Llywarch Hen (Llywarch the Old) (c. 534 – c. 608), was a prince and poet of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a ruling family in the Hen Ogledd or ‘Old North’ of Britain (modern southern Scotland and northern England). Along with Taliesin, Aneirin, and Myrddin, he is held to be one of the four great bards of early Welsh poetry. Whether he actually wrote the poems attributed to him is unknown, and most of what is known about his life is derived from early medieval poems which may or may not be historically accurate.
Works
- Let the Cock’s Comb Be Red
- Usual is the Wind
- the Calends of Winter
- Entangling is the Snare
- Bright are the Ash Tops
- Sitting High Upon a Hill
- I Was Formerly Fair of Limb
- The Death of Urien
- Maenwyn, When I Was Your Age
- Geraint son of Erbin