Cunedda Gwledig

Much has been written about this Cunedda who came to Gwynedd in North West Wales from among the men of the North. The inhabitants of Southern Scotland. Cunedda, the Atavus of Maelgwn Gwyneed came with at least 8 sons and maybe up to 12 and one grandson from Manaw Gododdin and drove the irish out of Gwynedd. The only place where Cunedda's own name is found is in Allt Cunedda near Cydweli, considered amoung the found-fathers of the Welsh Nation. Cunedda's family had been important in Scotland for generations. His fathers name was Edern, His grandfather was Padarn Peisrudd and his great grandfather Tegid. Cunedda gave his sons Latin names. Called Gwledig, or Over-King, the perpetuator of the command and authority of the Dux Britanniarum. He was the first native ruler of the Cymry after the retirement of the Romans in 410. His power extended from Carlisle to Wearmouth, his court being held at the former place. His retinue consisted of 900 horses, and he wore the golden belt and other insignia of the office of Over-King. He was a fervent Catholic and converted his subjects to Christianity; his descendants were, many of them, ecclesiastics, who organised the Church in his Kingdom. Cunedda Wledig (or Cunedag) hailed from Manau Gododdin, a sub-division of the greater Kingdom of Gododdin (Lothian) in modern Scotland. His capital may have been in the Clackmannan region.  His father, grandfather and great grandfather bore Roman names and were probably confederate allies of the Roman Administration living just north of Hadrian's Wall.  The appendage to Paternus' name is particularly telling. Like many prominent men of his era, Cunedda claimed descent from Beli Mawr, the Celtic Sun-God, throught his son, Lludd Llaw Ereint, God of Healing and grandson, Afallach, God of the Underworld.

Excerts from "The Flame-Bearers Of Welsh History"
That man is Cunedda the First, or Cunedda the Great, for great he must have been.  The oldest piece of literature we have is the poem in which his bard bewails his death, singing of his might and his conquest of Bernicia, when he captured the great Southern Wall, and so made himself King of Upper Britain. It is likely he was a Pict.  But it must be remembered that up there, between the Walls, a Pict might be either an Ivernian, or a Goidel, or a Brython, so far as race went.  It only meant that he belonged to the free tribes from beyond the Northern Wall, some of which still practised tattooing.
The old province between the Walls had become alive with little states, homes of raiders and killers.  The Picts of Galloway had marked themselves off from the rest.  The Picts of Manau of the Gododin (meaning the Southern Shore of the Forth) were leaders of hordes from the wilderness behind them.  The sea rovers had fortified the island of Inchkeith in the Forth.  Whichever way the Latin looked, with his face turned north or west from the watchtowers of Carlisle, there the gleam of weapons flashed across the land by day, and the glare of burnings reddened the clouds of night.
There is small doubt but that it was out of the gleam and the glare that Cunedda came to the throne as king, seizing the office of the old Duke of Britain.  The greater the danger is, the greater the joy of shattering it.  The more terrible the threatening of fate, the sweeter the pleasure of defeating it.  It was by mastering all the ferocious hordes of the invaders that Cunedda could capture and keep the power.  Doubtless he was come of the blood of their own ancient kings, either Brython or Goidel, but he seized the Roman office too, and thereby stepped into the history of the world.

He lived in the same time with that of Vortigern of Projecting Lips, who was driven from his throne in the south.  But while the one was losing his throne, the other was settling himself so firmly in the land that his blood was never to be extinguished in it again.

Thus, Cunedda seized the office of Dux Britanniarum, or Duke of Britain. Thus he kept it, having his royal court at Carlisle on the Southern Wall, and his sons keeping his frontiers.  All the old splendour of the Ruler of Britain was seen again.
He wore the golden belt of the office, and had the old plume of feathers carried before him when he walked.  The old retinue of nine hundred horse went with him when he rode, and the old red golden dragon was borne above him when he went to war, as the silver dragon went with the Count of Britain in the South.  And when you see the Red Dragon Rampant, on a green ground, remember that an ancient poem, written a century after Cunedda's death, speaks of the green standard of his descendants.  Cunedda, then, was the second of the flame-bearers.

Excerts from "Land Of My Fathers" by Gwynfor Evans

It may have been because of the danger that the Irish might take over the country that Cunedda moved down around 300-400 AD from Manaw Gododdin, near Stirling in Scotland; perhaps indeed he was directed to Wales for this purpose as one of the Dukes of Britain.  Cunedda and his army probably came by sea, for it was very difficult to travel through Lancashire with its bogs, forests and large rivers.  According to the history given by Nennius, it was the coming of Cunedda with his eight sons and grandson at the turn of the fourth century which was the most important event in the formation of Wales since the first century.  Assuming that Nennius was correct, it is the memory of the sons-including Ceredig and Edern, and the grandson Meirion-which still lives in the names of districts; but the only place where Cunedda's own name is found is in Allt Cunedda near Cydweli.  The family of Gwynedd, the principal royal line of Wales, claimed descent from Cunedda through Maelgwn Gwynedd, his great grandson, down to Prince Dafydd who was executed in Shrewsbury in 1283 - a pedigree of more than seven centuries.  It is Cunedda Wledig, a Brython of Pictish descent, who came to Wales from Scotland, who is mainly responsible for the Welshness of Wales.  His family had been important in Scotland for generations: his father's name was Edern, his grandfather was Padarn Peisrudd, and his great-grandfather Tegid.  The Latin forms of the names-Eternus, Paternus, Tacitus - suggest Roman associations, and this is made clearer by the word Peisrudd in the grandfather's name, the pais rudd or red cloak showing Roman office.

Cunedda gave his sons Latin names.  It is possible that he was called upon to defend Wales by Mascen or by the able Roman general Stilicho, was was reorganising the defence of England about this time.  Like thier father, two of Cunedda's sons and his grandson had Christian names.  It can reasonably be deduced from this that Cunedda was a Christian.  This could have been an additional inducement for sending him to Wales where his coming marks the opening of the early Middle Ages.  He must have been an able solider and leader to have been able to organise a successful invasion and settlement from so far away, and to establish foundations which remained strong for so many centuries.