#13 - HELIG AP GLANNOG
Bartrum suggests the pedigree
of this man as:
"Helic ap Glannoc ap Gwgon gleddyfrudd
ap Caradoc vreichvras"
In his notes to the pedigree,
he says:
"Helig ap Glannog is traditionally
associated with lands inundated by the sea, see TYP p. xci and Bonedd y Saint #42. He appears as the ancestor of
several saints in Arllechwedd. Preistholm or Puffin Island was known as Ynys Lannog as early as c. 1100. See Annales
Cambriae s.a. 629. For the development of the legend, see F.J. North, Sunken Cities. The
pedigree given here does not occur in Bonedd y Saint as suggested by North"
"The tribe of Helic ap Kelynnoc appears
in Ieuan Brechfa's list of the Pymtheg Llwyth Gwynedd. See NLW Journal XII p. 232. This perhaps refers to the
tribe of Llywarch Howlbwrch"
"Gwgon Gleddyfrudd was associated
with Gwaith Perllan Fangor. i.e. the battle of Chester, 616, in TYP #60. An earlier pedigree derives him from Ceredig
ap Cunedda and he was traditionally associated with Ceredigion."
Had Bartrum constructed a workable
timeline for Heilig ap Glannog and the families which descended from him, he would have realized his suggested pedigree was
too short[1]. Other equally credible pedigrees[2] insert "Gwaithfoed" between Glannog and Gwgan Gleddyfrudd, which makes
the pedigree chronologically stable.
The probably-legendary Gwgan Gleddyfrudd
associated with the 613 Battle of Chester might have been cast as a character of Ceredigion in the lore to which Bartrum
and the Triads refer; he is clearly NOT the Gwgan found in the pedigrees of Heilig ap Glannog.[3]
In the latter part of the 10th
century, Heilig ap Glannog was the Lord all the lands which formed the north coast of mainland Gwynedd, extending
from the Menai straits (then merely a river) to the Clwyd[4]. This included Arllechwedd Uchaf and Isaf, Nant
Conwy, Creuddyn, Rhos, and Rhufoniog. About 990, a seaquake raised the level of the adjoining Irish Sea which inundated
the low coastal lands, leaving the high rocky peninsula of Creuddyn jutting alone into the sea. The Menai was
widened at the north and its junction with the sea was turned into a large shallow bay.
This extensive lordship was divided
among the sons of Heilig:
a. Gwrydr Goch born c. 980 received
the lordship of Rhos/Rhufoniog and was the father of Llywarch Hwlbwrch and, we believe, the Cadwgan who was ancestor
to Cynfelyn ap Dolffyn of Maesmawr in Arwystli and the Cadwgan ap Bleddyn better known as Cadwgan of Mannau.
b. Pasgen born c. 985 received the
lordship of Arllechwedd Uchaf/Isaf and Creuddyn; his descendants included Iarddur ap Cynddelw, Maelog Crwm and Madog
Gloddiarth,
c. Rychwyn born c. 985 received
the lordship of Nant Conwy and was the ancestor of Nefydd Hardd.
The complete ancestry of Heilig
ap Glannog back to Cunedda is given in the discussion of #12 - Braint Hir in this series on Patriarchs.
