Saint Einion the King | |
---|---|
King of Llŷn | |
Died | 6th century |
Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
Major shrine | Llanengan |
Feast | 9 February (Western Orthodoxy) 10 or 12 February (formerly) |
Patronage | Llanengan |
Saint Einion Frenin (Welsh: old Enniaun, mod.Sant Einion or Engan Frenin, lit. "Saint Einion the King"; Latin : Ennianus or Anianus [1] ) was a late 5th [2] and early 6th century [3] Welsh confessor and saint of the Celtic Church. His feast day was originally given as 9 February, although this had moved to the 10th or 12th by the 16th century [1] and is no longer observed by either the Anglican [4] or Catholic church in Wales. [5]
Saint Einion was a son of Owain Whitetooth (Owain Danwyn) and the brother of Cuneglasus, king of Rhos, and of saints Seiriol and Meirion . [6] [9] Part of Gwynedd's Cuneddan dynasty, he seems to have ruled as a local king (Latin : regulus) over the Llŷn Peninsula southwest of Anglesey and possibly over Anglesey itself. [1] [10] [11] He was credited with granting his brother Seiriol the land for his monastery (Welsh : clas) at Penmon on Anglesey [1] and, later, his hermitage on Puffin Island. [12] He also lured the Breton saint Cadfan from Tywyn to found St Mary's Abbey, the first religious establishment on Bardsey Island. [1] Although not part of the Cistercian Way, this became a major site of pilgrimage in Wales. Einion himself is sometimes said to have joined Cadfan's community on the island, [13] although his relics were claimed by the church at Llanengan. [1]
Einion Frenin was credited with the establishment of the original church at Llanengan (St Einion's). [1] The present church there, which was erected in the late 15th or early 16th century, [2] had a gilt and crowned statue of him prior to the Reformation [14] and bears Latin inscriptions reading Æniani Rex Wallie and Rex Walliæ ("Einion, king of Wales"). Miraculous locations nearby include Ffynnon Engan ("Einion's Well") and Ol Troed March Engan ("The Hoofprint of Einion's Horse"), a petrosomatoglyph near Castell Cinan whose collected rainwater was claimed to possess curative powers. [1] Other placenames possibly related to the king are Ogo' Engan ("Einion's Cave"), Bryn Engan ("Einion's Hill"), Caer Engan ("Engan's Camp"), and Croes Engan ("Einion's Cross"), a farm in Denbighshire. [1]
Llandogo in Monmouthshire was also sometimes previously known as Lann Enniaun ("Llanennion") and the bard Hywel Rheinallt composed a cywydd to the "golden-handed" Saint Einion in the late 15th century, recording another (now unknown) church in Gwynedd dedicated to St Einion. [1]
Owain ap Gruffudd was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great and the first to be styled "Prince of Wales", and the "Prince of the Welsh". He is considered to be the most successful of all the North Welsh princes prior to his grandson, Llywelyn the Great. He became known as Owain Gwynedd to distinguish him from the contemporary king of Powys Wenwynwyn, Owain ap Gruffydd ap Maredudd, who became known as Owain Cyfeiliog.
Maelgwn Gwynedd was king of Gwynedd during the early 6th century. Surviving records suggest he held a pre-eminent position among the Brythonic kings in Wales and their allies in the "Old North" along the Scottish coast. Maelgwn was a generous supporter of Christianity, funding the foundation of churches throughout Wales and even far beyond the bounds of his own kingdom. Nonetheless, his principal legacy today is the scathing account of his behavior recorded in De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae by Gildas, who considered Maelgwn a usurper and reprobate. The son of Cadwallon Lawhir and great-grandson of Cunedda, Maelgwn was buried on Ynys Seiriol, off the eastern tip of Anglesey, having died of the "yellow plague"; quite probably the arrival of Justinian's Plague in Britain.
The Kingdom of Gwynedd was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
Bardsey Island, known as the legendary "Island of 20,000 Saints", is located 1.9 miles (3.1 km) off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The Welsh name means "The Island in the Currents", while its English name refers to the "Island of the Bards", or possibly the Viking chieftain, "Barda". At 179 hectares in area it is the fourth largest offshore island in Wales, with a population of 11.
Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion, usually known as Cadwallon Lawhir and also called Cadwallon I by some historians, was a king of Gwynedd around 500.
Owain Danwyn was a king of Rhos in Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, in the mid-5th century. He was the son of Einion Yrth ap Cunedda and the father of Cynlas Goch, probably the Cuneglasus excoriated by Gildas. Very little is known of his life. Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman proposed a theory that he was the historical figure behind the legend of King Arthur.
Puffin Island is an uninhabited island off the eastern tip of Anglesey, Wales. It was formerly known as Priestholm in English. A hermitage was established here around the 6th century, and there are remains of a 12th-century monastery on the island. The island is also a Special Protection Area for wildlife.
The Llŷn Peninsula extends 30 miles (50 km) into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Much of the eastern part of the peninsula, around Criccieth, may be regarded as part of Eifionydd rather than Llŷn, although the boundary is somewhat vague. The area of Llŷn is about 400 km2 (150 sq mi), and its population is at least 20,000.
Cuneglasus was a prince of Rhos in Gwynedd, Wales, in the late 5th or early 6th century. He was castigated for various sins by Gildas in De Excidio Britanniae. The Welsh form Cynlas Goch is attested in several genealogies of the Rhos royal line. The two names are assumed to refer to the same ruler.
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.
Saint Cybi (Welsh), or Cuby (Cornish), was a 6th-century Cornish bishop, saint, and, briefly, king, who worked largely in Cornwall and North Wales: his biography is recorded in two slightly variant medieval 'lives'.
Llanengan is a small village and community 1.2 mi (1.9 km) around Abersoch in Gwynedd in north-west Wales. It had a population of 2,024 at the 2001 census, which had been reduced to 1,989 at the 2011 Census. The popular seaside resort village of Abersoch falls within the community, as do the villages of Llangian, Mynytho, Machroes and Llanengan. The local public house is called the Sun.
Penmon is a promontory, village and ecclesiastical parish on the eastern tip of the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the town of Beaumaris. It is in the community of Llangoed. The name comes from Welsh: pen and Môn, which is the Welsh word for Anglesey. It is the site of a historic monastery and associated 12th-century church. Walls near the well next to the church may be part of the oldest remaining Christian building in Wales. Penmon also has an award-winning beach and the Anglesey Coastal Path follows its shores. Quarries in Penmon have provided stone for many important buildings and structures, including Birmingham Town Hall and the two bridges that cross the Menai Strait. The area is popular with locals and visitors alike for its monuments, tranquillity, bracing air and fine views of Snowdonia to the south across the Menai Strait.
Einion, the Welsh form of the Latin Ennianus, is a male Welsh given name and may refer to:
Cadfan, sometimes Anglicized as Gideon, was the 6th century founder-abbot of Tywyn and Bardsey, both in Gwynedd, Wales. He was said to have received the island of Bardsey from Einion Frenin, king of Llŷn, around 516 and to have served as its abbot until 542.
Llanaelhaearn is a village and community on the Llŷn Peninsula in the county of Gwynedd, Wales. The community includes the larger village of Trefor and has a population of 1,067, increasing to 1,117 at the 2011 Census.
Saint Aelhaiarn or Aelhaearn was a Welsh confessor and saint of the British Church. He was a disciple of Saint Beuno. His feast day was usually observed on 2 November, although it is sometimes recorded as the 1st and is no longer observed by either the Anglican or Catholic church in Wales.
St Cadwaladr's Church is a Grade I listed church in Llangadwaladr, Anglesey. The location of the current church was established in the 7th century by the Kings of Gwynedd, after whom the church is named, King Cadwaladr. The Church standing today was built in the 'T' shape perpendicular style. The nave is dated to the 12th to early 13th century and the chancel to the 14th. Later the chapels were built, the north in 1640 and the southern Bodowen Chapel in 1661. Then, during 1856 the church underwent restoration, at which time to south porch was added.