Cadwallon ap Einion (c. 460-517 or 534), usually known as Cadwallon Lawhir ('Long Hand') and also called Cadwallon I by some historians, was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

ruler around 500. Cadwallon was the son of

Einion Yrth Einion ap Cunedda ( – 500;; – 480s), also known as Einion Yrth (Welsh for "the Impetuous"), was a king of Gwynedd. He is claimed as an ancestor of the later rulers of North Wales. One of the sons of Cunedda, he travelled with his father t ...

and Prawst ferch Deithlyn. He is often considered to have been

king of Gwynedd Prior to the Conquest of Wales, completed in 1282, Wales consisted of a number of independent kingdoms, the most important being Gwynedd, Powys, Deheubarth (originally Ceredigion, Seisyllwg and Dyfed) and Morgannwg (Glywysing and Gwent). Bounda ...

from his father's death in about 500 until his own death some time between 517 and 534. He is credited with having driven the last Irish settlers off the island of

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a Local government in Wales, principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strai ...

. According to one tradition, Cadwallon and his army padlocked their own feet to their stirrups so that they could not be tempted to flee the battle. Cadwallon's epithet, ''Lawhir'', may possibly refer to him having longer than usual arms or might also be a metaphor, referring to the extent of his authority. The late medieval poet

Iolo Goch Iolo Goch (c. 1320 – c. 1398) (meaning ''Iolo the Red'' in English) was a medieval Welsh bard who composed poems addressed to Owain Glyndŵr, among others. Lineage Iolo was the son of Ithel Goch ap Cynwrig ap Iorwerth Ddu ap Cynwrig Dd ...

claims that he could "reach a stone from the ground to kill a raven, without bending his back, because his arm was as long as his side to the ground." According to

Gildas Gildas ( Breton: ''Gweltaz''; c. 450/500 – c. 570) — also known as Gildas the Wise or ''Gildas Sapiens'' — was a 6th-century British monk best known for his scathing religious polemic ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'', which recount ...

, Cadwallon's son, Maelgwn, murdered his uncle in order to ascend the throne, which suggests that the actual king of Gwynedd was not Cadwallon but his brother Owain Ddantgwyn.

Caswallon's Llys

There has been a longstanding association, in antiquarian writings, between Cadwallon and a possible Llys (medieval royal court building) known as Caswallon's Llys. This was indicated on the Ordnance Survey map of 1889 as within a field near Mynnydd Eilian, in the Llaneilian community, in the north-east corner of the Isle of Anglesey. With no obvious remains by the 20th century, it had been largely discredited as a Llys site until a geophysical survey in 2009 identified foundations of a rectangular building within a trapezoidal enclosure, for which an early medieval site was a strong possibility.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cadwallon Lawhir Ap Einion 460 births 534 deaths Monarchs of Gwynedd Arthurian legend 5th-century Welsh monarchs 6th-century Welsh monarchs

Caswallon's Llys

See also

References