brought away at the same time the best of the Britons who were able to bear arms, by which means the country was so weakened that it became a prey to its enemies.*—In this traditional account may be perceived a confused notion of the events which took place as related by Zosimus; and if the Roman and Greek writers make no mention of so distinguished a person as Owain the son of Maximus, it was because all communication with Britain had been intercepted. One of the Triads† states that Owain was raised to the dignity of Pendragon or chief sovereign of the Britons, though he was not an elder, from which it may be concluded that he was a young man at the time of his election. The editor of the Cambrian Biography says that he was also called Owain Finddu, and that he has been considered a Saint by his countrymen; but there are no churches existing which bear his name. Llidnerth Dingad m. Tonwy dr. of Llewddyn Luyddog Lleuddad Buglan Gwytherin Tygwy Tyfriog Eleri, dr. According to the Welsh accounts, one of the most distinguished chieftains of this time was Cunedda Wledig. His territory is said to have been in the north, an expression used indefinitely for any part of the tract reaching from the * Triads 21 and 34. Third Series, Myv. Archaiology. + No. 17. Third Series. Qu. Was not his disqualification owing to the foreign origin of his father, which prevented him from being the elder of a clan of native Britons? * Humber to the Clyde; the particular district is not mentioned, but owing to the remoteness of the country from Wales it cannot be expected that the tradition should be precise. In right of his mother, Gwawl, Cunedda was also entitled to the headship of the clan of Coel Godebog in the south; Ceneu and Mor, the proper representatives of that tribe, being ecclesiastics. Soon after the departure of Maximus to the continent, a people, called Gwyddyl Ffichti, or Irish Picts, to distinguish them the Picts of the north, landed on the western coasts of Britain,† and occupied the whole of North Wales, as well as the Dimetian counties of South Wales. At a later time, the northern Picts made one of their irruptions into the country of their more civilized neighbours; and Cunedda, being unable to resist them, was forced to seek an asylum to the southward. The probability is that he retired to his maternal kindred. He was the father of a numerous family; and his sons, being reduced to the condition of adventurers, undertook the enterprise of delivering Wales from the Irish marauders. In this it is presumed they were assisted by the rightful inhabitants; and they were so far successful that they recovered a great part of South Wales, and the whole of North Wales, except Anglesey and some portions of Denbighshire. The country recovered was divided between them, and they became the founders of so many clans which gave names to the districts that they occupied, some of which names are retained to this day. Thus Ceredig had Ceredigion, comprising the present county of Cardigan with a great part of Carmarthenshire; the word, Ceredigion, being the * Saints. In this statement the Welsh authorities are confirmed by the Irish historians, who relate that an invasion of Britain, on an extensive and formidable scale, took place towards the close of the fourth century under the auspices of a king of Ireland, called Nial of the Nine Hostages.Moore's History of Ireland, Chap. VII. The present counties of Cardigan, Pembroke, and Carmarthen. plural of Ceredig, and meaning his followers. Arwystl had Arwystli, or the western part of Montgomeryshire. Dunod had Dunodig, or the northern part of Merioneth with part of Carnarvonshire. Edeyrn had Edeyrnion, and Mael had Dinmael, both in the eastern part of Merioneth. Coel had Coeleion, and Dogfael had Dogfeilin, both in Denbighshire. Rhufon had Rhufoniog, in Denbigh and Carnarvonshires. Einion had Caereinion in Montgomery, and Oswal had Osweilin on the borders of Shropshire. Tibion, the eldest son of Cunedda, died in the Isle of Man; but his son, Meirion, was one of these adventurers, and had Cantref Meirion. The date which may be assigned to this expulsion of the Irish is the period between A. D. 420 and 430.* Another chieftain, contemporary with Owain ab Macsen and Cunedda, was Brychan, the regulus of Brecknock. It is said that his mother was Marchell, the daughter of Tudur or Tewdrig, who is styled the king of Garthmadryn, by which is conceived to be meant the present county of Brecknock southward of the Eppynt hills. The genealogy of Tewdrig is carried up to Gwraldeg, king of Garthmadryn, who is computed to have lived about A. D. 230. But here the same process may be detected at work which has been demonstrated in the case of Cadfrawd ab Cadfan and Cynan Meiriadog.t Two, if not three pedigrees show that the ancestry of Meirig ab Tewdrig, who lived about A. D. 500, has been given to Tewdrig of Garthmadryn, who must have flourished about A. D. 370. The majority of authorities, it is true, give the older names differently, but they all agree in saying that the father of both the persons named Tewdrig was Teithfallt or Teithffaltim. Notwithstanding the opinion of the historian of *The Silurian Achau y Saint, and Nennius. According to Nennius, the hundred of Builth, or the northern part of the county was included in the possessions of Vortigern. Page 94 of this Essay. N. B. This and the other pedigrees do not contain all the names that might be introduced, but only so many as are sufficient to determine the era and genealogy of the Saints. Brecknockshire,* there is reason to conclude, as shown by the minority, that one Tewdrig has been mistaken for the other; since the alternative would render it necessary to explain how the ancestry of the elder Tewdrig could have been preserved at so early a time; and it should be noticed that the pedigree is disjointed within two generations of the departure of the Romans, about the very period at which the authority of other genealogies seems to commence. The claims of clanship were, doubtless, acknowledged by the Britons, as they are by most nations in a rude state of society; but as the heads of families were in a state of dependency, there could have been no great inducement to preserve the memory of their affinities. From the departure of the Romans, downwards, the celebrity and independence of the chieftains, together with the claims of their descendants to the inheritance of their territories, are a sufficient reason to account for the preservation of the record. Marchell, the daughter of Tewdrig, is said to have been married to Anllech Goronog, "Brenhin Ewerddon,” or, according to others, to Aulach, the son of Cormac mac Cairbre, one of the kings of Ireland. He was, probably, the captain of a band of Irish rovers who infested the coast of Wales after the departure of Maximus, and might have penetrated into the interior. The fruit of this union was Brychan. In the 66 History of Brecknockshire" may be found a long legend respecting the visit of Marchell to Ireland, and her marriage there, attended with the parade which a writer of romance might deem necessary upon such an occasion; but as the story, which has been recorded in Latin and English, has never appeared in the Welsh language, it may be said that the silence of the earlier Welsh writers, as to events which concerned the honour of their country, affords a presumption that such events were either unknown or discredited. * Mr. Theophilus Jones, in Vol. I. Chap. II. of his "History" of that country. † Vol. 1. Chap. II, and Appendix No. VI. |