Ric
Well I was brought up in Gwalchmai and went to school in Aberffraw. Maybe
that's where the poetry gene hung out a few centuries back, although it
seems to have gone into hiding more recently.
The most recent Cynan, who died in the nineteen seventies, got a burial
plot on the Church on the Island in Menai Bridge, south facing with views
of the Menai Straits. The local bourgeoisie pay a fortune for houses with
the same. Maybe that's the modern equivalent of the endowed land.
Ian
R I Caddel wrote:
>
> Here's a bit from Ceri Lewis: The Court Poets: Their Function, Status and
> Craft, in A Guide to Welsh Literature v1 ed. Jarman & Hughes:
>
> "There are a few indications of bardic families, the most notable
> example being that of Meilyr Brydydd (fl. c. 1100-37), the chief court
> poet to Gruffudd ap Cynan at Aberffraw. This bard's son, Gwalchmai ap
> Meilyr (fl. c. 1130-80), was court poet to Owain Gwynedd, the son of
> Gruffudd ap Cynan, and at least two, possibly three, of Gwalchmai's sons
> were also poets. One reason for the tendency for professions to become
> hereditary was their endowment with landed estates, and Sir John Edward
> Lloyd expressed the view that this practice explained such local names as
> Pentre'r-beirdd and Tre'r-beirdd. Be that as it may, another factor which
> undoubtably contributed to the for some professions to become hereditary
> was the ease with which traditional skills can be transmitted from father
> to son, and in this respect the family can be seen as the prototype of the
> school."
>
> Hmm... I'm stll waiting for my slice of endowed land...
>
> RC
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