Cadwallon ap Cadfan

Cadwallon ap Cadfan (591? - 633 or 634) was the son of Cadfan ap Iago and was a king of Gwynedd of 625 until its death, in 633 or 634. It remained in the History to have devastated the Northumbrie and to have killed its king, Edwin, before perishing at the time of a battle against Oswald de Bernicie. Annals mainly retained it like a sanguinary tyrant.

With its beginnings, Cadwallon was beaten by Edwin de Northumbrie which invades then the island of Anglesey, then was besieged with Priestholm (or Glannauc), an small island in the east of Anglesey. According to the Yearly Cambriae , this seat would go back to 629. According to Geoffroy de Monmouth in his History of the kings de Bretagne , Cadwallon would then have fled in Ireland, then on the island of Guernsey. From there it would have launched its army against the Domnonée, attacks Exeter and beats the Merciens, forcing their king, Penda, to sign an alliance with him. Geoffroy reports that Cadwallon would have married the half-sister of Penda. Unfortunately, as the history such as described the Geoffroy holds often more of the legendary account that chronicle (it makes, for example, to survive Cadwallon until less in 654, date of the battle of Winwaed), it is impossible to know the truth on this subject.

Penda and Cadwallon then made the war against Northumbriens. The October 12th 632 (or 633), they faced them at the time of the battle of Hatfield Chase. This one showed the defeat and the death of Edwin and its son, Osfrith. The kingdom of Northumbrie was found plunged in confusion and was found divided between the under-kingdoms of Deira and Bernicie. The war did not continue any less: to believe the Anglo-Saxon chronicles of them, “Cadwallon and Penda massacred all the grounds of Northumbrie”. In its ecclesiastical History of the English people , Bède Worthy the tells that Cadwallon was besieged by new king de Deira, Osric, “in a strong city”. But Cadwallon “suddenly would then have left the city in boat with all its troops and destroyed it (Osric) with all its army. ” Following this action, Cadwallon would then have reigned on the “provinces of Northumbriens” during one year “not like a victorious king, but like a tyrant raptor and sanguinary tyrant”. Moreover, Bede continues on: “Cadwalla, although it was presented in the form of a Christian and bore their name, was of a naturalness and a so barbarian control which it saved neither the female sex, nor innocent children. With a wild cruelty, it offered a terrible death to them, devastated their country for a long time, and was solved to exterminate all the English race in Great Britain. ”

Eanfrith, the king of Bernicie was also killed by Cadwallon when this one saw it to propose peace to him. But Cadwallon was killed by an army directed by the brother of Eanfrith, Oswald, with the battle of Heavenfield. “Although it had more troops, no one could not support its fanfaronnades any more”. The soldiers of Cadwallon deserted it after a battle and it was killed at a place called “Denis' S brook” (the brook of Denis).

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