Saint Gwladys ferch Brychan () or St Gladys ( la, Gladusa), daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, was the queen of the saint-king Gwynllyw Milwr and the mother of Cadoc "the Wise", whose ''Vita'' may be the earliest saint's life to mention Arthur. Gwladys's other children were

Cynidr St Cynidr was a 6th-century Catholic pre-congregational saint of South Wales and first Bishop of Glasbury, Powys. Veneration Cynidr is buried in Glasbury, where he is venerated with a feast day of April 27. The Parochial church of St Cynidr ( ...

Bugi Bugi (german: Bogen) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lidzbark Warmiński, within Lidzbark County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Lidzbark Warmiński and north of the re ...

, Cyfyw,

Maches St. Maches was a 6th-century princess and Pre-congregational saint of Cornwall and Devon. Maches was the sister of St. Cadog. Born a daughter of Saint Gwynllyw and his wife Gwladys, Maches lived as a hermit, and was murdered by thieves, at Me ...

, Glywys II and

Egwine Egwine was a 6th-century Celtic princess and saint, who is a patron saint of the village of Llanigon, east of Hay-on-Wye, in the Wye Valley of Wales. Very little is known of her life. She was the sister of saints Cadoc, Maches and Cyndr, who a ...

. Today her main church and associated school is in Bargoed.

Traditional history

The medieval lives of Cadoc (by Lifris c. 1086) and of Gwynllyw (c. 1120) preserve different legendary details of Gwladys. Among the best attested of all of Brychan's half-Irish saintly children, she is also mentioned in Welsh king-lists. Both saint's lives agree that Gwladys, daughter of Brychan married Gwynllyw and gave birth to Cadoc. In the ''Life of Saint Gwynllyw'', the king is just and fair and the marriage is accomplished peacefully, while the tale of Glwadys' marriage in Lifris' work seems similar to abduction stories in other saints' lives as well as in other Arthurian stories, indicating that it is myth rather than history. Here, when her father refused to allow their marriage Gwynllyw accompanied by 300 men abducted her from Talgarth. A pitched battle occurred which was only stopped by the intervention of

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

and Cai and Bedwyr who supported Gwynllyw and his warband in the battle. This act only occurred after Cai managed to persuade Arthur not to abduct the beautiful Gwladys himself. However, both lives agree that Gwynllyw later became a hermit and local saint. It was the prompting of Cadoc and Gwladys that led Gwynllyw to abandon his life of violence and seek forgiveness for his sins. A vision led him to found a hermitage on what is now

Stow Hill Stow Hill is a community civil parish and coterminous electoral district (ward) of the City of Newport, South Wales. It is bounded by the River Usk to the east, George Street and Cardiff Road to the south, the Great Western Main Line to the ...

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. Gwladys accompanied Gwynllyw into a hermits life and for a while they lived together there fasting or on a vegetarian diet and bathing in the cold waters of the Usk but moved apart to avoid temptation: Gwladys founded a hermitage at Pencarn in

Bassaleg Bassaleg ( cy, Basaleg) is a suburb on the west side of Newport, Wales. It is in the Graig electoral ward and community.Bassaleg is located two miles northwest of Newport city centre. Bassaleg is bounded by the A467 road (A4072) to the east, the ...

, supposedly at Pont Ebbw,Lifris, 'Vita sancti Cadoci', Vitae sanctorum Britanniae et genealogiae, ed. and trans. A. M. Wade-Evans (1944), 24–141 where there is a supposed grave and where she is said to have bathed in the Ebbw River, though Cadoc's life says that she later moved to Capel Wladus in Gelligaer. The Lady's Well at Tredegar may also have been dedicated to her and so, it has been suggested, once was

St. Basil Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great ( grc, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ''Hágios Basíleios ho Mégas''; cop, Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a bishop of Ca ...

's,

. There are also sites at the abandoned settlement of Pencarn itself and the nearby area of

Coedkernew Coedkernew ( cy, Coedcernyw) is a community in the south west of the city of Newport, South Wales, in the Marshfield ward. The parish is bounded by Percoed reen to the south, Nant-y-Selsig to the southwest, and Pound Hill to the west. The nort ...

that also could be significant.

Notes

External links

Saint Gwladys' lifePictures of The Chapel of St Gwladys, Pont Ebbw, Near Newport, MonSt Gwladys Bargoed SchoolSt Gwladys' Church, Bargoed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwladys Arthurian characters Ascetics History of Brecknockshire People from Newport, Wales Children of Brychan 6th-century Welsh people 6th-century Welsh women