for they extend his reign from A. D. 448 to 464, when he is superseded by his son for four years, countably reigns again until A. D. 481.

after which he unacAll this is inconsis

tent with their statement that Vortimer, who is known from a respectable authority* to have died before the battle of Crayford in 457, was of age to take the chief command of the Britons in the field so early as 455; and though it is uncertain how long Vortigern may have survived his son, it is probable that the date usually assigned to his deposition is in truth the date of his decease. Vortimer, who has been surnamed "Bendigaid, or the Blessed," has been accounted a Saint; and as he was not an ecclesiastic, the honour is perhaps due to his care in restoring those churches which had been destroyed by the Saxons, and the respect which he paid to men of religion.t In the Triads he is styled one of the three canonized kings of Britain.

The sons of Cunedda were all of them warriors, and though several of his grandchildren might have flourished in this generation, the order of succession would be better preserved by referring them to the next. The name of Ceredig ab Cunedda, the time in which he lived, and the situation of his territories, determine him to be the hero of the following rencounter with St. Patrick; and the circumstances of the incident, which exhibit a curious picture of the manners of the age, are thus related by Mr. Moore in his "History of

Henry of Huntingdon.

+ Matthæus Florilegus says—“Vortimerus, victoriam adeptus, cœpit possessiones amissas civibus indigenis restituere, ipsosque diligere, Ecclesias destructas restaurare, atque viros Ecclesiasticos, præcipuè religiosos, honorare."-(Usher De Primordiis, Cap. XII.) "Gwedy kaffael o Werthyfyr e wudugolyaeth dechreu a oruc talw y pawb tref y dat ac eu kyvoeth or ar rydugassey e sayson y arnadunt. ac y gyt a henny hevyt karu y wyrda ac eu hanrydedu ac o arch Garmawn ae kynghor adnewydhau er eglwyseu."-Brut G. ab Arthur. Myv. Archaiology, Vol. II. p. 252.

#

Ireland.". "The event, in consequence of which the Saint addressed his indignant letter to Coroticus, the only authentic writing, besides the Confession, we have from his hand, is supposed to have taken place during his stay on the Munster coast, about the year 450. A British prince, named Coroticus, who, though professing to be a Christian, was not the less, as appears from his conduct, a pirate and persecutor, had landed with a party of armed followers, while St. Patrick was on the coast, and set about plundering a large district in which, on the very day before, the Saint had baptized and confirmed a vast number of converts. Having murdered several of these persons, the pirates carried off a considerable number of captives, and then sold them as slaves to the Picts and Scots, who were at that time engaged in their last joint excursion into Britain. A letter despatched by the Saint to the marauders, requesting them to restore the baptized captives, and part of the booty, having been treated with contumely, he found himself under the necessity of forthwith issuing the solemn epistle which has come down to us, in which, denouncing Coroticus and his followers as robbers and marauders, he in his capacity of Bishop established in Ireland' declares them to be excommunicated."

The family most distinguished in the Church during the present interval was that of Brychan, who is said, in Bonedd y Saint, to have been the father of twenty four sons and twenty five daughters, in all forty nine children!! Statements, however, vary, of which this is the largest. The smallest statement is twenty four for the whole number. In explanation it is said that he had three wives,† though it is not mentioned that they were living at the same time; and it appears

* In some printed accounts of St. Patrick, this name is spelled-Coreticus, and Cereticus,-the latter of which is but a slight deviation from the Welsh orthography.

+ Eurbrawst, Rhybrawst, and Peresgri.

*

that four, at least, of his sons were illegitimate. It is, however, supposed by the Historian of Brecknockshire and the Author of the Hora Britannica that the names of the grandchildren of Brychan have crept into the list of his children; and, in confirmation of this opinion, it may be stated that the Triads record that Brychan "brought up his children and grandchildren in learning and the liberal arts, that they might be able to show the faith in Christ to the nation of the Cymry, wherever they were without the faith:" from which it would be inferred that the grandchildren of Brychan were Saints, and it might be expected that their names were inserted in the existing catalogues. But as few such names appear,* when the grandchildren would naturally be the most numerous, the supposition, that they have been included in the list of children, is the most rational way of accounting for the deficiency. Their intermarriages also show that they belong to times a considerable distance asunder; and though generations are never strictly concurrent, it is too much to suppose that two daughters of the same man should be married to persons who flourished two thirds of a century apart from each other. Those alluded to are, Gwrgon, wife of Cadrod Calchfynydd who flourished about A. D. 410, and Gwladus, wife of Gwynllyw Filwr who flourished about A. D. 480; but if the latter be considered a grand-daughter of Brychan, no difficulty will appear in the case. Between the wife of Ceredig who flourished about 430, and the wife of Cyngen ab Cadell who flourished about 500, the discrepancy is equally as great.

This being the case, Bonedd y Saint leaves the antiquarian at liberty to acquiesce in the authority of the legend, entitled "Cognacio Brychan," in which several of the children and grandchildren are actually distinguished. But in treating of the family seriatim, it is proposed to follow the

* Only five or six, and those mentioned incidentally.

S

list in the Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, which, allowance being made for the intermixture of two generations, appears to give the names most correctly. It is supported by a greater number of authorities than the list to which the Historian of Brecknockshire has given a preference, and the names included are more consonant with the names of churches now existing. But in this part of the subject it is impossible to proceed with the satisfaction that can be wished; all the lists of this family are evidently so corrupt that the result of a comparison of them can be only a distant approach to the truth, and a great number of cases must be left undecided.

1. Cynawg or Cynog, according to all the lists, the eldest son of Brychan, by Banhadlwedd the daughter of Banhadle of Banhadla in Powys. "Soon after his birth he was put under the care of a holy man named Gastayn, by whom he was baptized." Cressy says "the fame of his sanctity was most eminent among the Silures; his name is consigned among our English Martyrology on the eleventh of February, where he flourished in all virtues about the year of Christ 492."-The latter part of the sentence is ambiguously expressed, but the year mentioned may be taken for the date of his death, which is more agreeable to the chronology of the family than that he should have flourished in the prime of life at that time. The Truman MS.‡ states that he was murdered

* Jones's Brecknockshire, Vol. I. Chap. III. and Cognacio Brychan. + Sir Harris Nicolas, in his Chronology of History, gives Oct. 7 as the festival of St. Cynog; which would seem to be correct, as the wake of that Saint was formerly held in the month of October in the parish of Defynog, Brecknockshire. According to Edwards's Cathedral of St. Asaph, the wake of Llangynog, Montgomeryshire, should be held Oct. 8, the difference between which and the authority of Sir H. Nicolas arises only from an error of computation, where Edwards should have deducted a day from the reckoning at the commencement of the present century. Cited in Jones's Brecknockshire, Vol. I. Chap. III.

by the Pagan Saxons, upon a mountain called the Van, in the parish of Merthyr Cynog in Brecknockshire; and if so, it may be concluded that the church of Merthyr was erected as a martyrium to his memory, and built over his grave.' But it does not appear how the Saxons could have penetrated so far westward at so early a date,t unless it be supposed that in their piratical excursions they occasionally landed upon the coast of Wales, and the MS. just quoted mentions an instance in which they joined arms with the Gwyddyl Ffichti.

To Cynog are to be attributed the churches of Defynog, Ystrad Gynlais, and Penderin, in Brecknockshire, forming with their parishes and chapelries three extensive and continuous endowments of the first class. To Defynog the following chapels are subject-Capel Illtyd, (St. Iltutus;) Llanulid, (St. Julitta ;) Capel Callwen, (St. Callwen ;) and Ystrad Fellte, (St. Mary.) Ystrad Gynlais has but one chapel, Capel Coelbren. Penderin stands alone. The parish of Merthyr Cynog, which, like that of Defynog, is of sufficient importance to give name to the Hundred in which it lies, formerly included the church of Llanfihangel Nant Bran, (St. Michael,) as well as the chapelry of Dyffryn Honddu. Battel chapel, now independent, and Llangynog subject to Llanganten, (St. Cannen,) are also dedicated to Cynog ;§ and it

* This inference from a general custom, explained in page 62 of this Essay, is confirmed by Cognacio Brychan, which says "Sepulchrum Cynawc in Merthyr Cynawc in Brechenawc."-The words of Bonedd y Saint are to the same purpose-"Kynawc ap Brychan, Merthyr, ac ym Merthyr Cynawc ym Mrecheiniog y mae'n Gorwedd."

+ Hengist is usually believed to have carried devastation into the remotest corners of the island, but Mr. Sharon Turner has well observed that all his battles, particularized by the Saxon authorities, were fought in Kent.

In one list of Saints, Callwen is said to have been a daughter of Brychan, and was therefore a sister of Cynog.

|| Jones's Brecknockshire, Vol. II. page 193.

§ There are reason for supposing that Llangunog, a chapel in Carmar