Pennod 36 - (cyfres 2, pennod 3)

Dyma gyflwyniad i awdur Cymraeg rhyfeddol, Elis Gruffydd, Cymro o sir y Fflint a fu’n filwr ym myddin Harri VIII ac yn aelod o warchodlu Calais. Yno ar y cyfandir yr ysgrifennodd ei gronicl hirfaith, hanes y byd o’r Creu Beiblaidd hyd at ddechrau’r 1550au, y testun naratifol hwyaf a ysgrifennwyd erioed yn yr iaith Gymraeg.

A’i fywyd yn rhychwantu hanner cyntaf oes y Tuduriaid, mae’n bosibl disgrifio Elis Gruffydd gyda gwrthddywediad ymddangosiadol a dweud ei fod yn awdur cwbl unigryw a oedd yn gwbl nodweddiadol o’i oes. Gwelir yn ei waith ysgrifenedig y pontio rhwng yr hen oes a’r newydd, wrth iddo fynd ati’n uchelgeisiol i gofnodi cymaint o wybodaeth trwy gyfrwng ei famiaith. Gan fod Elis yn sôn am ei fywyd ei hun yn ystod rhan olaf ei groncil, a ellir dweud mai hwn yw’r hunangofiant cyntaf yn yr iaith Gymraeg? Holwn hefyd pam nad oes rhagor o Gymry heddiw sy’n gwybod am yr awdur Cymraeg diddorol hwn a’i waith rhyfeddol? Ai oherwydd y ffaith ei fod yn Gymro a oedd yn deyrngar iawn i’r Frenhiniaeth Seisnig a’i byddin?

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Elis Gruffydd (Part 1)

This is an introduction to a remarkable Welsh author, Elis Gruffydd, a Welshman from Flintshire who served as a soldier in Henry VIII’s army and who was a member of the garrison of Calais. It was there on the continent that he wrote is long chronicle, a history of the world from the Biblical Creation to the start of the 1550s, the longest narrative text ever written in the Welsh language.

His life spanned the first half of the age of the Tudors, and it’s possible to describe Elis Gruffydd with an apparent contradiction and say that he was a completely unique author who was completely characteristic of his age. One can see the bridging between the old age and the new in his written work, as he went at it ambitiously to record so much knowledge in his native language. Given the fact that Elis discusses his own life in the last part of his chronicle, can it be said that this is the first autobiography in the Welsh language? We also ask why more Welsh people today don’t know about this interesting Welsh writer and his remarkable work? Is it because he was a Welshman who was very loyal to the English monarchy and its army?

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a'r Athro Richard Wyn Jones

Cynhyrchwyd gan: Richard Martin

Cerddoriaeth: Might Have Done gan The Molenes

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Darllen Pellach / Further Reading:

- Thomas Jones, `A Welsh Chronicler in Tudor England’, Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru 1 (1960)

- Prys Morgan, ‘Elis Gruffydd of Gronant - Tudor chronicler extraordinary’, Journal of the Flintshire Historical Society, 25 (1971-2)

- Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, ‘Elis Gruffydd a Thraddodiad Cymraeg Calais a Chlwyd’, Cof Cenedl 11 (1996)

- Jerry Hunter, Soffestri’r Saeson: Hanesyddiaeth a Hunaniaeth yn Oes y Tuduriaid (2000).

- Jerry Hunter, ‘Taliesin at the Court of Henry VIII: Aspects of the writings of Elis Gruffydd’, Trafodion Anrhydeddus Gymdeithas y Cymmrodorion (2003)

- Jerry Hunter, ‘Poets, Angels and Devilish Spirits: Elis Gruffydd’s Meditations on Idolatry,’ yn Joseph F. Nagy a Leslie Ellen Jones (goln.), Heroic Poets and Poetic Heroes in Celtic Tradition (Dulyn, 2005).