Notes

GDG 8

Here Dafydd sends a messenger to Anglesey to explain that his love for Ifor Hael and the generous hospitality of his patron's court at Basaleg prevent him from leaving Glamorgan. In poem 14 he bids Ifor farewell before travelling to Gwynedd in the North. As in the other poems for Ifor Hael there is an emphasis on the bond of friendship and on the civilized pleasures of his court. D.J. Bowen (1983–4, 182–3) suggests that the theme of Dafydd's love for Ifor may echo the idea present in Irish poetry that the prince and the ollav are symbolically husband and wife. It appears more likely that Dafydd is playing upon the popularity of his own love poetry, Ifor being even dearer to him than any of his female muses, and he addresses his human messenger just as he would the llatai or love–messenger in his love poems.

7.    It may be that Dafydd was exiled from his native Ceredigion due to a dispute with Morfudd's husband. There is a suggestion in 'The Wind' that he was barred from the commot of Uwch Aeron as a result of legal action by Y Bwa Bach, see 47.17–18 and cf. 116.45–6.

9. salm Selyf   'Solomon's psalm', the Song of Songs in the Old Testament, known for its sensuous love poetry. On its influence on the language of courtly love in medieval Latin verse, see Peter Dronke, Medieval Latin and the Rise of European Love–Lyric, i (Oxford, 1965), 264 ff.

10. dyn   Either 'man' or 'girl'. The ambiguity is no doubt deliberate.

29. Deifr   Originally the Angles of Deira in the Old North and by extension the English in general, cf. 17.10.

41. ffristiawl a thawlbwrdd   Two board–games similar to backgammon and chess. Cf. 161.69 and see F.R. Lewis, 'Gwerin Ffristial a Thawlbwrdd', THSC 1941, 185–205.