Post by lorna on Mar 24, 2017 11:57:21 GMT -1
In preparation for our visit to Shrewsbury I've pieced together a very rough history of Powys, admittedly mainly from internet sources. If you can spot any errors please let me know! I was intrigued to discover a claim that Brochwel Ysgithrog moved the court of Powys from Caer Guricon to Pengwern (Shrewsbury) and that Taliesin sang for him on the meadows of Severn where we'll be walking. This is really rough, but I intend to do a proper write-up after our visit, so any comments are welcome.
The History of Powys - Cynddylan and Heledd in Context
Powys emerged as a post-Roman kingdom based on the Roman province whose capital was Caer Guricon (Wroxeter), formerly Viroconium Cornoviorum, which was founded on the lands of the Ordovices and Cornovii. It extended from the Cambrian mountains to the present-day West Midlands and included the fertile valleys of the Severn and Tern, ‘the paradise of Powys’.
One of the earliest kings of Powys was Cadell Ddyrnllwg (447 - 460). There’s an interesting legend about how he became king in Nennius’s Historia Brittonum (830). Powys was originally ruled by a tyrant called Benlli, whose northern stronghold was located in the Iâl district of the Clwydian range. Benlli refused to speak to St Germanus (Garmon), yet Cadell, a servant, received him hospitably. Germanus told Cadell to remove his friends and family from the fortress then during the night a fire from heaven killed Benlli and the other inhabitants (!). By Germanus, Cadell was ‘raised from dust’ and made king.
Peter Bartrum suggests Cadell’s cognomen, Ddyrnllwg, meaning ‘gleaming hilt’, may originally derive from teyrn, ‘prince’ and llwch, ‘dust’. The ‘imaginary territory’ of Teyrnllwg ‘the lands between the Ribble and Dee’ was derived from Cadell’s cognomen. Although Teyrnllwg has been dismissed as imaginary, links between Powys and Brythonic kingdoms further north cannot be ruled out.
Cadell’s descendants were known as the Cadelling. They include Rhydderch Frych (?‘Speck?), Cyngen Glodrydd (?), Pasgen ap Cyngen, Morgan ap Pasgen, Brochwel Ysgithrog (‘the Tusked’) and Cynan Garwyn (‘White Thigh’ or ‘White Chariot’).
Brochwel and Cynan are both important historical and literary figures. Powys was called ‘the land of Brochwel’. Brochwel is said to have moved the court of Powys from Caer Guricon to Pengwern, possibly Shrewsbury. Historie of Cambrie (1584) refers to ‘Brochwel Yscithroc, Consul of Chester, who dwelt in a town then called Pengwerne Powys, and now Shrewsbury (Salopia), whose dwelling house was in the verie same place where the college of St Chad's now standeth.’ There is a tradition that Brochwel was buried beneath St Chad’s college.
In The Book of Taliesin, in ‘Golychaf-i Gulwyd’ (alternatively titled ‘Kadair Taliesin’ and ‘Song before the Sons of Llyr!), Taliesin says: ‘Keint rac vd clotleu yn Doleu Hafren, / rac Brochuael Powys a garwys vy awen’: ‘I sang before a splendidly famous lord on the Severn meadows / before Brochfael Powys who loved my poetic inspiration.’
Taliesin could be referring to the meadows in the bend of the Severn near Shrewsbury. It has been suggested that Taliesin served as bard to the kings of Powys before Urien Rheged (another Powysian - northern link).
Taliesin also sang an elegy ‘To Cynan Garwyn’. Cynan appears as a ‘battle-defender’, ‘ruler of armies, / whose flash far and wide / is like a blazing bonfire... in thunderous formation’. ‘Poor chieftains, / tremble before Cynan, / he is a shield in combat, / a fiery Leviathan.’ Cynan possesses great riches, ‘a hundred steeds with silver trappings, / a hundred purple robes of equal span, / a hundred armbands into my lap, / and fifty brooches...’ He is depicted fighting in Wye-land, Gwent, Mon, Dyfed, Cornwall, and in ‘Brychan’s lands’. These battles are against other Brythonic kingdoms rather than the Anglo-Saxons.
The next ruler of Powys is Selyf Sarffgadau (‘Battle Serpent’). Selyf was killed at the Battle of Chester in 613. Selyf fought alongside Cadwal Crysban of Rhos and, possibly, Iago of Gwynedd and allies from Mercia, against Aethelfrith of Bernicia. According to Bede, a man named Brocmail was the guard of 1200 monks from Bangor who had come to pray for the ‘Welsh’ armies. Ignominiously, Brocmail fled, and the monks were slaughtered. (Brocmail has been confused with Brochwel). Aethelfrith triumphed.
It has been proposed that, following the fall of Selyf, around 614, Powys was annexed by ‘the Dogfeiling Prince, Eluan Powys, with the help of his brother, King Cynddylan of Pengwern, “oppressor of the Cadelling”. The sons of the Cadelling king, Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys, are later described as “landless oafs”.’* It appears that Eluan becomes king of Powys and Cynddylan of Pengwern - perhaps the kingdom is divided.
In ‘Mawrnad Cynddylan’, the narrator speaks of his welcome from ‘the king of Dogfeiling... oppressor of the Cadelling’ and speaks of ‘the sons of Cyndrywnyn.’ Cyndryn was Cynddylan’s father. It seems the Cadelling and Cyndrywnyn are two rival dynasties.
In 642, at the Battle of Maserfelth (Oswestry or Makerfield), which is known by the Welsh as Maes Cogwy, Eluaf of Powys and Cynddylan of Pengwern allied with Penda of Mercia and Cadafael of Gwynedd to defeat Oswald of Bernicia. Cynddylan’s presence at Maes Cogwy is referred to in ‘Canu Heledd’ - ‘On the ground of Maes [C]ogwy, I saw / armies, battle affliction: / Cynddylan was an ally.’ In ‘Mawrnad Cynddylan’, Cynddylan is said to have allied with ‘the son of Pyd’ (Penda).
It is possible Cynddylan fought at the Battle of Winwaed (Winwick?) in 655 with Penda of Mercia and Cadafael of Gwynedd against Oswiu of Bernicia. Cadfael fled (earning the epithet ‘battle shirker’) and Penda was slaughtered. Cynddylan’s presence isn’t mentioned, but he could have been an ally and fled with Cadfael.
‘Canu Heledd’ suggests that Cynddylan was killed ‘defending Tern, a desolate town’, blocking ‘the slope / where the English come through Tern.’ ‘How grievous does my heart find / the joining to black planks of the white flesh / of Cynddylan of the hundred troops.’ A battle is referred to at Y Dref Wenn ‘the fair town between Tern and Trodwydd.’ Whether this is the same town remains unclear. It seems that Cynddylan’s death was followed by the burning of his hall - Heledd refers to ‘the court of Pengwern’ as a ‘raging fire’.
Many more of the Cyndrwynyn including Cynddylan and Heledd’s brothers and sisters were slain: Cynan and Cynwraith (at Tern), Cynon, Gwion, Gwyn, Ffreur, Meddwyl, Meddlan, Gwladus, Gwenddwyn, Gwledyr, Meisir and Ceinfryd. Heledd was left alone, lamenting the deaths of her kindred and the fall of Pengwern. ‘Canu Heledd’ is her lament.
The History of Powys - Cynddylan and Heledd in Context
Powys emerged as a post-Roman kingdom based on the Roman province whose capital was Caer Guricon (Wroxeter), formerly Viroconium Cornoviorum, which was founded on the lands of the Ordovices and Cornovii. It extended from the Cambrian mountains to the present-day West Midlands and included the fertile valleys of the Severn and Tern, ‘the paradise of Powys’.
One of the earliest kings of Powys was Cadell Ddyrnllwg (447 - 460). There’s an interesting legend about how he became king in Nennius’s Historia Brittonum (830). Powys was originally ruled by a tyrant called Benlli, whose northern stronghold was located in the Iâl district of the Clwydian range. Benlli refused to speak to St Germanus (Garmon), yet Cadell, a servant, received him hospitably. Germanus told Cadell to remove his friends and family from the fortress then during the night a fire from heaven killed Benlli and the other inhabitants (!). By Germanus, Cadell was ‘raised from dust’ and made king.
Peter Bartrum suggests Cadell’s cognomen, Ddyrnllwg, meaning ‘gleaming hilt’, may originally derive from teyrn, ‘prince’ and llwch, ‘dust’. The ‘imaginary territory’ of Teyrnllwg ‘the lands between the Ribble and Dee’ was derived from Cadell’s cognomen. Although Teyrnllwg has been dismissed as imaginary, links between Powys and Brythonic kingdoms further north cannot be ruled out.
Cadell’s descendants were known as the Cadelling. They include Rhydderch Frych (?‘Speck?), Cyngen Glodrydd (?), Pasgen ap Cyngen, Morgan ap Pasgen, Brochwel Ysgithrog (‘the Tusked’) and Cynan Garwyn (‘White Thigh’ or ‘White Chariot’).
Brochwel and Cynan are both important historical and literary figures. Powys was called ‘the land of Brochwel’. Brochwel is said to have moved the court of Powys from Caer Guricon to Pengwern, possibly Shrewsbury. Historie of Cambrie (1584) refers to ‘Brochwel Yscithroc, Consul of Chester, who dwelt in a town then called Pengwerne Powys, and now Shrewsbury (Salopia), whose dwelling house was in the verie same place where the college of St Chad's now standeth.’ There is a tradition that Brochwel was buried beneath St Chad’s college.
In The Book of Taliesin, in ‘Golychaf-i Gulwyd’ (alternatively titled ‘Kadair Taliesin’ and ‘Song before the Sons of Llyr!), Taliesin says: ‘Keint rac vd clotleu yn Doleu Hafren, / rac Brochuael Powys a garwys vy awen’: ‘I sang before a splendidly famous lord on the Severn meadows / before Brochfael Powys who loved my poetic inspiration.’
Taliesin could be referring to the meadows in the bend of the Severn near Shrewsbury. It has been suggested that Taliesin served as bard to the kings of Powys before Urien Rheged (another Powysian - northern link).
Taliesin also sang an elegy ‘To Cynan Garwyn’. Cynan appears as a ‘battle-defender’, ‘ruler of armies, / whose flash far and wide / is like a blazing bonfire... in thunderous formation’. ‘Poor chieftains, / tremble before Cynan, / he is a shield in combat, / a fiery Leviathan.’ Cynan possesses great riches, ‘a hundred steeds with silver trappings, / a hundred purple robes of equal span, / a hundred armbands into my lap, / and fifty brooches...’ He is depicted fighting in Wye-land, Gwent, Mon, Dyfed, Cornwall, and in ‘Brychan’s lands’. These battles are against other Brythonic kingdoms rather than the Anglo-Saxons.
The next ruler of Powys is Selyf Sarffgadau (‘Battle Serpent’). Selyf was killed at the Battle of Chester in 613. Selyf fought alongside Cadwal Crysban of Rhos and, possibly, Iago of Gwynedd and allies from Mercia, against Aethelfrith of Bernicia. According to Bede, a man named Brocmail was the guard of 1200 monks from Bangor who had come to pray for the ‘Welsh’ armies. Ignominiously, Brocmail fled, and the monks were slaughtered. (Brocmail has been confused with Brochwel). Aethelfrith triumphed.
It has been proposed that, following the fall of Selyf, around 614, Powys was annexed by ‘the Dogfeiling Prince, Eluan Powys, with the help of his brother, King Cynddylan of Pengwern, “oppressor of the Cadelling”. The sons of the Cadelling king, Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys, are later described as “landless oafs”.’* It appears that Eluan becomes king of Powys and Cynddylan of Pengwern - perhaps the kingdom is divided.
In ‘Mawrnad Cynddylan’, the narrator speaks of his welcome from ‘the king of Dogfeiling... oppressor of the Cadelling’ and speaks of ‘the sons of Cyndrywnyn.’ Cyndryn was Cynddylan’s father. It seems the Cadelling and Cyndrywnyn are two rival dynasties.
In 642, at the Battle of Maserfelth (Oswestry or Makerfield), which is known by the Welsh as Maes Cogwy, Eluaf of Powys and Cynddylan of Pengwern allied with Penda of Mercia and Cadafael of Gwynedd to defeat Oswald of Bernicia. Cynddylan’s presence at Maes Cogwy is referred to in ‘Canu Heledd’ - ‘On the ground of Maes [C]ogwy, I saw / armies, battle affliction: / Cynddylan was an ally.’ In ‘Mawrnad Cynddylan’, Cynddylan is said to have allied with ‘the son of Pyd’ (Penda).
It is possible Cynddylan fought at the Battle of Winwaed (Winwick?) in 655 with Penda of Mercia and Cadafael of Gwynedd against Oswiu of Bernicia. Cadfael fled (earning the epithet ‘battle shirker’) and Penda was slaughtered. Cynddylan’s presence isn’t mentioned, but he could have been an ally and fled with Cadfael.
‘Canu Heledd’ suggests that Cynddylan was killed ‘defending Tern, a desolate town’, blocking ‘the slope / where the English come through Tern.’ ‘How grievous does my heart find / the joining to black planks of the white flesh / of Cynddylan of the hundred troops.’ A battle is referred to at Y Dref Wenn ‘the fair town between Tern and Trodwydd.’ Whether this is the same town remains unclear. It seems that Cynddylan’s death was followed by the burning of his hall - Heledd refers to ‘the court of Pengwern’ as a ‘raging fire’.
Many more of the Cyndrwynyn including Cynddylan and Heledd’s brothers and sisters were slain: Cynan and Cynwraith (at Tern), Cynon, Gwion, Gwyn, Ffreur, Meddwyl, Meddlan, Gwladus, Gwenddwyn, Gwledyr, Meisir and Ceinfryd. Heledd was left alone, lamenting the deaths of her kindred and the fall of Pengwern. ‘Canu Heledd’ is her lament.