Gwen herself we recognise as S. Wenn; she was the mother of S. Cuby,
founder of Duloe and Tregony. Docwin or Cyngar, brother of Solomon, was
an abbot in Somersetshire. In his old age his nephew Cuby took his
uncle with him to Ireland, where he kept a cow for providing the old
man with her milk. A chief carried off the cow, and Cuby left Ireland
and brought the aged uncle back with him. Docwin or Cyngar was the
founder of S. Kew.
Again, another uncle of S. Cuby was Cado, Duke of Cornwall, who makes a
great figure in Geoffrey of Monmouth's fabulous history, and in the
Arthurian romances. He was father of Constantine, whom Gildas attacked
so venomously in his spiteful letter about 547, and who was converted
by S. Petrock in his old age. We have in Cornwall two of his
foundations and one in Devon.
After his conversion Constantine went to Ireland and entered a
monastery without disclosing who he was. He was discovered by accident;
for, having been set to grind corn with a hand-quern, he was overheard
laughing and saying, "What would my Cornish subjects think were they to
see me thus engaged?"
II. The second group of saints is of Irish-Welsh origin. The Welsh have
a droll legend to account for the Irish conquest of Brecknock.
Meurig, king of Garth-Madrin (a part of Brecknockshire), had a
daughter, Marchell, who said to her father in coaxing terms, "I _do_
want a fur cloak; the winters here are abominably cold."
"You shall have one," answered the father.
On cool reflection Meurig considered that fur cloaks were expensive
luxuries, far beyond the means of a petty Welsh prince.
So he said to Marchell, "My dear, I am going to marry you to a very
agreeable young man, Aulac" (Amalgaidh), "an Irish prince, and he has
ample means at his disposal to provide you with the desired fur cloak."
So Aulac was invited over, found Marchell charming, and carried her
back with him to Ireland.
Now whilst he was in Wales he had allowed his eyes to wander, and he
had seen that there was a good deal of rich and covetable land there.
So he speedily returned at the head of a host of Irish kernes, and
overran, not Brecknock alone, but all Cardigan, Carmarthen, and
Pembroke, and established himself as prince there.
Whether Marchell ever got her fur cloak history does not say.
Aulac and Marchell had a son, Brychan (the Speckled or Tartan-clad),
who has given his name to the county of Brecknockshire.
Brychan was a much-wived man, unless he be greatly misrepresented, and
had a numerous family.
Not only do the Welsh genealogists give him forty-nine children, but
the Irish, the Cornish, and the Bretons attribute to him several more.
The fact is that all Brychan's family, grandchildren as well as
children, have been run together, for all such as exercised tribal
rights formed the family clan.
In one of the S. Neot's windows may be seen good old Brychan seated on
a throne, holding a lapful of progeny before him, dense as young
rabbits.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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