Elis Gruffydd (1490–1552), sometimes known as "The soldier of Calais", was a Welsh chronicler, transcriber, and translator. He is known foremost for his massive chronicle Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd (Chronicle of the Six Ages), which covers the history of the world from the beginning of Adam and Eve up to the year 1552 and contains the earliest text of the Tale of Taliesin. He is also well known for his eyewitness account of England's 1543 war with France in his journal transcribed in Elis Gruffydd and the 1544 'Enterprise' of Paris and Boulogue. His presence on the battlefield has given insight into the development of protests against the campaign. Thomas Jones says "despite his long years of service in France and London, [Gruffydd] was deeply interested in the oral traditions and written literature of his native land. He quotes Welsh englynion and proverbs, records a few folk-tales, and transcribes Welsh texts from such MSS as he had at his disposal". Gruffydd is an excellent source in uncovering lost and obscure traditions and he serves as a harmoniser for Welsh traditions appearing in different ages by the same poet, such as Merlin and Taliesin.
Life
Elis Gruffydd was born in Upper Gronant in the parish of Llanasa, Flintshire. More famously Elis Gruffydd began his life in Flintshire, Wales as the younger son of a cadet of a gentry's family. At a young age he inherited 24 acres of land from his uncle Siôn ap Dafydd. It has been assumed that his family was related to the Mostyns, a family of considerable wealth and influence during the era. In 1510 he travelled across the border and joined the English army, fighting in Holland and Spain. He may have been attracted to London because of the Tudor dynasty, whose closest Welsh cousins were the Mostyns and who offered opportunities for the Welsh. His neighbour Sir Huw Conwy of Botryddan was already high in the royal service and worked as the treasurer of Calais from 1492 to 1517.
By 1518 he began working for Sir Robert Wingfield, a gentleman from Suffolk, mostly likely to solve his financial issues. The Wingfield family was one of the most distinguished families of government servants under the early Tudors. In 1520 he was working at the Wingfield home in Calais, where he witnessed the Battle of the Golden Field of the Cloth. From his experience here Gruffydd left detailed soldier-eye descriptions on the conditions and men on this campaign. He accompanied Wingfield on various diplomatic missions abroad, most notably around France, which accounts for his extensive knowledge on French culture and history. On an expedition in 1523, Gruffydd accompanies Wingfield to London, giving vivid descriptions of Thomas Wolsey in the Court of Star Chamber.
Between 1524 and 1529, he was residing in London as caretaker of Wingfield Place. The nature of Gruffydd's work was never revealed. In his own Chronicle he describes duties that took him outside London: to Essex and Kent in 1525 and to Poplar in 1527. During his stay in London he observed many political figures and witnessed events at the Court of Star Chamber. It was during this time that he began penning his first extensive work Cardiff MS 5, also known as Phillipps 10823, which featured a collection of prose and poetry based loosely of the late medieval tradition. On 27 January 1529, Gruffydd travelled back to Calais, where his master Sir Robert Wingfield was serving as deputy governor. Henceforth he was known as "The soldier of Calais". Here he wrote two more works called Castell yr Iechyd, or The Fortress of Health, which was a collection of Welsh translations of medical works, and Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd, Gruffydd's immense chronicle of the world. This chronicle was written in Welsh, despite his long residence in England and France, consisting in large part of translations and adaptations of English and French sources. The fact that he includes in the work a version of Ystoria Taliesin, is highly significant for medievalists, as this is the earliest surviving copy of the legend of Taliesin's birth and acquisition of the gift of vision. Though he recorded it in the sixteenth century, Gruffydd gives evidence of earlier sources, hinting toward a ninth-century origination date.