Saint Gwladys ferch Brychan () or St Gladys (), daughter of King

Brychan Brychan ap Anlach of Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales. Name variations Brychan had Irish ancestry and came from Ireland to Wales, therefore his original name ...

Brycheiniog Brycheiniog was an independent kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans ...

, was the queen of the saint-king

Gwynllyw Gwynllyw Filwr or Gwynllyw Farfog (), known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded (; 450 – 500 CE) was a Welsh king and religious figure. He was King of Gwynllŵg in South Wales and is the legendary found ...

Milwr and the mother of

Cadoc Saint Cadoc or Cadog (; also Modern Welsh: Catawg or Catwg; born or before) was a 5th–6th-century Abbot of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorgan, Wales, a monastery famous from the era of the Celtic church as a centre of learning, wher ...

"the Wise", whose ''Vita'' may be the earliest saint's life to mention

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

. 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 27 April. The parish church of St Cynidr (St K ...

Bugi Bugi 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 regional capital ...

Cyfyw Cyfyw was a 6th-century princess and pre-congregational Saint of Cornwall and Wales. Cyfyw is a patron of Llangyfyw (Llangeview). Life Cyfyw was born to Saint Gwynllyw and his wife Gwladys.She was the sister of St. Cadoc Cynidr and Maches St ...

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 Mer ...

, 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 ...

. Today her main church and associated

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

is in

Bargoed Bargoed () is a town and community (Wales), community in the Rhymney Valley, Wales, one of the South Wales Valleys. It lies on the Rhymney River in the county borough of Caerphilly (county borough), Caerphilly. It straddles the Historic counties o ...

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, which may suggest 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 Talgarth is a market town, community (Wales), community and electoral ward in southern Powys, Mid Wales, about north of Crickhowell, north-east of Brecon and south-east of Builth Wells. Notable buildings in the town include the 14th-century ...

. A pitched battle occurred which was only stopped by the intervention of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

and Cai and

Bedwyr Bedivere ( or ; ; ; , also Bedevere and other spellings) is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-handed great warrior named Bedwyr Bedrydant. Arthurian ...

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 A locally venerated saint or local saint (in Russian Orthodox Church: , ''mestnochtimy svyatoy'') is a saint who was canonized within a particular diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastic ...

. 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 so ...

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 * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, 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 Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. Gwladys accompanied Gwynllyw into a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

s life and for a while they lived together there

fasting Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...

or on a vegetarian diet and bathing in the cold waters of the

Usk Usk () is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, northeast of Newport. It is located on the River Usk, which is spanned by an arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. Usk Castle, above the town, overlooks the ancient cr ...

but moved apart to avoid temptation: Gwladys founded a hermitage at Pencarn in

Bassaleg Bassaleg () is a village on the west side of Newport, Wales, Newport, Wales. It is in the Graig, Newport, Graig electoral ward and Community (Wales), community. Bassaleg is located northwest of Newport city centre. It is bounded by the A467 road ...

, supposedly at Pont Ebbw, where there is a supposed grave and where she is said to have bathed in the

Ebbw River The Ebbw River (; ) is a river in South Wales which gives its name to the town of Ebbw Vale. The Ebbw River is joined by the Ebbw Fach River ( Welsh: Afon Ebwy Fach; meaning 'little Ebbw river') at Aberbeeg. The Ebbw Fach is itself fed by a left ...

, though Cadoc's life says that she later moved to Capel Wladus in

Gelligaer Gelligaer (; ) is a community in the County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales, in the Rhymney River valley. As well as the village of Gelligaer, the community also includes the small towns of Hengoed and Ystrad Mynach. The population of the communi ...

. The Lady's Well at

Tredegar Tredegar (; ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the Industrial R ...

may also have been dedicated to her and so, it has been suggested, once was St. Basil's,

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

Coedkernew Coedkernew () is a community in the south west of Newport, 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 northern boundary is formed from Gwer ...

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 Christian ascetics History of Brecknockshire People from Newport, Wales Children of Brychan 6th-century Welsh people 6th-century Welsh women