GWYNLLYW
(
Gundleius
,
Gunlyu
)
,
saint
,
fl.
late 5th-early 6th cent.
,
was the son of
Glywys
, ruler of the kingdom of
Glywysing
which extended over parts of eastern
Carmarthenshire
,
Glamorgan
, and
Monmouthshire
.
Gwynllyw
's mother was
Guaul
, daughter of
Ceredig ap Cunedda
. The oldest source for the details of his life is the ‘
Life of S. Cadoc
,’ composed in the main towards the
end of the 11th cent.
The ‘
Life of S. Gwynllyw
’ and the ‘
Life of S. Tatheus
,’ which are the other main authorities for his legend, are
12th cent.
compositions. A summary version of the ‘
Life of S. Gwynllyw
’ was composed by
John
of
Teignmouth
in the
mid-14th cent.
An
early 14th cent.
manuscript recently discovered at
Gotha
,
Germany
, contains the pedigree of
Gwynllyw
(see
Anal. Boll.
, lviii, 98). As the eldest of the ten sons of
Glywys
(the ‘
Life of S. Gwynllyw
’ gives the number as seven),
Gwynllyw
inherited the principal seat of his father's kingdom, namely, the territory lying between the rivers
Usk
and
Rhymney
, which was called ‘
Gwynllwg
’ (‘
Wentloog
’) after him. His youthful exploits in battle earned him the epithet ‘
milwr
’ (
warrior
). He m.
Gwladys
, daughter of
Brychan Brycheiniog
(against her father's will, according to the ‘
Life of S. Cadoc
’) and there was born to them a son,
Cadoc
(q.v.)
, who became one of the most renowned of
Welsh saints
. The older genealogies name
Bugi
and
Cemmeu
also as sons of
Gwynllyw
. Admonished by
Cadoc
,
Gwynllyw
and
Gwladys
forsook their worldly position and embraced the
hermit
's life, living at first in neighbouring cells, later in widely-separated localities. The ‘
Life of S. Gwynllyw
’ states that both
Cadoc
and
Dubricius
attended
Gwynllyw
on his deathbed, and administered the last sacrament to him. The church of
S. Woolos
and the parish of
Pilgwenlly
in
Newport
still bear his name. Two chapels named after
Gwynllyw
formerly stood in the parishes of
Llanelly
and
Llanegwad, Carms.
29 March
is his feast-day.
Gwynllyw
is not to be confused with
Gwynlleu
, patron of
Nantcwnlle, Cards.
Bibliography:
-
Wade-Evans
,
Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae et
Genealogiae
, Cardiff, 1944
, 24-34, 86-90, 122-4, 172-92, 278-80;
-
Horstman
(ed.),
Nova legenda Anglie as collected by John of
Tynemouth, John Capgrave, and others, and first printed,
with new lives, now re-edited with fresh material from MS
and printed sources by C. Horstman
, 1901
, i, 504-6;
-
Acta Sanctorum Bollandiana
, 1643
ff
,
March
, iii, 780-1;
-
The Lives of the British Saints
, iii, 234-41;
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
Butler
,
The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other
principal Saints
, Edited, revised and copiously
supplemented by H. Thurston, 1926-38
(ed.
Thurston
),
March
, 435-6;
-
Dictionary of Christian Biography
, four
volumes, 1877–87; another edn. 1911
, ii, 831-2.
Author:
Hywel David Emanuel, M.A., (1921-70), Aberystwyth
