GDG 140
Here Dafydd complains that he is reproached by some for loving a girl named Angharad, attributing his misfortune to the age–old jealousy of the Welsh. He is determined to withstand their malicious rumours, and imagines his heart as a fortress which he must defend against his enemies through the grace of God. The girl in question is probably Angharad wife of Ieuan Llwyd of Glyn Aeron whose death is lamented in poem 9; she may also be the subject of the poem to the girl from Is Aeron (136). It is more than likely the same Angharad who is named in five love poems quoted in the bardic grammar compiled by Einion Offeiriad c. 1320 (GEO Appendix C, nos. 11, 12, 29 and 36, Appendix D, no. 10, see ib. 47 and passim; D.J. Bowen, 'Dafydd ap Gwilym a Datblygiad y Cywydd', LlC 8 (1964–5), 13–15; Rachel Bromwich, 'Gwaith Einion Offeiriad a barddoniaeth Dafydd ap Gwilym', YB 10 (1977), 170–2). It seems therefore that Angharad was a patron of love poetry — the genre's language and imagery are suggestively echoed in the elegy, see DGIA 209 — and it may be that some were unhappy that Dafydd should address frivolous love poems of the new type to a married noblewoman. On Angharad see Introduction, 'Y Bardd', 28.
The poem's novelty may in part be due to the influence of a wider European tradition. Rachel Bromwich has remarked that the image of the fortress finds a striking parallel in the Roman de la Rose, and as T.M. Chotzen had previously noted, allegorical 'fortresses of love' are a commonplace in medieval French and Anglo–Norman literature. For the references see DGIA 221–4, where further examples are cited which suggest a debt to a salient European convention, however original Dafydd's particular treatment of the metaphor may be. The gossiping scoundrels mentioned in line 15 are reminiscent of the slanderers who feature so prominently in troubadour and trouvère poetry, see ib. 224, although this is not necessarily a case of foreign influence. It should also be borne in mind that fortress imagery is common in medieval sermons, see ib. 221–2, so that as in some of his other poems Dafydd may be parodying the preacher's rhetoric.
In light of the reference to Calais in line 20, Thomas Parry, GDG1 lv, proposed that the poem was composed during Edward III's siege of the French stronghold in 1346–7 or shortly afterwards. Saunders Lewis, LlC 2 (1952–3), 202, argued that the last four lines (see note) suggest a more precise date, seeing here a reference to the location of Edward's fleet during the siege which would place the poem between July and September 1347 when the siege was ended. This is accepted by Thomas Parry in GDG xxxiv, although it is possible that the poem was composed shortly after the siege when it was still fresh in the memory. Angharad's husband, Ieuan, may have fought under Edward III, see D. Hywel E. Roberts, 'Noddwyr y Beirdd yn Sir Aberteifi', LlC 10 (1968–9), 84. If Ieuan was in France when Dafydd addressed love poems to his wife, that may have angered those who are rebuked in this poem.
2. Susar Cesar. This refers to the belief that the ancient Britons were descended from Brutus of Troy.
20. y Galais Calais was besieged by Edward III during 1346–7, following the battle of Crécy. Cf. Iolo Goch's poem in praise of Edward III, GIG I.37–8 Gelyn fuost i'r Galais / O gael y dref, golau drais.
22. Caerdroea The city of Troy which was besieged by the Greeks following the capture of Helen of Troy, cf. 130.1–14n. The fall of Troy is described by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Brut Dingestow, 4.
24. Tŵr Babilon The Tower of Babel, see Genesis xi.1–9; di-isel 'lofty' (line 23) may allude to the building of the tower with its head in heaven, ib. 4. According to LlA 44 it stood on the site of the city of Babilon; cf. GIG I.65–6 Cyrch hyd ym min Constinobl, / Cer bron Caer Bablon cur bobl.
55–6. Thomas Parry, GDG 543, suggests that these lines may reflect a popular belief in the fourteenth century that Edward II was killed in 1327 with a red poker up his backside. Given the reference to the siege of Calais in line 20, the primary meaning of the closing couplets seems to be that Angharad's poet will remain alive and well even if Edward III were to be drowned by the French, a most unlikely outcome whilst his fleet was successfully besieging Calais from the sea. See GDG xxxiv and Saunders Lewis, LlC 2 (1952–3), 202; as Lewis remarks, the description môr angorwaisg 'mighty-anchored sea' is consistent with this interpretation.