DAFYDD TREFOR
, ‘
Syr
,’
alias
David ap Hoell ap Ieuan ap Iorwerth
(d.
1528?
),
cleric and bard
;
b. in the parish of
Llanddeiniolen, Caerns.
, according to a statement by
John
Jones
(
Myrddin Fardd
)
in
Cwrtmawr MS. 561
. In one of his poems, ‘
Cywydd i ofyn geifr
,’ he speaks of
Morgan ap Hywel
,
Llanddeiniolen
, as his uncle. A summarized account by
Irene
George
(
Lloyd-Williams
)
giving particulars about the
bard
's history and his poems appears in
Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society
,
1934
. In a list of clergy in the diocese of
Bangor
in the year
1504
Dafydd Trevor
is described as
rector
of
Llanygrad
, i.e.
Llaneugrad-cum-Llanallgo
,
Anglesey
, and as a
canon
. This is how he describes himself in a deed (dated
1524
and signed by himself) by which he transfers ‘
Tyddyn Hwfa
’ near
Llangeinwen church
,
Anglesey
, to
Owen
Holland
and others —
‘Ego dominus david Trevor clericus alias dictus dominus david ap hoell ap Ieuan ap Iorwerth Rector ecclesie pariochialis de llanallgo in comitatu anglesega’
(
N.L.W. Carreglwyd document 1824
). An elegy on him by
Ieuan ap Madoc
(q.v.)
seems to suggest that he died in
1527
or
early in 1528
—
Ieuan ap Madoc
refers in his elegy to the death of two other contemporary bards (qq.v.),
Tudur Aled
(d.
1526
)
and
Lewis Môn
(d.
1527
)
.
Edward
Lhuyd
(q.v.)
says that
Dafydd Trevor
was buried in
Llanallgo
and added that some of the parishioners could then indicate the site of his grave.
His poems — they are all in the
cywydd
form — consist of eight ‘petitions’ (the one in which a request is made for a
concubine
and a harp is, perhaps, the best known), four ‘eulogies’ (among them is one to
‘
Deiniol
Bangor
,’ i.e.
bishop
Daniel
)
, three religious or philosophical
cywyddau
, three elegies (one on the death of
king
Henry
VII
), a
cywydd
describing ‘
Ysgraff Porthaethwy
,’ i.e. the ferry over the
Menai Straits
, and two ‘flyting’ poems; sixteen of the above are printed in
Trans. Angl. Antiq. Soc.
,
1935
.
Bibliography:
-
To the references given above add M.A. thesis by
Irene George (Lloyd-Williams)
now deposited at N.L.W.
Author:
Sir William Llewelyn Davies, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. (1887-1952),
Aberystwyth
