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Catrin ferch Gruffudd ap Hywel

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Catrin ferch Gruffudd ap Hywel (fl. 1555) was a Welsh poet from Anglesey who, as a devout Catholic and Recusant, wrote poetry extensively as a critic of the Protestant Reformation. Many of her poems still survive due to preservation by the National Library of Wales.

Biography

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Catrin ferch Gruffudd ap Hywel lived in the village of Llanddaniel Fab on Anglesey, and was a poet active around the 1550s.[1] Her husband was Roman Catholic priest Robert ap Rhys, and their son later became an Anglican parson.[2][note 1] She was related to the poet Wiliam Cynwal [cy], who died around 1587.[3] A devout Catholic, her poems had religious themes and she wrote extensively about her opposition to the Protestant Reformation.[2][4][5] In one englyn, she wrote:

Liz Herbert McAvoy places emphasis on her usage of Latin in worship and Welsh for "the literary expression of her religious beliefs", noting that this provides a unique perspective of a "Welsh woman's personal reaction to the assault on her religion".[6] In another poem dated around 1553, Catrin wrote that she was angry at the "Stealing of the chalice of Christ, stealing church and chancel / Without any gain but arrogance and exploitation".[7] She also wrote an awdl praising Christ, and a series of englynion about the cold summer of 1555.[1] Presumably towards the end of her life, she wrote a poem expressing that she "prays and weeps in her bed at night, visualizing Christ's suffering at the Crucifixtion; confessing her sins, she prepares for death", suggesting that she was terminally ill.[2]

Many of Catrin's poems have survived through preservation by the National Library of Wales.[1][note 2] As a result, McAvoy considers her to be one of the most famous female Welsh poets of the late medieval/early modern era,[8] while historian Lloyd Bowen writes that her poems offer "a valuable (and rare) female perspective on religious change in this period".[7]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ During this period in Wales, "unofficial marriages to Catholic clergy were common".[2]
  2. ^ Though some of her poems are misattributed to the similarly named Catrin ferch Gruffudd ab Ieuan Fychan [cy].[3]

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c Owens, Benjamin George (1959). "Catrin ferch Gruffudd ap Hywel (fl. c. 1555), poet". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d McAvoy & Watt 2012, p. 61.
  3. ^ a b Aaron 2020.
  4. ^ Sauer 2008, p. 461.
  5. ^ Lake 2001, p. 576.
  6. ^ a b McAvoy & Watt 2012, p. 62.
  7. ^ a b Bowen 2022, p. 67.
  8. ^ McAvoy & Watt 2012, p. 11.

Works cited

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Further reading

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