Gwalchmai ap Meilyr (
fl.
''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
1130 – 1180) was a
Welsh-language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina).
...
court poet, connected with
Trewalchmai in
Anglesey
Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...
. He was one of the earliest of the ''
Gogynfeirdd'' ("less early poets") or ''Beirdd y Tywysogion'' ("Poets of the Princes"). He composed poems in praise of
Owain Gwynedd
Owain ap Gruffudd ( – 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great () and the first to be styled "Prince of Wales" and th ...
, king of
Gwynedd
Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...
, and his brothers. He was the son of another poet,
Meilyr Brydydd, and father of the poets
Meilyr ap Gwalchmai and
Einion ap Gwalchmai. He shares his name with
Gwalchmei ap Gwyar, a figure from Welsh legend described as the nephew of
Arthur
Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur.
A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...
and known in English as
Gawain
Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...
.
His most important work is perhaps ''Gorhoffedd Gwalchmai'' ("Gwalchmai's praise poem"), one of the greatest medieval Welsh poems.
See also
Gwalchmai ap Meilyr at Wikisource
Bibliography
*J. E. Caerwyn-Williams (ed.), ''Gwaith Meilyr Brydydd a'i ddisgynyddion'' (Cardiff, 1994).
Welsh-language poets
12th-century Welsh poets
{{Wales-writer-stub