Maelgwn Gwynedd

Maelgwn Gwynedd was King of Gwynedd during the early 6th century. Surviving records suggest he held a pre-eminent position among the Brythonic kings in Wales and their allies in the "Old North" along the Scottish coast. Maelgwn was a generous supporter of Christianity, funding the foundation of churches throughout Wales and even far beyond the bounds of his own kingdom. Nonetheless, his principal legacy today is the scathing account of his behavior recorded in De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae by Gildas, who considered Maelgwn a usurper and reprobate. He was the son of Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion and great-grandson of Cunedda. According to legend, Maelgwn died of the "yellow plague", debated among historians as either the delayed arrival of Plague of Justinian or an extreme variant of Relapsing fever which causes jaundice, and was buried on Ynys Seiriol, off the eastern tip of Anglesey.