Sawyl Penuchel
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Sawyl Penuchel or Ben Uchel ("high-head", "arrogant"), also known as Samuil Penisel ("low-head", "humble"), was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
king of the sub-Roman period, who appears in old Welsh genealogies and the
Welsh Triads The Welsh Triads ( cy, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, "Triads of the Island of Britain") are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a ...
. The genealogies, in which he appears under both epithets, make him the son of
Pabo Post Prydain Pabo Post Prydain (''supp. fl.'' before 500) was a king from the Hen Ogledd or ''Old North'' of sub-Roman Britain. According to tradition Pabo "the Pillar of Britain" was driven out of the North in 460 and settled in Anglesey. He is said to have ...
, a descendant of
Coel Hen Coel (Old Welsh: ''Coil''), also called ''Coel Hen'' (Coel the Old) and King Cole, is a figure prominent in Welsh literature and legend since the Middle Ages. Early Welsh tradition knew of a Coel Hen, a 4th-century leader in Roman or Sub-Roman ...
, the presumed king of the Old North. John Morris locates Sawyl in the south Pennines area (the modern
Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorla ...
, a name which may date from its settlement by the Anglian Pecset). He is listed as one of the "Three Arrogant Men of the Island of Britain" in the Welsh Triads. Other genealogies say he was the father of St. Asaph. Elis Gruffydd's ''Chronicle'' says that his daughter married
Maelgwn Gwynedd Maelgwn Gwynedd ( la, Maglocunus; died c. 547Based on Phillimore's (1888) reconstruction of the dating of the ''Annales Cambriae'' (A Text).) was king of Gwynedd during the early 6th century. Surviving records suggest he held a pre-eminent position ...
. An Irish genealogy says that a "Samuel Chendisel" married Deichter, daughter of
Muiredach Muinderg Muiredach Muinderg mac Forggo (died 489) was a king of Ulaid from the Dál Fiatach. He was the son of Forgg mac Dalláin. His sobriquet means ''red-necked''. His death date is given in the ''Annals of Tigernach'' in 489. The ''Book of Leinster'' ...
, the king of
Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
, and they had two sons: Sanctan, who became bishop of Cil-dá-les and founded Kilnasantan in County Dublin, and Matóc Ailithir. The Irish ''
Liber Hymnorum The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Britain, Ireland and Brittany and the monasteries founded by St. Columbanus and Saint Catald in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the ...
'' confirms that both Sanctan and Matóc came to Ireland from Britain. According to the Welsh ''Life of Saint
Cadoc Saint Cadoc or Cadog ( lat-med, Cadocus; also Modern Welsh: Cattwg; born or before) was a 5th–6th-century Abbot of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorgan, Wales, a monastery famous from the era of the British church as a centre of learni ...
'', a king named Sawyl Penuchel held court at ''Allt Cunedda'' near
Kidwelly Kidwelly ( cy, Cydweli) is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, southwest Wales, approximately northwest of the most populous town in the county, Llanelli. In the 2001 census the community of Kidwelly returned a population of 3,289, inc ...
in
Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...
. Cadoc pursued Sawyl's warband after they stole food from
Llancarfan Abbey Llancarfan is a rural village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The village, located west of Barry and near Cowbridge, has a well-known parish church, the site of Saint Cadoc's 6th-century clas, famed for its learning. Cainnech of A ...
. He found them sleeping under a tree and cut off their hair, before fleeing to a nearby bog. When Sawyl and his men gave chase, they all drowned in the bog. Whether this is the same king, having fled to Wales after his northern kingdom was overrun by the Angles, a different man of the same name, or simply an error by the composer of the ''Life'', is unclear. This Sawyl was supposedly buried in a nearby mound known as '' Banc Benuchel''. When this mound was excavated in 1850, a large body covered with a hexagonal stone imitating a battle-shield was discovered, which people have presumed to have been the remains of Sawyl Penuchel. The skeleton was described as male and the age at death was estimated at 30 years on the basis of the teeth. Precise measurements which were supplied in report in the 1851 ''
Archaeologia Cambrensis ''Archaeologia Cambrensis'' is a Welsh archaeological and historical scholarly journal published annually by the Cambrian Archaeological Association. It contains historical essays, excavation reports, and book reviews, as well as society not ...
'' and a subsequent report in ''The Welshman'' stated that the skull "was 21½ ins in its horizontal circumference 6½ ins broad and 7½ ins long ... The thigh bones were perfect and 20½ ins long, and the fibula of the arm was 11 ins". According to this account, the remains were re-interred "apart from the teeth and two or three vertebra which were kept as souvenirs". Later inquiries made with local people who remembered the original excavation (the work was led by Mr Fitzwilliam, on whose land one of the tumuli stood, accompanied by Mr Fenton of Glynmel, Fishguard) recalled that "they came to a very large flat stone which gave them a lot of trouble to remove. When it was done the skeleton of a large, powerful man was discovered in a ''sitting position'' and facing south." The bones, especially the legs, were of "large size" and the skull "had a hole in it". Asked what became of the skeleton, the witnesses agreed that the landowner (Fitzwilliam) had them sent to London - but where precisely was not clear. A subsequent excavation in 1881 resulted in no body being found; this suggested that the 1851 report in
Archaeologia Cambrensis ''Archaeologia Cambrensis'' is a Welsh archaeological and historical scholarly journal published annually by the Cambrian Archaeological Association. It contains historical essays, excavation reports, and book reviews, as well as society not ...
, which stated that the bones were re-interred, may not have been entirely true. Inquiries made in 1937 about the whereabouts of the remains of Sawyl were inconclusive.
Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography ...
, in his ''
History of the Kings of Britain ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
'' (1136), uses the name Samuil Penessil for a legendary pre-Roman king of Britain, preceded by Redechius and succeeded by Pir. ''History of the Kings of Britain'' 3.19 at Wikisource. Lewis Thorpe's translation for Penguin Classics (p. 105) gives two kings, Samuil followed by Penessil.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawyl Penuchel Northern Brythonic monarchs Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown