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.

Sheep on the slopes beneath Caer-Gai, where Tudur Penllyn farmed. Tudur worked as a drover, trading the wool of his flocks in English markets.