Evidence presented before the court of Great Sessions in Denbighshire in 1600 records that Robert ap Huw, a young Anglesey man, had been accused of committing various moral and criminal offences in the parishes straddling the southern end of the Vale of Clwyd and northern Edeyrnion. These he had apparently committed while making a circuit of the the homes of various minor gentlemen, where he received hospitality. The homes which he visited include those of men known to be collectors and copiers of manuscripts during the late sixteenth century. Of particular interest is the reference to Coed y Talwrn, the home of Roger Morris, a catholic who was in contact with Gruffydd Robert, the Welsh humanist of Milan, from where Robert ap Huw was said to be carrying papers. Robert ap Huw also stayed at the home of a local musician, Morus Tudur, the fiddler of Yale.
This legal evidence provides a glimpse of the young Robert ap Huw emerging as a poet in the traditional mould, gaining experience on circuit away from his native area; a man who was also interested in music. Unfortunately, he also behaved rashly in abducting the daughter of one of his hosts. This not only brought him before the church courts but also brought upon him the suspicion of the local community concerning other actions. In an age when the law, and statutes proscribing vagrancy in particular, brought any travelling occupation under suspicion, such behaviour would also bring the bardic circuit in Wales under disrepute. It confirmed latent suspicion and intensified the difficulty faced by young poets and musicians alike in gaining the wider experience that had been part of their training during the medieval period. This, no doubt, affected the vigour of traditional poetic and musical entertainment in Wales. It was the musical forms associated with this entertainment under siege that were given written expression in the ap Huw manuscript.
Robert's involvement with manuscript collectors also raises questions as to what he had seen in the houses he visited in Edeyrnion/ the Vale of Clwyd, and whether any musical manuscripts were circulating there around the turn of the sixteenth century.
Mewn tystiolaeth a gyflwynwyd gerbron Llys y Sesiwn Fawr yn Sir Dinbych ym 1600 cofnodir i Robert ap Huw, gwr ifanc o Fôn, gael ei gyhuddo o gamwri moesol a throseddol yn y plwyfi hynny sy'n gwneud gorwedd ym mhen uchaf Dyffryn Clwyd a gogledd Edeyrnion. Ymddengys iddo gyflawni'r rhain wrth wneud cylchdaith o dai mân fonheddwyr yn y fro lle derbyniai lety, bwyd a chroeso. Cynnwys enwau'r cartrefi yr ymwelodd â hwy rai lle trigai gwyr y gwyddys eu bod yn gasglwyr a chopiwyr llawysgrifau yn niwedd yr G16. Mae cyfeiriad arbennig o ddiddorol yn yr achos at Goed y Talwrn, cartref Roger Morris, pabydd a oedd mewn cysylltiad â'r dyneiddiwr Cymreig o Filan, Gruffydd Robert, a chofnodir i Robert ap Huw gario papurau oddi-yno. Dywedir hefyd iddo aros gyda cherddor lleol, Morus Tudur, y 'ffidlwr' o Ial.
Cipolwg ar y Robert ap Huw ifanc a gawn yma, felly, y fardd ar ei brifiant o fewn y gyfundrefn farddol draddodiadol, yn magu profiad trwy gyfrwng cylchdaith glera ymhell o'i fro enedigor; gwr a ymddioddorai hefyd mewn cerddoriaeth. Yn anffodus, trwy ymddwyn yn anystywallt a dwyn o'i chartref ferch un o'i westwyr, gyrrwyd ef o flaen Llys er Esgob a dwyn arno'i hun hefyd amheuaeth y gymdeithas leol am weithredoedd eraill. Mewn oes pan ddygai'r gyfraith, a deddfwriaeth yn gwahardd crwydro a chardota yn arbennig, amheuaeth ar unrhyw alwedigaeth deithio, byddai ymddygiad fel eiddo Robert ap Huw yn cadarnhau'r amheuon a dwyn anfri pellach ar yr arfer o glera. Dwysai hefyd yr anawsterau a wynebai beirdd a cherddorion ieuainc wrth iddynt chwilio am y gyfle cyffelyb i'r hyn a geid yn ystod y canol oesoedd i fagu profiad. Diau i hyn effeithio ar safon a bywiogrwydd adloiant barddol a cherddorol traddodiadol. Mynegiant ysgrifenedig o rai o ffurfiau cerddorol yr adloniant hwn tan warchae a geri yn Llawysgrif ap Huw.
Cwyd ymwneud Robert â chasglwyr llawysgrifau hefyd ynglyn â'r hyn a welodd yn eu cartrefi, ac a oedd unrhyw lawysgrifau cerddorol yn cylchdroi yn Edeyrnion/ Dyffryn Clwyd ar droad yr G16.