Saint Dwywe was a 5th- or 6th-century
pre-congregational saint
In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
of Wales.
She was a native of the ancient
Cumbric
Cumbric is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...
-speaking kingdoms, which stretched from south-western Scotland down as far as
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...
, and is estimated to have been born between 465 and 585.
She may have been the wife of
Dunawd Fyr and mother of a son, Saint
Deiniol
Saint Deiniol (died 572) was traditionally the first Bishop of Bangor in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. The present Bangor Cathedral, dedicated to Deiniol, is said to be on the site where his monastery stood. He is veneration, venerated in Bri ...
, who founded monasteries on
Deeside
Deeside () is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire on the England–Wales border, Wales–England border lying near the canalised stretch of the River Dee, Wales, River Dee t ...
and at
Bangor. She may also have been the mother of
Cynwyl ap Dynod,
Gwarthan ap Dynod and
Aneirin
Aneirin (), also rendered as Aneurin or Neirin and Aneurin Gwawdrydd, was an early Medieval Brythonic war poet who lived during the 6th century. He is believed to have been a bard or court poet in one of the Cumbric kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd ...
.
She is remembered in a church of
St Dwywe, Llanddwywe
St Dwywe. She was a princess, the daughter of Gwallog ap Lleenog of the royal house based in the Kingdom of Elmet
Elmet (), sometimes Elmed or Elmete, was an independent Brittonic Celtic
Cumbric-speaking kingdom between about the 4th century and mid-7th century.
The people of Elmet survived as a distinctly recognised Brittonic Celtic group for centuri ...
, east and south of Leeds. Her father and the family were forced to flee after a war against the Angles
Angles most commonly refers to:
*Angles (tribe), a Germanic-speaking people that took their name from the Angeln cultural region in Germany
*Angle, a geometric figure formed by two rays meeting at a common point
Angles may also refer to:
Places ...
of Bernicia
Bernicia () was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was approximately equivalent to the modern English cou ...
(who were based around Northumberland
Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
and Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England
**County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States
Durham may also refer to:
Places
...
). They were taken in by Welsh kinsfolk and settled near Barmouth
Barmouth (formal ; colloquially ) is a seaside town and community in the county of Gwynedd, north-west Wales; it lies on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the historic county of Merionethshire, the Welsh form of t ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwywe
Female saints of medieval Wales
Welsh Roman Catholic saints