Saint Brychan Brycheiniog

Brychan ap Anlach of Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales. Brychan had Irish ancestry and came from Ireland to Wales, therefore his original name was likely to have been Irish prior to his being called Brychan which is of Welsh etymology. In some sources he is called Brocanus which is the Latinized version of the Irish name Broccan. He is also sometimes referred to as Braccan, Brachan, Brecin and Breccan. According to Celtic hagiography Brychan was born in Ireland, the son of a Prince Anlach Goronog mac Cormach, son of King Cormach mac Urb, and his wife, Marchel verch Tewdrig ap Teithfal, heiress of the Welsh kingdom of Garthmadrun (Brycheiniog), which the couple later inherited. Upon his father's death, he returned to Garthmadrun and changed its name to Brycheiniog. Brychan's name may be a Welsh version of the Irish name Broccán and that of his grandfather Coronac may represent Cormac. Brychan's education was entrusted to one Drichan. The Life of St. Cadoc by Lifris (c. 1100) portrays Brychan fighting Arthur, Cai and Bedwyr because of King Gwynllyw of Gwynllwg's abduction of his daughter St. Gwladys from his court in Talgarth. He is occasionally described as an undocumented saint but the traditional literature does not call him a saint, referring to him as a patriarch instead, and he has no churches named for him. A 15th-century stained glass window in the parish church at St Neot in Cornwall, supposedly depicts Brychan, seated and crowned, holding in his arms eleven children. This, however, has been described by a standard modern guide as "God with Souls in his lap". He is given a saint day on 6 April. According to Christian tradition, Brychan was married three times – to Prawst ferch Tydwal, Banhadlwedd ferch Banadi, and Gwladys – and had a very large family.