Grandparents Cynan Garwyn Name Cynddylan Cynddylan | ||
Ancestors Rhyddfedd Frych, Cynan Garwyn, Cyngen Glodrydd, Brochwel Ysgithrog People also search for Penda of Mercia, Oswald of Northumbria, Cynan Garwyn | ||
Great-grandparents Brochwel Ysgithrog | ||
Morrighan cynddylan hear our cry 2013
Cynddylan (Modern Welsh pronunciation: /kən'ðəlan/), or Cynddylan ap Cyndrwyn was a seventh-century Prince of Powys associated with Pengwern. Cynddylan is attested only in literary sources: unlike many kings from Brittonic-speaking post-Roman Britain, he does not appear in the early Welsh genealogies or other historical sources. The son of King Cyndrwyn, Cynddylan is described in the probably seventh-century poem Marwnad Cynddylan (Elegy for Cynddylan) and seems to have been a chieftain in Powys.
Contents
- Morrighan cynddylan hear our cry 2013
- Grace williams elegy for cynddylan for trumpet and piano 1970
- Historical context
- References
Grace williams elegy for cynddylan for trumpet and piano 1970
Historical context
Some understanding of the historical context in which Cynddylan must have lived is afforded by Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, the Historia Brittonum, and early Welsh genealogies. With the collapse of the Roman Empire and the invasion of the Saxons, the remains of the civitas of the Cornovii held on to their lands in the lowland border regions of Wales (Herefordshire and Shropshire). By the beginning of the seventh century King Cystennin was the dominant ruler in the Old North, while King Cyndrwyn "the Stubborn" ruled Powys. Cyndrwyn died before 642 when his sons, chief of whom was Cynddylan, joined Penda of Mercia in the defeat of King Oswald of Northumbria at the Battle of Maserfield (Welsh: Maes Cogwy), which may have taken place just outside Oswestry.
It seems clear both from the poems and from a wider context of known alliances that Cynddylan worked, at least at key points in his career, in alliance with the kings of Mercia: Cadwallon ap Cadfan (d. 634) was allied with Mercia in 633; the Mercian king Penda seems to have lost partly because of the defection of a Welsh ally, Cadafael Cadomedd ap Cynfeddw (d. c. 655). The Marwnad Cynddylan certainly mentions Cynddylan aiding Penda (l. 28).
However, neither the occasion of Cynddylan's assistance to Penda nor of Cynddylan's death is known. Known possible battles include Penda's defeat of Oswald of Northumbria in 641 at Oswestry (the location of the battle being referred to in Old English as Maserfelth, and in Welsh sources as Cogwy): a stray verse appended to Canu Heledd in the manuscript National Library of Wales 4973 claims that 'Cynddylan was a helper' at a battle at Cogwy. The Battle of the Winwaed (654/55), in which Oswiu defeated and killed Penda, is a popular suggestion for the battle in which Cynddylan died. But Marwnad Cynddylan also refers (in lines 42-62) to a major fight near Lichfield, in Mercian territory, otherwise unknown but sometimes imagined to have taken place after Penda's death. Marwnad Cynddylan makes it clear that the Cadelling, the dynasty descending from Cadell Ddyrnllwg, were rivals to Cynddylan.
The later and less reliable Canu Heledd suggest that Cynddylan died defending Powys from English invaders at a place called Tren, generally understood as the River Tern in Shropshire.