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Cadwallon ap Cadfan

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Cadwallon ap Cadfan
Cadwallon ap Cadfan, fromPeniarth 23C
King of Gwynedd
Reignc. 625 – 634
PredecessorCadfan ap Iago
SuccessorCadafael
Died634 (Battle of Heavenfield)
IssueCadwaladr
HouseHouse of Gwynedd
FatherCadfan ap Iago

Cadwallon ap Cadfan(died 634)[1]was theKing of Gwyneddfrom around 625 until his death in battle. The son and successor ofCadfan ap Iago,he is best remembered as theKing of the Britonswho invaded and conqueredNorthumbria,defeating and killing its king,Edwin,prior to his own death in battle againstOswald of Bernicia.His conquest of Northumbria, which he held for a year or two after Edwin died, made him one of the last recordedCeltic Britonsto hold substantial territory in eastern Britain until the rise of theWelshHouse of Tudor.[2]He was thereafter remembered as a national hero by the Britons and as a tyrant by theAnglo-Saxonsof Northumbria.

History

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As with other figures of the era, little is certainly known of Cadwallon's early life or reign. The primary source of information about him is theEcclesiastical History of the English Peopleof the Anglo-Saxon writerBede,who is strongly critical of him. Cadwallon consistently appears in the genealogies of theKings of Gwyneddas the son ofCadfan ap Iagoand a descendant ofMaelgwn GwyneddandCunedda.[3][4]HistorianAlex Woolf,however, presents the case that the genealogists have erroneously inserted Bede's Cadwallon into the pedigree of the unrelated Kings of Gwynedd as son of Cadfan. Instead, Woolf suggests that Bede's Cadwallon was theCatguallaun liufound in genealogies as son ofGuitcunand grandson ofSawyl Penuchel,rulers in theHen Ogleddor Brythonic-speaking area of northern Britain.[5]

Whatever the case may be, Cadwallon was certainly affected by the ambitions ofEdwin,King of Northumbria.Bede, writing about a century after Cadwallon's death, describes Edwin, the most powerful king in Britain, conquering the Brittonic kingdom ofElmet(what is now westernYorkshire) and ejecting its king,Cerdic.This opened the door to theIrish Sea,and Edwin successfully extended his rule to the "Mevanian Islands" – theIsle of ManandAnglesey.[6]TheAnnales Cambriaesays that Cadwallon was besieged at Glannauc (nowPuffin Island,a small island off easternAnglesey), and dates this to 629.[7]Surviving Welsh poetry and theWelsh Triadsportray Cadwallon as a heroic leader against Edwin. They refer to a battle at Digoll (Long Mountain) and mention that Cadwallon spent time inIrelandbefore returning to Britain to defeat Edwin.[8]

According toGeoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria Regum Britanniae(which includes a fairly extensive account of Cadwallon's life but is largely legendary — for example, Geoffrey has Cadwallon surviving until after theBattle of the Winwaedin 654 or 655), Cadwallon went to Ireland and then to the island ofGuernsey.From there, according to Geoffrey, Cadwallon led an army intoDumnonia,where he encountered and defeated theMerciansbesiegingExeter,and forced their king,Penda of Mercia,into an alliance. Geoffrey also reports that Cadwallon married a half-sister of Penda.[9]However, his history is, on this as well as all matters, suspect, and it should be treated with caution.

In any case, Penda and Cadwallon together made war against the Northumbrians. TheBattle of Hatfield Chaseon 12 October 633[1]ended in the defeat and death of Edwin and his son Osfrith.[10]After this, the Kingdom of Northumbria fell into disarray, divided between its sub-kingdoms ofDeiraandBernicia,[11]but the war continued: according to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,"Cadwallon and Penda went and did for the whole land of Northumbria".[12]Bede says that Cadwallon was besieged by the new king of Deira,Osric,"in a strong town"; Cadwallon, however, "sallied out on a sudden with all his forces, by surprise, and destroyed him [Osric] and all his army."[11]

After this, according to Bede, Cadwallon ruled over the "provinces of the Northumbrians" for a year, "not like a victorious king, but like a rapacious and bloody tyrant."[11]Furthermore, Bede tells us that Cadwallon, "though he bore the name and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition and behaviour, that he neither spared the female sex, nor the innocent age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths, ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all the race of the English within the borders of Britain."[10]Bede's extremely negative portrayal of Cadwallon as a genocidal tyrant cannot be taken at face value. Cadwallon's alliance with the Anglo-Saxon Penda undermines Bede's assertion that Cadwallon had attempted to exterminate the English.[13]Additionally, the fact thatCædwalla of Wessexa generation after Cadwallon's death bore a name derived directly from the BritishCadwallonsuggests that Cadwallon's reputation could not have been so poor among the Saxons of Wessex as it was in Northumbria.[13]

The newking of Bernicia,Eanfrith,was also killed by Cadwallon when the former went to him in an attempt to negotiate peace. However, Cadwallon was defeated by an army under Eanfrith's brother,Oswald,at theBattle of Heavenfield,"though he had most numerous forces, which he boasted nothing could withstand". Cadwallon was killed at a place called "Denis's-brook".[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abA difference in the interpretation of Bede's dates has led to the question of whether Cadwallon was killed in 634 or the year earlier, 633. Cadwallon died in the year after theBattle of Hatfield Chase,which Bede reports as occurring in October 633; but if Bede's years are believed to have actually started in September, as some historians have argued, then Hatfield Chase would have occurred in 632, and therefore Cadwallon would have died in 633. Other historians have argued against this view of Bede's chronology, however, favoring the dates as he gives them.
  2. ^Koch, p. 315.
  3. ^Harleian genealogy 1.
  4. ^Jesus College MS 20 genealogy 22.
  5. ^Woolf 2004.
  6. ^Bede,H. E.,Book II,chapter 9. Bede calls these two islands the Mevanian Islands.
  7. ^Annales Cambriae,629.
  8. ^D. P. Kirby,The Earliest English Kings(1991, 2000), pages 71–72.
  9. ^Geoffrey of Monmouth,The History of the Kings of Britain,Part Eight: "The Saxon Domination."
  10. ^abBede,H. E.,Book II,chapter 20.
  11. ^abcdBede,H. E.,Book IIIArchived2011-05-13 at theWayback Machine,chapter 1.
  12. ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,manuscript E, year 633. Translated byMichael Swanton(1996, 1998).
  13. ^abKoch, p. 316.

Sources

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  • Koch, John T. (2006).Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia.ABC-CLIO.
  • Alex Woolf,"CaeduallaRex Brittonumand the Passing of the Old North ", inNorthern History,Vol. 41, Issue 1, March 2004, pages 5–24.
[edit]
Regnal titles
Preceded by Kings of Gwynedd
c. 625 – 634 		Succeeded by
Legendary titles
Preceded by King of Britain Succeeded by
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