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Satire on the Men of Chester - Lewys Glyn Cothi

Edited by Helen Fulton

There was a tradition, attested only from the evidence of poems by Lewys Glyn Cothi, that he spent some time in Chester and was badly treated there, resulting in his leaving the city in some disgruntlement. This is one of the poems that expresses his displeasure against the people of Chester. According to a note in one manuscript copy of the poem (Peniarth 75), the citizens of Chester vandalised Lewys’s wordly goods out of jealousy because he married a widow of the city without their permission; other manuscripts say that Lewys was thrown out of the city because he prophesied that Henry Tudor would take the throne, unpalatable news to the staunchly Yorkist city of Chester (Johnston 1995:,624).

Satire in this style – a long string of invective becoming increasingly strident and coarse – was one of the stock genres of Welsh bardic tradition. As a conventional form, often visited by the poets on each other, its function was mainly comic entertainment.

Author: Lewys Glyn Cothi

Metre: Awdl

Manuscripts:

Printed Text: Johnston, 1995, no. 215.

Dychan i Ŵyr o Gaer

Satire on the Men of Chester

1I Reinallt mae cledd ar groenyn—yn graff 1
    fab Gruffydd fab Bleddyn;
  rhag hwnnw yn curo cannyn
  y Gaer grach a’i gwŷr a gryn.

5Crynodd Caer Lleon rhag Rheinallt—a’i wŷr
    hyd ar gwr y Felallt; 2
  crynen’ wrth ffo i’r Wenallt, 3
  crynu eu gyd eu crwyn a’u gwallt.

Eu crwyn a’u hesgyrn crinion—a’u garrau
     10a dyr gorwyr Einion; 4
  ymhob mangre yng Nghaer Lleon
  ef a ladd ddwy fil â’i onn.

Â’i onn, ŵyr Einion, ar ais—i daeog
    y dial ddwyn fy mhais,
   15dwyn fy ngŵn, dragwn i drais
  dan ei fawd, dwyn a fudais.

Duw llun y mudais o’m delli 5 —i Gaer,
    gwell oedd im fy ngholli;
  i ddeuddiawl ddifiau iddi
   20adu mwy o’r da i mi.

Iddi wedi i mi ym mhob modd
roi fy na yn nghwr fy neuadd,
gennyf nid oedd ar gynnydd
drannoeth ond yr ewinedd.

25Ôl ewin Rheinallt, ôl ei wewyr—tân
    ym mhen tai y bradwyr,
  ôl ei ddwrn a laddai wėr
  ar ei chyrrau a’i chaerwyr.

  Archaf am dref Gaer a’i maer a’i mach
   30oerchwedl i’r dinas mewn dwfr bas bach,
i wehydd, i grydd, o grach—i erddyrn,
  i’w hesgyrn cedyrn ym mhob cadach,

  i ieuanc, i hen, nid amgenach,
  i Gaer Lleon Gawr, 6 i fawr, i fach,
35i wraig, i forwyn, i wrach—i siopwr,
  i ŵr, i glerwr 7 ac i gleiriach.

  O mynasant fy na mewn nawsach,
  naw ugain mintai o gŵn mantach,
mynnwn pe’u gwelwn yn gulach—o dda
   40ym Moel-y-Wyddfa neu ym Mleddfach. 8

  Y dwfr a’u boddo tra fo tref iach,
  y tân a’u llosgo pe baent llesgach,
yr awel a’u gwnêl gan niwlach—gwinau,
  ond yr eglwysau yn dir glasach.

   45 Uriel a’u lladdo a Chyfelach, 9
  y cŵn a’u hyso acw’n hawsach,
y Brenin nefol a Brynach—a Non 10
  a’u gwnêl hwy’n ddeillion ac yn ddallach.

  Ni bu faer yng Nghaer anghywirach,
   50ni bu sersiant waeth na neb gaethach,
ni bu haid ddiawliaid ddelach—eu gwahodd,
  ni bu ieir un fodd na brain feddwach,

  na llyffaint un fraint, na moch fryntach,
  na chwain un lifrai, na chŵn lyfrach,
55na phlasau cyn ddryced, na ffalsach—dynion,
  na thir fwy ladron, na thref leidrach,

  na gwragedd Llundain garnbuteiniach,
  na gwŷr un floneg garnfileiniach,
na meibion gweinion gwannach—yn eu cred,
   60na merched ar lled yn anlladach.

  Ni aned carliaid anhirionach,
  ni weled gwragedd anuwiolach,
na rhai cyn frynted o wŷr haeach—Cred,
  na neb cyn ffoled o’r wythfed ach.

   65Pob merch a orwedd wrth gyfeddach,
  pob morwyn, gŵr mwyn a gâr mynach,
pob gwraig bwrdais Sais fel sach—yn llawn oel,
   pob brawd moel calfoel a gyrch cilfach,

  pob drewi ar lun Wiliam Briach, 11
   70pob drewiant o gant yn ymgeintach,
pob llywydd a fydd wrth fach—o bren ir,
  pob un a feiddir, pawb yn feddwach.

  Tref yw Caer Lleon mewn tir afiach,
  tref nid gwehelyth byth na bo iach,
75tref ddig Wyddelig, feddalach—na’i phwys,
  tref ddwys yn cynnwys gwerin Connach, 12

  tref y saith bechod heb neb dlodach,
  tref gaerog fylchog heb neb falchach,
tref Sieb 13 glothineb, glwthenach—eu pryd,
   80tref lle cyfyd llyd a phob lledach.

  Llawer cell yn hon ddiffaith bellach,
  llawer ffau ellyll, llawer ffollach,
llawer cyw wythryw cyfathrach—dan lwyn,
  llawer twyn o frwyn a chyfrinach,

   85llawer mab dan gist a fydd tristach,
  llawer bron gwiddon a fydd gweddwach,
llawer gwraig maelier gwamalach—wrth gâr,
  llawer cymar wâr anniweiriach.

Anniweirion blant, anwiredd—a wnân
     90yn wŷr ac yn wragedd.
  Am a wnaethan’ â’m hannedd
  cânt hwythau glapiau gan gledd.

1 Rheinallt son of Gruffydd son of Bleddyn 1
has a sword which cuts through skin;
with this he strikes a hundred men
of scabby Chester, and her men tremble.

5 Chester trembled before Rheinallt and his men
as far as the border of Beeston; 2
they trembled as they fled to the Gwenallt, 3
all of their skin and hair trembling.

The descendant of Einion 4 will break their skin
10and their withered bones and their legs;
in every place in Chester
he will kill two thousand with his ash-spear.

With his ash-spear Einion’s descendant will take revenge
on the ribs of a churl for stealing my shirt,
15stealing my cloak – a warrior with strength
under his thumb – stealing everything I moved there.

On Monday, because of my blindness, 5 I moved to Chester:
it would have been better if I’d got lost;
by Thursday, the devil if she would
20let me have my goods any more.

After I had by some means
put my goods in a corner of my room,
by the next day I had nothing left
except my fingernails.

25The mark of Rheinallt’s nail, the mark of his spears of fire
at the top of the traitors’ houses,
the mark of his fist which killed men
on her borders and her garrisons.

From the town of Chester and her mayor and her guarantor, I seek
30vengeance on the city in its shallow little water,
on a weaver, on a shoemaker from scabs to wrists,
on their strong bones in every piece of clothing,

on the young, on the old, no exceptions,
on Chester the Giant, 6 on the great and the small,
35on a wife, on a maiden, on an old woman, on a shop-keeper,
on a man, on a wandering poet 7 and on a decrepit old man.

Since they appropriated my goods in nine sacks,
those nine times twenty troops of toothless dogs,
I could appropriate, if only I could see more keenly, all the goods
40in Moel-y-Wyddfa or Bleddfach. 8

If only the water would drown them while the town stays safe,
the fire burn them if they are too slow,
the air cause them to have fog and cloud,
but let the churches stay in a greener land.

45May Uriel and Cyfelach kill them, 9
the dogs set on them there more readily,
the heavenly King, and Brynach and Non, 10
make them blinder than blind people.

No mayor in Chester has been more untrustworthy,
50no sergeant has been worse nor anyone more servile,
there has never been a more irritable swarm of devils inciting them,
there haven’t been hens of such a kind nor drunker crows,

nor toads of such status, nor dirtier pigs,
nor fleas in such livery, nor more cowardly dogs,
55nor houses so wretched, nor men more false,
nor land with more thieves, nor a town more robber-infested,

nor women of London more like notorious whores,
nor men like egregious fat villeins,
nor feeble boys more feeble in their faith,
60nor girls running wild more wantonly.

No churls more boorish could be born,
no women more ungodly could be seen,
nor scarcely any men in Christendom so surly,
nor anyone so stupid for eight generations.

65Every girl at a party is available,
every maiden, every soft man loves a monk,
every bourgeois English woman like a tub full of oil,
every bald friar a bald dick looking for a hidden place,

every stench on William Briach’s person, 11
70every stink of a hundred people quarrelling,
every official will hang on a greenwood hook,
each one will be defied, everyone more drunk.

Chester is a town in an unwholesome land,
a town whose pedigree has never been good,
75an angry Irish town, weaker than its importance,
a depressing town containing folk from Connacht, 12

a town of the seven sins where no-one is poorer,
a fortified turreted town where no-one is prouder,
a town with a Cheap 13 of gluttony, their faces more guzzling,
80a town where desire grows and everyone is low-life.

Many a room now run-down,
many a goblin hole, many a short fat person,
many the offspring of eight kinds of intercourse in the bushes,
many a mound of sadness and secrecy,

85many a boy in a coffin will be sadder,
many a widow’s breast will be more bereft,
many a merchant’s wife more wanton with a lover,
many a tame partner more unfaithful.

Unfaithful children, they will tell lies
90as men and women.
For what they did to my property,
they will sing to the beats of the sword.

Footnotes

1.
Rheinallt: this is the same Rheinallt fab Gruffydd fab Bleddyn who is the subject of the praise-poem by Tudur Penllyn (no. 2). The same legend reported in Peniarth 75 about Lewys’s stay in Chester (see introduction) adds that Lewys asked Rheinallt to take revenge on the men of Chester. This is certainly not the explanation for the violent attack made by Rheinallt (described in poem 2), an event which Lewys has appropriated for humorous effect. Back to context...
2.
Y Felallt, Beeston: the thirteenth-century Beeston castle lies a few miles to the south-east of the city. Built by one of the Earls of Chester, it reverted to Henry III in 1237 along with the earldom. It did not acquire the name Beeston until a new owner, Sir Hugh Beeston, bought it in 1602. The Welsh name, literally ‘Honey-hill’, refers to the land rather than the castle itself. Back to context...
3.
Gwenallt: literally, ‘white hill’, a generic place-name which may refer to a specific area outside the city. Back to context...
4.
Einion: Rheinallt was the great-grandson of Einion. For his genealogy, see Roberts (1958), 111. Back to context...
5.
delli, ‘blindness’: the evidence of this poem suggests that Lewys moved to Chester as an old man whose sight was failing, and his goods were stolen because he could not see. Back to context...
6.
Caer Lleon Gawr, ‘Chester the Giant’: this is an epithet commonly applied to Chester. The Welsh Caer Lleon is derived from Welsh caer ‘fortress’ and Latin legionis, ‘of the legions’. By analogy with other place-names such as Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen), wrongly construed as ‘the fortress of Merlin’, the second element Lleon became identified with a founding hero, to which the epithet gawr, ‘giant’, was then appended. Back to context...
7.
clerwr, ‘wandering poet’: generally a disparaging term for popular poets and minstrels who visited towns and public places to perform for money. They are particularly associated with satirical and comic songs, so Lewys may well be making a joking reference to himself, though in the pecking order of poets he was certainly well above the grade of clerwr. Back to context...
8.
Moel-y-Wyddfa, Bleddfach: Moel-y-Wyddfa is one of the highest peaks of Snowdonia. Bleddfach, now Bleddfa, is near Knighton in Powys, on the Welsh border. Lewys seems to be saying that he could steal goods from two widely different places, a clearly hyperbolic claim. Back to context...
9.
Uriel, Cyfelach: Uriel was one of the archangels, mentioned in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Cyfelach was an early British saint, whose name is commemorated in Llangyfelach near Swansea, south Wales. Back to context...
10.
Brynach, Non: Brynach was a sixth-century British saint associated with Pembrokeshire in south Wales. Non was the mother of St David. Back to context...
11.
Wiliam Briach: Johnston (1995) notes that this was probably a local identity in Chester, possibly one of the Irish of Connacht mentioned in ll. 75-6 Back to context...
12.
gwerin Connach, ‘folk from Connacht’: Chester’s links with Ireland were almost as close as those with Wales: 'as long as the Dee remained navigable, Ireland was Chester’s chief overseas trading partner, and as such the main source of Chester merchants’ prosperity in the later Middle Ages' (Lewis and Thacker, 2003, 4). Back to context...
13.
Sieb, ‘Cheap’: a borrowing from the Middle English cheap, meaning marketplace, especially where food is sold. The word occurs fairly often in Welsh poetry, especially in the fifteenth century, and normally implies a reference to London’s famous Cheapside with its wealth of goods. Back to context...