Tudur Penllyn

Tudur's place of birth is uncertain, but he was probably brought up in the Hundred of Penllyn, centred on Llandderfel, Merioneth (Penllyn is a pen-name or bardic name rather than a surname: his full name under the Welsh patronymic system was Tudur ap Ieuan ap Iorwerth Foel).

Little is known of his background although he did trace his ancestry from Meirion Goch, a nobleman of Edeirnion, and was of the minor gentry class.

[1] As an adult he lived in the parish of Llanuwchllyn at Caer-Gai, where the manor house he occupied still exists as a farm.

As well as travelling throughout Wales as a poet, Tudur seems to have worked as a drover, grazier, and trader in wool.

However he would also take on humorous or amorous themes as the occasion arose: one cywydd attributed to him is written in alternate Welsh and English sections, and depicts the poet attempting to seduce an unwilling Englishwoman, exploiting their mutual incomprehension for comic effect.