David Richards (Dafydd Ionawr) David Richards (Dafydd Ionawr) David Richards (22 January 1751 – 12 May 1827), better-known by his bardic name Dafydd Ionawr, was a Welsh-language poet, born at Glanyrafon near Bryn-crug in the parish of Tywyn in Merionethshire (now Gwynedd), north-west Wales. He took an interest in poetry as a result of his acquaintance with Evan Evans (Ieuan Brydydd Hir), who was curate of St Cadfan's Church, Tywyn, and was later sent to a school at Ystradmeurig to obtain a better education than was available locally. After a period as a junior schoolmaster in Wrexham, he spent one term at Jesus College,
History of the Welsh language speaking Cumbric, and those in the south-west, speaking what would become Cornish, and so the languages diverged. The Book of Aneirin ("Canu Aneirin", c. AD 600) and the Poetry, or Book, of Taliesin ("Canu Taliesin") belong to this era, though both also include some poems originally written in Primitive Welsh. Middle Welsh () is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the "Mabinogion", although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also