Guto'r Glyn was brought up in Glyn Ceiriog, the vale after which he is named. From that district he could journey easily to nine out of ten noble houses where he received a welcome in the course of his long life. Corwen was within reach; from there he could go, as a drover, taking the parson of Corwen's sheep to England, losing them there, and engaging in a bardic controversy with the bard Tudur Penllyn (q.v.) because of the loss. The town which drew him naturally was Oswestry — and we find him there. Although he itinerated as a bard as far as Anglesey, Gwent, and Gwynedd, his region was that of Powys; he calls the abbey of Strata Marcella ‘ein tŷ (‘our house’). He was fond of churchmen and abbots — the parson of Corwen; David Kyffin and Richard Kyffin (q.v.), deans of Bangor; Siôn Mechain, the parson of Llandrinio; the abbot of Shrewsbury; and the abbots of Valle Crucis.

Politically, Guto'r Glyn was an adherent of the house of York; some of his chief patrons, such as William Herbert, earl of Pembroke (q.v.), and his brother, Sir Richard Herbert, Coldbrook, were Yorkists. He sang to king Edward IV. But he could not bear to see a Welshman killing a Welshman; in 1468, when Herbert overcame North Wales, he asks him to be merciful to the generous chieftains of Gwynedd and not to allow Englishmen to take their official positions. He says to Herbert in effect — ‘Bring all Wales together into one country’ (Dwg Forgannwg a Gwynedd/Gwna'n un o Gonwy i Nedd). Guto'r Glyn was, at heart, more Welshman than Yorkist, although according to the bard Gutyn Owain (q.v.) he wore the collar and badge of king Edward. He d. at Valle Crucis, c. 1493, and the abbot, Dafydd ap Ieuan (q.v.) who had looked after him so tenderly during the vicissitudes of old age and blindness, saw also to his obsequies and funeral feast.