Madog Benfras

Last updated September 30, 2019

Madog Benfras (i.e. Madog "Greathead") (fl. 1340) was a Welsh poet. He is otherwise known from involvement in legal cases at Wrexham in 1340.^[1]

Floruit, abbreviated fl., Latin for "he/she flourished", denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the word may also be used as a noun indicating the time when someone flourished.

Life and works

He was a son of Gruffydd ab Iorwerth of Marchwiail, and had two brothers; Llywelyn Llogell (Marchwiail parish priest), and Ednyfed. The so-called "Brodyr Marchwiail" from Marchwiel played a part in a 14th-century revival of Welsh poetry. Iolo Morganwg cites their teacher as Llywelyn ap Gwilym of Emlyn. Madog Benfras has also been associated with the "Eisteddfods of the Renaissance", where he allegedly won a chair and wreath of birch for his love poem. He was a friend of Dafydd ap Gwilym. Dafydd introduced him into one of his poems as the priest of his mock marriage with Morfudd.^[2] They composed elegies for each other, and though few of Madog's poems remain, many of those surviving were love poems.^[1]

Marchwiel is a village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.

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References

https://biography.wales/article/s-MADO-BEN-1320

Notes

1 2 Costambeys, Marios. "Madog Benfras". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17766.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
↑ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Madog Benfras" . Dictionary of National Biography . 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Madog Benfras". Dictionary of National Biography . 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

The public domain consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.

Sir Sidney Lee was an English biographer, writer and critic.

The Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes and online, with 50,113 biographical articles covering 54,922 lives.

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[ODNB-1] 1 2 Costambeys, Marios. "Madog Benfras". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17766.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[DNB-2] Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Madog Benfras" . Dictionary of National Biography . 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.