Meilyr Brydydd is the earliest of the Welsh Poets of the Princes or Gogynfeirdd whose work has survived.

Meilyr was the court poet of Gruffudd ap Cynan (ca. 1055-1137), king of Gwynedd

Kingdom of Gwynedd

Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...

. He composed a notable awdl farwnad (elegy

Elegy

In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...

) on the death of his patron and a marwysgafn on his own approaching end, noted for its intensity and depth of feeling.http://cy.wikisource.org/wiki/Marwysgafn