Cadafael Cadomedd ap Cynfeddw
Encyclopedia
Cadafael ap Cynfeddw was King of Gwynedd
(reigned 634 – c. 655). He came to the throne when his predecessor, King Cadwallon ap Cadfan
, was killed in battle, and his primary notability is in having gained the disrespectful sobriquet Cadafael Cadomedd (fully translated into Battle-Seizer the Battle-Decliner).
Unusual for the era, King Cadafael was not a member of one the leading families of Gwynedd. His name appears in the Welsh Triads
as one of the "Three kings, who were of the sons of strangers" (sometimes referred to as the "Three Peasant Kings"), where he is identified as "Cadafael, son of Cynfeddw in Gwynedd".
Cadafael's reign was a critical time for the future of the Cymry (ie, the Welsh and the Brythonic
'Men of the North' taken together, exclusive of all others). There was an alliance of the Cymry with Penda of Mercia
initially forged by Cadwallon ap Cadfan, and there was ongoing warfare against the then-ascendant Kingdom of Northumbria
.
Though the alliance was effective and enjoyed several notable successes, it would end disastrously with the death of Penda and a Northumbrian supremacy both in the north and in the English Midlands
. The kingdoms of Pengwern
, Manaw Gododdin
, Gododdin
, and Rheged
would be permanently obliterated. The kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys, and Alt Clud
would be diminished. The blame for it fell hardest on Cadafael's reputation.
were at low ebb. Edwin of Northumbria
was everywhere successful, having conquered and absorbed the Cymry of Elmet
and decisively defeated the Welsh at Chester
in 616. Edwin would launch a successful occupation of Lindsey
in 625, and he invaded and defeated Wessex in 626. He would also invade and occupy Anglesey
, besieging Cadwallon on Ynys Seiriol
(Island of Saint Seiriol
), off easternmost Anglesey, and forcing him to flee to Ireland
.
When Cadwallon returned he was able to restore Gwynedd to a position of viability. This was largely accomplished through an alliance of the Welsh kings of Gwynedd, Powys, and Pengwern
with the ambitious Penda
, king of Anglian Mercia
, who like the Welsh was threatened by Edwin's successes. Together they would contest Northumbria's rise, and the alliance would ultimately defeat and kill Edwin in 633 at the Battle of Hatfield Chase
near Doncaster
in South Yorkshire
. Northumbria was then split back into its separate predecessor kingdoms of Bernicia
and Deira
, and Cadwallon defeated and killed their new kings, Eanfrith of Bernicia
and Osric of Deira
, as well. Northumbria's core lands were then devastated.
Cadwallon's success had brought renewed hope for a bright future, but it was transitory. Eanfrith's Bernician successor Oswald
would reunite Northumbria into one kingdom, leading off at the Battle of Heavenfield
(Bellum Cantscaul in the Annales Cambriae
) near Hexham
in 634, where he defeated and killed Cadwallon.
. Sometime between 635 and 641 Penda defeated the Kingdom of East Anglia and killed King Egric
. He would also kill Egric's successor Anna
in 654, establishing himself as the dominant power in the region. The most significant action occurred at the Battle of Maserfield
in 642/4, assumed to be near Oswestry
. There Penda and his Welsh allies defeated and killed Oswald
.
The wars went less well in the north. Northumbria secured the entire eastern coastal region of Lothian
(ie, Gododdin
) in 638 or shortly thereafter, and there were battles against the men of Alt Clut (the Brythonic
predecessor state of Strathclyde
) in the 640's. While the outcome of these battles is not given in the historical record, most of what is now southern Scotland
came under Northumbrian control, suggesting Northumbrian success. However, Penda and his alliance was still a major threat, and they besieged Oswald's Bernician successor Oswiu
at his fortress of Bamburgh
in 650 or 651, though they did not defeat him.
The defining moment came in 655, when Penda again led an alliance of Mercians, Welsh, Deirans, and East Anglians against Bernicia, besieging Oswiu at a stronghold somewhere in the north and compelling him to sue for peace. Having won this war at great cost, the members of the alliance returned south, the Welsh in particular pleased to have reclaimed items of dignity (the so-called "Restoration of Iudeu") taken from the kingdom of Gododdin or Manaw Gododdin by the Northumbrians.
However, while Oswiu had been beaten he had not been defeated. With many of its leaders having been killed in battle, the alliance was caught unawares in a sortie by Oswiu at the Winwaed
. Penda was killed, thus ending the alliance and ensuring a Bernician supremacy.
Oswiu quickly followed up his defeat of Penda by overrunning Mercia and launching a surprise assault on Pengwern
's llys (royal court
), killing King Cynddylan
and virtually wiping out the entire royal family. Thereafter Pengwern disappears from the historical record, with some of its survivors moving westward to Mathrafal
, and any who remained becoming part of a Mercian subkingdom.
Oswiu would go on to re-unite Bernicia and Deira into Northumbria and establish a temporary dominance over Mercia, becoming the premier military and political power north of the Humber Estuary. Mercia would soon throw off the Northumbrian occupation and recover to become the premier military and political power in the English Midlands
.
The future was much different for the Cymry of the Old North
and North Wales
. While Alt Clud
would recover its independence and re-emerge as a state, the kingdoms of Manaw Gododdin
, Gododdin
, and Rheged
were permanently destroyed and disappear from the historical record. Gwynedd
would decline further until it would be unable to defend its own heartland from invasion and devastating raids, not to re-emerge as a regional power for 200 years. Powys was also weakened, and would not again become a military power until joined with Gwynedd under Rhodri the Great
some 200 years later.
The death of Penda in 655 marks the end of the 'heroic age' of the Welsh bard
s.
would say that Cadafael had left for home the night before the battle, in his ally's hour of greatest need, implying it was a deliberate decision (ie, by calling him the Battle-Decliner). It is unlikely that Cadafael would have been chosen king, or would have reigned so long, or that Penda would have engaged in a 20 year alliance with him, had this been his character.
In the medieval Welsh Triads
, the death of King Iago ap Beli
is described as the result of an axe-blow by one of his own men, a certain Cadafael Wyllt (Cadafael the Wild). In his Celtic Britain, John Rhys
notes that the Annals of Tigernach
mention Iago's death and use the word dormitat (or dormitato, meaning sleep in the sense of a euphemism for death), contradicting the notion of a violent death.
In the Dialogue between Myrddin and his sister Gwenddydd of the Red Book of Hergest
, a succession of future kings is given in a prophesy, listing them correctly up to Cadwallon ap Cadfan
, but then omitting Cadafael and listing Cadwallon's son Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon
as following his father on the throne.
Whether deserved or not, disaffection for Cadafael and his name seems to have been genuine. An American contributor to an 1874 publication, in an article on Welsh names, noted that "Cadafael is still a name of opprobrium", adding that he was unaware of the reason.
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
(reigned 634 – c. 655). He came to the throne when his predecessor, King Cadwallon ap Cadfan
Cadwallon ap Cadfan
Cadwallon ap Cadfan was the King of Gwynedd from around 625 until his death in battle. The son and successor of Cadfan ap Iago, he is best remembered as the King of the Britons who invaded and conquered Northumbria, defeating and killing its king, Edwin, prior to his own death in battle against...
, was killed in battle, and his primary notability is in having gained the disrespectful sobriquet Cadafael Cadomedd (fully translated into Battle-Seizer the Battle-Decliner).
Unusual for the era, King Cadafael was not a member of one the leading families of Gwynedd. His name appears in the Welsh Triads
Welsh Triads
The Welsh Triads 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 rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness...
as one of the "Three kings, who were of the sons of strangers" (sometimes referred to as the "Three Peasant Kings"), where he is identified as "Cadafael, son of Cynfeddw in Gwynedd".
Cadafael's reign was a critical time for the future of the Cymry (ie, the Welsh and the Brythonic
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
'Men of the North' taken together, exclusive of all others). There was an alliance of the Cymry with Penda of Mercia
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
initially forged by Cadwallon ap Cadfan, and there was ongoing warfare against the then-ascendant Kingdom of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
.
Though the alliance was effective and enjoyed several notable successes, it would end disastrously with the death of Penda and a Northumbrian supremacy both in the north and in the English Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
. The kingdoms of Pengwern
Pengwern
Pengwern was a Brythonic settlement of sub-Roman Britain situated in what is now the English county of Shropshire, adjoining the modern Welsh border. It is generally regarded as being the early seat of the kings of Powys before its establishment at Mathrafal, further west, but the theory that it...
, Manaw Gododdin
Manaw Gododdin
Manaw Gododdin was the narrow coastal region on the south side of the Firth of Forth, part of the Brythonic-speaking Kingdom of Gododdin in the post-Roman Era. Its notability is as the homeland of Cunedda prior to his conquest of North Wales, and as the homeland of the heroic warriors in the...
, Gododdin
Gododdin
The Gododdin were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britain in the sub-Roman period, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North...
, and Rheged
Rheged
Rheged is described in poetic sources as one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the Brythonic-speaking region of what is now northern England and southern Scotland, during the Early Middle Ages...
would be permanently obliterated. The kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys, and Alt Clud
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period...
would be diminished. The blame for it fell hardest on Cadafael's reputation.
Background
When Cadafael's predecessor Cadwallon ap Cadfan came to the throne c. 625, the fortunes of the Kingdom of GwyneddKingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
were at low ebb. Edwin of Northumbria
Edwin of Northumbria
Edwin , also known as Eadwine or Æduini, was the King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became known as Northumbria – from about 616 until his death. He converted to Christianity and was baptised in 627; after he fell at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, he was venerated as a saint.Edwin was the son...
was everywhere successful, having conquered and absorbed the Cymry of Elmet
Elmet
Elmet was an independent Brythonic kingdom covering a broad area of what later became the West Riding of Yorkshire during the Early Middle Ages, between approximately the 5th century and early 7th century. Although its precise boundaries are unclear, it appears to have been bordered by the River...
and decisively defeated the Welsh at Chester
Battle of Chester
The Battle of Chester was a major victory for the Anglo Saxons over the native Britons near the city of Chester, England in the early 7th century. Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated a combined force from the Welsh kingdoms of Powys, Rhôs and possibly Mercia...
in 616. Edwin would launch a successful occupation of Lindsey
Kingdom of Lindsey
Lindsey or Linnuis is the name of a petty Anglo-Saxon kingdom, absorbed into Northumbria in the 7th century.It lay between the Humber and the Wash, forming its inland boundaries from the course of the Witham and Trent rivers , and the Foss Dyke between...
in 625, and he invaded and defeated Wessex in 626. He would also invade and occupy Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, besieging Cadwallon on Ynys Seiriol
Seiriol
Seiriol was an early 6th century saint, who created a cell at Penmon Priory on Anglesey, off the coast of north Wales. He later moved to Ynys Seiriol . He was a son of King Owain Danwyn of Rhos....
(Island of Saint Seiriol
Puffin Island, Anglesey
Puffin Island is an uninhabited island off the eastern tip of Anglesey, Wales. It was formerly known as Priestholm in English and Ynys Lannog in Welsh.-Geography:...
), off easternmost Anglesey, and forcing him to flee to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
When Cadwallon returned he was able to restore Gwynedd to a position of viability. This was largely accomplished through an alliance of the Welsh kings of Gwynedd, Powys, and Pengwern
Pengwern
Pengwern was a Brythonic settlement of sub-Roman Britain situated in what is now the English county of Shropshire, adjoining the modern Welsh border. It is generally regarded as being the early seat of the kings of Powys before its establishment at Mathrafal, further west, but the theory that it...
with the ambitious Penda
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
, king of Anglian Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
, who like the Welsh was threatened by Edwin's successes. Together they would contest Northumbria's rise, and the alliance would ultimately defeat and kill Edwin in 633 at the Battle of Hatfield Chase
Battle of Hatfield Chase
The Battle of Hatfield Chase was fought on October 12, 633 at Hatfield Chase near Doncaster, Yorkshire, in Anglo-Saxon England between the Northumbrians under Edwin and an alliance of the Welsh of Gwynedd under Cadwallon ap Cadfan and the Mercians under Penda. The site was a marshy area about 8...
near Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
in South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
. Northumbria was then split back into its separate predecessor kingdoms of Bernicia
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....
and Deira
Deira
Deira was a kingdom in Northern England during the 6th century AD. Itextended from the Humber to the Tees, and from the sea to the western edge of the Vale of York...
, and Cadwallon defeated and killed their new kings, Eanfrith of Bernicia
Eanfrith of Bernicia
Eanfrith was briefly King of Bernicia from 633 to 634. He was the son of Æthelfrith, a Bernician king who had also ruled Deira to the south before being killed in battle around 616 against Raedwald of East Anglia, who had given refuge to Edwin, an exiled prince of Deira.Edwin became king of...
and Osric of Deira
Osric of Deira
Osric was a King of Deira in northern England. He was a cousin of king Edwin of Northumbria, being the son of Edwin's uncle Aelfric...
, as well. Northumbria's core lands were then devastated.
Cadwallon's success had brought renewed hope for a bright future, but it was transitory. Eanfrith's Bernician successor Oswald
Oswald of Northumbria
Oswald was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death, and is now venerated as a Christian saint.Oswald was the son of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in exile; after defeating the British ruler Cadwallon ap Cadfan, Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of...
would reunite Northumbria into one kingdom, leading off at the Battle of Heavenfield
Battle of Heavenfield
The Battle of Heavenfield was fought in 633 or 634 between a Northumbrian army under Oswald of Bernicia and a Welsh army under Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd. The battle resulted in a decisive Northumbrian victory. The Annales Cambriae record the battle as Bellum Cantscaul in 631...
(Bellum Cantscaul in the Annales Cambriae
Annales Cambriae
Annales Cambriae, or The Annals of Wales, is the name given to a complex of Cambro-Latin chronicles deriving ultimately from a text compiled from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales, not later than the 10th century...
) near Hexham
Hexham
Hexham is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, located south of the River Tyne, and was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district from 1974 to 2009. The three major towns in Tynedale were Hexham, Prudhoe and Haltwhistle, although in terms of population, Prudhoe was...
in 634, where he defeated and killed Cadwallon.
Cadafael's reign
Cadafael renewed Cadwallon's alliance with Penda and the other Welsh kings, and the wars against Northumbria continued in the north and the English MidlandsEnglish Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
. Sometime between 635 and 641 Penda defeated the Kingdom of East Anglia and killed King Egric
Egric of East Anglia
Ecgric was a king of East Anglia, the independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom that today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was a member of the ruling Wuffingas dynasty, but his relationship with other known members of the dynasty is not known with any certainty. Anna of East Anglia...
. He would also kill Egric's successor Anna
Anna of East Anglia
Anna was King of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. Anna was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles. He was one of the three sons of Eni who ruled East Anglia, succeeding some time after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia...
in 654, establishing himself as the dominant power in the region. The most significant action occurred at the Battle of Maserfield
Battle of Maserfield
The Battle of Maserfield , Welsh: "Maes Cogwy", was fought on August 5, 641 or 642, between the Anglo-Saxon kings Oswald of Northumbria and Penda of Mercia, ending in Oswald's defeat, death, and dismemberment...
in 642/4, assumed to be near Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
. There Penda and his Welsh allies defeated and killed Oswald
Oswald of Northumbria
Oswald was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death, and is now venerated as a Christian saint.Oswald was the son of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in exile; after defeating the British ruler Cadwallon ap Cadfan, Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of...
.
Lothian
Lothian forms a traditional region of Scotland, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills....
(ie, Gododdin
Gododdin
The Gododdin were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britain in the sub-Roman period, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North...
) in 638 or shortly thereafter, and there were battles against the men of Alt Clut (the Brythonic
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
predecessor state of Strathclyde
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period...
) in the 640's. While the outcome of these battles is not given in the historical record, most of what is now southern Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
came under Northumbrian control, suggesting Northumbrian success. However, Penda and his alliance was still a major threat, and they besieged Oswald's Bernician successor Oswiu
Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu , also known as Oswy or Oswig , was a King of Bernicia. His father, Æthelfrith of Bernicia, was killed in battle, fighting against Rædwald, King of the East Angles and Edwin of Deira at the River Idle in 616...
at his fortress of Bamburgh
Bamburgh
Bamburgh is a large village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It has a population of 454.It is notable for two reasons: the imposing Bamburgh Castle, overlooking the beach, seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, and at present owned by the Armstrong family ; and its...
in 650 or 651, though they did not defeat him.
The defining moment came in 655, when Penda again led an alliance of Mercians, Welsh, Deirans, and East Anglians against Bernicia, besieging Oswiu at a stronghold somewhere in the north and compelling him to sue for peace. Having won this war at great cost, the members of the alliance returned south, the Welsh in particular pleased to have reclaimed items of dignity (the so-called "Restoration of Iudeu") taken from the kingdom of Gododdin or Manaw Gododdin by the Northumbrians.
However, while Oswiu had been beaten he had not been defeated. With many of its leaders having been killed in battle, the alliance was caught unawares in a sortie by Oswiu at the Winwaed
Battle of the Winwaed
The Battle of the Winwaed was fought on 15 November 655 , between King Penda of Mercia and Oswiu of Bernicia, ending in the Mercians' defeat and Penda's death.-History:Although the battle is said to be the most important between the early northern and southern divisions of...
. Penda was killed, thus ending the alliance and ensuring a Bernician supremacy.
Oswiu quickly followed up his defeat of Penda by overrunning Mercia and launching a surprise assault on Pengwern
Pengwern
Pengwern was a Brythonic settlement of sub-Roman Britain situated in what is now the English county of Shropshire, adjoining the modern Welsh border. It is generally regarded as being the early seat of the kings of Powys before its establishment at Mathrafal, further west, but the theory that it...
's llys (royal court
Royal court
Royal court, as distinguished from a court of law, may refer to:* The Royal Court , Timbaland's production company*Court , the household and entourage of a monarch or other ruler, the princely court...
), killing King Cynddylan
Cynddylan
Cynddylan, or Cynddylan ap Cyndrwyn was a seventh century ruler associated with Pengwern. He is described in the poem Marwnad Cynddylan as a king of Dogfeiling, a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd near Rhuthun to the north of Powys, in modern-day Wales.-History:With the collapse of the Roman Empire and the...
and virtually wiping out the entire royal family. Thereafter Pengwern disappears from the historical record, with some of its survivors moving westward to Mathrafal
Mathrafal
Mathrafal near Welshpool, in Powys, Mid Wales, was the seat of the Kings and Princes of Powys probably from the 9th century until its destruction in 1212 by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth of Gwynedd.- Location :...
, and any who remained becoming part of a Mercian subkingdom.
End of an epoch
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
.
The future was much different for the Cymry of the Old North
Hen Ogledd
Yr Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term used by scholars to refer to those parts of what is now northern England and southern Scotland in the years between 500 and the Viking invasions of c. 800, with particular interest in the Brythonic-speaking peoples who lived there.The term is derived from heroic...
and North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
. While Alt Clud
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period...
would recover its independence and re-emerge as a state, the kingdoms of Manaw Gododdin
Manaw Gododdin
Manaw Gododdin was the narrow coastal region on the south side of the Firth of Forth, part of the Brythonic-speaking Kingdom of Gododdin in the post-Roman Era. Its notability is as the homeland of Cunedda prior to his conquest of North Wales, and as the homeland of the heroic warriors in the...
, Gododdin
Gododdin
The Gododdin were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britain in the sub-Roman period, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North...
, and Rheged
Rheged
Rheged is described in poetic sources as one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the Brythonic-speaking region of what is now northern England and southern Scotland, during the Early Middle Ages...
were permanently destroyed and disappear from the historical record. Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
would decline further until it would be unable to defend its own heartland from invasion and devastating raids, not to re-emerge as a regional power for 200 years. Powys was also weakened, and would not again become a military power until joined with Gwynedd under Rhodri the Great
Rhodri the Great
Rhodri the Great was King of Gwynedd from 844 until his death. He was the first Welsh ruler to be called 'Great', and the first to rule most of present-day Wales...
some 200 years later.
The death of Penda in 655 marks the end of the 'heroic age' of the Welsh bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
s.
Blame
It is not known when Cadafael's reign ended, but it is customary to assume that it must have been shortly after Penda's defeat. There is no contemporary account of the events, but writing some 250 years later NenniusNennius
Nennius was a Welsh monk of the 9th century.He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the Historia Brittonum, based on the prologue affixed to that work, This attribution is widely considered a secondary tradition....
would say that Cadafael had left for home the night before the battle, in his ally's hour of greatest need, implying it was a deliberate decision (ie, by calling him the Battle-Decliner). It is unlikely that Cadafael would have been chosen king, or would have reigned so long, or that Penda would have engaged in a 20 year alliance with him, had this been his character.
In the medieval Welsh Triads
Welsh Triads
The Welsh Triads 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 rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness...
, the death of King Iago ap Beli
Iago ap Beli
Iago ap Beli was King of Gwynedd . Little is known of him or his kingdom from this early era, with only a few anecdotal mentions of him in historical documents....
is described as the result of an axe-blow by one of his own men, a certain Cadafael Wyllt (Cadafael the Wild). In his Celtic Britain, John Rhys
John Rhys
Sir John Rhys was a Welsh scholar, fellow of the British Academy, celticist and the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University.-Early years and education:...
notes that the Annals of Tigernach
Annals of Tigernach
The Annals of Tigernach is a chronicle probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish....
mention Iago's death and use the word dormitat (or dormitato, meaning sleep in the sense of a euphemism for death), contradicting the notion of a violent death.
In the Dialogue between Myrddin and his sister Gwenddydd of the Red Book of Hergest
Red Book of Hergest
The Red Book of Hergest is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preserves a collection of Welsh prose and poetry, notably the tales of the Mabinogion, Gogynfeirdd poetry...
, a succession of future kings is given in a prophesy, listing them correctly up to Cadwallon ap Cadfan
Cadwallon ap Cadfan
Cadwallon ap Cadfan was the King of Gwynedd from around 625 until his death in battle. The son and successor of Cadfan ap Iago, he is best remembered as the King of the Britons who invaded and conquered Northumbria, defeating and killing its king, Edwin, prior to his own death in battle against...
, but then omitting Cadafael and listing Cadwallon's son Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon
Cadwaladr
Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon was King of Gwynedd . Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682, with himself a victim of the second one. Little else is known of his reign...
as following his father on the throne.
Whether deserved or not, disaffection for Cadafael and his name seems to have been genuine. An American contributor to an 1874 publication, in an article on Welsh names, noted that "Cadafael is still a name of opprobrium", adding that he was unaware of the reason.