CYNGEN
(d.
855
),
prince
,
was the son of
Cadell
,
ruler of Powys
, who d. in
808
. He was of the line of
Brochwel Ysgithrog
, and, after a long reign, ended his life as a
pilgrim
at
Rome
, being, as far as is known, the first
Welsh
prince
to make the journey after the submission of
Wales
to papal authority. His only title to fame is that he erected, in a valley in
Iâl
, afterwards known as
Pant y Groes
and
Valle Crucis
, an elaborate memorial, of a well-known Mercian pattern, to his great-grandfather,
Elise
, who is declared, in a lengthy inscription, to have delivered
Powys
(about
725
) from the power of the
English
. Very little of this inscription can now be read, but it was recorded much more fully by
Edward
Lhuyd
in
1696
and his transcript forms the basis of modern discussion. For the most recent account, see
Arch. Camb.
,
1935
, 330-3. The ‘g’ in ‘
Eliseg's Pillar
’ goes back to an error of the original graver; the old form, as the pedigrees show, was
Elized
, which became successively
Elisedd
,
Elise
, and
Elis
. The monument has suffered many misfortunes: it was thrown down in the
Civil Wars
and the remains re-erected in
1779
. As for the ancient dynasty of
Powys
, it came to an end with
Cyngen
, for, though he is said to have had three sons, none of them appears to have succeeded him; what befell the region is uncertain, but
it is likely that
Rhodri Mawr
became its
ruler
, claiming through his mother,
Nest
, who was
Cyngen
's sister.
Bibliography:
-
A History of Wales
, 204, 244, 324-5.
Author:
Sir John Edward Lloyd, D.Litt., F.B.A., F.S.A. (1861-1947), Bangor
