Hywel ap Llywelyn Fychan was the patron of poem 10. Llywelyn Fychan is mentioned in two fourteenth-century poems which link him to his second cousin (see below), Rhydderch ab Ieuan Llwyd, one a mock-elegy by Dafydd ap Gwilym to Rhydderch (DG.net poem 10) and the other a praise-poem by Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hen to the two men together (GLlG poem 4). Ieuan Deulwyn addressed a poem to Hywel requesting hunting dogs (ID poem 43), and Deio ab Ieuan Du mentions hil y Caplan ‘the Chaplain’s descendants’ in Anhuniog in his poem recounting a bardic circuit of Ceredigion (GDID 11.41–4).

Lineage
Hywel belonged to a family which was well-known for its patronage of poets. The genealogical table below is based on WG1 ‘Llywelyn Gaplan’ 1, 2, ‘Cydifor ap Gwaithfoed’ 1, 3.

Lineage of Hywel ap Llywelyn Fychan of Glyn Aeron

Only one son of Hywel is named by Bartrum, namely Harri (or Henry), yet as is shown below it is likely that he had another son named Ieuan who died in 1439.

His career
The family home stood on high ground to the north of the river Aeron in the parish of Nancwnlle, part of the commote of Anhuniog, but the precise location of the house is not known. It is suggested in GLlG 85 that it was somewhere on the steep hill above Trefilan. Like his father before him, Hywel held a number of offices in the local government of Cardiganshire between 1399 and 1434, including that of pleader in Welsh law in Emlyn Uwch Cuch in 1409–11 (Griffiths 1972: 305). He was still alive when his son Ieuan died about 1439, and it is likely that he was an old man when Guto sang to him in the 1430s.

Bibliography
Griffiths, R.A. (1972), The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages: The Structure and Personnel of Government, i: South Wales, 1277–1536 (Cardiff)