Radnorshire Bardic Poems, 16

This a praise poem by Lewis Glyn Cothi addressed to Bedo Chwith of Bryn Pennardd, Cregrina. You can see the site of Bryn Pennardd in the photograph on the left. All over Wales you can find these old halls of the uchelwyr, the English historians and their followers think they are motte and bailey castles.

No. 150 Praise to Bedo Chwith and Gwenllian vz Gwilym

This man whose home is above the fair meadow,
And the quiet, excellent wife:
Bedo Chwith, there his six fold payment
Will be given to me;
Next there is Gwilym’s daughter
Wearing the gold of the south upon two dresses,
Good natured Gwenllian
From Caio, from the line of a fair knight.
From Gwilym and from Meilyr,
A beautiful vine and earth’s increase.
God and the Church have rolled
Two names into one under their protection:
The strong, dark man of Glasgwm,
The sun of Cil y Cwm.

Being daily found wandering on the van
From yonder Roman town;
Bryn Pennardd is so beautiful,
The dinner that awaits us.
It seems to me that the Edw
Flows with Weobley ale and
That the Tywi pours with mead,
They placed it there on the river gorge;
As if the gold of the Bishop of Durham
Was in this court above the church,
And the silver of ancient Cyrys
Was placed there in Rhys’s grandson’s house;
As if the wheat of the Golden Vale or more
Were there in the house of fair Elfael,
Repaired to in one night,
Then spent the second night.
Let the lad out of love of drinking mead
Go along to Llwyn Hoeddliw and its dwelling.
There I’ll climb the bank,
Climbing to the home of an angel,
To Rhiw, to the house of Hywel’s grandson,
To the spot where honey is brought.

The world swarms about his head,
He and the moon of Mallaen.
A river grows bigger as it goes to the sea
And then is no more;I go, like a river,
To their house upon the breast of the hill.
There are children, good blessings,
To the round margin of Cregrina;
To Bedo they come in pairs,
From the fair woman they spring.
Come Powys and the South
As far as Gwent, to the house of these two.
Good Gwenllian invites them,
Her husband hands them gifts,
Her husband tunes the bards
With gold each day, the lord of Pennardd.
Great the seas about Anglesey,
More are the talents of my people.
Great is the seed of Britain,
More is the rent of these Welsh folk.
Mary, guard them on the shore of the Edw,
Amen! For as long as they wish.