1. Gwynllyw was King of Gwynllwg in South Wales and is the legendary founder and patron saint of the City of Newport, living in the 5th century.
20 Facts About Gwynllyw
1. 2.
Gwynllyw was the father of one of the most revered of Welsh saints, Saint Cadoc the Wise.
3.
The aforementioned descriptions of Gwynllyw note that his deeds were celebrated by Welsh bards, indicating he had a widespread popular following.
4.
Gwynllyw was the son of King Glywys, whose powerful kingdom of Glywysing was centred on Glamorgan.
5.
Gwynllyw was a descendant of Macsen Wledig according to some accounts, while his mother Guaul was equally distinguished, being the granddaughter of Cunedda.
6.
The kingdom was split on Glywys' death amongst his sons, of whom Gwynllyw was the eldest and most powerful, and he was overlord over the others.
7.
One of Gwynllyw's brothers was Saint Petroc, an important Cornish, and Breton saint, and patron saint of Devon.
8.
Narratives of Gwynllyw portray him as an active and merciless warrior who attacked and raided nearby kingdoms.
9.
The Life of Saint Cadoc describes him as "very partial to thieves, and used to instigate them somewhat often to robberies" but the Life of Saint Gwynllyw insists he was a just and fair ruler.
10.
In one such raid, described in Life of Saint Cadoc, Gwynllyw led some 300 men to abduct King Brychan of Brycheiniog's beautiful daughter Gwladys, as Brychan had refused to let him marry her.
11.
Gwynllyw reputedly had other children, saints: Cynidr, Bugi and Egwine.
12.
King Gwynllyw is said to have had a dream in which an angel spoke to him, and he saw a vision of a white ox with a black spot high on its forehead.
13.
The story goes that Gwynllyw set out, and when he saw the ox of his dream he founded a hermitage there, on what is Stow Hill in Newport, South Wales, which he built out of wood.
14.
When Gwynllyw was dying he was attended both by his son Cadoc and by Saint Dyfrig, who administered the last sacrament to him.
15.
Gwynllyw's church was rebuilt in stone in the 9th century, a sign of his importance and the wealth of his shrine; at that time stone buildings were unusual in Wales.
16.
Gwynllyw's cult grew as a series of miracles were attributed to him.
17.
Similarly, a man's having been supernaturally driven mad after stealing from Gwynllyw's church is mere fancy.
18.
Devotion to Gwynllyw clearly became ubiquitous, not only among the Welsh, but among Saxons and Normans who came to live in the Newport area.
19.
One tradition asserts that this background meant Gwynllyw was the patron saint of choice for Welsh pirates and smugglers including Sir Henry Morgan.
20.
In 1949 St Woolos Church became a full cathedral and, besides churches, the saint is remembered today through St Woolos Hospital, St Woolos Primary School and in 1988 a Welsh language school, Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw, was set up in Pontypool.