In May 1177, in order to strengthen his position as King of Gwynedd, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd was given the lordships of Ellesmere and Hales in Shropshire by his brother-in-law King Henry II of England at the Council of Oxford. The agreement also saw Dafydd marry Emma of Anjou, Henry's half sister.

Dafydd was the son of Owain Gwynedd and Cristin, who were first cousins and as such, the marriage was not accepted by the church and Dafydd was regarded as illegitimate.

Owain Gwynedd was King of Gwynedd was a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule from 1137 until his death in 1170, after which there was rivalry among his many sons, for supremacy in North Wales from the river Dovey to the river Dee. Of these Dafydd, Hywel, Maelgwyn and Rhodri were to be the main protagonists. Another brother, Madog decided to leave his fractious brothers and according to folklore, sailed to America in 1170, over three hundred years before Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492.

1157 - King Henry II of England invaded Gwynedd. Dafydd engaged him near Basingwerk and Henry was nearly killed.

1170 - Owain Gwynedd died, with Hywel succeedìng him.

1171 - Dafydd was involved in overthrowing and killing Hywel at the Battle of Pentraeth on Anglesey.

1173 - Dafydd drove Maelgwn into exile in Ireland thereby gaining possession of all Anglesey for himself.

1175 - Dafydd imprisoned Rhodri, thus uniting Gwynedd under his rule. However, before the end of 1175, Rhodri had escaped from captivity and was able to drive Dafydd across the River Conwy. Dafydd and Rhodri then agreed that Dafydd would take charge of Gwynedd Is Conwy, the land between the rivers Conwy and Dee and Rhodri would take charge in Anglesey and Gwynedd Uwch Conwy.

1177 - In order to strengthen his position Dafydd sought an agreement with Henry II that saw Dafydd marry Emma of Anjou, Henry's half sister. Dafydd also received the lordships of Ellesmere and Hales in Shropshire.

1188 - Since the agreements of 1175 and 1177, there appears to have been a period of peace, as noted by Gerald Cambrensis, when he stayed with Dafydd at Rhuddlan Castle during his journey around Wales with Archbishop Baldwin, describing Dafydd as a man who showed "good faith and credit by observing a strict neutrality between the Welsh and English.

1194 - Dafydd's nephew Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) staked his claim to power in Gwynedd and conspired with Rhodri to defeat Dafydd at the Battle of Aberconwy.

1197 - Llywelyn imprisoned Dafydd.

1198 - Dafydd was released by the direct intervention of archbishop Hubert and retired to the Kingdom of England.

1203 - Dafydd died.

In May 1888, Owen Glynne Jones completed the first recorded climb of Cader Idris by the east ridge of the Cyfrwy.

Mountaineer and schoolteacher, Jones was born in London in 1867 to Welsh parents and on the death of his mother in 1882, moved to Barmouth. He went on to achieve a first class honours degree in experimental physics and became physics master at the City of London School

In 1888, he took an interest in climbing and knowing no more about organised climbing than he had absorbed from books on the Alps, ascended the east ridge of the Cyfrwy on Cadair Idris alone. At this time, rock climbing had hardly begun in earnest but in the English Lake District, W.P. Haskett Smith and others had been climbing for about 3 years. So in 1890, Jones visited the Lake District and soon came to the notice of the pioneers, because of his incredible strength, his ‘almost supernatural’ climbing ability and his scientific outlook. As a rock climber, he was reputed to be fearless though some have suggested that this was because of his short-sightedness. Nevertheless, he achieved many first climbs and was also at the forefront of new techniques in rock-climbing.

From 1891 onwards Jones visited the Alps annually and made some important first ascents. In 1897, he published, with George Abraham the classic Rock Climbing in the English Lake District, which along with Jones's exuberant style did much to popularise the sport. He had made plans to be the first to climb Everest, but in 1920, at the age of 32, he fell 1,650 feet to his death on the Ferpècle arete of the Dent Blanche in Switzerland.

On 2nd May 1230, William de Braose was publicly hanged, on the orders of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, after it was suspected that he had committed adultery with Llywelyn's wife, Joan (Princess of Wales and Lady of Snowdon)

William de Braose (c. 1197 – 2 May 1230) was born in Brecon, the son of Reginald de Braose, who he succeeded in various lordships in 1227, including Abergavenny and Builth. The Welsh detested him and called him Gwilym Ddu (Black William). He was captured in 1228 by the forces of Llywelyn in the commote of Ceri near Montgomery and ransomed for £2,000. de Braose later made an alliance with Llywelyn and his daughter Isabella married Llywelyn's only legitimate son Dafydd ap Llywelyn.

At Easter 1230, William was discovered in Llywelyn's bedchamber with Joan, which resulted in Joan being placed under house arrest for twelve months and de Braose being hanged on 2 May 1230.

Born this day 1926 in Port Talbot

Clive Jenkins , former chairman of the general council of the TUC. Jenkins was a frequent guest on television chat shows and wrote his own regular newspaper columns. He listed his stated recreation in "Who's Who" was "Organising the middle classes".

Born this day 1982 in Cardiff

Timothy Benjamin , former Olympic athlete who is regarded as one the best British 400 metre runners of all time.

Catrin R. Davies will be performing at this year's North American Festival of Wales . Catrin is a former winner of the David Morris Memorial Award, the Solo Voice/Semi-professional competition at the annual NAFOW Eisteddfod. She went on to win first prize in the Mezzo-soprano category at the National in the Vale of Glamorgan last year. She will be performing at the Grand Banquet on Friday evening.

AmeriCymru: Hi Catrin and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed on AC. When did you first become aware of your vocal talents and how did you go about developing them?

The Fairmount Royal York Hotel, Toronto - This years NAFOW venue

In Wales Calan Mai or Calan Haf was a time for celebration and festivities as it signified the beginning of summer.

* Wales has a wealth of May Day customs and traditions. Many date from the time of the Druids, such as the lighting of fires for Beli Mawr, Celtic god of Fire and sun, purification, science, fertility, crops and success, known as the festival of Beltaine

* 'Spirit nights', or ysprydnos, took place on May Eve. It was a night when the world of the supernatural was closest to the real world.

* May Day was the point in the year when herds would be turned out to pasture.

* Villagers would gather hawthorn branches and flowers to decorate the outside of their houses to celebrate the new growth and fertility of the new season, but it was believed to be unlucky to bring them into the house

* The maypole played a central role in Welsh May Day tradition. in south Wales it was called 'codi'r fedwen', 'raising the birch', the maypole was painted different colours and the dancers would wrap ribbons around it, then it would be raised and the dancing would begin. In north Wales it was called 'y gangen haf', the summer branch and was often decorated with silver watches and spoons. Young men dressed in white and decorated with ribbons would then sing and dance around it as it was carried by another man called the Cadi.

* May Day was the time that the twmpath chwarae (the village green) was opened, where villagers would gather in the evenings to dance and play sports. A mound was prepared and decorated with oak branches on top of which a fiddler or harpist would sit and play.

* A 12th century, poem celebrating Calan haf, welcoming the new season

The beginning of summer, fairest season;

Noisy are the birds, green the woods,

The ploughs are in the furrow, the ox at work,

Green the sea, the lands are many-coloured.

Today is the feast day of Saint Brioc

Saint Brioc c.520 was from Ceredigion and became the first Abbot of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany. He is known to have travelled through the areas of modern day Gloucestershire and Cornwall.

On 1st May 1992 - The Ebbw Vale Garden Festival opened and attracted over two million visitors to the town.

The National Garden Festivals were a Government initiative to help areas adversely affected by the decline of heavy industry. They were held biannually , with the first being held in Liverpool in 1984 and subsequent festivals being held in Stoke on Trent, Glasgow, Gateshead and Ebbw Vale. They were attended by millions of visitors, but were not generally successful in attracting long-term investment for the affected areas.

The first ever edition of the Western Mail was printed on May 1, 1869.

The Western Mail was founded in Cardiff by John Crichton - Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, it describes itself as "the national newspaper of Wales" although it has a very limited circulation in North Wales.

Born this day 1957 in Gorseinon.

Richard Moriarty , former Wales rugby international and captain, best remembered for captaining Wales to third place in the i naugural Rugby World Cup in 1987, which is, to date, the best performance by Wales in a Rugby World Cup.

THIS POST IS OUTDATED. FOR THE LATEST ENROLMENT DETAILS GO HERE:- AMERICYMRAEG

The meeting times are:- 6 pm Pacific time/9 pm Eastern on Wednesdays. It is possible that, by mutual agreement, we can change the times if this does not suit everyone but of course, we are trying to cater for all participants in all time zones. The first meetup ( which is purely introductory to hash out timing and technical details ) is tomorrow, Wednesday 1st May, at the above stated time.

The 'Donate' button is just below 'Top Videos' on the right hand side of any page on AmeriCymru ( where it says 'The Meriwether Lewis Memorial Foundation'. Course fees for the first two months are $40 ( special introductory rate ) If you prefer you can simply log in to your PayPal account and make payment to the following PayPal email address:- americaneisteddfod@gmail.com

As soon as we receive payment we will invite you to the private group on AmeriCymru where all further course details will be discussed.

Born this day 1770 in London (of Welsh parents),

David Thompson , possibly one of the greatest land explorers and geographers in history. His maps of western North America formed the basis of all later maps, contributing significantly to our understanding of the culture and history of Canada and North America.

Thompson was the first white man to explore the whole length of the Columbia River, enduring incredible hardship and danger. He was respected by the Native Americans, who knew him as Koo-Koo-Sint ('you who look at the stars') because of his constant use of his sextant in map-making. He took a firm stand against the highly profitable use of alcohol as a trading commodity with them.

Born this day 1888 in Cardiff,

David Jacobs , an athlete who won a Gold Medal with the British 4x100 m relay team at the 5th Summer Olympics, held in Stockholm in 1912.

On this day 2011, charter trains ran for the first time on the Heart of Wales railway line.

The Heart of Wales Line is a railway line, that runs from Llanelli on the South Coast to Craven Arms in Shropshire, passing through some of the most breathtaking countryside in Mid Wales. It was opened in 1861 for access to the once fashionable spa towns of Mid Wales, such as Llandrindod Wells, Llanwrtyd Wells and Builth Wells.

William Critchlow Harris, born 30 April 1854 , was an architect noted mainly for both his church buildings and domestic residences in Maritime Canada.

He was born in Liverpool to Welsh parents but moved to Prince Edward Island with his family as a young child. He travelled widely throughout Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia executing design commissions, and many of his Romanesque and Victorian gothic architectural creations can still be seen today .

George Maitland Lloyd Davies, born in Liverpool to a Welsh family on 30th April 1880 , was one of Wales's most influential pacifists during the first half of the 20th century.

He formed a Christian society to promote peace in 1914 called the Fellowship of Reconciliation (Cymdeithas y Cymod) and was imprisoned for opposing the Great War and conscription.

In 1937, as a second World War seemed imminent, Davies and Gwynfor Evans established the Welsh National Pacifist Society and published the pamphlet Ymorthodwn â Rhyfel (We Reject War).

TICKET GIVEAWAY CONTEST! FREE MOVIE TICKETS!

AmeriCymru is proud to partner with Variance Films to GIVE AWAY TWO SETS OF TICKETS to the Portland, Oregon premier run of "Hunky Dory" -

Two winners will each win a set of two tickets - win, win, WIN! and take a friend!

Showings are 7:15PM on May 6th, 8th and 9th at the Hollywood Theatre on Sandy Boulevard - The contest is open to anyone, you need not be an AmeriCymru member to win.

To be one of our TWO LUCKY WINNERS, just be the first or second person, In the Portland area or close enough to use the tickets, to answer this one, simple question correctly, by commenting on this post, below, or by emailing your answer to americymrucontest@gmail.com before May 4, 2013:

In what town in Wales does the film take place? Merthyr Tydfil? Tredegar? or Swansea?

A message from John Good:-

Hello everyone, John Good dw i, I am Sioni Dda and will be leading the newydd spon danlli /brand-spanking new flame-colored interactive, on-line Welsh course on AmeriCymru, to be known as Ameri Cymraeg .

Let me tell you a little about myself so that we can understand each other better from the dechrau. I was born in South Wales in the Afan Valley and Welsh/Y Gymraeg and English were spoken in the house. By the time I left school, I knew less Welsh than when I started I had little interest in a dying language , and anyway the Beatles sang in English and all of my friends spoke it. Fast forward 25 years, having moved to San Francisco, LA then Phoenix all of a sudden I realized I had robbed myself of a major part of my cultural identity and I set about re-learning Yr Hen Iaith/the Old Language so that I could talk to my aging mother in the language of her youth. I achieved that and, in the last 15 years or so, have taught a surprising number of desert dwellers and others, among other things, how to pronounce popty-ping [popty /oven--that goes--ping] or microwave.

The language is now a passion of mine and I look forward to the opportunity to pass on what I cherish: The truly healthiest dying language in the world.

Y Driniaeth/The Approach

Ive assembled my approach to teaching from a number of sources over the years: John Albert Evans, Rhodri Jones, Heini Gruffudd, and Gareth King to name but a few, but have also assembled a fairly large dossier on how not to teach Welsh. Ill be working from my own play book, illustrated with the borrowings from the best teachers I know. As a musician I am attracted to the by ear method: Language as sound, much like a melody with meaning. After all young children dont use grammar books (although for adults they have their place), they associate repeated sounds with objects and people.

Adnoddau ar-lein/On Line Resources

We are very lucky these days that there are a myriad of on-line resources that I would have killed for when I was first looking to revive my heritage. Ill go through these in detail later on, as they all have special strong points, but for now.

Geiriaduron/Dictionaries

http://techiaith.bangor.ac.uk/GeiriadurAcademi/?lang=en

English to Welsh only but an incredible bargain am rad ac yn ddim /for free! The hard copy is $84 from Amazon!!

http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/fun/welsh/LexiconForms.html

The first -- to my knowledge -- on line Welsh/English/Welsh dictionary; written by a Welsh learner. Theres inspiration for you.

http://www.geiriadur.net/

Another great free dictionary, with search features Ill tell you about later.

http://www.cysgliad.com/cysill/arlein/Default.aspx

Free spell-checker/Sillafydd

Well, I hope this has sparked your interest. I got pumped up just writing it! I look forward to seeing you on Google Hangout (Also free!).

Hwyl am y tro/Bye for now, Sioni Dda/John Good.

Welsh Gold

Welsh gold is prized because of its quality. It is found in two areas of Wales; an area around Dolgellau and in Dolaucothi in Carmarthenshire, where it is known to have been mined by the Romans.

* In Welsh legend, King Arthur's sword, known as Caledfwlch, had a hilt crafted of Welsh gold.

* Welsh gold became fashionable when the Queen Mother chose it for her wedding ring in 1923, which was fashioned from a gift of Clogau gold with enough left over for the wedding rings of the Queen, Princess Margaret, the Princess Royal and Princess Diana.

* On 29th April 2011 Prince William and Kate Middleton were married, their wedding rings being of Welsh gold.

* 1kg of Welsh gold from the Gwynfynydd mine was presented to the Queen on her 60th birthday in 1986.

* Commercial extraction of Welsh Gold ceased with the closure of Clogau near Dolgellau in 1911.

Born this day 1917 in Neath,

William Squire , a stage, film and television actor whose most famous role was Thomas More in the 1969 film "Anne of the Thousand Days." He is also remembered for being the voice of Gandalf in the 1978 animated version of "The Lord of the Rings" and as Hunter, the superior of secret agent David Callan in the spy series Callan of the early 1970s.

Ann of Swansea (Ann Julia Hatton) (29 April 1764 – 26 December 1838,) , was a popular novelist in Britain in the early 19th century. She was the daughter of strolling player Roger Kemble and a sister of actress Sarah Siddons. She married a bigamist, worked in a London brothel and attempted suicide in Westminster Abbey before travelling to America with her legitimate husband, William Hatton, where she found Broadway success with her libretto Tammany: The Indian Chief.

Ann and William returned to Britain and settled in Swansea, where Ann became a well-known writer. She wrote poetry and fourteen gothic novels using the pseudonym of "Ann of Swansea".

On 29th April 1941, the village of Cwmparc in the Rhondda Valley was subjected to a bombing raid from the Luftwaffe, killing 27 people.

It is believed that anti-aircraft fire had forced the German pilots to divert from their planned target at Swansea and had dropped their bombs randomly.

Among the fatalities were three evacuees from London, the Jameson family, two boys and two girls, who had been staying at 14 Treharne Street which was one of the houses hit.

Born on this day 1888 in Cardiff,

Fred Dyer, a Welsh boxing champion and baritone singer . His voice trained by Ivor Novello's mother, Clara Novello Davies, Dyer was renowned for singing to his audience after a fight and was nicknamed 'The Singing Boxer'.

PUTTING YOUR TALENT TO THE TEST

The Eistdeddfod has long been a storied tradition in Wales and, since 1994, at the North American Festival of Wales as well. Thus, every year we run competitions in singing and (poetic) recitation, mostly with a focus on the language of heaven, i.e., Welsh, and offer cash prizes and trophies to the winners. At the same time, simply competing has proven to be an award in itself as experienced, professional-caliber adjudicators offer a very meaningful,personal critique to each competitor to help them in continuing to cultivate their innate and developing talents. This year, we are lucky to have among our adjudicators the Three Welsh Tenors, who already are performing on Thursday, August 29, at the NAFOW Opening Concert but also have graciously offered their time and wealth of experience - for our two Solo Voice competitions (see below).

The recitation competitions include Youth Recitation (with a set piece in English), Learners' Recitation (for adults relatively new to Welsh, with a set piece in Welsh) and Adult Recitation
(for adults with some demonstrated Welsh proficiency, also with a set piece in Welsh). The Learners' category is new for 2013, as we aim to draw on a burgeoning interest shown by people learning the language through the online resource, Say Something in Welsh, as well as other learners.

On offer for the singing competitions are Hymn Singing, Solo Voice and Solo Voice/Semi- professional. Hymn Singing involves a single piece in Welsh, while the others involve two pieces each where at least one must be in Welsh. The Solo Voice/Semi-professional competition is distinct in offering the David Morris Memorial Award, which includes a cash prize to send the winner to compete where it all began... at the next National Eisteddfod in Wales ! Several Morris winners have gone on to great success in Wales, including Catrin Rowenna Davies, who won first prize in Mezzo-soprano at the National in Vale of Glamorgan just last year.

We would love to see you come and compete... you never know where it might lead ! It is certainly as much fun as it is rewarding. As is the custom, our winners will also perform at an
Eisteddfod Concert on Saturday, August 31, which is normally very well-attended and well-received.

For more information, see NAFOW Program Eisteddfod

or send an email to Alan Upshall or Ian Samways at eisteddfod@nafow.org.

Ian K. Samways

The Fairmount Royal York Hotel Toronto,

venue of the North American Festival of Wales 2013