Aled, Tudur

(fl. 1480-1525)

   Aled was a Welsh poet and Franciscan friar whose bardic name derived from the river Aled, which flows through his native Llansannan in Denbighshire. He was a bardic teacher and chief bard of the first Eisteddfod, held in 1525. Aled is said to be a gifted, ardent, and skillful poet; many of his poems are written in Welsh. His wide range of poetry uses imagery and ornamentation and his poems contain a great deal of references to the origins of Welsh, Norman or English families. In his work, the Welsh bardic tradition of the Middle Ages reached its climax, but changes in society led to an inevitable decline in the bardic craft of Wales, though it has seen a revival in recent years. Aled wrote several poems describing his love of a Welsh Cob stallion called "The Abbot of Aberconwy."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Go Britannia! Wales: Welsh Literature-Poets of the Gentry (www.britannia.com). Horses in Literature (http://www.aptt2.org.uk/w3d/macador/horselit.html).