Mae llawer o lenyddiaeth Gymraeg wedi goroesi sy’n gysylltiedig â’r ‘Rhyfeloedd Cartref’ rhwng y Senedd a’r Brenin Charles I.

Nodwn yn y bennod hon fod awdur Cymraeg enwocaf y cyfnod, Morgan Llwyd, yn Biwritan a gefnogai’r Senedd, gan ddyfynnu cerdd ganddo sy’n disgrifio’r rhyfela fel daeargryn yn ysgwyd ei fyd. Eto, roedd y rhan fwyaf o Gymry’r ail ganrif ar bymtheg ar ochr y brenin, a thrafodwn y modd y dioddefodd un bardd Cymraeg oherwydd ei ymlyniad gwleidyddol a chrefyddol. Ond er bod llawer o destunau Cymraeg sy’n tystio i ymwneud y Cymry â’r gwrthdaro a’r trais, edrychwn hefyd ar enghraifft sy’n ein hatgoffa nad ar chwarae bach y mae cymryd llenyddiaeth fel ffynhonnell hanesyddol ddibynadwy.

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Episode 54 - ‘The earth shook: an introduction to the Welsh literature of the ‘Civil Wars’

There is a great amount of Welsh-language literature surviving which is related to the ‘Civil Wars’ between Parliament and King Charles I.

We note in this episode that the most famous Welsh author of the period, Morgan Llwyd, was a Puritan who supported the Senate, and we quote from a poem by him which describes the warfare as an earthquake shaking his world. However, most seventeenth-century Welsh people supported the king, and we discuss how one Welsh poet suffered because of his political and religious loyalties. And although there are many texts which testify to the connections between Welsh people and the conflict and violence, we also look at one example which reminds us that it is not lightly that one takes literature as a reliable historical source.

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

Cynhyrchwyd gan: Richard Martin

Cerddoriaeth: 'Might Have Done' gan The Molenes

Darllen Pellach / Further Reading:

- Hen Gerddi Gwleidyddol 1558-1660 (1901). [Golygydd di-enw ar ran Cymdeithas Llên Cymru]

- Jerry Hunter, ‘The Red Sword, the Sickle and the Author’s Revenge: Welsh Literature and Conflict in the Seventeenth Century, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 36 (2018).