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Dafydd ap Gwilym(ca. 1320–ca. 1380) lyric poet
He was born about 1320, probably in the parish of Llan-
badarn Fawr, and died at and is reportedly buried in
Ystrad Fflur, or Strata Florida, in Cardiganshire in WALES.
Little has been discovered about his life; his family
seemed to have included officials of the English Crown.
Through his uncle, Dafydd received an education, was
trained in the bardic recitation or singing tradition, and
picked up cultural influences from the Anglo-Norman
world, such as the TROUBADOURgenre. He essentially
drew Welsh poetry and elements of its bardic tradition
into the mainstream of European literature, at the same
time introducing Continental literary elements into
Welsh poetry.
Dafydd was famous for use of meter, love poetry, and
descriptions of real nature. In his work he usually played
the role of a wounded poet, of a lover at first rejected, of a
suitor frustrated by conventionally jealous husbands, and
of the successful lover of initially unattainable women. He
described the joys of pursuit and his overcoming of obsta-
cles in vivid detail. This was done in a comedic tongue-in-
cheek style. His personal imagery was natural, imaginative,
and innovative. He wrote awdlauor odes and cywyddauor
rhymed couplets that demonstrated his familiarity with the
Welsh native tradition. He died about 1380.
Further reading: Huw M. Edwards, Dafydd ap
Gwilym: Influences and Analogues(Oxford: The Claren-
don Press, 1996); Dafydd ap Gwilym, Dafydd ap
Gwilym: The Poems, trans. Richard Morgan Loomis
(Binghamton: Center for Medieval & Early Renaissance
Studies, 1982).
da Gama, Vasco SeeVASCO DAGAMA.
Dalmatia The land on the eastern coast of the Adriatic
and its hinterland, from the region of Istria to Kotor,
bounded by the Dinaric range and parallel to the coast.
Although briefly occupied by ODOACER, then by the OSTRO-
GOTHS, it was one of the few parts of the Western Empire
that generally escaped domination by Germanic peoples in
the fifth century. Invasions by SLAVSand AVARSin the early
7th century destroyed the older inland cities and made
more important the coastal cities of Zara, Split, DUBROVNIK,
and DURAZZO, which were to keep their Byzantine and later
Venetian, ties throughout the Middle Ages.
However, Byzantine political and ecclesiastical con-
trol and influence were unstable and overturned briefly
by CHARLEMAGNEin 805. After the FRANKSrestored Dal-
matia by treaty to BYZANTIUMin 812, it was attacked by
Muslims. Dubrovnik had to be saved in 868 from an ARAB
siege by a Byzantine fleet. Sometime toward the end of
the ninth century, much of Dalmatia was incorporated
into the Byzantine province of Longobardia. Durazzo, the
most important center of Byzantine power on the Adriatic
coast, became the capital of that province, which also had
authority over parts of southern Italy.
Influence of VENICE,HUNGARY, and BULGARIAgrew
during the 10th century. The Bulgarian czar SAMUELheld
Durazzo until the emperor BASILII retook it in 1005. The
11th century saw added threats from the north, CROATIA,
and the NORMANSin Italy, who seized Durazzo briefly in- In the 12th century, Venice simply occupied the
northern part of the coast. Croatia, then united with
HUNGARY, took the middle section, while Byzantium kept
Dubrovnik until that city was captured by the Venetians
in 1205. Venice ruled Dalmatia until 1358, when, except
for Dubrovnik, which was self-governing from 1358 to
1526, Dalmatia was under the control of Hungary, which