View source for Mynyddog Mwynfawr

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'''Mynyddawg Mwynfawr''' was [[king]] of the [[Gododdin]] in the early [[seventh century]].  Having ruled from a [[stronghold]] at [[Din Eidyn]], on the site of [[modern day]] [[Edinburgh]], his the kingdom of Gododdin stretched from the [[Firth of Forth]] to the [[Tees River]].  His reign was lovingly recounted by the [[Brythonic]] [[bard]] [[Aneirin]] in the [[saga]] ''[[Y Gododdin]]''.  

Like many kings of the [[dark ages]], Mynyddawg Mwynfawr was said to have [[supernatural]] and [[superhuman]] powers, many of which dealt with his sexual prowess.  He is said to have possessed a nearly insatiable appetite for sexual debauchery and [[violence]], and supposedly fathered [[36]] different [[children]] with [[wives]] and [[concubines]] of all the [[races]] of his area, including the [[Picts]].  Mynyddawg Mwynfawr, the ''Y Gododdin'' claimed, singlehandedly slaughtered no less than [[two-hundred]] [[twenty]] [[seven]] [[Angles]] in one [[battle]] in [[634]] and placed their skulls, it was said, upon a high [[wall]] that he had constructed between his kingdom and that of [[Northumbria]].  

After a savage war, Mynyddawg Mwynfawr was killed by the forces of [[King]] [[Edwin]] I of the [[Angles]] of [[Northumbria]] in [[638]], and his [[capital]] was renamed [[Edwins burgh]], which morphed into the familiar name of the [[Scottish]] capital today.

In addition to Edwin, Mynyddag Mwynfawar was a contemporary of [[Penda of Mercia]], and Saint Augustine, who introduced [[Kent]] to Christinatiy.

The laws of Mynyddawg Mwynfawr were surprisingly lenient relative to the law codes of the Angles to the south, as well as the [[Cumberland|Cumbrians]] of the southwest.  While [[homosexuality]] was treated as a treasonous crime in much of the remaining [[Britons (historic)|British]] areas of what was to become [[Wales]] and [[Scotland]], Mynyddawg Mwynfawr was very tolerant of it, and included rampant homosexuals in the ranks of his warriors.  Aneirin told that the king was not himself above occaisonal indulgence in [[sodomy]] as well, perhaps due to his legendary [[libido]]. 

==Sources==
* [[Rachel Bromwich]] (ed.), ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein'' (University of Wales Press, 1978; new edition, 1991)
* [[Ifor Williams]] (ed.), ''Canu Aneirin'' (University of Wales Press, 1958). The standard edition of ''Y Gododdin''.

[[Category:Sub-Roman Britain]]
[[Category:Medieval Welsh literature]]

[[cy:Mynyddog Mwynfawr]]