Gwynfardd Brycheiniog’s poem for his information? (Cf. the suggestion in n20(e) that Ieuan ap Rhydderch may have gleaned the information about the exact size of the crowd at the synod in Brefi from the text of this poem in the Hendregadredd Manuscript, which was in his home in Glyn Aeron.) The Welsh name ⁠Maen⁠probably derives from ⁠Magnus⁠ (cf. CLlH VII.42a) and that it is the name commemorated in the place-name ⁠Llandyfân⁠near Llandeilo Fawr (< ⁠Tyfaen⁠, a hypocoristic form of ⁠Maen⁠): see WLSD 58–9. If this place-name does indeed commemorate the son whom David resuscitated, it is interesting that Gwynfardd Brycheiniog and Ieuan ap Rhydderch seem to know him by the Latin form of his name, rather than the Welsh form. Is it possible that Gwynfardd Brycheiniog had confused the story of the widow’s son with that of Patrick resurrecting a dead man on his way to ⁠⁠Magna⁠ Porta, namely Porth Mawr near St Davids? See Sharpe and Davies 2007: 112, 113 paransque nauem in Portu Magno suscitauit quendam senem nomine Cruimtherj per .xii. annos iuxta litus illud sepultum ‘As he was preparing a ship at Porth Mawr, he raised up an old man, named Cruimther, who had been buried near that shore for twelve years.’} fab yn fyw a’i farw ddeuddydd.
A Dewi ryweled^{46 ⁠ryweled⁠ LlGC 6680B ry weled; J 111 rywelat. Gwelad was the more usual form of the impersonal preterite of gweled in this period, see GMW 126.} yn ei rihydd
Fal cyfliw â haul hwyl ysblennydd.
Ysid i Ddewi dda gyweithydd
Wrth wan a chadarn a chadw^{47 ⁠a chadw⁠ LlGC 6680B a chadỽ; J 111 achadỽ. GLlF 26.129 reads achadỽ (GPC Ar Lein s.v. achadw ‘to guard, defend, keep)’, but the a is understood here as the conjunction a ‘and’ + cadw. (Note that this line is not listed in G 6 s.v. achadw.)} eu^{48 ⁠eu⁠ LlGC 6680B y; J 111 y. The y is understood as the third person plural possessive pronoun eu, even though both manuscripts usually have the form eu. See further n90(e) for the possibility that the exemplar may have had y for ‘eu’.⁠} prydydd;
130Ac iddaw y mae, mal i ddedwydd,
Ddedwyddion Brefi yn ei broydd.

V
O fedru canu coeth anrheg – i hael
Cefais-i archafael, caffaf-i osteg;
O gyrchu Brefi, braint ehedeg,^{85 ⁠braint⁠ ⁠ehedeg⁠ Cf. G 451 and GPC Ar Lein (‘flying, moving easily’) which gives the verbal noun ehedeg an adjectival sense in this line.}⁠
135Dy-m-gordden^{86 ⁠dy-m-gordden⁠ The only instance given in G 425 and GPC Ar Lein of the verb dyordden(u) ‘to please, satisfy; attract’ with the infixed objective pronoun, ’m, located betweed the preverbal dy- and the verb; see GMW 56 for further instances of this old construction.} yn llawen llawer gosteg
I foli Dewi, da Gymräeg – eofn,
O fodd bryd a bron, o brydest chweg,
O brydest^{87 ⁠prydest⁠ A noun deriving from the verb prydu ‘to compose poetry’ (for the ending -est, cf. gwledd + -est > gloddest); GPC Ar Lein notes that the modern form pryddest is likely to be the result of misinterpreting old orthography. 49 ⁠brydest⁠ LlGC 6680B brydest; J 111 bryst, with John Davies having added dde above.} dyllest dull ychwaneg^{88 ⁠dull ychwaneg⁠ Ychwaneg here is taken to describe this type of long poem, composed of several caniadau. However, Owen 1991–2: ‘in excellent form’ is also possible.}⁠
I Frefi a Dewi doeth Gymräeg.
140Diogel ei nawdd i’r neb a’i cyrcho,
Diogan ei fro ddiogyweg
(Rhag creiriau Dewi yd grŷn^{50 ⁠yd grŷn⁠ The reading gryn, rather than grynn, in both manuscripts suggests a long vowel here, cf. G 183; but yd gryn is also possible (cf. GLlF 452 yd gryn).} Gröeg⁠^{89 ⁠Gröeg⁠ GPC Ar Lein s.v. Groeg, Goröeg notes that the word sometimes had a wider meaning than simply the country itself. Is the poet resorting to exaggeration here by claiming that St David’s influence reached as far as Greece?}⁠
Ac Iwerddon – tirion^{90 ⁠Iwerddon⁠ – ⁠tirion tir Gwyddeleg⁠ Owen 1991–2: 75 ‘the lands of Ireland’, interpreting this as a loose nominal compound where the first element (Iwerddon) modifies the second (tirion ‘lands’, see n79(e)). However, we would expect Iwerddon dirion with soft mutation in the second noun (on the pattern of hydref ddail ‘the leaves of autumn’). Also, as Iwerddon is usually feminine, we would expect tirion to mutate if it modifies it. Tirion is therefore taken with the second half of the line, as an adjective in a nominal compound: tirion tir Gwyddeleg ‘gentle is the Irish land’. This is not completely satisfactory as regards line division, as we would expect a break after tirion.} tir Gwyddeleg)
O Garawn⁠^{91 ⁠Carawn⁠ An area in Pennardd, Uwch Aeron, consisting of Caron-is-clawdd (the region of Tregaron) and Charon-is-clawdd (Strata Florida) and extending as far as the river Aeron, see WATU 35, 311. Caron was also the name of the saint who was buried, according to tradition, in Tregaron, see LBS ii, 135–6; WCD 107. The river Teifi begins its journey in Llyn Teifi, a few miles to the north of Caron-is-clawdd, and the river formed the western boundary of nodua Dewi ‘David’s sanctuary’: cf. WLSD 11.23–4 kennat yw idaw vynet o Dyfi [= Dywi, Tywi] hyt ar Deiui ‘[a man] has permission to go from the river Tywi to the river Teifi’, and further ibid. 61.} gan iawn, gan ehöeg,^{92 ⁠ehöeg⁠ GPC Ar Lein ‘heather-colour(ed), purple’. The poet is probably referring to the purple hue of Caron’s land due its covering of heather.} ⁠
145Hyd ar Dywi⁠^{93 ⁠Tywi⁠ A river which begins its journey in Llyn Du, see n94(e), forming the border between Ceredigion and Buellt to the east and between Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire further south, see EANC 171–2. The river Tywi denoted the eastern limit of David’s sanctuary in Ceredigion, see n91(e).} afon firain a theg;
O’r Llyndu,^{94 ⁠Llyndu⁠ The location of Llyndu / Llyn Du is uncertain, especially as there are more than one lakes of this name in Ceredigion, possibly due the peaty nature of the marsh soil in places. The best known, perhaps, is located to the north of Teifi Pools, from which water flows into the Claerddu and to Claerwen reservoir. This is probably the ‘Linduy, i.e. lacus niger’ in Ceredigion to which Leland referred in the 16th century (Smith 1906: 107; Wmffre 2004: 882). This is probably too far north for our purposes.Another Llyn Du is located in the northern part of Tywi Forest in the hills between Ceredigion and Buellt, about six miles north-east of Tregaron. The lake is described in Jenkins 2005: 62 as the source of the river Tywi, and this is the lake to which Gwynfardd Brycheiniog refers, according to the note in HG Cref 192 (and see n91(e), n93(e)). Gwynfardd’s description of the lake as the site of an angry encounter (llid gyhydreg) may confirm this, as it is located on a border, as was noted above. Was it possibly known as a place where two sides would meet to try to resolve their differences – in the same way as Bwlchoerddrws served as a recognized meeting place between Meirionnydd and Mawddwy, see Smith 1964–6: 313–14? Did this Llyn Du perhaps represent an early boundary between Padarn’slands in the north of Ceredigion and St David’s lands in the south?
⁠A third possibility, which is favoured in Wmffre 2004: 1258, is a Llyndu located between Llanddewibrefi and Llangeitho. This lake also drained into the river Teifi; however, it in now dry, but references to it are found in associated toponyms such ar Celli Llyndu and Pontllyndu; also a 17th-century schedule refers to a Y Ddôl Wen ar Lan y Llyndu (see ibid. 1258, also 538, 595).
⁠Because of the north-south extent of St David’s territory suggested by O’r Llyndu … / Hyd ar Dwrch (146–7), as well as the suggestion of a boundary location, the present editor favours (very tentatively!) the second Llyndu listed above.⁠} lle ’d fu llid gyhydreg,
Hyd ar Dwrch, ^{51 ⁠hyd ar Dwrch⁠ LlGC 6680B hyd ar tỽrch; J 111 hyt ar tỽrch; soft mutation regularly followed hyd ar, cf. ll. 145 Hyd ar Dywi; GGMD i, 6.36 hyd ar Duedd. It seems likely that the exemplar did not consistently show the soft mutation of voiceless plosives in its orthography (cf. n11(t) and l. 54 LlGC 6680B gyd preinyaỽc; J 111 gyt breinaỽc), so both scribes here may have failed to modernize the orthography, possibly under the influence of the following two words that begin with t-.} terfyn tir â charreg.^{96 ⁠terfyn tir â charreg⁠ This seems to be a stone denoting a boundary, situated not far from the river Twrch. James 2007: 67) is probably correct in identifying this stone as Hirfaen Gwyddog which still stands today: see Coflein under Carreg Hirfaen; Hirvaen Gwyddog, ‘An erect monolith, 4.8m high by 1.1m by 0.8m, carrying a modern in[s]cription: serves as a boundary marker between Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, first mentioned in this role in the 10th century AD’. The stone is located about 2km west of the river Twrch. It is named in the Lichfield Gospels (hirmain guidauc), where it defines the western border of Trefwyddog, an area that would later correspond to Caeo.}⁠
Dothyw^{52 ⁠Dothyw⁠ LlGC 6680B Dothyỽ; J 111 Dodyỽ, both being variant forms of the third singular perfect of dyfod ‘to come’, see GMW 134. Dothyw is needed for the cymeriad at the beginning of the three following couplets (l. 148, 150, 152), and it is only in this line that J 111 has Dodyỽ.} i Ddewi Ddeheubartheg – bair
I ddial fal diwair dwyn ei wartheg;^{97 The final six lines of this caniad (ll. 148–53) describe a leader who was contemporary with the poet. This leader is described as Ddehebartheg – bair ‘the lord of Deheubarth’ (l. 148), diffreidiad teg ‘a fine protector’ (ll. 152) and the caniad reaches a climax with his identity: Rhys mawr, ⁠Môn⁠⁠ wledig, rheodig reg ‘great Rhys, the lord of Anglesey, splendid his gift’ (l. 153). The first couplet is taken, with GLlF 471, to refer to the theft of cattle from the local lord at Llanddewibrefi, a theft which was avenged by ‘great Rhys’, namely Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd. By contrast, HG Cref 192 and CTC 264 suggest that the couplet refers to an incident in St David’s Life when all of Boia’s animals were killed, and Boia blamed St David: see WLSD 5.18–21. However, the description of the avenging lord as diwair ‘faithful’ (l. 149) supports the first interpretation.}⁠
150Dothyw i Ddewi yn ddeheueg
Gan borth Duw, porth dyn yn ddiatreg;
Dothyw i Ddewi ddiffreidiad teg:
⁠Rhys mawr, Môn wledig,^{98 ⁠Môn wledig⁠ Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd. Gwledig was a term denoting kingly status, like rhi, tëyrn, brenin, mechdëyrn and amherawdr, see Andrews 2010: 90, 94–6; Andrews 2011: 56. There are a number of references to places in Anglesey in the poems to the Lord Rhys by Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr and Seisyll Bryffwrch as well as by Gwynfardd Brycheiniog, and it is suggested in GLlF 472 that these references are symbolic, as authority over Anglesey implied authority over the whole of Wales; cf. Jones 1996: 137. The Lord Rhys was the most powerful prince in Wales after Owain Gwynedd’s death in 1170, and although there is no evidence that he wielded any actual power in Anglesey, it is possible, as noted in Smith 1996: 35, that he had influence in Gwynedd as a result of the dominance of his son-in-law, Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd, in Gwynedd Uwch Conwy, including Anglesey, by 1175.} rheodig reg.

VI
Rhymeddyliais-i^{53 ⁠Rhymeddyliais-i⁠ On the affixed pronoun –i that is not counted in the metre, see n25(t). On the use of the affirmative verbal prefix rhy-, and especially ‘where ry appears to denote customary or repeated action’, see GMW 166–7. In Old Welsh spirant mutation would follow rhy-, whilst the other lenitable consonants remained unlenited; however, by the period of the medieval prose texts, ‘neu and ry are followed by lenition in every case’, ibid. 62. It is unclear, therefore whether the nonlenited -m- in rhymeddyliais is a vestige of Old Welsh morphology (cf., possibly, GCBM i, 7.13 Rhyg⁠elwid Madawg cyn no’i laith …), or whether there is an infixed pronoun following rhy surpressing any mutation: rhy’i meddyliais. If so, this may be another instance of the infixed proleptic pronoun, referring to the object (namely hyn) which is expressed later, cf. n82(e) on a’i gorug.} hyn i honni – urddawl,^{99 ⁠urddawl⁠ The opening lines of this next caniad seem to describe St David’srepresentative in Llanddewibrefi, namely the head of the church there in the 12th century who was responsible for its scholars, its books and its cloak of brocaded silk (l. 157).}⁠
155Ei urddas anfedrawl^{54 ⁠anfedrawl⁠ LlGC 6680B anuedraỽl, which is explained in GPC Ar Lein s.v. as a combination of anfedr + ol ‘immeasurable, beyond measure, measureless; immense, huge’. On the other hand J 111 has anueitraỽl, suggesting an- + meidrawl ‘infinite, … huge, vast, tremendous’, GPC Ar Lein. It is impossible to know which one was in the exemplar, but LlGC 6680B’s reading is adopted as a matter of principle.} a fedr roddi:
Rhwyf rhadau biau beirdd wy^{55 ⁠wy⁠ LlGC 6680B wy (a variant form of yw ‘to his’, cf. ll. 193, &c.); J 111 yw. See GMW 53n2.} foli
A llên^{100 ⁠llên⁠ The ‘scholars’, ‘priests’ or ‘clerics’ at Llanddewibrefi; but it could also mean ‘literature, learning, doctrine’, &c.; see GPC Ar Lein s.v. llên (a) and (b).} a llyfrau a’r llen bali.^{101 ⁠llen bali⁠ See n114(e) on allawr deg.}⁠
Pan ddeuth^{102 ⁠deuth⁠ One of the third singular preterite forms of dyfod ‘to come’; l. 162 has another form, doeth. See GMW 134.} o Ffrainc Ffranc o’i^{103 ⁠o’i⁠ A variant form of y’w ‘to his’, see GMW 53n2.} erchi
Iechyd rhag clefyd, rhag clwyf delli,
160Wynepglawr diddawr dim ni weli,
Pesychwys, dremwys^{56 ⁠dremwys⁠ Cf. LlGC 6680B dremwys, third singular preterite tense of dremiaw ‘to see’, &c. (with d- being a nonmutated consonant), see GPC Ar Lein s.v.; it is a variant of tremiaw, cf. J 111 tremỽys.} drwy fodd Dewi.^{104 The poet describes in ll. 158–61 a miracle in which St David restored the sight of a Frenchman who was blind and flat-faced (wynepglawr) and who had travelled from France to seek his help. GLlF 472 suggests that the miracle was probably performed in the 12th century through St David’s grace. If so, the story tells us not only of St David’s continuing miraculous abilities but also of his far-reaching renown. There is nothing that corresponds to this in the prose Lives (and the relevance of the coughing is not evident!); however, there are three references to St David restoring the sight of blind men, and it is quite possible that he became associated with this miraculous ability in particular.i. The first miracle occurred during his baptism: WLSD 3.16–17, 19–20 A dall a oed yn daly ⁠Dewi⁠⁠ wrth vedyd a gafas yna y olwc … Ac o’r awr y ganet, dall wynepclawr oed. Ac yna y olwc a gafas … ‘And a blind man who was holding David to be baptized had his sight restored … And from the hour he was born, he had been a blind man without eyes or a nose. And then he received his sight …’. In Rhygyfarch’s Life, the blind man holding the infant David was known as Saint Mobhí of Glasnevin, see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 116, Curauit quoque occulos Moui ceci, qui tenuit eum dum baptizaretur, and ibid. 117n34, ‘St Mobi of Glasnevin, known in Irish as Mobi Clarainech (flat-faced) from his having been born without eyes or nose’; and both Iolo Goch and Ieuan ap Rhydderch describe this man as St David’s godfather: DewiIG ll. 39–40 Ei dad bedydd, dud bydawl, / Dall wynepglawr, mawr fu’r mawl ‘his godfather, worldly family, / without eyes or nose, great was the praise’; DewiIRh ll. 33–4 Rhoes i’i dad bedydd, medd rhai / Ei olwg – gynt ni welai ‘He gave his godfather, so some say, / his eyesight – before then he could not see’. (Could Gwynfardd Brycheiniog be referring to this miracle here? Ffranc, as well as referring to a person from France, could also refer more generally to a foreigner (see GPC Ar Lein). Was the word used of Saint Mobhí as a foreigner (from Ireland) in Gwynfardd’s source (be that oral or written) but interpreted by him, or his source, to refer to an inhabitant of France?)
⁠ii. The second miracle occurred later when the young St David restored the sight of his teacher, Paulinus, WLSD 3.4. A phan rodes Dauyd y law ar y lygeit ef, y buant holl yach ‘And when David placed his hand on his eyes, they were healed’.
⁠iii. The third reference is to the restoring his sight to Peibiog or Beibio, king of Erging: WLSD 4.16 Odyna y rodes waret i Pebiawc, vrenhin Ergyng, a oed yn dall ‘After that he cured Pebiawg, king of Ergyng, who was blind’. In the note, ibid. 39, the editor draws attention to the description in the Book of Llandaf of Peibiog as clauorauc ‘drivelling, foaming, leprous’ (see also GPC Ar Lein s.v. claforog). Here, therefore, is another possibility as regards the identification of the wynepglawr to whom Gwynfardd Brycheiniog refers here.⁠}⁠
Merch brenin dwyrain doeth i Frefi⁠
A phryd a gweryd^{57 ⁠A phryd a gweryd⁠ LlGC 6680B a phryd a gỽeryd; J 111 aphryt agỽeryt. The manuscripts’ reading gives adequate sense here, see n106(e). However, HG Cref 193 interprets the manuscripts’ pryd / pryt as pridd (‘soil’) and gweryd as ‘clod, sod’. If so, then we could associate the reference with traditions about female saints coming to Wales from Ireland on a sod or clump of soil, cf. FfraidIF ll. 45–7 O Iwerddon ar donnen / i’r môr yn wir, morwyn wen, / da nofiaist hyd yn Nyfi …; however, this young woman came from the east. See GLlF 472 for other possibilities.} i gyd â hi
Wrth glywed däed tynged Dewi⁠^{105 ⁠tynged Dewi⁠ The praising of a saint’s ‘fortune’ or ‘fate’ is a topos in the poetry to saints, conveying the fact that those who live under the saint’s patronage or favour enjoy a life of happiness and safety as a result of receiving his blessing: cf. DewiIRh ll. 5–6 Nid gwell sant (ffyniant ei ffawd) / No ⁠Dewi⁠, iawn y dywawd ‘There is no better saint (the success of his fate) / than St David, well was that said.’}⁠
165A’i fuchedd wirionedd, wirion ynni,^{106 Ll. 162–5. Nothing in the Life of St David seems to shed light on these lines which suggest that a daughter of a king from the east came to Llanddewibrefi having heard of his fame. If the miracle described in ll. 158–61 happened in the 12th century (see n104(e)), it is likely that these lines also refer to a contemporary event (although the combination brenin dwyrain ‘the king from the east’ in l. 162 has a certain legendary quality). A phryd a gweryd is understood, with GLlF 472, as a description of the daughter’s beauty and goodness, with the word gweryd ‘salvation’ suggesting that she was indeed a saintly woman (as pilgrims would usually seek, and not give, salvation). However, it would also be possible to understand gweryd as ‘clod, sod’: see n57(t). 58 ⁠ynni⁠ LlGC 6680B enni; J 111 ynni. Enni is taken to be a variant (probably orthographical) of ynni, cf. G 479 and GPC Ar Lein where a further instance of enni is given in the citations. However, for e = /ǝ/ in LlGC 6680B, see n24(t).}⁠
A êl ym medrawd^{59 ⁠ym medrawd⁠ LlGC 6680B y medraỽd; J 111 ymbedraỽt, with the orthography suggesting bedrawd in the first and beddrawd in the second. Both forms are given in GPC Ar Lein s.v. beddrod.} mynwent Ddewi⁠^{107 ⁠mynwent Ddewi⁠ The context suggests that the poet has the cemetery of Llanddewibrefi in mind here (cf. the reference to [B]refi in l. 162), although it could refer generically to any cemetery associated with St David. However, it is probably to the cemetery of St Davids, where St David himself was buried according to tradition, that Iolo Goch attributed this virtue: cf. DewiIG ll. 95–8 I bwll uffern ni fernir / Enaid dyn, yn anad tir, / A gladder, diofer yw, / Ym mynwent ⁠Dewi Mynyw ‘The soul of a man who is buried / in the cemetery of David of Mynyw / above all other land, it is not vain, / will not be condemned to the pit of hell’; cf. the Life’s description of St David’scemetery in⁠Glyn Rhosyn, WLSD 4.26–7 a gladher y mynnwent y lle hwnnw heuyt, nyt a y uffern ‘also whoever is buried in that place will not go to hell’. Note that these sources do not claim that those buried in St David’s cemetery will go to heaven, rather they will avoid being sent to hell. This virtue was not confined to cemeteries associated with St David (cf. TWS 47), but reflects a general belief in the Middle Ages that burial in a church’s consecrated ground was of advantage to the soul, either through the petition of the church’s patron saint before God on Judgement Day, or through the prayers of the churchmen which would ease the way of the soul to heaven (Burton and Kerr 2011: 163–5). Of interest is the following reference in Edward Lhuyd’s Parochialia to the protective nature of a small tract of land associated with St David in the cemetery of St Michael’s church in Caerwys, Denbighshire: Mae Troeedvedh o dîr yn y Vynwent o [sic] elwir tir Dewi; am hynny ni dhaw byth gornwyd ir dre ymma, see Paroch i, 67, where it is translated as ‘There is a Foot of Land in ye Chyrch-yard called Dewi’s Land for wh reason ye Town will be always free from ye plague’.⁠ 60 ⁠mynwent Ddewi⁠ The personal name ⁠Dewi⁠mutates after the feminine noun mynwent, cf. DewiIG l. 98 Ym mynwent Ddewi Mynyw. GLlF 452 gives mynwent Dewi in the modern orthography version, possibly presuming the provection of dd > d following the final -t in mynwent.}⁠
Nid â yn uffern, bengwern boeni.
A Pheulin a pheunydd^{61 ⁠A Pheulin a pheunydd …⁠ The repetition of the conjunction a ‘and’ is rather odd here, and it is difficult to decide on its exact purpose before peunydd, other than to trigger spirant mutation that gives alliteration in the line.} y’i gorelwi^{62 ⁠gorelwi⁠ Third singular imperfect indicative of goralw.J 111 yggorweli seems to suggest the preposition yg (‘yng’) and a noun, possibly gweli ‘wound’, &c. But the syntax requires a verb.}⁠
I geisiaw diffryd ŷd ei erwi;^{63 ⁠ŷd ei erwi⁠ LlGC 6680B yd eerwi; J 111 ydeerỽi. If ŷd ei erwi is the correct interpretation, note that e represents the personal pronoun ‘ei’ in both manuscripts, whereas we would expect y from both scribes. Was e for ‘ei’ a feature of the exemplar’s orthography?}⁠
170Ni allwys gwerin gwared iddi^{108 ⁠iddi⁠ This refers to the feminine noun gwerin. Owen 1991–2: 76 translates ‘The people could not rid Paulinus’s territory of [the pestilence]’, but the poet does not specifically refer in the text to a feminine noun that conveys such a meaning.}⁠
Hyd ban y’i gwarawd^{109 ⁠y’i gwarawd⁠ The infixed pronoun refers to the singular feminine noun gwerin in the previous line (translated here as if it were plural, ‘St David brought them salvation’).} gwirion Ddewi:
A’r adar anwar^{110 In ll. 168–75 the poet recounts how St David answered Paulinus’s request for help to drive wild birds away from his corn by confining them all in a large barn. There is nothing that corresponds to this in the prose versions of the Life. However, the poets refer to this miracle in their poems to St David: DewiLGC1 ll. 19–20 ac o’r ŷd gyrru adar / yn wâr i brennau irion ‘and from the corn he drove birds / tamely to green trees’; DewiLGC2 ll. 15–16 O’r ŷd y troist yr adar / I dŷ’r nos yn daran wâr ‘You drove the birds from the corn / into a house at night, quite tame’; DewiIG ll. 85–6 Yr adar gwyllt o’r hedeg / A yrrai i’r tai, fy iôr teg ‘he drove the wild birds in flight / to the houses, my fair lord’. This is also likely to have been the incident that Rhisiart ap Rhys had in mind, DewiRhRh ll. 9–10 Ceirw a’r adar, o’u cerrynt, / Di-led, gwâr, y’u delid gynt ‘The confined, tame stags and birds were taken formerly from their course’. A similar miracle is recounted in the Life of Illtud, where Samson confined in a barn the birds that were filching Saint Illtud’s corn, see VSB 212–15 (§14); and in the Life of Saint Paul Aurelian, the birds are driven into a barn by the saint is if they were sheep herded into a pen, Doble 1960: 14. 64 ⁠anwar⁠ This word is not found in the manuscripts; it is restored here, following HG Cref 195 and GLlF 473, for the sake of the line length and the cynghanedd. Cf. the references by later poets to adar gwyllt ‘wild birds’ and to David causing the birds to go away yn wâr ‘tamely’;see further n110(e).} a’i harhöi,^{65 ⁠harhöi⁠ The third person singular imperfect indicative of aros with the ending -i (GMW 121); the variant form harhoei in J 111 gives an incorrect end rhyme (-ei instead of -i). Note that the verb is used transitively here.}⁠
Nid arhöynt wy neb namwyn Dewi;
Ac ef a’u dyddug oll heb eu colli
175Yn un ysgubawr fawr a’r llawr llenwi.^{111 ⁠llawr llenwi⁠ Llenwi is understood as a verbal noun, and although we would expect soft mutation as it is preceded by its ‘object’, it retains its non-mutated ll- following –r, see TC 27–9. However, llenwi could also be taken as the third singular imperfect of the verb (for the ending i, see GMW 121 and cf. l. 168 gorelwi) with llawr llenwi being an example of an old construction where the object was placed directly before a personal verb, without a relative pronoun and without soft mutation, see TC 368; Lewis 1928–9: 149–52; and cf. GMB 10.30 Callonn klywaf yn llosgi ‘I feel my heart burning’.}⁠
Pan ddêl rhyfel a rhwysg Ffichti^{112 ⁠Ffichti⁠ The Picts, who were also known as Gwyddyl Ffichti(aid), see G 505 and GPC Ar Lein; according to the Triads, they were the second of the ‘Three Oppressions that came to this Island’, TYP 90, 93. Boia is described (without being named) in the Life of Teilo as a prince from amongst the Picts who are described, Rees 1840: 335, as ‘a certain people, of Scythia, who … were called Picts, came in a very large fleet to Britain … the Picts were crafty, and trained in many engagements by sea and land’, and see further ibid. 336. It is possible, therefore, that Gwynfardd Brycheiniog is referring here to Boia’s men. However, Ffichti seems to have adopted the more general sense of ‘pirates’: see Gruffydd 2002: 24 and further LPBT 70; cf. IGP XI.31–2 O daw dan llaw llu Ffichtiaid / O’r môr hwnt… ‘If there comes from the sea yonder, under the leadership of an army of Picts …’, XVII.57–8. It is quite possible, therefore, that Gwynfardd Brycheiniog is referring here to a general attack from the sea.}⁠
⁠Ros⁠^{113 ⁠Rhos⁠ A cantref to the south of Pebidiog (WATU 188) which was particularly open to attacks from the sea. 66 ⁠Ros⁠ The destination, Ros, is the direct object of the verb dêl ‘will come’ (l. 176), without the usual preposition i, and it is likely that it has undergone soft mutation here (see TC 227–8), but the manuscripts’ orthography does not differentiate between r- and rh .} elfydd, pob celfydd geilw Dewi!
A gwyrthau a orug gwerthfawr^{67 ⁠gwerthfawr⁠ This is the reading given in LlGC 6680B and J 111 and it is understood here as ‘beneficial, advantageous; prosperous’, see GPC Ar Lein. However, G 671 suggests that it could be a variant form of gwyrthfawr ‘powerful, potent, of great virtue, efficacious; miraculous, marvellous’, &c. (GPC Ar Lein), and is followed in GLlF 26.178 where the reading is emended.} Ddewi,
Bu obaith canwaith cyn no’i eni.
180Danfoned iddaw, diddan berchi,^{68 ⁠diddan berchi⁠ LlGC 6680B ditan perchi; J 111 didanberchi. GLlF 26.180 follows LlGC 6680B taking it to be a nominal sentence ibid. 460 (cf. Owen 1991–2: 76 ‘it is beautiful to treasure’), although the second element is lenited in the modern Welsh orthography version in GLlF 452. As the combination noun + verbal noun is so common in the poetry (with the noun being the effectual object, and causing soft mutation to the verbal noun), diddan berchi is taken to be such a construction, meaning literally ‘to honour delight’. For diddan as a noun, see GPC Ar Lein s.v. For further instances where the soft mutation of voiceless plosives has not been shown in the manuscript orthography, see, e.g., n11(t), n51(t), n71(t), n94(t).}⁠
O nef deg addef, addfwyn^{69 ⁠addfwyn⁠ LlGC 6680B adfwyn; J 111 adỽyn. J 111’s reading probably conveys ‘addwyn’, a possible variant of addfwyn (see GPC Ar Lein s.v. addwyn⁠1).} westi,
Allawr deg^{114 ⁠allawr deg⁠ According to Rhygyfarch’s Life, St David received four gifts from the patriarch of Jerusalem whilst on pilgrimage there, namely an altar, a bell, a crozier and a tunic, see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 140, 141. As these items would be too heavy for St David to carry back to Wales, the patriarch offered to have them sent to him when he had returned home. He received the altar at Llangyfelach: ibid. 120, 121 deinde monasterium in loco, qui dicitur ⁠Langemelach⁠, fundauit in regione ⁠Guhir⁠, in quo postea altare missum accepit ‘then he founded a monastery in the place called Llangyfelach, in the region of Gower, in which he later received the altar sent to him’. David’s bell is mentioned below l. 184 (cloch Ddewi, cf. n38(e) on Bangu) and his crozier in l. 186 (fagl aur ei phen). Could the tunic that he received from the patriarch be the syndal dudded ‘cloak of silken linen’ in l. 209? And is it to be associated with the cloak of brocaded silk (llen bali, l. 157) worn by the head of the church at Llanddewibrefi in Gwynfardd Brycheiniog’s time? See also n39(e).} ni aill dyn ddisgwyl erni:^{70 ⁠erni⁠ LlGC 6680B arnei; J 111 arnei, both giving an incorrect end rhyme, which should be i; cf. n65(t) on harhöi. This is another instance of an incorrect reading in the exemplar. For the third person singular feminine of the preposition ar, see Sims-Williams 2013: 7–11; in favour of reading erni here, rather than arni, see in particular ibid. 7, ‘I do not know of any example of arni in a pre-1425 MS.’, the distribution of forms, ibid. 11, and cf. GMB 33.13 erni.}⁠
Ychwaneg cyfoeth crefydd beri.^{71 ⁠beri⁠ LlGC 6680B peri; J 111 peri; if peri is a verbal noun here, preceded by its object, we would expect the verbal noun to undergo soft mutation, see Parry Owen 2003: 248 and cf. n68(t) on diddan berchi; perhaps the soft mutation wasn’t shown in the exemplar’s orthography. However, peri could be taken as the third person imperfect, preceded here by its object: crefydd peri ‘it compelled devotion’. For the order object + personal verb, without soft mutation and without a relative pronoun, see GMW 181.}⁠
Credwch a glywwch,^{72 ⁠glywwch⁠ LlGC 6680B glywch; J 111 glywych. LlGC 6680B is followed, the form containing two syllables, glyw-wch. Even though Gwynfardd Brycheiniog sometimes has six syllables in the first half of his lines of cyhydedd nawban, four would be exceptional.} cedwch gloch Ddewi⁠^{115 ⁠cloch Ddewi⁠ One of the four gifts St David received from the patriarch of Jerusalem, see n114(e). Is this Bangu, the bell that St David gave as a gift to his church in Glasgwm, see n38(e)? 73 ⁠cedwch gloch⁠ ⁠Ddewi⁠ LlGC 6680B kedỽch dewi; J 111 kedỽch dewi. Cloch is added here following the suggestion in GLlF 473; see n115(e). The poet refers to the saint’s altar in l. 182 and to his crozier in ll. 186–7: see n114(e) for the gifts that David had received from the patriarch of Jerusalem. If we accept the couplet as it is in the manuscripts, it must be understood as a toddaid, its second line being short of a syllable: Credwch a glywch, cedwch Dewi – yn eich llaw / A llu y byd i gyd â chwi (Owen 1991–2: 76 ‘Believe what you hear, keep Dewi in your protection, / And [let] all the people of the world [believe] with you’).}⁠
185Yn eich llaw a llu y byd i gyd â chwi;
A’r fagl aur ei phen, fföwch rhegddi^{74 ⁠rhegddi⁠ LlGC 6680B recddi (with the dd for ‘dd’ being unusual in the scribe’s standard orthography); J 111 racdi. We would expect the form with internal i affection here, cf. Sims-Williams 2013: 45, and it is difficult to know whether J 111 racdi (‘rhagddi’) is an error or a variant form (cf. ibid. 7 on erni / arni).}⁠
Fal rhag tân, tost yd wân, tyst Duw iddi;
A’i fraich fraisg^{116 ⁠braich fraisg⁠ GLlF 474 suggests that there may have been a tradition regarding the power and span of St David’s arms, a tradition which may be reflected in the name Capel y Gwrhyd near St Davids (see GPC Ar Lein s.v. gwryd⁠1, gwrhyd ‘length covered by the outstretched arms’, &c.) Of course it is quite possible that gwrhyd here was originally purely topographical, and that it was later associated with stories about the saint.} [ ]
A’i fryn gwyn uchaf uchel beri;^{75 LlGC 6680B ⁠Ae ureich ureisc ae urynn gwyn uchaf peri uchel peri (with a red line through peri and deletion points under the letters); J 111 ⁠arureich ureisc ae vrynn. gỽynn: uchaf uchel beri. The lenited verbal noun is probably required here, see n71(t), but as noted there, peri could also be understood as the third person singular imperfect. Both manuscripts give a twelve-syllable line, and the suggestion in GLlF 26.188–9 to split this into two lines is probably correct, because ll. 184–7 clearly belong together as do ll. 190–5, and it would be unusual to have a single line that wasn’t part of a couplet. If so, the error must have been in the exemplar, as it seems that neither scribe realised that a’i fryn gwyn should be at the beginning of the line – the usual point preceding the beginning of a line is absent. HG Cref 195 suggests deleting uchaf, giving a cyhydedd nawban line of ten syllables, which is quite usual in Gwynfardd Brycheiniog’s poems. (Had the scribe of LlGC 6680B intended to delete uchaf and peri before emending the reading to uchel peri?)}⁠
190A llech deg dros waneg a thros weilgi
A’i dyddug, dybu Duw wrth ei throsi;^{117 Ll. 190–1 seem to refer to the tradition that St David crossed the sea on a stone slab with God’s help. The poet referred previously to the same tradition, again associated with the saint’s pilgrimage, see n11(e).}⁠
Ac nad fo^{76 ⁠nad fo⁠ We would expect na fo, as nad is usually found before a verb beginning with a vowel, see GMW 173; but see G 67 where this line along with R 1056.27–8 nyt oes reith nat vo pennaeth breyenhin are cited under nat vo.} yn ei fro braint a theithi
Eithr tri mwg^{118 ⁠tri mwg⁠ No further specific references to ‘three clouds of smoke’ have been found in St David’s story, therefore HG Cref 195 suggests deleting tri, especially as the line is too long by a syllable. The emendation would give us a standard line of 5:4 syllables; however, as many lines in the poem are too long, it is safer to accept the manuscript reading as it stands. The poet is probably referring to the cloud of smoke referred to in the Life. St David and his disciples had come to Glyn Rhosyn where they had lit a fire: WLSD 4.31–5.1 A phann gyneuassant tan yno y bore glas, y kyuodes mwc ac y kylchynawd y mwc hwnnw yr ynys honn oll, a llawer o Iwerdon ‘and when they lit a fire there early in the morning, smoke arose, and that smoke encircled the whole of this island and much of Ireland’. This sight vexed Boia, a local lord, who explained to his wife: Y gwr … a gynneuawd y tan hwnnw, y veddyant ef a gerdha fford y kerdawd y mwc ‘The man … who lit that fire, his authority extends to where the smoke has travelled’, ibid. 5.8–10. The smoke was therefore a symbol of ownership and authority, as explained in GLlF 474. This same theme is also found in the Life of St Patrick in Ireland, see TWS 47–8; Sharpe and Davies 2007: 121n51. It can be compared to dadannudd of the Welsh laws, a practice which symbolized hereditary continuation, see Charles-Edwards 1968–70: 212–13.} yn amlwg o’i amlenwi.
A fyn Duw,^{119 ⁠a fyn Duw⁠ A reference to the person who desires God, and who comes to know him through St David. Duw is therefore the object of the verb.} dybydd byth wy foli;
195A fynno nodded, cyrched Dewi!

VII
⁠Duw a folaf! Er eirioled – ym,
Can ni allaf-i ddim heb Dduw Trined,
⁠Dewi yn eang, yn rhan^{120 ⁠rhan⁠ This line is cited in GPC Ar Lein s.v. rhan (f) where the meaning ‘distributor’ is given tentatively.} rhwyddged,
Ac yn yng diedding^{77 ⁠diedding⁠ LlGC 6680B dietig; J 111 diedig, with the LlGC 6680B orthography favouring ‘dd’ in the middle of the word. GPC Ar Lein cites this line as an example of diedyng ‘?stubborn, resolute; faithful, true; hard, cruel’, the di- being the negative particle di- and edyng presumably containing the stem of gadu; cf. the suggestion in CA 252 (regarding ibid. l. 173 and brwydyr dieding in GCBM i, 24.156n), that dieding in the latter could refer to those who did not want to leave the battlefield, the stubborn ones. However, if the dd in Gwynfardd Brycheiniog’s example is sound, we lose the connection with the verb gadu ‘to leave’, &c. Can his form be explained as a adjectival or nominal combination of dyedd ‘war, commotion’, &c. + yng ‘strait(s), adverse’, &c.? As noted in GPC Ar Lein s.v. ing, there is a tendency for /i/ to become i before ng or g, and y..i may have become i..i through assimilation. G 333 lists diedding as a variant of dieding, but could there be two words here: one being a derivative of di-ad(u) and the other based on dyedd? The meaning of both would be practically the same in describing a resolute and cruel soldier.} Dewi wared:
200⁠Dewi mawr ar y môr, mynych nodded,
Rhy’i gelwir ar y tir rhag dywrthred.
A gwestfa^{121 ⁠gwestfa⁠ On its meaning in a legal context, ‘king’s food-rent or render of food from his free men’, &c., see GPC Ar Lein s.v. gwestfa (b); but as noted in GLlF 474, its meaning here is more likely to be a request for a payment or tribute by a gwestai ‘guest’ to St David or his community, the guest possibly being Gwynfardd Brycheiniog himself or the Lord Rhys.} i Ddewi⁠^{78 ⁠A gwestfa i Ddewi⁠ LlGC 6680B ⁠A gỽestua y dewi; J 111 ⁠a gỽesti ydei. Was the reading unclear in J 111’s exemplar?} gwestai rhodded,
Ar bob sant gormant, geugant goned;
A Dewi a’u treiddiwys tros dydwed^{79 ⁠tros dydwed⁠ LlGC 6680B tros tydwed; J 111 tros dydwet. LlGC 6680B may show the provection of d > t following -s, or perhaps we may have a further instance of not conveying the soft mutation of voiceless plosives in the orthography, cf., e.g., n11(t), n51(t), &c.} – elfydd,
205Ar saint sywedydd, dedwydd dynged.
Ac i Fynyw ethwyf eithaf Dyfed,
A theÿrnedd ethynt â theÿrnged
Ar fab Non haelfron, hawdd ogoned,
Ar Ddewi fab Sant, syndal^{122 ⁠syndal⁠ ‘Sendal’, a material that denoted the high status of its wearer: OED s.v. sendal ‘a thin rich silken material’. Could this garment be associated with the tunic that St David received as a gift from the patriarch in Jerusalem? See n114(e).} dudded:
210⁠Dewi mawr Mynyw, mad y’i gweled,
Pen argynnan bedydd, crefydd a chred.^{123 Cf. l. 111 Pen argynnan coned cred a bedydd.}⁠

VIII
Ni chronnes, rhoddes rhadau^{80 ⁠rhadau⁠ Cf. LlGC 6680B radeu; J 111 radeu could convey ‘rhadau’ or ‘raddau’, the lenited form of graddeu. The sense favours the plural form of rhad ‘gift’.} – wallofiad
Ruddaur a dillad, fad ferthidau;
Ni cheffid gan naf nâg o’i enau,
215Ni chaffad gwrtheb namwyn gwyrthau:^{124 Was St David the giver in ll. 212–13, in the sense that the gifts were presented in St David’s name, be that in Llanddewibrefi or in Mynyw?}⁠
Gwrthebed^{125 ⁠gwrthebed⁠ The third person singular imperative of gwrthebu ‘to respond’; contrast l. 215 gwrtheb ‘negative response, refusal’. 81 ⁠Gwrthebed⁠ LlGC 6680B Gỽerthebed; J 111 Gỽrthebet. I follow J 111 – cf. G 715 and GLlF 26.216.} hyged ei hyglau^{126 ⁠hyglau⁠ Used here to describe the poet (namely Gwynfardd Brycheiniog himself) as either ‘loud, resonant; clear, evident’ or ‘renowned, illustrious’, see GPC Ar Lein.} – gerddawr,
Gwyrthfawr^{82 ⁠Gwyrthfawr⁠ LlGC 6680B gwythuaỽr; J 111 gwyrthuaỽr. J 111’s reading is followed here, cf. the reference to gwyrthau in l. 215. Gwythfawr ‘of great wrath’ (< gŵyth ‘wrath’ + mawr ‘great’) is possible, although it is not not listed in GPC Ar Lein, however, its meaning does not fit here.} briodawr,^{127 ⁠gwyrthfawr briodawr⁠ Probably a reference to St David, but it could also refer to the leader of the church at Llanddewibrefi or St Davids (there is a reference to Mynyw in l. 220) or to a secular leader, such as the Lord Rhys.} briawd ddeddfau.^{83 ⁠ddeddfau⁠ LlGC 6680B defeu; J 111 dedueu. One of the few instances of an error in LlGC 6680B where J 111 gives the correct reading.}⁠
O’r daw llynges drom, drwm ei geiriau,
I geisiaw cymraw, cymryd preiddiau,
220Rhwng Mynyw a’r môr, mawr a droau^{84 The punctuation in J 111 suggests that this is the first line of a toddaid: Rhwng Mynyw a’r môr mawr o droau – a fydd (and in favour of that is the pattern toddaid + cyhydedd naw ban in ll. 211–18; however, the pattern is not continued for the rest of the caniad). If we interpret the lines as a toddaid, there is no link between the gair cyrch and the beginning of the next line; presumably this is why the scribe in J 111 added d to llywy in the following line (giving a fydd … llywydd). On the other hand, by rubricating the capital A (⁠A uyt) in l. 220, LlGC 6680B’s scribe has assumed that A should be at the beginning of the second line of the toddaid (he has similarly rubricated the first letter in the second line of the toddeidiau in ll. 50, 68, 109, 137, &c.; but note that he rubricated the first letter of the gair cyrch in l. 116, presumably because he interpreted that couplet incorrectly as a cyhydedd nawban).}⁠
A fydd ar eu^{85 ⁠ar eu⁠ LlGC 6680B ary eu; J 111 ar yeu. Had the scribe of the exemplar written y for the third plural pronoun (possibly following his own exemplar, see n47(e), n90(t)), before emending it to eu and forgetting to delete the y?} llu wy lliw dydd golau:
Collant^{86 ⁠Collant⁠ LlGC 6680B collat (did the scribe forgot to place a nasal suspension mark over the a?); J 111 Collant.} a’r llygaid a’r eneidiau,
Ni welant na lliant nac eu llongau
A chyngor a wnânt â chenadau
225I hebrwng iddaw ebrwydd drethau:
Trydypla Wyddyl,^{128 ⁠trydypla Wyddyl⁠ This third plague is presumably the attackers from the sea or the pirates described in ll. 218–25; cf. n112(e) on Ffichti (a variant form of Gwyddyl Ffichti). These brought ‘one of three gains’ (l. 227 trydybudd) for Mynyw because they had to give the saint a tribute to have their eyesight restored. The poet refers to this attack mostly in the present / future tense, implying perhaps that if another attack comes, similar to the one (or three) from the past, then it will certainly fail and the prince (mynog, i.e. the saint, the leader of the church or the secular lord) will profit once again.} aflwydd diau,
Trydybudd Mynyw,^{129 ⁠Trydypla Wyddyl … / Trydybudd Mynyw⁠ On trydy-, a form of the ordinal trydydd ‘third’ found in combinations, see GPC Ar Lein and GMW 48. Its force could be ‘one of three’ as well as ‘the last one in a series of three’; the latter is more likely here. Soft mutation probably follows Trydypla as it acts adjectively, modifying Wyddyl.} mynawg biau!
Peusydwys,^{130 ⁠peusydwys⁠ A third singular preterite verb; for the ending, see GMW 123. The verb is not listed in GPC Ar Lein; however, the noun peusyd, peusydd, peusyth is given, with instances from the 16th century onwards: ‘mill-rind, mace; dovetail joint; cramp-iron’. For the meaning, cf. Owen 1991–2: 77 ‘he constructed’ (i.e. literally, he connected or joined timber together, cf. GLlF 475). It is unclear whether Boia or St David is the subject of the verb. The following tale from Teilo’s Life may suggest that it is more likely to be Boia: after describing an attack by Picts from the sea (cf. n110(e), n128(e)), the author explains, ‘And when a certain prince of that impious nation had arrived from the seaport, and by murdering the unfortunate inhabitants, and burning the houses and churches of the saints, proceeded as far as the city of St. David’s; he here stopped, and built himself a palace’, Rees 1840: 336. This is followed byan account of how Boia (who is not named) ordered his housekeeper to send her female servants to cast shame upon St David and his disciples, namely the episode that follows next in the poem also, ll. 230–5.⁠} trefnwys diffwys drefnau^{131 ⁠trefnau⁠ The plural of trefn, which had a wider range of meaning in Middle Welsh than today, e.g. GPC Ar Lein ‘room, chamber, cell, building, house, home; (pl.) implements, furniture; also fig.’ For its meaning here, cf. the previous note on peusydwys.⁠}
Yn amgant Hoddnant^{132 ⁠Hoddnant⁠ A popular name for a stream in many parts of Wales (cf. EANC 151–2): < hawdd (‘unhindered, pleasant’) + nant (‘valley’ as well as the water that flows through the valley, cf. GPC Ar Lein s.v. nant (a), (b)). Rhygyfarch explains that ⁠Hoddnant⁠was the Welsh name for ⁠Vallis Rosina⁠: Sharpe and Davies 2007: 120–1 Rosinam Vallem, quam uulgari nomine Hodnant Brittones uocitant ‘Vallis Rosina, which the Welsh are in the habit of calling by the common name of Hoddnant’, see also BDe 42; WLSD 44–5. The place where St David built his monastery in St Davids is also called ⁠Glynn Hodnant in the Welsh Life, see WLSD 6.17.} ormant, orau:
230O anfodd Boia,^{87 ⁠Boia⁠ LlGC 6680B boia; J 111 bora. Evidently the personal name was not known to the scribe of J 111.} bu diamau,
Y doeth ef i Fynyw, syw synhwyrau.
Ceiswyd cythreulaeth gwaeth gweithredau,
Ni allwyd a fynnwyd, methlwyd wyntau:
Ellyngwys gwragedd eu gwregysau,^{133 Lines 232–5 correspond to an account in the Life of how Boia’s wife ordered her handmaidens to remove their clothing in front of St David and his disciples so as to shame them and force them to leave the area so that her husband could retain his authority: WLSD 5.29–31 Ac yna y dywat gwreic Boya wrth y llawuorynyon: ‘Ewch, ’ heb hi, ‘hyt yr auon ysyd ger llaw y sant, a diosglwch awch dillat, ac yn noeth dywedwch vrthunt geireu aniweir kywilydus’ ‘And then Boia’s wife said to her handmaidens: “Go to the river which is near to the saint, and remove your clothes, and whilst naked, say some lustful and shameful words to them”.’ The disciples were indeed keen to leave; however, St David’s advice was that they should stand their ground and force the women to leave instead (cf. ll. 233 methlwyd wyntau ‘they were thwarted’). According to St David’s Life, it was Boia’s wife who was responsible for making the young women behave in this way; however, according to an account of the incident in Teilo’s Life, it was Boia who ordered his housekeeper to send her female servants to embarrass the men, see Rees 1840: 336. The impersonal verbs in the poem do not help us to decide which version of the account was known to the poet.} ⁠
235Rhai gweinion^{88 ⁠gweinion⁠ LlGC 6680B gỽeinyon; J 111 gỽynnyon. I follow LlGC 6680B’s reading, which is taken to be the plural of gwan, probably referring to the weakness of the young women’s minds rather than their physical weakness. The plural of gwyn, as given in J 111, could also be possible as a description of the young naked girls.} noethon^{89 ⁠noethon⁠ LlGC 6680B⁠ nothon; J 111 noethon. LlGC 6680B’s reading is probably faulty, unless it is an example of the contraction of oe > o, as found in some southern dialects today.} aethan’ faddau;^{134 ⁠aethan’ faddau⁠ For myned maddau ‘to be in vain, be lost, be forfeit’, see GPC Ar Lein s.v. maddeuaf: maddau. As the shameful incident is said to have occurred near a river according to the Life (WLSD 5.30, and see previous note), it is also worth considering the suggestion in HG Cref 196 that we should take faddau as the mutated form of baddau, plural of badd ‘bath’, with the combination meaning something like ‘they went to bathe’. The Welsh and Latin versions of St David’s Life do not tell us what happened to the maidens, but the author of Teilo’s Life informs us that they became mad (see the following note). It seems likely that Gwynfardd Brycheiniog and the author of Teilo’s Life knew of a slightly different version of the story than that given by Rhygyfarch and the author of the Welsh Life, or, of course, that it is possible that Gwynfardd is drawing here on Teilo’s Life.}⁠
Yng ngwerth eu gwrthwarae^{90 ⁠eu gwrthwarae⁠ Cf. LlGC 6680B eu gỽrth warae; J 111 yggỽrthwareu. Did the exemplar have y for the third person plural pronoun (cf. n85(t)) which was correctly interpreted by LlGC 6680B’s scribe as ‘eu’, but by J 111’s scribe as the preposition y(ng). Gwrthwarae (without the nasal mutation) is better as it answers the g- in gwyrth.} gwyrth a orau,
Cerddasant gan wynt ar hynt angau.^{135 ⁠Cerddasant gan wynt ar hynt angau⁠ The Welsh and Latin versions of St David’s Life do not tell us what happened to the women, but in Teilo’s Life we learn that they became mad: ‘Who, whilst they executed the orders of their mistress, and counterfeited madness, became really mad, as it is said, “He that acts in a filthy manner, deserves to become more filthy”’, Rees 1840: 336. Is this what is conveyed in the poem by cerddasant gan wynt ‘they went with the wind’?}⁠
Edewis Padrig drwy ddig ddagrau^{136 ⁠Edewis Padrig drwy ddig ddagrau⁠ Patrick was ordered by an angel to leave Wales for Ireland thirty years before St David’s birth; see WLSD 1–2. Edewis is understood intransitively here, ‘Patrick departed’; contrast HG Cref 196 where it is understood as a transitive verb, with llonaid Llech Llafar, l. 239, being the object. However, cf. GLlF 461 and Owen 1991–2: 77 where llonaid Llech Llafar is a description of the copious tears wept by Patrick. In the Welsh Life we are simply told that Patrick grew angry (llidiaw) when he received the angel’s command to leave, WLSD 1.16; however, Rhygyfarch’s Latin Life gives more attention to Patrick’s bitter feelings, see Sharpe and Davies 2007: 110–14, although no tears are specifically mentioned.}⁠
Llonaid Llech Llafar⁠^{137 ⁠Llech Llafar⁠ A substantial stone slab that was used to cross the river Alun at St Davids, as Gerald of Wales explains, Dent 1912: 100, ‘This was the name of that stone which serves as a bridge over the river Alun, which divides the cemetery from the northern side of the church. It was a beautiful piece of marble, polished by the feet of passengers, ten feet in length, six in breadth, and one in thickness. Llechlavar signifies in the British language a talking stone.’ The stone was said to have prophetic powers, ibid. Here llonaid (‘full measure’) is taken to refer to the abundance of Patrick’s tears; however, it may also refer to the fact that Patrick’s departure fulfilled a certain prophecy associated with the stone, Llech Llafar. 91 ⁠Llech Llafar⁠ As llech is a feminine noun only, according to the evidence, we would expect soft mutation in the adjective llafar, cf. the common noun llech lafar (lefair) ‘echo, echo stone, sounding or speaking stone’, see GPC Ar Lein s.v. llech⁠1. But as both manuscripts give the non-mutated adjective (which also strengthens the alliteration in the line), it is presumed that the soft mutation has been blocked by the -ch.} hygar hyglau,
240Pan aeth Iwerddon, ^{92 ⁠aeth Iwerddon⁠ LlGC 6680B aeth ywerton; J 111 aeth y Iwerdon. LlGC 6680B gives the expected nine syllables, with the place of destination, Iwerddon, expressed without a preposition following the verb myned ‘to go’, see TC 227. Of course it is possible that the preposition i has been compressed in the place name, as suggested by the reading in J 111.} ei wyrth yntau,
Ag eingl rhagddaw, draw dra thonnau.^{138 ⁠eingl⁠ I tentatively follow GLlF and HG Cref 51 and take this to be the plural of angel ‘angel’, although the form is not listed in GPC Ar Lein s.v. angel. G 456 suggests that the poet is referring here to the English or Angles (Eingl); that is possible, but it is more likely that it was angels who led Patrick on his sea voyage to Ireland rather than Englishmen.}
A Duw a’i mynnwys Mynyw i Ddewi⁠
Cyn geni ein rhi i enrhyfeddau;^{93 ⁠ein rhi i enrhyfeddau⁠ LlGC 6680B yn ri y en ryueteu; J 111 yn ri enryuedeu. Owen 1991–2: 71 does not give LlGC 6680B’s reading and follows J 111, translating ‘our king of wonders’. LlGC 6680B is followed here, and as the line is too long by a syllable rhi i should perhaps count as one syllable, not two.}⁠
Pan bregethwys hael bregeth^{94 ⁠bregethwys⁠ ⁠… bregeth⁠ LlGC 6680B peregethwys … pregeth; J 111 bregethỽys … bregeth. I follow J 111, as pan is routinely followed by soft mutation, unless there is provection due to a specific combination of consonants, see TC 161.} orau
245Fal corn yd glywid, gloyw ei eiriau.^{139 ⁠Fal corn yd glywid, gloyw ei eiriau⁠ Cf. GLlF 476 which notes that this couplet refers to Gildas (hael of l. 244) who is described by Rhygyfarch as preaching as loud as a trumpet before St David’s birth, cf. Sharpe and Davies 2007: 114–15 et predicauit ⁠Gildas⁠⁠ quasi de buccina clare ‘and Gildas preached loud and clear as a trumpet’.} ⁠

IX
Cyn syrthai frwynen^{140 ⁠brwynen⁠ The meaning of ll. 246–9, and the significance of the brwynen ‘reed’, is unclear. Was there a tradition that a reed fell from heaven to mark or designate a saint’s land (ar frynnau) and mark the one whom God had chosen to be a saint (dyn urddawl, l. 249)? Or should frynnau – o nef be taken as a description of St David’s sanctuary, ‘heavenly hills’? The word nefoedd in the following line could be divided as nef oedd, the line describing the sanctuary as a safe place for armies in the midst of their misfortunes. However, brwynen is usually used as an image for something worthless in the poetry (cf. GMRh 19.51–2 Cybydd ni rydd … / Frwynen, er nef i’r enaid ‘A miser will not give… / a reed, in exchange for heaven for his soul’) or something easily bent (and thus easily influenced).} ar frynnau – o nef,^{95 The edition follows both LlGC 6680B and J 111 which make l. 245 the first line of a new caniad, although it has the same end-rhyme as the previous caniad. However, it is quite possible that the poet intended ll. 212–71 to be sung as one caniad, and that they were wrongly divided into two in the exemplar. (I have found no other example of two caniadau on the same end-rhyme following each other.) As the links (cyrch-gymeriad) between some of the caniadau in this poem are tenuous, it would be unwise to use the lack of an obvious link between ll. 245 and 246 as an argument for uniting them in the same caniad.}⁠
Nefoedd i gadau^{141 ⁠nefoedd i gadau⁠ A reference to St David’s church (?in Llanddewibrefi) as a place of refuge for soldiers. As suggested in the previous note, nefoedd ‘heaven’ could be read as nef oedd ‘it was heaven’.} o’u hanoddau,
Ni syrthai i’r llawr, fawr filltirau,
Namyn ar ddyn urddawl urddhynt seiniau.
250A Dewi oedd bennaf o’r penaethau
A Duw yn gwybod ei ddefodau;
Ac Ef oedd uchaf er yn nechrau – byd
A hefyd cerddynt ynghyd^{96 ⁠ynghyd⁠⁠ LlGC 6680B y gyd; J 111 ygyt. The orthography does not help us decide whether it was ynghyd or i gyd that the poet intended here; cf. G 105.} â ninnau.
⁠Dewi differwys ei eglwysau,
255Dichones rhag gormes gormant greiriau:
A ffynnon Ddewi a’i ffynhonnau – llawn,
Llawer un rhadlawn, ffrwythlawn ffrydau;
Ac ôl ei farch a’i ôl yntau,
Ys adwen y maen y maent ell dau.^{142 Ll. 258–9 refer to a stone believed to have upon it the saint’s imprint and that of his horse; it seems that these imprints, like relics, had the power to deflect the effects of any wrongdoing. TWS 72–3 refers to stones believed to have upon them St David’s imprint, and GLlF 476 notes three places called Olmarch in the vicinity of Llanddewibrefi. Cf. the following 17th-century reference to an imprint of the shoe of Beuno’s horse on a stone in the parish of Gwyddelwern: Paroch ii, 52: Ol pedol Keffyl veino ar Vaen Beino.}⁠
260Ysid hyn ar ei fryn gwyn, golau, – uchel,
Gan ochel drygoedd drygweithredau:
Mynogi a pherchi a pharch beincau
Yn eglwys, a chynnwys a chanhwyllau;
Ysid gyfeddach gan gyfeddau
265A charu Duw yn drech^{97 ⁠drech⁠ The c in LlGC 6680B is unclear and could be a t (dreth);however, drech is undoubtedly the correct reading, as in J 111.} no phenaethau!
Ysid gan unbyn unbarch dyniolaeth,
Ysid unbennaeth unbenesau; ^{98 ⁠unbennaeth unbenesau⁠ Cf. LlGC 6680B, contrast J 111 unbennaeth. yssit unbennesseu, with a deletion line through yssit probably in the hand of John Davies. Retaining yssit would cause the line to be two syllables too long.}⁠
Ysid esgob llary uch allorau – Dewi,
Pym allawr Brefi,^{144 ⁠pym allawr Brefi⁠ Either five altars in Llanddewibrefi church (there were three altars in Tywyn, see CadfanLlF l. 23), or more likely the altars of chapels associated with the parish of Llanddewibrefi.} braint i’r seiniau.
270Ac i foli Dewi dothwyf i’r Dehau:^{145 ⁠dothwyf i’r Dehau⁠ Cf. GLlF 476 where it is suggested that the couplet refers to the fact that Gwynfardd Brycheiniog had retured to the south after being on a journey to the north; cf. the reference to Anglesey in l. 271.}⁠
Boed doeth Fôn a’m clyw a’m gwerendau!^{146 ⁠gwerendeu⁠ The third person present indicative form of gwarandaw, see GMW 116.}⁠

X
Y gŵr a folaf, gwir ogonedd,
Ni wnaeth na gwaeth^{147 ⁠gwaeth⁠ For its use as a noun ‘evil, mischief, harm’, see GPC Ar Lein s.v. gwaeth.} na gwythlonedd
Namyn o bell^{148 ⁠o bell⁠ Pell ‘far’ could refer to geographical distance or length of time, see GPC Ar Lein where o bell is defined as ‘from afar, from far away; far-off, far-away, distant; aloof, distant; ?by far; ?for a long time’. Both meanings are possible here.} dygymell, gwell gwirionedd,
275A dygynnull saint yn ei senedd:
Saint Angaw a Llydaw, llu edrysedd,
Saint Lloegrwys ac Iwys^{149 ⁠Lloegrwys ac Iwys⁠ The Iwys are the people of Wessex, the Gewissae; who were also called Deheuwyr, literally ‘southerners’, cf. GPC Ar Lein s.v. Deheuwr (b). The Iwys were also named in the poem ‘Armes Prydain’ (ArmP2 ll. 108, 181 also pp. xv, 49–50). For the development of the name, see Jenkins 1962–4: 1–10. Is it possible that Lloegrwys refers to the men of Mercia here, rather than of England generally? Attention is drawn in ArmP2 50 to a line in an early poem copied by John Jones Gellilyfdy in Pen 111, which refers to Eigil ywuys lloegrwuis keint (Williams 1927–9: 45): ‘ “Eingl, Iwys, Lloegrwys and Caint (men of Kent)” are named as though they represented sub-divisions of the English nation. The other names are geographically identifiable, but what about the Lloegrwys? Were they not the inhabitans of Mercia?’.} a saint y Gogledd,
Saint Manaw ac Anaw ac Ynysedd⁠^{150 ⁠Anaw ac Ynysedd⁠ I follow tentatively GLlF 477 (Owen 1991–2: 78) and HG Cref 198 where Anaw is understood as an unknown place-name and Ynysedd as a name for the Isles of the Hebrides.} ⁠
A seiniau Powys, pobl enrhyfedd,
280Saint Iwerddon a Môn a saint Gwynedd,
Saint Dyfnaint a Chaint a chynaddledd,
Saint Brycheiniawg, bro hyẅredd,
A seiniau Maelenydd,^{151 ⁠Maelenydd⁠ The cantref of Maelienydd to the north of Elfael and south of Ceri in Rhwng Gwy a Hafren. Ystradenni (l. 107 Ystrad Nynnid) was in Maelienydd.} elfydd fannedd, ^{99 This line was omitted from J 111, but John Davies placed an insert sign in the appropriate place, realising that the line was missing as he compared the text with his copy from LlGC 6680B in BL 14869.}⁠
A seiniau present, worment tiredd,^{100 Is there a line missing before l. 284, as it does not seem to be part of a couplet? It starts with the conjunction a as do ll. 279 and 283, which are both second lines in their respective couplets.}⁠
285Dybuant i gyd i un orsedd^{101 ⁠i un orsedd⁠ LlGC 6680B y un orsset; J 111 ynunorsed. Both manuscripts give adequate meaning, but LlGC 6680B is followed here.}⁠
I Frefi ar Ddewi dda ei fuchedd,
I gymryd Dewi ddigymrodedd^{102 ⁠digymrodedd⁠ LlGC 6680B dy gymrodet; J 111 dygymroded. This instance of cymrodedd is listed in G 437 and GPC Ar Lein s.v. cymrodedd⁠1 ‘concord, agreement’, &c. (the form is based on brawd ‘judgement’); both follow HG Cref 286 where the dy (ddy) is explained as the old form of the preposition y ‘from’ as seen in combinations such as y dreis ‘through force’; see GPC Ar Lein s.v. i⁠4; and cf. Owen 1991–2: 79 (GLlF 462) di gymrodedd ‘with full consent’. However, the evidence for the for the use of d(d)i/d(d)y ‘from’ is scant except for in established combinations, and thus digymrodedd is taken to be an adjective modifying Dewi, consisting of the negative particle di- and cymrodedd ‘an equal, rival, peer’ (< cym- + brawd ‘brother’), see GPC Ar Lein s.v. cymrodedd⁠2 and for examples of dy- in manuscripts for the negative particle di-, see G 323 et passim. For the meaning expressed here, cf. GDB 30.87–8 A Dafydd … / Ni bu o Gymro ei gymrodedd ‘And Dafydd … / no Welshman was his equal’.}⁠
Yn bennaf, yn decaf o’r teÿrnedd.
Or digonsam^{153 ⁠or digonsam⁠ A contraction of the conjunction o and the preverbal particle ry which often ‘gives a perfect meaning to the verb’, see GMW 167 (a).} ni gam o gymaredd,
290Cyfodwn, archwn arch ddiomedd
Drwy eirioled Dewi a Duw a fedd,
Gwaeanad gwenwlad gwedy maswedd
Drwy eirioled Mair, mam rhadlonedd,
A Mihangel⁠^{154 ⁠Mihangel⁠ The archangel, who was often portrayed as the leader of heavenly hosts and the defender of man’s soul at his hour of death.} mawr ym mhob awrfedd:
295Dycheferfyddwn^{103 ⁠Dycheferfyddwn⁠ First person plural imperative of dychyfarfod; the stem dycheferfydd- is not given as a variant in GPC Ar Lein s.v. dychyfarfyddaf, however, as this is the reading suggested in LlGC 6680B and J 111 for the form in this line and the next, it probably shows assimilation of y..e (dychyferfydd-) > e..e (dycheferfydd-).} ni, lu, am ei lariedd,
Dycheferfyddwn ninnau^{155 ⁠dycheferfyddwn ni, lu, … / Dycheferfyddwn ninnau …⁠ Dychyfarfod is defined as an intransitive verb in GPC Ar Lein, thus the lenited lu (< llu) is understood in a vocative sense (although the translation does not reflect this literally), with ninnau reinforcing its meaning. In the past many saints had assembled around St David (ll. 275–88), and now the poet closes his poem by encouraging the present audience at Llanddewibrefi, including himself (ninnau), to assemble in a similar fashion around their patron saint.} am drugaredd!