Notes

The poem's opening couplet corresponds to the beginning of the Apostles' Creed. The Creed also overshadows the following lines where the poet seeks the assistance of the Almighty to exalt Christ and the Virgin Mary. Some of Christ's miracles are then briefly mentioned and 'Credo' ends with the poet's meditation on Christ's passion.

'Credo' is found in more than 70 manuscript sources, most of which attribute the poem to Dafydd ap Gwilym. At least 15 versions were copied before the end of the 16th c. The earliest, Pen 48, copied in the middle of the 15th c., is incomplete but it follows a sequence of seven poems deemed to be the genuine work of Dafydd ap Gwilym, and it is reasonable to assume that the poem was attributed to him in the folio which included the end of the poem but which has since disappeared. It was only the first line which was copied by John Davies, Mallwyd, in Pen 49 (presumably because he had copied the piece in its entirety on another occasion), but that particular section of his compilation was based on the collection of Dafydd ap Gwilym's poems in the White Book of Hergest. The version copied by Thomas Wiliems in H 26 derived from the Vetustus and this version corresponds closely to Pen 48.

Thomas Parry rejected the poem on account of its style and craft. The frequency of cynghanedd sain was another argument he employed. He was also aware that the poem was attributed in certain manuscript sources to other poets.

The simple and straightforward diction, lacking the compound words which are one of the hallmarks of Dafydd ap Gwilym's poems, also supports Thomas Parry's case. T.C. Crawford, however, showed that the occurrence of cynghanedd sain was not a valid argument, see YB 12 (1982), 131–42. This cynghanedd occurs in 28% of the lines; Thomas Parry himself had argued that 14th–c. poems would normally contain cynghanedd sain in at least 25% of their lines. The attribution to other poets is also inconclusive. The two 16th–c. poets, Huw Arwystl and Syr Dafydd Trefor, cannot be considered serious contenders as authors of a poem recorded in the mid 15th c., and it seems as if the poem attributed to Ieuan Llwyd Brydydd is an amalgam of two independent pieces, namely 'Credo' and a different (unknown) religious poem. The poem could be the work of Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn although no other religious piece is attributed to him. But it is not inconceivable that the poem was attributed to him when copyists failed to recognise the significance of the name Dafydd Llwyd [ap Gwilym Gam]. It is also possible that 'Credo' is the work of an unknown 15th–c. poet named Dafydd Llwyd.

Although the manuscript sources are numerous the versions correspond closely in readings and in line order and it is possible that most derive from written as opposed to oral sources. The poem was copied in its entirety in the majority of cases. This new edition is based on Pen 48, M 146 and H 26.

The one obstacle which had to be faced concerned the sequence of couplets at the end of the cywydd which also occur at the end of another poem deemed to be the genuine work of Dafydd ap Gwilym, namely poem 4 'Lluniau Crist a'r Apostolion'. Thomas Parry omitted these couplets from his edited version of 'Lluniau Crist' in GDG. The floating couplets at the end of 'Lluniau Crist' vary in number between four and eight. It is possible that the two poems circulated together in written form from an early stage and that the latter section of 'Credo' was erreoneously attached to 'Lluniau Crist'.