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Titre	Ancient Wales Studies- Beli Mawr and Llyr Llediath in Welsh Pedigrees

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Darrell Wolcott, Ancient Wales Studies,

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BELI MAWR AND LLYR LLEDIATH IN WELSH PEDIGREES By Darrell Wolcott A number of the Welsh royal families trace their ancestry to the man called Beli Mawr, whose pedigrees make him descend from the legendary Brutus of Troy.[1] We doubt his birth-name was Beli (BAY-lee), this being one of the major Celtic gods, the God of the Sun. But a real man of some name spawned the ensuing families, so we shall call him Beli Mawr for lack of sources citing his birth name. He should not be confused with the fictional Beli and wife, Don, found in Welsh mythology[2]. The earliest extant pedigree contains what we believe to be a later copyist's gloss which attempts to describe his son Aflech as "who was son of Beli Mawr and Anna, she said to be a cousin of Virgin Mary mother of our Lord Jesus Christ"[3]. Not only was the era of Beli Mawr 100 years too early for such a wife, there appear to be at least two (incorrect) reasons why some early writers thought the ensuing family was related to the Virgin Mary. In some very early texts, his name was abbreviated "B.M." which was wrongly thought to mean "Beata Maria", the blessed Mary. But more likely, his name was simply confused with the Biblical man, Heli, who is cited as the husband of Anna and father of Mary[4]. Geoffrey of Monmouth also referred to Beli Mawr as "Heli". In an earlier paper[5], we reproduced the pedigree which contains the 700 years of links from Beli Mawr back to the legendary Brutus, and we shall not dwell here on its authenticity. Rather we shall present the pedigrees of the major families which claim descent from him. The very early names are spelled several ways in the various sources; the orthography we use is our modern equivalents: 130 BC Beli Mawr l 100 Aflech (Lludd) l 70 Afallach ______________l________ l l 40 Owain 35 Euddolen l l 10 Bryddgwyn 5 Eudos l l 20AD Dubun 25AD Eneid l l 50 Onwedd 60 Eudeyrn l l 80 Anwerydd 90 Eudigant l _______l_________ l l l 110 Amgolydd 120 Rydeyrn 125 Deheuwaint l l l 140 Dwfyn 155 Rhifedel 155 Rydeyrn l l l 170 Doli 185 Gradd 185 Gwrtheyrn l l l 205 Cein 215 Urban 220 Cadeyrn l l l 235 Gwyndog 250 Telpwll 250 Rhuddfedel Frych l l ________l_______ l l l l 265 Iago 280 Deheuwaint l l l l l l 295 Tegid 310 Tecfan l l l l l l 325 Padarn Beisrudd 340 Coel Hen l l l l l 355 Edern(a) _____l l l l l 385 Cunedda 280 Gloyw Gwallt Hir(b) 285 Brydw l l 315 Guidolyn 315 Pasgen l l 350 Gwydol 350 Cadeyrn l l 385 Gwrtheyrn(c) 380 Cadell Ddyrnllwg (a) One of the earliest man in the extended family whose wife is known; he married a daughter of Coel Hen, a lady we date c. 370 (b) No sources cite the ancestry of Gloyw. See note (c) for our attaching him to this family (c) It is his position in the family timeline, and the fact that the only other man known to bear this name occurs in the pedigree of Cadell Ddyrnllwg, which makes our conjecture a reasonable guess. He also chose the names of ancestors of Cadellfor his sons' names. This man was known to history as Vortigern. You may have noted that we did not include another family said to have descended from Beli Mawr: the senior line which ruled the Catuvellauni tribe during the invasions of both Julius Caesar and Claudius. That branch became extinct in the male line early in the second century AD and was never involved with Welsh genealogies. It included Tecfan (Taciovanus), Cynfelyn (Cunobelinus) and Caradog (Caraticus), men familiar from Roman histories. The Welsh trace their ancestry to a younger son of Lludd called Afallach, a man who relocated to another part of the isle of Britain probably by marrying a princess from another tribe. It is not known where the early men in our chart made their homes. But by the time Rome left Britain in the early 5th century, two branches were seated in the far north (Cunedda and Coel Hen) and two in what is now Powys (Gwrtheyrn aka Vortigernand Cadell). Cunedda relocated to Gwynedd where his family had intermarried with men descended from Llyr Llediath and he was the founder of the First Royal Dynasty of Gwynedd. Men descended from Coel Hen were called "The Men of The North"[6] and they did not migrate to Wales until the Saxons forced them from their lands in the 7th century. A man of that line founded the Second Royal Dynasty of Gwynedd in the 9th century[7]. We think a double marriage united the two Powys families in the 5th century[8]; the First Powys Dynasty was descended from Cadell Ddyrnllwg, while the Second Powys Dynasty descended from Cassanauth Wledig, a man we believe was a grandson of Gwrtheyrn (Vortigern). In the first century AD, the portion of Wales west and south of the territory later called Powys was ruled by descendants of Llyr Llediath. He is another man of unknown birth name, simply known to us as "the man of the seas who spoke with a foreign accent". We suspect he was a Menapii sea trader who spoke Goidelic Celt. His son is called Bran, but both he and his father were simply equated to Celtic gods of those names. It was Caradog ap Bran who was defeated by the Romans in 51AD and taken to Rome as a prisoner. By the time Rome left Britain early in the 5th century, this family held virtually all the coastal lands circling Wales on three sides. Thereafter, it intermarried with the descendants of Cunedda and, by the 7th century, ruled only the southeast part of Wales. The extant pedigrees of Llyr Llediath are almost certainly corrupt[9]; they seek to connect him to Brutus of Troy but lack about 15 generations to be credible. The families which claim descent from him, however, can present chronologically stablepedigrees: 60BC Llyr Llediath l 30 Bran l 5AD Caradog l 35 Cyllin l 65 Owain l 100 Meirchion Fawr Filwr l 130 Gorug l 160 Gwrddwyfn l 1st wife=======Einudd======2nd wife l 190 l l __________l__________ 220 Caradog(a) l l l l l l 230 Arthfael(b) Eudaf Hen(c) Gereint(d) 230 235 (a) King of Demetae, the westernmost point in Britain both north and south of the Bristol Channel. Geoffrey of Monmouth calls him Duke of Cornwall and advisor to Eudaf Hen. Probably the father of usurping Emperor Carausius (b) Ancestor of the Gwent Dynasty which included Meurig ap Tewdrig and Morgan ap Athrwys (c) King of Cernyw in north Wales and father of Elen; his great-g...

BELI MAWR AND LLYR LLEDIATH IN WELSH PEDIGREES
By Darrell Wolcott

A number of the Welsh royal families trace their ancestry to the man called Beli Mawr, whose pedigrees make him descend from the legendary Brutus of Troy.[1] We doubt his birth-name was Beli (BAY-lee), this being one of the major Celtic gods, the God of the Sun. But a real man of some name spawned the ensuing families, so we shall call him Beli Mawr for lack of sources citing his birth name. He should not be confused with the fictional Beli and wife, Don, found in Welsh mythology[2].

The earliest extant pedigree contains what we believe to be a later copyist's gloss which attempts to describe his son Aflech as "who was son of Beli Mawr and Anna, she said to be a cousin of Virgin Mary mother of our Lord Jesus Christ"[3]. Not only was the era of Beli Mawr 100 years too early for such a wife, there appear to be at least two (incorrect) reasons why some early writers thought the ensuing family was related to the Virgin Mary. In some very early texts, his name was abbreviated "B.M." which was wrongly thought to mean "Beata Maria", the blessed Mary. But more likely, his name was simply confused with the Biblical man, Heli, who is cited as the husband of Anna and father of Mary[4]. Geoffrey of Monmouth also referred to Beli Mawr as "Heli".

In an earlier paper[5], we reproduced the pedigree which contains the 700 years of links from Beli Mawr back to the legendary Brutus, and we shall not dwell here on its authenticity. Rather we shall present the pedigrees of the major families which claim descent from him. The very early names are spelled several ways in the various sources; the orthography we use is our modern equivalents:

130 BC Beli Mawr
l
100 Aflech (Lludd)
l
70 Afallach
______________l________
l l
40 Owain 35 Euddolen
l l
10 Bryddgwyn 5 Eudos
l l
20AD Dubun 25AD Eneid
l l
50 Onwedd 60 Eudeyrn
l l
80 Anwerydd 90 Eudigant
l _______l_________
l l l
110 Amgolydd 120 Rydeyrn 125 Deheuwaint
l l l
140 Dwfyn 155 Rhifedel 155 Rydeyrn
l l l
170 Doli 185 Gradd 185 Gwrtheyrn
l l l
205 Cein 215 Urban 220 Cadeyrn
l l l
235 Gwyndog 250 Telpwll 250 Rhuddfedel Frych
l l ________l_______
l l l l
265 Iago 280 Deheuwaint l l
l l l l
295 Tegid 310 Tecfan l l
l l l l
325 Padarn Beisrudd 340 Coel Hen l l
l l l
355 Edern(a) _____l l
l l l
385 Cunedda 280 Gloyw Gwallt Hir(b) 285 Brydw
l l
315 Guidolyn 315 Pasgen
l l
350 Gwydol 350 Cadeyrn
l l
385 Gwrtheyrn(c) 380 Cadell Ddyrnllwg

(a) One of the earliest man in the extended family whose wife is known; he married a daughter of Coel Hen, a lady we date c. 370
(b) No sources cite the ancestry of Gloyw. See note (c) for our attaching him to this family
(c) It is his position in the family timeline, and the fact that the only other man known to bear this name occurs in the pedigree of Cadell Ddyrnllwg, which makes our conjecture a reasonable guess. He also chose the names of ancestors of Cadellfor his sons' names. This man was known to history as Vortigern.

You may have noted that we did not include another family said to have descended from Beli Mawr: the senior line which ruled the Catuvellauni tribe during the invasions of both Julius Caesar and Claudius. That branch became extinct in the male line early in the second century AD and was never involved with Welsh genealogies. It included Tecfan (Taciovanus), Cynfelyn (Cunobelinus) and Caradog (Caraticus), men familiar from Roman histories. The Welsh trace their ancestry to a younger son of Lludd called Afallach, a man who relocated to another part of the isle of Britain probably by marrying a princess from another tribe.

It is not known where the early men in our chart made their homes. But by the time Rome left Britain in the early 5th century, two branches were seated in the far north (Cunedda and Coel Hen) and two in what is now Powys (Gwrtheyrn aka Vortigernand Cadell). Cunedda relocated to Gwynedd where his family had intermarried with men descended from Llyr Llediath and he was the founder of the First Royal Dynasty of Gwynedd. Men descended from Coel Hen were called "The Men of The North"[6] and they did not migrate to Wales until the Saxons forced them from their lands in the 7th century. A man of that line founded the Second Royal Dynasty of Gwynedd in the 9th century[7]. We think a double marriage united the two Powys families in the 5th century[8]; the First Powys Dynasty was descended from Cadell Ddyrnllwg, while the Second Powys Dynasty descended from Cassanauth Wledig, a man we believe was a grandson of Gwrtheyrn (Vortigern).

In the first century AD, the portion of Wales west and south of the territory later called Powys was ruled by descendants of Llyr Llediath. He is another man of unknown birth name, simply known to us as "the man of the seas who spoke with a foreign accent". We suspect he was a Menapii sea trader who spoke Goidelic Celt. His son is called Bran, but both he and his father were simply equated to Celtic gods of those names. It was Caradog ap Bran who was defeated by the Romans in 51AD and taken to Rome as a prisoner. By the time Rome left Britain early in the 5th century, this family held virtually all the coastal lands circling Wales on three sides. Thereafter, it intermarried with the descendants of Cunedda and, by the 7th century, ruled only the southeast part of Wales.

The extant pedigrees of Llyr Llediath are almost certainly corrupt[9]; they seek to connect him to Brutus of Troy but lack about 15 generations to be credible. The families which claim descent from him, however, can present chronologically stablepedigrees:

60BC Llyr Llediath
l
30 Bran
l
5AD Caradog
l
35 Cyllin
l
65 Owain
l
100 Meirchion Fawr Filwr
l
130 Gorug
l
160 Gwrddwyfn
l
1st wife=======Einudd======2nd wife
l 190 l
l __________l__________
220 Caradog(a) l l l
l l l
230 Arthfael(b) Eudaf Hen(c) Gereint(d)
230 235

(a) King of Demetae, the westernmost point in Britain both north and south of the Bristol Channel. Geoffrey of Monmouth calls him Duke of Cornwall and advisor to Eudaf Hen. Probably the father of usurping Emperor Carausius
(b) Ancestor of the Gwent Dynasty which included Meurig ap Tewdrig and Morgan ap Athrwys
(c) King of Cernyw in north Wales and father of Elen; his great-g...

Source: Ancient Wales Studies- Beli Mawr and Llyr Llediath in Welsh Pedigrees

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