Notes

GDG 19

Dafydd's elegy to Madog Benfras is complemented by an elegy by Madog to Dafydd, and it follows that both cannot be genuine. Rachel Bromwich judged the pair to be fictitious, and she further argued that Dafydd's elegies to Gruffudd ab Adda (poem 21) and to Gruffudd Gryg (poem 22) who composed not one but two elegies to Dafydd, should be seen in the same light, see APDG 159–62; Huw Meirion Edwards, 'Murnio marwnadau: golwg ar y ffug–farwnad yng nghyfnod y cywydd', Dwned 5 (1999), 47–70. Rachel Bromwich suggested that this particular genre was connected with the development of the cywydd in the 14th c. as exponents of the new form sought to experiment and to create original modes of expression. In her view the humorous and satirical vein which characterises this group of poems supported the assumption that they were fictitious although it should be noted that the elegy to Madog Benfras is most serious and sombre in tone. Huw Meirion Edwards suggested that the dual elegies could have been composed and performed on the same occasion. If so, one would expect that the pair would have circulated together in oral form prior to being recorded. In this case, Dafydd and Madog's elegies occur together in five manuscripts but apart in five others. In 13 manuscripts only one of the pair is preserved.

27. Merddin   The cynghanedd attests to the form Merddin (Modern Welsh Myrddin), and is supported by the evidence of 45.23 where copyists consistently recorded the same form. The description carueiddgerdd Ferddin alludes to a tradition that Myrddin was renowned as a lover (see also 45.21–4).