Emeritus Professor Dafydd Johnston BA, PhD, FLSW

Emeritus Professor

Professor Dafydd Johnston was Director of CAWCS for twelve years from October 2008 until his retirement at the end of 2020. 

He has published extensively on Welsh literature of all periods, including some of the English-language writers of Wales.

His main research interest is medieval Welsh poetry, and he has specialized in textual editing, including three major editions, Gwaith Iolo Goch (1988), Gwaith Lewys Glyn Cothi (1995) and Gwaith Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hen (1998), as well as two groundbreaking thematic collections, Medieval Welsh Erotic Poetry (1991) and Poets’ Grief (1993). In 2005 he published a comprehensive study of late-medieval Welsh literature, Llên yr Uchelwyr: Hanes Beirniadol Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg 1300–1525, a volume which was short-listed for the Welsh Book of the Year Prize. His most recent publication is ‘Iaith Oleulawn’: Geirfa Dafydd ap Gwilym (2020).

Professor Johnston was director of an interdepartmental research project funded by the AHRC (2001–6) which produced a new edition of the poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym in electronic format, dafyddapgwilym.net.

He was co-investigator on the Guto’r Glyn Project (2008–12) at the Centre, and joint-editor with Mary-Ann Constantine of the ‘Wales and the French Revolution’ series. He was one of the editors of the journal Studia Celtica from 2002 to 2020, and since 2014 he has been editor of The Dictionary of Welsh Biography.

‘Iaith Oleulawn’: Geirfa Dafydd ap Gwilym (Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2020) 

‘Welsh hyfryd and some related compounds’, in Ailbhe Ó Corráin, Fionntán De Brún and Maxim Fomin (eds.), Scotha cennderca, cen on: A Festschrift for Séamus Mac Mathúna (Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, 2020), pp. 289–99 

‘The aftermath of 1282: Dafydd ap Gwilym and his contemporaries’, in Geraint Evans and Helen Fulton (eds.), The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), pp. 112–28 

‘Writing the nation in two languages: the Dictionary of Welsh Biography’, in Karen Fox (ed.), ‘True Biographies of Nations?’: The Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of National Biography (Canberra: ANU Press, 2019), pp. 159–75 

Language Contact and Linguistic Innovation in the Poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym, E. C. Quiggin Memorial Lecture (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, 2017) 

‘The history and future of The Dictionary of Welsh Biography’, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 23 (2017), 163–70 

The Literature of Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2017) 

‘Shaping a heroic life: Thomas Pennant on Owen Glyndwr’, in Mary-Ann Constantine and Nigel Leask (eds.), Enlightenment Travel and British Identities: Thomas Pennant’s Tours in Scotland and Wales (London: Anthem Press, 2017), pp. 105–21 

‘Cynghorion Priodor o Garedigion i Ddeiliaid ei Dyddynod gan William Owen Pughe’, Llên Cymru, 39 (2016), 14–32 

‘Trosglwyddiad cerddi Guto’r Glyn’, in Dylan Foster Evans, Barry J. Lewis and Ann Parry Owen (eds.), ‘Gwalch Cywyddau Gwŷr’: Ysgrifau ar Guto’r Glyn a Chymru’r Bymthegfed Ganrif (Aberystwyth: Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru, 2013), pp. 21–51

with Mary-Ann Constantine (eds.), ‘Footsteps of Liberty and Revolt’[:] Essays on Wales and the French Revolution (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2013)

‘Radical adaptation: translations of medieval Welsh poetry in the 1790s’, in Constantine and Johnston (eds.), ‘Footsteps of Liberty and Revolt’, pp. 169–89

‘Monastic patronage of Welsh poetry’, in Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (eds.), Monastic Wales: New Approaches (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2013), pp. 177–90

‘Cywydd newydd gan Lewys Glyn Cothi’, Dwned, 18 (2012), 49–60

‘Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym 1789 a’r Chwyldro Ffrengig’, Llên Cymru, 35 (2012), 32–53

‘Towns in medieval Welsh poetry’, in Helen Fulton (eds.), Urban Culture in Medieval Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2012), pp. 95–115

‘Tywydd eithafol a thrychineb naturiol mewn dwy farwnad gan Iolo Goch’, Llên Cymru, 33 (2010), 51–60

with Huw Meirion Edwards, Dylan Foster Evans, A. Cynfael Lake, Elisa Moras and Sara Elin Roberts (eds.), Cerddi Dafydd ap Gwilym (Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2010)

‘Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd a Beirdd yr Uchelwyr’, in Nerys Ann Jones (ed.), Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd: Bardd-Dywysog (Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2009), pp. 134–51

‘Semantic ambiguity in Dafydd ap Gwilym’s ‘Trafferth mewn
Tafarn’ ’, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 56 (2008), 59–74

‘Cyngan Oll?’ Cynghanedd y Cywyddwyr Cynnar, J. E. Caerwyn and Gwen Williams Memorial Lecture (Aberystwyth: Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru, 2007)

Llên yr Uchelwyr: Hanes Beirniadol Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg 1300–1525 (Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2005)

‘Early translations of Dafydd ap Gwilym’, in Alyce von Rothkirch and Daniel Williams (eds.), Beyond the Difference: Welsh Literature in Comparative Contexts (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2004), pp. 158–72

‘Dafydd ap Gwilym and oral tradition’, Studia Celtica, XXXVII (2003), 143–61

‘Oral tradition in medieval Welsh poetry: 1100–1600’, Oral Tradition, 18/2 (2003), 192–3

with Iestyn Daniel, Marged Haycock and Jenny Rowland (eds.), Cyfoeth y Testun: Ysgrifau ar Lenyddiaeth Gymraeg yr Oesoedd Canol (Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2003)

‘Bywyd marwnad: Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch a’r traddodiad llafar’, in Daniel et al. (eds.), Cyfoeth y Testun, pp. 200–19

Gwaith Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hen (Aberystwyth: Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru, 1998)

Llyfr Poced: Llenyddiaeth Cymru (Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1997)

with N. G. Costigan and R. Iestyn Daniel, Gwaith Gruffudd ap Dafydd ap Tudur, Gwilym Ddu o Arfon, Trahaearn Brydydd Mawr ac Iorwerth Beli (Aberystwyth: Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru, 1995)

Gwaith Lewys Glyn Cothi (Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1995)

A Pocket Guide: The Literature of Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1994)

The Complete Poems of Idris Davies (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1994)

Galar y Beirdd / Poets’ Grief: Marwnadau Plant / Medieval Welsh Elegies for Children (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1993)

Iolo Goch: The Poems, Welsh Classics Series (Llandysul: Gomer, 1993)

Canu Maswedd yr Oesoedd Canol / Medieval Welsh Erotic Poetry (Cardiff: Tafol, 1991)

Blodeugerdd Barddas o’r Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Ddeg (Felindre, Abertawe: Barddas, 1989)

Iolo Goch (Caernarfon: Gwasg Pantycelyn, 1989)

Gwaith Iolo Goch (Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1988)