# Cwyllog

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{{short description|Holy woman in 6th century Wales}}
Saint '''Cwyllog''' (or '''Cywyllog''')<ref name=Matron>Baring-Gould, p. 279.</ref> was a Christian holy woman who was active in [Anglesey](/source/Anglesey), Wales, in the early 6th century. The daughter, sister and niece of saints, she is said to have founded [St Cwyllog's Church, Llangwyllog](/source/St_Cwyllog's_Church%2C_Llangwyllog), in the middle of Anglesey, where a church is still dedicated to her.

==Life and commemoration==
Little is known for certain about Cwyllog (sometimes written as Cywyllog); her dates of birth and death are not given in the sources.  She is said to have been one of the daughters of [St Caw](/source/Caw_(saint)). He was a king in northern Britain who lost his lands and sought safety with his family in [Anglesey](/source/Anglesey), where the ruler [Maelgwn Gwynedd](/source/Maelgwn_Gwynedd) gave him land in the north-east of the island, the district known as [Twrcelyn](/source/Twrcelyn_(commote)).<ref name=Caw/> Other saintly relatives of Cwyllog included [St Iestyn](/source/Iestyn_(saint)) and [St Cyngar](/source/Cyngar_of_Llangefni) (brothers of Caw) and her sisters Cain, Peithian and Gwenafwy as well as various brothers including [St Gildas](/source/Gildas) (although the number of Caw's children varies from 10 to 21 between different manuscripts).<ref name=Caw>Baring-Gould, pp. 92–94</ref><ref>Baring-Gould, p. 55.</ref> Cwyllog is said to have been the  wife of [Mordred](/source/Mordred) (or Medrod), the treacherous son and nephew of [King Arthur](/source/King_Arthur) and mother of his sons.  According to the 19th-century Welsh antiquarian [Angharad Llwyd](/source/Angharad_Llwyd), in her ''History of Anglesey'', Cwyllog decided to follow a religious life after her husband's death in battle against Arthur at the [Battle of Camlann](/source/Battle_of_Camlann) in 537.<ref name=Matron/>

She is said to have founded [St Cwyllog's Church, Llangwyllog](/source/St_Cwyllog's_Church%2C_Llangwyllog), towards the middle of Anglesey but within the area granted to her father, in the 6th century.<ref name=Matron/><ref name=Lewis>{{cite book|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47852#s11|title=A Topographical Dictionary of Wales |year=1849|chapter=Llangwillog (Llan-Gwillog)|access-date=17 June 2010|last=Lewis|first=Samuel|author-link=Samuel Lewis (publisher)}}</ref> The current church there (which is still dedicated to her) is of a later date, with the walls possibly dating from about 1200.<ref name=List>{{cite web|url=http://jura.rcahms.gov.uk/cadw/cadw_eng.php?id=5394|title=Church of St Cwyllog|author=Cadw|author-link=Cadw|publisher=Historic Wales|year=2009|access-date=15 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929074609/http://jura.rcahms.gov.uk/cadw/cadw_eng.php?id=5394|archive-date=29 September 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>  Her [feast day](/source/feast_day) there has been recorded as being 7 January, although this date does not appear in the Welsh calendars of saints.<ref name=Matron/>

According to critics, Cwyllog may be a fictional creation. Her name could be a back-formation from the place-name Llangwyllog. The original saint of that location would be Gwrddelw, son of Caw, whose feast day is also 7 January. Cwyllog's connection to Mordred originated with readings of [Hector Boece](/source/Hector_Boece), who said Mordred's wife was a daughter of Gawolane. Some scholars identified "Gawolane" as Caw of Prydyn, which caused Welsh antiquary [Lewis Morris](/source/Lewis_Morris_(1701%E2%80%931765)) to list [Gildas](/source/Gildas) as Medrawd's brother-in-law and, eventually, “Kwyllog” as Medrawd's wife.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000|last=Bartrum|first=Peter C.|publisher=National Library of Wales|year=1993|isbn=0907158730|pages=180}}</ref>

==See also==
Other Anglesey saints commemorated in local churches include:
*[St Eleth](/source/Elaeth) at [St Eleth's Church, Amlwch](/source/St_Eleth's_Church%2C_Amlwch)
*[St Iestyn](/source/Iestyn_(saint)) at [St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn](/source/St_Iestyn's_Church%2C_Llaniestyn)
*[St Peulan](/source/Peulan) at [St Peulan's Church, Llanbeulan](/source/St_Peulan's_Church%2C_Llanbeulan)
*[St Tyfrydog](/source/Tyfrydog) at [St Tyfrydog's Church, Llandyfrydog](/source/St_Tyfrydog's_Church%2C_Llandyfrydog)

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist|2}}

;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/livesofbritishsa02bariuoft|title=The lives of the British Saints : the Saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish Saints as have dedications in Britain (volume 2)|author-link=Sabine Baring-Gould|first=Sabine |last=Baring-Gould|year=1907|access-date=15 June 2010|publisher=[Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion](/source/Honourable_Society_of_Cymmrodorion)}}
{{refend}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Medieval Welsh saints
Category:6th-century Christian saints
Category:Christian female saints of the Middle Ages

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cwyllog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cwyllog) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cwyllog?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.