| Notes |
- I HUW CONWY, O VRYN EURYN.
North Wales is mentioned as the land of ale, mead, and wine; and the house of Hugh Conwy as the place whither the indigent minstrel should resort. Hugh is celebrated for his military acts, his hospitality, and for his unbounded munificence to the bards. The latter part of the poem is taken up in eulogizing Elizabeth, Hugh Conwy’s wife, and in giving a sketch of her pedigree.
A garo mwyn gwrw a medd,
A dau win, aed i Wynedd;
Addressed to Hugh Conway, of Bryn Euryn.
Bryn Euryn is a mansion in ruins, in the parish of Llandrillo yn Rhos, on the sea-coast of Creuddyn, and to the west of Abergelau. Tradition records that it was formerly called Llys Maelgwn Gwynedd; and that it had been the habitation of Marchudd ab Cynan the fifth, in point of priority, of the fifteen ennobled tribes of North Wales. Of this Marchudd an anonymous Latin versifier, in a scarcely legible old MS, wrote thus:
Strenuus Uwch Dulæ Marchudd bellator in orbe
Sanguineo tumidi spolium prælustre gigantis
Æquali pugna et justo certamine cæsi –
Fert caput avulsum tantique insigne triumphi
Tortilis argenti nitidique corona revincit
Quo Rex descendens Henricus Septimus exit
Claruit Eduallo sub Calvo rege Britanno.
Maelgwn Gwynedd, in the 6th century; Machudd, in the 10th; and Grufydd Goch lord of Rhos, about the conclusion of the 14th century, may be reckoned the most noted proprietors of Bryn Euryn. Grufydd Goch was grandfather to Hugh Conway, the subject of this poem. Hugh Conway was the first who borrowed from the river which bounded his territory the permanent family surname of Conwy.
The Conways of Bod-Tryddan, near St. Asaph, affected a foreign descent from the Conyers of Richmond in Yorkshire; but both the Conways, Welsh and Anglo-Norman, now lie with the Capulets, excepting some fragment of the name preserved by a branch of the English nobility, apparently descended from the learned secretary of state, under James I., of that name.
The tribe, or clan, of Grufydd Goch of Bryn Euryn were numerous in the lordships of Rhos and Rhyvoniog. Some anecdotes of their strength and skill in archery are recorded at Conway, and at Coed Marchan, when they besieged the Thelwalls, then numerous in the vale of Clwyd, within the walls of Ruthyn castle. John ab Maredydd, of Ystum Cegid, marched his clan from Evionydd, through the defiles of Snowdon, and relieved the Thelwalls from their thraldom, and restored them to their respective homes; viz. to Bathavarn, Plas Ward, Llan Bedr, Nant Clwyd, Plas Coch, &c.
An excellent view of Bryn Euryn, in its present state, may be seen in Hugh’s Beauties of Cambria.
A vyno help i vyw ‘n hwy,
Aed, caned i Huw Conwy.
Rholant, ni bu wr haelach,
Robin yw, hir y bo ‘n iach;
Edn yw ev o Ednyved,
Eryr yw cryv ar wyr Cred.
Mi yw ‘r gwr, val y mae ‘r gog,
Ac a alwan’ yn geiliog;
Y ceiliog ni chan celwydd,
A gan i Dduw ac e ‘n ddydd.
Canu uwch acen a wnav;
I Huw Conwy y canav;
Ac edn wyv, ni ‘m gad yn ol,
Abl a gan yn bylgeiniol;
Canu cathl, val can cethlydd,
Erddo a wn ar wawr ddydd;
Cathl ber o ben pererin
Yn mron gwyl, yn mryn y gwin;
Yn Mryn Euryn mae ‘r nawradd,
A vu yn nev, o vain nadd;
Ac yn mhob gradd o naddynt
Gwin a pharch a gawn a phunt.
Yn nesav i Noe eisoes,
Ond ei blant, vu ‘n dyblu oes;
Bu ‘n vrenin a dewin da,
Belus ar gwbl o ‘Syria.
I Huw yntau, val Hantwn,
Y tro rhent y tir hwn;
O’r avaon elwir Conwy
Ei dir a el hyd ar Wy;
A ‘i goed a’i wydd gyda ‘i win
O graig Ofa i Gaer Gyfin;
Dano bu hyd na beiir
Sawdwyr swrn, glo sedr Sir;
E savodd dentu Syvarn,
A ‘r Ddena vawr ddoe ‘n y varn;
Troia a Groeg, rhag troi gradd,
Yn amlwg a wnai ymladd;
Gwedy hyny eu hunain
Troi yn un natur o’r rhai’n.
Mae chwedel mai dwy genedlaeth
Iso ‘n un nasiwn a aeth;
A ‘r ddwy ‘n un, un radd, un wedd,
Oedd genedl Nordd a Gwynedd.
Gwraig Huw wrawl, gwraig hiriell,
O sir Gaer nid oes wraig well;
Aeth cenedl Elsbeth Conwy
O Verwig wen hyd vro Gwy;
Hi o Domas Salbri sydd
I alw ‘r genedl ar gynnydd;
Wyr syr Sion Donn ys da waed
Yw’r huelwen o’r rhiawlwaed.
Da oedd cyfion Huw Conwy,
A da yw Huw wedi hwy;
I’w plant oll, rhag planed dig,
Y bo nodded Benedigg.
Bendithion Elsbeth Conwy
A ddaw yn hawdd iddyn’ hwy;
A’r vendith a riv un-Duw
Byth i hil Elsbeth a Huw;
A rhiv gwlith o vendithion
A vo i Huw; ev a hon.
source: Davies, Walter and John Jones, eds. The Poetical Works of Lewis Glyn Cothi, a Celebrated Bard, who Flourished in the Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII. Oxford, UK: The Cymmrodorion, 1837.
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