SION or John, LLYWELYN (d. 1616?), Welsh bard, of Llan Gewydd, near Bridgend, Glamorganshire, was one of the series of mid-Glamorgan antiquaries who carried on the bardic traditions of this district from mediaeval times to the age of Iolo Morgannwg [see Williams, Edward, 1746–1826] and Dr. William Owen Pughe [q. v.] Among his instructors are mentioned Meurig Dafydd and Thomas Llewelyn; like the former, he became (in 1580) president of the 'Gorsedd' or bardic congress of Glamorgan. A letter from him to Meurig Dafydd, printed in 'Adgof uwch Anghof' (Penygroes, 1883, p. 1), shows him as a copyist of Welsh manuscripts, whose work was to be paid for at the rate of 1l. a month. Many of the manuscripts printed from Iolo Morgannwg's collection in the Iolo MSS. (1848) were transcribed by him. His chief work was a complete account of the bardic system of Glamorgan, which he wrote in his old age. It formed the basis of 'Cyfrinach y Beirdd,' compiled by Edward David or Dafydd [q. v.], and sanctioned at a 'Gorsedd' held in 1681. It was not published till 1829. Sion died about 1616.
[Preface to Heroic Elegies of Llywarch Hên (1792), lxiii; Edward Dafydd's preface to Cyfrinach y Beirdd; preface to Barddas (Welsh MSS. Soc. 1862), vol. i. pp. lxxxiii-v.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.250
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 316 | i | 14 f.e. | Sion or John, Llywelyn: for a further account of the subject of this article see art. Llywelyn of Llangewydd. |