Brycheiniog a`r Beirdd yn yr Oesoedd Canol

Y Ganolfan Geltaidd
Cylchlythyr Rhif 17
Haf 2015
Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru
University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies
Newsletter No. 17
Summer 2015
Brycheiniog a’r Beirdd yn yr
Oesoedd Canol
Dr Ann Parry Owen reports on the highly successful ‘Medieval
Breconshire and the Welsh Poets’ forum held at Brecon on 16
May 2015.
Yn dilyn fforymau llwyddiannus yn Llangollen (2010) ac
yn Rhaglan (2011), mentrwyd allan o’r Ganolfan unwaith
eto ym mis Mai ar gyfer ein fforwm canoloesol blynyddol.
Aberhonddu oedd y dewis amlwg, a ninnau ar fin
cyhoeddi golygiad Dr Cynfael Lake o waith y bardd mawr o
Frycheiniog, Hywel Dafi, yng Nghyfres Beirdd yr Uchelwyr.
Yn y bore croesawyd ni’n gynnes i Eglwys Gadeiriol Sant
Ioan gan y deon, y Tra Pharchedig Dr Paul Shackerley. A
ninnau’n eistedd mwy neu lai yn union dan y fan lle crogai’r
Grog Aur, braf oedd gwrando ar yr Athro Madeleine Gray
yn trafod pwysigrwydd yr eglwys fel canolfan i bererinion
yn yr Oesoedd Canol.
Siaradwyr y fforwm yn rhan ganoloesol Coleg Crist
Cynhaliwyd gweddill y fforwm yng Ngholeg Crist, a chawsom daith gerdded hynod ddiddorol
yno yng nghwmni Mr William Gibbs, a dynnodd ein sylw at fannau o ddiddordeb hanesyddol
ac artistig ar y ffordd. Cawsom bedwar papur yn trafod amrywiol agweddau ar Frycheiniog yn
y prynhawn. Cerdd ryfeddol Huw Cae Llwyd yn enwi 42 o seintiau Brycheiniog a oedd dan sylw
gan Eurig Salisbury, ac mae’n siŵr ei fod yn llygad ei le yn awgrymu mai cerdd crowdfunding
oedd hon, a’r bardd yn ceisio codi arian i fynd ar bererindod i Rufain! Trafod agwedd y beirdd at
Frycheiniog fel endid daearyddol a gwleidyddol a wnaeth Dr Dylan Foster Evans, a chan Dr Cynfael
Lake cawsom ragarweiniad cynhwysfawr i waith Hywel Dafi. Yn olaf, cafwyd ymweliad darluniadol
â thai hanesyddol Brycheiniog yng nghwmni Richard Suggett, a dynnodd sylw at ambell i dŷ yr
ymwelodd Hywel Dafi a’i gyfoeswyr â hwy ar eu teithiau clera.
Trefnwyd y fforwm eleni mewn cydweithrediad â Chymdeithas Brycheiniog, a mawr yw ein diolch
i Mr John Gibbs am ei holl gyngor a’i waith yn sicrhau cynulleidfa leol deilwng iawn i ni. Rydym
yn hynod o ddiolchgar hefyd i Academi Hywel Teifi am eu nawdd at y dydd, ac i staff yr Eglwys
Gadeiriol a Choleg Crist am eu cydweithrediad parod.
Eglwys Gadeiriol Sant Ioan, Aberhonddu.
YR ATHRO R. GERAINT GRUFFYDD
(1928–2015)
Collodd y Ganolfan un o’i chefnogwyr pennaf gyda marwolaeth yr Athro R. Geraint Gruffydd,
ein Cyfarwyddwr cyntaf, ym mis Mawrth. Gellir darllen teyrnged bersonol iddo gan Dr Ann Parry
Owen ar ein gwefan: <http://www.uwp.co.uk/news/2015/03>.
The Centre lost one of its greatest supporters with the death in March of Professor R. Geraint
Gruffydd, our first Director. A personal tribute to him by Dr Ann Parry Owen is on our website:
<http://www.uwp.co.uk/news/2015/03>.
CYNHADLEDD AR GYFIEITHU I’R GYMRAEG
Sylwa Charles Ashton yn ei gyfrol Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig o 1650 O.C. hyd 1850 mai ‘cyfieithiadau o’r
Saesneg oedd y mwyafrif o’r llyfrau Cymraeg hyd ddechreuad
y ganrif bresennol’. Dengys hyn bwysigrwydd cyfieithu mewn
cyfnod a welodd dwf hollbwysig mewn llythrennedd ac
argraffu yn y Gymraeg. Eto i
gyd, esgeuluswyd, hyd yn
ddiweddar, yr agwedd hon ar
y Gymraeg yn gyffredinol, a’r
cyfnod hwn yn arbennig. Er
mwyn hybu ymchwil i’r maes
ceisiwyd am nawdd gan y
Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol
a
threfnwyd
cynhadledd
Gymraeg ei chyfrwng gan Dr
Marion Löffler a Dr Heather
Williams i’w chynnal ar 7 Mawrth
2015.
Cawsom
ddiwrnod
Y darlithwyr yn sefyll y tu allan i’r Drwm yn Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
llwyddiannus dros ben: cafwyd
arolwg meistrolgar o’r maes gan
yr Athro Sioned Davies i ddechrau, ac yna ddeg o bapurau i ddilyn ar bynciau mor wahanol â rhwydweithiau
cyfieithu a’r syniad o undod cenedlaethol yn y ddeunawfed ganrif, geirfâu gwleidyddol, amaethyddol a
cherddorol, ieithwedd fersiynau o Uncle Tom’s Cabin yn y Gymraeg, a dyfodol cyfieithu gweithiau allweddol
Y cyfieithiad gwleidyddol cyntaf a gyhoeddwyd dan
i’r Gymraeg. Mae recordiadau o’r darlithoedd bellach ar gael ar Borth y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, a
nawdd preifat yn 1716
chyhoeddir trafodion y dydd mewn rhifyn arbennig o Llên Cymru.
GEIRIADUR PRIFYSGOL CYMRU
Roeddem yn hynod falch o glywed bod Llywodraeth
Cymru wedi rhoi grant o £40,500 i ni o’r Gronfa Technoleg
a Chyfryngau Digidol Cymraeg i helpu i ddatblygu apiau
ar gyfer iOS ac Android. Bydd modd defnyddio Geiriadur
Prifysgol Cymru yn hwylus ar ffôn neu gyfrifiadur tabled heb
orfod cael cysylltiad allanol.
Y syniad yw ehangu mynediad i’r Geiriadur drwy ddarparu
rhyngwyneb ar ap modern cludadwy sy’n teimlo’n reddfol ac sy’n
hawdd ei ddefnyddio.
Bydd tri opsiwn o fewn yr apiau:
• lawrlwytho’r holl ddata’r Geiriadur fel y bydd modd defnyddio GPC
wedyn heb gysylltiad WiFi/data ffôn symudol;
• lawrlwytho popeth ond y dyfyniadau i arbed tua hanner y lle; neu
• defnyddio’r data ar lein er mwyn arbed lle storio ar y ddyfais.
Bydd y rhyngwyneb yn llawer haws i’w ddefnyddio ar sgriniau llai, ac
rydym yn ffyddiog y bydd yr apiau newydd o fudd mawr i lawer o bobl.
Bydd yr apiau ar gael yn rhad ac am ddim cyn diwedd y flwyddyn. Bydd
y manylion yn cael eu cyhoeddi ar ein gwefan: <www.geiriadur.ac.uk>.
Rydym hefyd wedi cofrestru sawl parth .cymru a .wales newydd – er
enghraifft, mae modd mynd yn syth i raglen GPC Ar Lein drwy deipio
gpc.cymru ym mlwch cyfeiriad (nid chwilio) eich porwr. Rhowch
gynnig arno!
We were delighted to hear that the Welsh Government has
awarded us a grant of £40,500 from the Welsh-language
Technology and Digital Media Fund to help develop apps
for both the iOS and Android platforms. It will be possible to
use Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru / A Dictionary of the Welsh
Language easily on a mobile phone or tablet computer
without any external connection.
The idea is to broaden access to the Dictionary by providing an intuitive
and user-friendly interface with the portability of a modern app.
There will be three options within each app:
• to download the entire Dictionary so that GPC can be used without
a WiFi/mobile phone data connection;
•to download everything except the quotations to save about half
the space; or
• to access the data online in order to save storage space on the device.
The interface will be much easier to use on smaller screens, and we are
confident that the new apps will be a boon to a large number of people.
The apps will be available at no charge before the end of the year. Details
will be published on our website: <www.welsh-dictionary.ac.uk>.
We have also registered several new .cymru and .wales domains – for
instance it is now possible to go straight to GPC Online by typing gpc.
wales into your browser’s address box (not the search box). Give it a try!
CURIOUS TRAVELLERs
Our new four-year AHRC-funded ‘Curious Travellers’ project launched in September last year, with a well-attended day conference in the National
Museum, Cardiff. ‘In a Mediterranean Light’ explored the influence of Greece and Rome on Romantic-era travellers to Wales and Scotland, and
was timed to coincide with a major international exhibition of the landscape paintings of the Welsh artist Richard Wilson (1714–82), whose work
was the subject of a stimulating keynote lecture by Professor Robin Simon. Our collaboration with NMW continues this year in November with
‘Layered Landscapes’, a day exploring the geological aspects of the tours and coinciding with an exhibition devoted to William Smith’s Geological
Map of Britain (1815). Throughout the year we have had enthusiastic responses to talks given at events from California to Cardiff; in October, Dr
Mary-Ann Constantine will be giving the Thomas Pennant Society Silver Jubilee lecture on Pennant’s home ground at Holywell. The Centre was
also closely involved in ‘Maps and Makers’, a series of local walks and talks in the Aberystwyth area which brought artists, academics and the
general public together in different types of landscape.
European Travellers to Wales
Mae wedi bod yn flwyddyn brysur i’r prosiect ‘Teithwyr Ewropeaidd i Gymru 1750–2010’. Bellach, gellir archwilio ein cronfa ddata o ysgrifennu taith
ar <http://etw.bangor.ac.uk/cy/node/401> a bydd modd ymweld â’n harddangosfa ‘EwrOlwg: Cymru drwy Lygaid Ymwelwyr o Ewrop 1750–2010’ yn
Aberystwyth, Abertawe a Bangor yn ystod 2015–16.
People from Continental Europe have come to Wales for all kinds of reasons over the past 250 years, and some two years ago a team of researchers
based at three Welsh institutions – Swansea University, Bangor University and the Centre – set out to investigate the texts written by these
travellers in a variety of European languages. The AHRC-funded project, ‘European Travellers to Wales 1750–2010’, has had a very busy year. Our
database of European travel accounts is now live and searchable at <http://etw.bangor.ac.uk>, and contains details of close to 300 travel texts
to Wales by visitors from Europe. Aimed at all kinds of users, from schoolchildren to academics, it provides notes in English on the content of
each travel text for those who cannot read the original, for while the vast majority are written in French or German, it also includes Polish, Dutch,
Hungarian, Czech and more.
On 10 July our ambitious exhibition ‘EuroVisions: Wales
through the Eyes of European Visitors 1750–2010’
opened at Amgueddfa Ceredigion in Aberystwyth,
displaying a range of artworks loaned from many
different institutions, made by visitors from Continental
Europe in response to the Welsh landscape or people.
These range from little-known sketches of Wales by
Mendelssohn (displayed in high-quality facsimile
prints) to snowy landscapes of the Ystwyth valley
painted by Belgian refugees from the First World War,
and also include video clips of artists talking about
their work and historic objects relating to travel. Later
in the year the exhibition will travel to Swansea, and in
2016 it will visit Bangor, and at each venue there will
be a programme of free events for all members of the
community to complement the themes. The team have
also produced a range of worksheets aimed at primaryschool children who visit, and are currently planning
a virtual exhibition of these same artworks, as well as
Arddangosfa ‘EwrOlwg’ ar y noson agoriadol yn Aberystwyth / Opening of the ‘EuroVisions’ exhibition in Aberystwyth
liaising with the National Library’s education unit to
produce teaching resources on the theme.
The ‘Wales and the French
Revolution’ project continues
to produce new material, this
year in the shape of two new
volumes. In Political Pamphlets
and Sermons from Wales
1790–1806, Marion Löffler
and Bethan Jenkins bring to
light some of the period’s liveliest political writers, while Liberty’s Apostle, Paul
Frame’s engaging biography of the Llangeinor-born preacher and philosopher
Richard Price, should make one of Wales’s most important thinkers much better
known. Next September, working with the Political Archive of the National Library
of Wales, we will revisit highlights from the project in an exhibition at the Welsh
Assembly’s Pierhead building in Cardiff.
The next one-day forum of
the project ‘Atlantic Europe
and the Metal Ages
(AEMA):
Questions
of
Shared Language’ will be
held on Saturday,
31
October 2015, in the
Drwm, National Library of
Wales, Aberystwyth. The programme
and registration information will be posted,
when available, on the project website:
<www.aemap.ac.uk>.
Cyhoeddiad diweddaraf y Ganolfan
yw’r casgliad hwn o bapurau o
gynhadledd a gynhaliwyd yn Saint
Petersburg yn 2012, sy’n cynnwys
ysgrif gan Dafydd Johnston ar eirfa
barddoniaeth Dafydd ap Gwilym.
The Centre’s latest publication is this
collection of papers from a conference
held at Saint Petersburg in 2012,
which includes an essay by Dafydd
Johnston on the lexicon of Dafydd ap
Gwilym’s poetry.
THE CULT OF
Saints IN WALES
In September 2014 we held a successful three-day
conference in Carmarthen, under the title ‘The Cult
of Saints in Wales: Sources and Contexts’. We brought
together an international gathering of speakers and
delegates who discussed Welsh traditions of hagiography,
and compared them with those of European neighbours,
Celtic and non-Celtic.
During 2015, besides getting on with the work that will
be published at the end of the project, we have been busy
preparing a travelling exhibition, which will be mounted
at four sites over the next eighteen months. At each site
we will also hold a one-day event to introduce our work
to local audiences. The series begins at Bangor Cathedral
on 12 September 2015, and moves on to Llantwit Major
on 7 November 2015. Events at St David’s and Holywell
will follow next year. For further details of all the project’s
activities, visit our website at <www.welshsaints.ac.uk>.
Myfyrwyr Ymchwil
Mae ein Hysgol Astudiaethau Ôl-radd yn ffynnu ac yn ehangu. Llwyddasom
i ddenu llu o geisiadau o safon uchel am ysgoloriaethau Prifysgol Cymru a’r
AHRC i’r Ganolfan eleni. O ganlyniad, bydd pedwar myfyriwr yn ymuno â’r criw
o chwech sydd gennym ym mis Hydref 2015. Yn seiliedig ar arbenigedd ein
staff, mae eu pynciau ymchwil yn amrywio o ferfau Brythoneg a llongddryllio
yng Nghymru’r cyfnod modern cynnar i gyfieithu i’r Gymraeg ac ymwelwyr
o ogledd Lloegr i Gymru. Mae ein myfyrwyr cyntaf, Emily Pennifold a Martin
Crampin, wedi cyflwyno eu traethodau, a dymunwn bob llwyddiant iddynt
yn eu harholiadau llafar. Os oes gennych ddiddordeb mewn gwneud ymchwil
ôl-radd yn y Ganolfan, rhowch ganiad!
Our School of Graduate Studies goes from strength to strength. This year the Centre
succeeded in attracting a cohort of high-quality applications for our University of
Wales and AHRC scholarships. As a result, four new students will join our gang
of six in October 2015. Drawing on the expertise of our staff, they will research
subjects ranging from Brythonic verbs and shipwrecking in early modern Wales
to translation into the Welsh language and northern English visitors to Wales.
Our first students, Emily Pennifold and Martin Crampin, have now submitted their
theses, and we wish them well in their coming examinations. If you are interested
in postgraduate studies at the Centre, give us a ring!
Dr Marion Löffler, Pennaeth Astudiaethau Ôl-radd, gyda’r myfyrwyr Sarah Down-Roberts a Linus Band yn Llyfrgell y Ganolfan /
Dr Marion Löffler, Head of Graduate Studies, with students Sarah Down-Roberts and Linus Band in CAWCS Library
GWOBR ARBENNIG
Llongyfarchwn Dr Heather Williams, Cymrawd Ymchwil
ar brosiect ‘Teithwyr Ewropeaidd i Gymru: 1750–2010’,
am ennill Gwobr M. Wynn Thomas 2015 am waith
academaidd eithriadol ym maes llenyddiaeth Saesneg
Cymru. Teitl y traethawd buddugol oedd ‘Iolo Morganwg,
Edward Williams and the radically bilingual text: Poems
Lyric and Pastoral (1794)’ ac fe’i cyhoeddwyd yn ail rifyn
yr International Journal of Welsh Writing in English (2014).
We congratulate Dr Heather Williams, Research Fellow
on the ‘European Travellers to Wales: 1750–2010’ project,
who has been awarded the 2015 M. Wynn Thomas Prize
for outstanding scholarly work in the field of Welsh writing
in English. The prizewinning essay was entitled ‘Iolo
Morganwg, Edward Williams and the radically bilingual
text: Poems Lyric and Pastoral (1794)’ and appeared in the
second issue of the International Journal of Welsh Writing
in English (2014).
Dr Matt Jarvis o Brifysgol Aberystwyth yn cyflwyno’r wobr ar ran Cymdeithas Llên Saesneg
Cymru / Dr Matt Jarvis of Aberystwyth University presents the award on behalf of the
Association of Welsh Writing in English
Cyhoeddir y cylchlythyr hwn yn flynyddol. Gellir cael gwybodaeth bellach am weithgarwch y Ganolfan trwy gysylltu â:
Swyddog Gweinyddol, Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3HH.
Ffôn: 01970 636543 • Ffacs: 01970 639090 • E-bost: [email protected] • Gwefan: www.cymru.ac.uk/canolfan
This newsletter is published annually. For further information regarding the activities of the Centre, please contact:
The Administrative Officer, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3HH.
Tel: 01970 636543 • Fax: 01970 639090 • E-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.wales.ac.uk/cawcs