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SECTION XIV.

The Welsh Saints from the Death of Cadwallon A. D. 634 to the Death of Cadwaladr A. D. 664.

CADWALADR, whose reign is commensurate with this interval, was the son of Cadwallon, and was the last of the Welsh nation who assumed the title of chief sovereign of Britain.* His power, however, was narrowly circumscribed, and in the early part of his reign he must have held the situation of a dependent prince; for Oswald the Bernician, upon the conquest and death of Cadwallon, is said to have extended his government over all the Britons as well as the Saxons.† After a few years Penda the Mercian revolted, and Oswald was slain in battle; upon which occasion it would appear the Welsh recovered their independence, as it is not recorded that Oswy, who succeeded Oswald as Bretwalda or chief sovereign of the Saxons, exercised the same authority over the Britons. It is generally agreed that Cadwaladr was of a peaceable diposition; his life passed without any remarkable events; and the venerable historian of the Anglo-Saxons, who lived in the next generation, does not mention his name. In the year 664 a plague broke out, which spread desolation over Britain and Ireland, and in the latter country, where it lasted three years, is swept away two thirds of the inhabitants. In Britain its continuance was much shorter, but great numbers perished,|| and Cadwaladr was one of its victims.§

"A Phrydein dan un paladyr

Goreu mab Kymro Katwalatyr."

Kyvoesi Myrdin: Myv. Arch. Vol. I. page 140.

Annals of Ulster.

+ Bede II. 5, and III. 6.

§ Nennius apud Gale.

|| Bede, III. 27.

The chronicles of Walter and Geoffrey terminate with the death of this prince and the appointment of his successor, but they terminate in a way worthy of their previous character; for having begun and continued a course of fable, which has too long usurped the place of history, they end in a blunder. According to them the plague lasted eleven years, and misplacing the age of Cadwaladr they assert that to avoid its ravages he retired to the court of Alan, the king of Armorica. He was hospitably received, and after a while was preparing to return, when an angel appeared, commanding him to relinquish his purpose and undertake a pilgrimage to Rome. Resigning his kingdom, therefore, in favour of Ifor, his son, he proceeded to Rome, where having been admitted among the saints by Pope Sergius, he died on the twelfth of May, 688.*-Persons acquainted with the history of the AngloSaxons will immediately perceive that Walter and Geoffrey have confounded their hero with Ceadwalla the king of Wessex, who resigned his kingdom, and making a pilgrimage to Rome was baptized there by Pope Sergius, where he died on the twelfth of the calends of May, 688.+-The story is true as regards Ceadwalla, for it is related by Bede, who was his contemporary and who could not have mistaken a circumstance affecting the government of one of the most powerful of the Saxon states. Walter and Geoffrey were deceived by the sound of the name; and three other chroniclers in the Myvyrian Archaiology have followed in the wake of the error, by assigning the true history of Ina, the king of Wessex and successor of Ceadwalla, to Ifor, the supposed successor of Cadwaladr. A notion prevailed in the beginning of the twelfth

*My v. Archaiology, Vol. II. page 388.

+ So in the Saxon Chronicle. Bede is more precise, and though he admits that Ceadwalla resigned his kingdom in 688, he says he did not reach Rome till the year following, when, after receiving baptism, he died on the day of the month above stated.

‡ Vol. II. p. 470.

century, and is embodied in certain fictitious prophecies of Myrddin,* that Cadwaladr should re-appear and expel the Saxons from the island, restoring the Cymry to their ancient possessions; but nothing is said of his visit to Rome or even to Armorica, and if the words of Nennius,† the oldest authority by whom he is noticed, be rightly interpreted, he must have died of the plague in his own country. He has had the credit of sanctity, an honour apparently of modern growth, and the epithet of "Bendigaid" or "Blessed" is frequently attached to his name. In the Triads he is called one of the three canonized kings of Britain. According to tradition he rebuilt the church of Eglwys Ael in Anglesey, where his grandfather, Cadfan, had been buried, and which after its restoration obtained the name of Llangadwaladr. He is deemed the patron saint of Llangadwaladr alias Bishopston, Monmouthshire, and of Llangadwaladr under Llanrhaiadr in Mochnant, Denbighshire, and his festival occurs on the ninth of October.

The inundation which formed the Lafan Sands, already alluded to,|| appears to have occurred in this generation, while Helig was still living; his sons, upon the loss of their patrimony, embraced a monastic life in the colleges of Bangor Deiniols and Bangor Enlli;* their names were:

* Myvyrian Archaiology, Vol. I. p. 145.

"Verba ejus hæc sunt:-Osquid (Oswy) filius Eldfrid (Ethelfrith) regnavit XXVIII annis et VI mensibus; dum ipse regnabat, venit mortalitas hominum, Catgualat (al. Catgualiter) regnante apud Britones post patrem suum, et in eâ periit.'-Si autem hæc verba—' in eâ periit,'—ad Cadwaladrum referenda sunt, omnia plana erunt. Oswius enim vixit annius V (rectius VI) post A. D. DCLXV (rectius DCLXIV) in quo mortalitas illa accidit."-Eræ Cambrobritannicæ, accurante Mose Gulielmo, published at the end of Humphrey Llwyd's Britannica Descriptionis Commentariolum. London, 1731.

Alphabetical Calendar in Sir II Nicolas's Chronology of History. || Page 298.

*

§ Bangor in Carnarvonshire. The Monastery of Bardsey.

Aelgyfarch, and Boda, saints.

Brothen, the founder of Llanfrothen, Merionethshire. Festival, Oct. 15.

Bodfan, the patron saint of Aber, or Abergwyngregyn, Carnarvonshire. Festival, June 2.

Bedwas, possibly the person from whom a church so called in Monmouthshire has derived its name.

Celynin, the founder of Llangelynin, Merionethshire. Festival, Nov. 20.

Brenda, Euryn, and Gwyar; sons of Helig, and saints. Gwynnin, the patron saint of Llandygwynnin, Carnarvonshire; commemorated Dec. 31.

Peris, described as "a saint and cardinal of Rome ;"-the description is probably a mistake, but it is the only instance admitted in Bonedd y Saint of connexion with the papal see. He was the founder of Llanberis, Carnarvonshire; and Llangian, a chapel under Llanbedrog in the same county is dedicated to him in conjunction with Cian, who was his servant. The memory of Peris has been celebrated on the twenty sixth of July, and that of Cian on the eleventh of December.*

Rhychwyn ab Helig, the patron saint of Llanrhychwyn, a chapel under Trefriw, Carnarvonshire. Festival, June, 10. Other holy persons, who flourished about this time,

were:

Dona, the son of Selyf ab Cynan Garwyn ab Brochwel; the founder of Llanddona, Anglesey. His wake is November 1.

Collen, the son of Gwynog of the line of Caradog Fraichfras; or, according to some, the son of Petrwn ab Coleddog ab Rhydderch Hael. He was the founder of Llangollen, Denbighshire, and has been commemorated on the twentieth of May.

*Cambrian Register, Vol. III.

Edwen, a female saint of Saxon descent, who has been allowed a place among the saints of Wales. She is said to have been a daughter or niece of Edwin, king of Northumbria; and the statement derives probability from the circumstance admitted by the English historians, that Edwin was brought up in the court of Cadfan, king of North Wales, at Caerseiont or Carnarvon.* Llanedwen in Anglesey is dedicated to her, and her festival has been kept on the sixth of November.

Bonedd y Saint. Myv. Archaiology.

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