It could be said that Geraint Gruffydd had more than one career; university professor, head of a national institution, director of a research centre, each one of which he accomplished to a high standard, but there is no doubt that his main delight was his work as a scholar and researcher.  Over the years he published extensively on the writers and literature of all periods of Welsh literary history, both mainstream works and also less well-known writers and their works, unearthing many unknown gems. He had a tenacious memory and never forgot anything that he read or discovered, but also had the ability to find new, sometimes unexpected, connections, which meant that reading his work was always an exciting experience which opened the mind. One sign of his commitment to the ideals of research was his respect for his audience. Wherever he published his work – be it an academic journal, the proceedings of a society, a literary magazine, Y Cylchgrawn Efengylaidd,  Y Casglwr or any one of many other media – it was always remarkable for its light, accomplished style and the thoroughness of its research. Scholarship was a calling as well as a vocation for him.

He was born on 9 June 1928 in Egryn, an ancient house in Tal-y-bont, Ardudwy, the home of the parents of that flighty eighteenth-century scholar, William Owen [Pughe], but despite the fundamental difference between his scholarly perception and Geraint’s, in some almost mystical way, Geraint sensed the call of research and scholarship in Egryn and took pride in the fact that he had begun his journey there.

Geraint’s mother had graduated in Latin and Welsh, and his father, Moses Griffith, was an agricultural advisor. Some years later the family moved to Pwll Peirian, the experimental research farm in Cwm Ystwyth, north Ceredigion which is where he grew up. But if it was a geographically remote place, it was certainly not socially remote. Moses Griffith was one of the founding members of Plaid Cymru and its first Treasurer and many prominent Welshmen would call there, so Geraint became familiar from a young age with intellectual conversations on a range of topics, not only political, but also literary, social and religious. Saunders Lewis had no greater friend than Moses Griffith in his difficult years and Geraint took pride in the connection with that man of letters and thinker. He was appointed Saunders Lewis’s literary executor.

Geraint went from the local school to Ardwyn Grammar School at Aberystwyth and then, in 1941 to Gordonstoun which had relocated at the time to Llandinam. From there he went to Bangor College in 1945 with the intention of studying for a degree in English.  Gordonstoun didn’t offer a course in Welsh, and so Geraint expected to take an ‘inters’ course in Welsh at college. However, because of a clash (fortunate or providential) in the timetable, he was put into the higher class, where he was inspired by a trio of professors, Ifor Williams, Thomas Parry and Caerwyn Williams. Geraint was proud to have been in Ifor Williams’s final honours class and liked to relate his memories of his final lecture. Upon graduation, he went to Oxford to research his doctorate.

He was drawn to more than one topic. One was the contribution of that versatile genius, Edward Lhwyd, and it’s easy to see his appeal for Geraint. Another was Thomas Jones of Denbigh, the Methodist writer and scholar, and it is not hard to see why. But the subject which he finally chose was Welsh religious prose from the start of Elizabeth I’s reign to the Restoration. It was a challenging field and included all aspects of the Renaissance and humanists, and the works of Protestant Reformers, the Anti-Reformation and early Puritans; it demanded a grasp of (and interest in) the theology of a period of religious strife, a mastery of the intricate history of the ideas and politics of these years, and the ability to respond in a literary fashion to all these writings. The appropriate bibliographical skills also had to be learned. The whole of early modern Welsh literature opened before him and Geraint’s scholarship flourished in publications over the years on the Renaissance, its authors and books, and in particular the feat of William Morgan and the 1588 Bible.

His first job was on the editorial staff of the Dictionary of the Welsh Language and its location at the National Library gave Geraint free rein, in his spare time, to examine the wealth of Welsh manuscripts and create an inexhaustible reserve of knowledge to draw upon as necessary. In turn, Geraint became a lecturer in Welsh at Bangor College, a Professor at Aberystwyth, the National Librarian of Wales and the first full time Director of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth. He could master new fields thoroughly and set about researching them, providing detailed textual studies or perceptive original interpretations. At Bangor, he turned to Dafydd ap Gwilym and the cywyddwyr, t Aberystwyth to early Welsh hengerdd poetry and ‘cerddi’r bwlch’, at the Centre he focused on the poets of the princes. He enriched the study of each and every one of these fields; but the flow of other publications did not abate, with articles on all periods of Welsh literary history, literary criticism, elegies for friends, and much too rarely, a poem or two; and in addition to all of this he wrote essays in which he shared his deep Christian conviction.

Geraint had an intense religious experience as a student in Bangor, an experience which deepened in Oxford; in Wales he was a member of the Evangelist Movement from the start. He professed his faith gladly but this did not restrict his interaction with other people or his scholarship in any way. He would have maintained that his religion enriched his life and his work. He was a people man, modest and always courteous and considerate, by nature agreeable and an active believer in collaboration while encouraging and inspiring others to contribute.

We extend our sympathies to his widow Luned, and the family, Sian, Rhun and Pyrs. 

Ar un olwg cafodd Geraint Gruffydd fwy nag un yrfa, yn athro coleg, yn bennaeth sefydliad cenedlaethol, yn gyfarwyddwr canolfan ychwil, swyddi a gyflawnodd gyda graen, ond nid oes amheuaeth nad fel ysgolhaig ac ymchwilydd y câi ei foddhad pennaf.  Dros y blynyddoedd cyhoeddodd yn doreithiog ar lenorion a llenyddiaeth pob cyfnod yn hanes llenyddiaeth Gymraeg,  ar weithiau’r brif ffrwd a hefyd ar ysgrifenwyr llai adnabyddus a’u cynnyrch gan ddwyn llawer gem fach i olau dydd. Yr oedd ganddo gof gafaelgar ac nid anghofiai ddim a ddarllenai neu a ddarganfyddai, ond gyda  hynny meddai ar y ddawn i ganfod cysylltiadau newydd, ac weithiau annisgwyl, gyda’r  canlyniad fod darllen ei waith bob amser yn brofiad cyffrous sy’n agor y meddwl. Arwydd o’i ymlyniad wrth ddelfrydau ymchwil oedd ei barch at ei gynulleidfa. Ble bynnag y cyhoeddai ei waith ‒ cyfnodolyn academaidd, trafodion cymdeithas, cylchgrawn llenyddol, Y Cylchgrawn Efengylaidd,  Y Casglwr a llawer cyfrwng arall ‒  nodweddir y cyfan gan  yr un arddull gymen olau a’r un trylwyredd ymchwil. Yr oedd ysgolheictod yn alwad, yn ogystal ag yn alwedigaeth, iddo.

Cafodd ei eni, 9 Mehefin 1928, yn Egryn, tŷ hynafol yn Nhal-y- bont, Ardudwy, cartref rhieni’r ysgolhaig gwamal hwnnw o’r ddeunawfed ganif, William Owen [Pughe], ond er mor sylfaenol y gwahaniaeth crebwyll ysgolheigaidd rhwng Geraint ac yntau, eto mewn rhyw ffordd ddirgel bron, ymglywai Geraint â galwad  ymchwil ac ysgolheictod yn Egryn a mawrygai mai yno y bu dechrau’r daith.

Yr oedd mam Geraint yn raddedig mewn Lladin a Chymraeg, a’i dad, Moses Griffith, yn ymgynghorydd amaethyddol. Ymhen ychydig flynyddoedd symudodd y teulu i fferm ymchwil arbrofol Pwll Peirian, Cwm Ystwyth, yng ngogledd Ceredigion ac yno y magwyd ef. Os ydoedd yn fan diarffordd yn ddaearyddol, nid felly yn gymdeithasol. Yr oedd Moses Griffith yn un o aelodau sylfaenol Plaid Cymru a’i Thrysorydd cyntaf ac amryw o wŷr blaenllaw  Cymru yn galw fel y daeth Geraint yn gyfarwydd yn bur gynnar â chlywed sgwrsio deallus am nifer o bynciau, nid rhai gwleidyddol yn unig ond rhai llenyddol, cymdeithasol  a chrefyddol. Ni chafodd Saunders Lewis gyfaill mwy cymwynasgar na Moses Griffith yn ei flynyddoedd blin a mawrygai Geraint y cyswllt â’r llenor a’r meddyliwr hwnnw. Ef a benodwyd yn ysgutor llenyddol Saunders Lewis.

O’r ysgol leol aeth Geraint i ysgol ramadeg Ardwyn yn Aberystwyth ac yna, yn1941, i ysgol Gordonstoun a oedd wedi’i hail-leoli ar y  pryd yn Llandinam. Oddi yno aeth i goleg Bangor yn 1945 a’i fryd ar wneud gradd yn y Saesneg. Nid oedd Gordonstoun yn cynnig cwrs yn y Gymraeg ac felly disgwyliai Geraint ymgymryd â chwrs ‘inters’ Cymraeg yn y coleg, ond oherwydd gwrthdaro (ffodus neu ragluniaethol) yn yr amserlen gosodwyd ef yn y dosbarth uwch lle y cafodd ei ysbrydoli gan driawd o athrawon, Ifor Willams,Thomas Parry a Caerwyn Williams. Ymfalchïai Geraint ei fod yn  nosbarth anrhydedd olaf  Ifor Wiliams a hoffai adrodd ei atgofion am achlysur y ddarlith olaf honno. Wedi graddio, troi am Rydychen i ymchwilio ar gyfer ei ddoethuriaeth.

Yr oedd yn cael ei dynnu at fwy nag un pwnc. Un oedd cyfraniad yr athrylith amryddawn hwnnw, Edward Lhwyd, a hawdd deall ei apêl i Geraint. Un arall oedd Thomas Jones o Ddinbych, y llenor a’r ysgolhaig Methodistaidd, ac nid anodd deall pam.Ond y pwnc a aeth â’i fryd oedd rhyddiaith grefyddol  Gymraeg o ddechrau teyrnasiad Elisabeth I hyd yr Adferiad. Yr oedd yn faes heriol a oedd yn cynnwys holl agweddau’r  Dadeni Dysg a’r dyneiddwyr, a  gweithiau’r Diwygwyr Protestannaidd, y Gwrth-ddiwygiad a’r Piwritaniaid cynnar; hawliai afael ar ddiwinyddiaeth (a diddordeb ynddi) cyfnod o ymrafael crefyddol, meistrolaeth ar hanes dyrys syniadau a gwleidyddiaeth y blynyddoedd hyn, a’r gallu i ymateb yn llenyddol i’r holl ysgrifennu hyn. Yn ymarferol rhaid hefyd fyddai ennill yr arfau llyfryddol cymwys. Agorai holl lenyddiaeth fodern gynnar y Gymraeg o’i flaen a blodeuodd ysgolheictod Geraint mewn cyhoeddiadau dros y blynyddoedd ar y Dadeni Dysg, ei awduron a’u llyfrau, ac yn arbennig ar gamp William Morgan a Beibl 1588.

Ei swydd gyntaf oedd ar staff olygyddol Geiradur Prifysgol Cymru a’i leoliad yn  y Llyfrgell Genedlaethol yn rhoi rhwydd hynt i Geraint, ymhob munud sbâr, i archwilio cyfoeth y llawysgrifau Cymraeg a chreu cronfa ddihysbydd o wybodaeth i dynnu ohoni yn ôl yr angen. Yn ei dro bu Geraint yn ddarlithydd yn y Gymraeg yng ngholeg Bangor, yn Athro yn Aberystwyth,yn Llyfrgellydd  Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru ac yn Gyfarwyddwr llawnamser cyntaf Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru yn Aberystwyth. Meddai ar y gallu i feistroli maes newydd yn drwyadl ac yna i ymchwilio ynddo o’r newydd gan gynnig astudiaeth destunol fanwl a diogel neu ddehongliad gwreiddiol treiddgar. Ym Mangor troes at Dafydd ap Gwilym a’r cywyddwyr, yn Aberystwyth at hengerdd a ‘cherddi’r bwlch’, yn y Ganolfan at feirdd y tywysogion, a chyfoethogi’r astudiaeth o’r meysydd hyn  bob  un; ond ni phallodd ffrwd y cyhoeddiadau eraill, yn erthyglau ar bob cyfnod yn hanes llên Cymru, beirniadaeth lenyddol, ysgrifau coffa i gyfeillion ac yn rhy anaml o lawer, ambell gerdd;  yn ogystal â hyn oll cafwyd ganddo ysgrifau lle y rhannai ei argyhoeddiad Cristnogol dwfn.

Cafodd Geraint brofiad crefyddol dwys pan oedd yn fyfyriwr ym Mangor, profiad a ddyfnhawyd yn Rhydychen; yng Nghymru bu’n aelod o’r Mudiad Efengylaidd o’r dechrau un. Arddelai ei ffydd yn llawen heb fod hynny’n cyfyngu dim ar ei ymneud â phobl na’i ysgolheictod. Byddai ef wedi dal mai cyfoethogi ei fywyd a’i waith a wnâi ei grefydd. Dyn pobl ydoedd, yn wylaidd ac yn gyson foneddigaidd ac ystyrlon, yn gymodlon wrth natur ac yn gredwr gweithredol mewn cydweithio gan annog a symbylu eraill i gyfrannu.

Estynnwn ein cydymdeimlad â’i  weddw Luned, a’r teulu,Siân, Rhun a Pyrs.