Welsh Journals

however, he escaped from prison, and, according to the records, was never seen again. That he had thus escaped from lawful custody was another offence with which he was charged.? These bare facts, however, hide a number of details which unex- pectedly shed light on the early life of an early seventeenth-century man of letters and musician, for the knave depicted in the legal depositions taken in April and May 1600 was almost certainly Robert ap Huw, the compiler of the earliest extant manuscript of Welsh harp music in notation.8 According to the written evidence he was an Anglesey man, born in Penmynydd,9 and a man who could, by his own admission, write a rare ability in itself during this period.10 Since the previous autumn he had been wandering from house to house in this part of north-east Wales, staying in some homes for a week at a time, merely receiving a meal elsewhere, but nowhere is it suggested that he was a vagrant who could not support himself. Some houses he visited regularly, and these were the homes of minor gentlemen whose ancestry can be traced in considerable detail. One was Edward ap John Wynn of the Euarth or Cerddinog families of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, who lived in Llanelidan at the time.11 He was renowned as a collector of manuscripts during this very period and was well versed in oral traditions concerning the history of Wales.12 He was also a kinsman of Thomas Wynn of Euarth, himself a notable collector and a copyist of manuscripts.13 The Anglesey man also visited Thomas ap Roger Lloyd of Plas Einion, again in Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd and it was here that he was arrested in April 1600.14 He also stayed at Derwen Deg, where another local gentleman, William ap Edward, lived.15 The reference to the existence of manu- scripts at the home of Ieuan ab Ithel, presumably Plas Llelo, is also highly significant. A manuscript now kept in the British Library containing, amongst other things, a Welsh metrical computus and interludes, was written in 1552 by one Llywelyn ap Maredudd, or Llelo Gwta.16 His name has been associated by later writers with Plas Llelo in Derwen, though there is no evidence in contemporary ge- nealogies to link his name with this place.17 He certainly appears to have had associations with this area, however, since a satirical ode referring to legal difficulties encountered by Llelo in the Council at Ludlow, a fragment of which is included in his manuscript, was written by the poet discussed below, Simwnt Fychan.18 His links with other scholars and copyists from north-east Wales also marks him out as figure of note in the mid sixteenth century. The Welsh computus in metrical form which is attributed to Dafydd Nanmor,19 for instance, was copied by others from north-east Wales in the half century before 1552, including Gruffydd ab Ieuan ab Llywelyn Fychan and Elis Gruffydd.2o Others copied from him; John Jones of Gellilyfdy,