Editing Dafydd ap Gwilym (section)

==Life==
[[R. Geraint Gruffydd]] suggests {{circa}} 1315-{{circa}} 1350 as the poet's dates; others place him a little later from {{circa}} 1320–40{{circa}} 1370–80.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heseltine |first1=Nigel |title=25 Poems by Dafydd ap Gwilym |date=1968 |publisher=The Piers Press |location=Banbury, Oxfordshire}}</ref>

Later tradition has it that Dafydd was born at Brogynin, Penrhyn-coch (at the time [[Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion|Llanbadarn Fawr]] parish), [[Ceredigion]]. His father, Gwilym Gam, and mother, Ardudfyl, were both from [[nobility|noble]] families. As one of noble birth it seems Dafydd did not belong to the guild of professional poets in medieval Wales, and yet the poetic tradition had been strong in his family for generations.

According to R. Geraint Gruffydd he died in 1350, a possible victim of the [[Black Death]]. Tradition says that he was buried within the precinct of the [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] [[Strata Florida Abbey]], [[Ceredigion]]. This burial location is disputed by supporters of the [[Talley Abbey]] theory who contend that burial took place in the Talley Abbey Churchyard:
<blockquote>On Saturday 15 September 1984 a memorial stone was unveiled by a [[Prifardd]] to mark the site in the churchyard at Talley where a deeply-rooted tradition asserts that the poet Dafydd ap Gwilym lies buried. For many centuries the rival claims of Talley and Ystrad Fflur have been debated as the burialplace of Wales’ foremost poet.<ref name="Y_Llycha">{{cite web |url=http://talyllychau.org.uk/WPcms/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Issue06-September2007.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426073131/http://talyllychau.org.uk/WPcms/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Issue06-September2007.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-26 |url-status=live |title=Y Llychau Issue 6, 2007; p. 16 |publisher=Parochial Church Council of St Michael & All Angels, Talley}}</ref></blockquote>While it may be difficult to trace the exact years Dafydd was active, it is clear he wrote after the Edwardian conquests of Wales.<ref>David Walker, ''Medieval Wales'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 126.</ref> Despite living under English authority, Dafydd’s poetry presents ways in which Welsh culture continued to distinguish itself and prevail. Some of Dafydd’s poetry outright reflects rejection of the standards of English authority, like in one poem where he draws attention to the state of housing after English subjugation of Wales.<ref>Andrew Breeze, ''Medieval Welsh Literature'' (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997), 117–8.</ref>

The first recorded observation that Dafydd ap Gwilym was buried in Talley was made in the sixteenth century.<ref name="Y_Llycha"/> Talley is located about 30 miles from Strata Florida (Welsh: Ystrad Fflur).