The Welsh bard Guto'r Glyn flourished between c. 1430 and c. 1490 and is one of the outstanding poets of the golden age of Welsh poetry. Born in the Dee Valley, he was buried at the monastery of Valle Crucis near Llangollen. Based on a close reading of his poems and those of his fellow bards, this book provides the first full biography. It describes Guto's career as poet and soldier and follows him into the courts of his patrons, lay and ecclesiastical, in North and South Wales. The work explores the social and cultural world of fifteenth century Wales and analyses Guto's reflections on the major political events of his day.

Guto'r Glyn (c. 1435 - c. 1493) was a Welsh language poet who composed poems addressed to a number of fifteenth century noblemen. Guto is associated with Glyn Ceiriog (in the modern Wrexham county borough) of north-east Wales where some of his patrons lived. He also wrote poems for other patrons in the four corners of Wales whose houses he visited on his journeys. He was a master of the praise tradition in poetry. Guto was also a soldier who fought on the Yorkist side during the Wars of the Roses, and composed poems in praise of King Edward IV and prominent Yorkists such as William Herbert. He spent his last years as a lay guest at the Cistercian abbey of Valle Crucis, near Llangollen.