Cadwallon Lawhir

{{Short description|King of Gwynedd from c. 500 to c. 534}}

{{Use British English|date=July 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}

Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion (c. 460 – c. 534),{{cite book |author=Michael Ashley |title=British Monarchs: The Complete Genealogy, Gazetteer, and Biographical Encyclopedia of the Kings & Queens of Britain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tz6gAAAAMAAJ |year=1998 |publisher=Robinson |isbn=978-1-85487-504-4 |page=139}} usually known as Cadwallon Lawhir ("Long Hand") and also called Cadwallon I by some historians, was a king of Gwynedd around 500.

Cadwallon was the son of Einion Yrth ap Cunedda and Prawst ferch Deithlyn.{{cite book |author=William Jenkins Rees |title=Lives of the Cambro British Saints |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmtlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA593 |year=1853 |publisher=W. Rees |page=593}} He is often considered to have been king of Gwynedd from his father's death in about 500 until his own death in 534.

He is credited with having driven the last Irish settlers off the island of Anglesey.{{cite book |author=David A. Pretty |title=Anglesey: The Concise History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1xnAAAAMAAJ |year=2005 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=978-0-7083-1943-7 |page=8}} According to one tradition, Cadwallon and his army padlocked their own feet to their stirrups so that they could not be tempted to flee the battle.{{cite book |author=Elisabeth Inglis-Jones |title=The Story of Wales |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gROiiLpkiz8C |year=1955 |publisher=Faber & Faber |isbn=9787250010744}} Cadwallon's opponent, the leader of the Irish of Angelsey, was said to be Serigi Wyddel (Serigi "The Irishman"), and the final battle was fought at either Cerrig y Gwyddyl or Llan y Gwyddyl near Holyhead.{{cite book |last1=Bartrum |first1=Peter C. |title=A Welsh Classical Dictionary |date=1993 |publisher=National Library of Wales |page=671}}{{cite web |author=Cambrian Chronicles |title=The Mystery of Britain's Irish King |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc6azLydvlc |website=YouTube |access-date=2 November 2024 |date=31 October 2024}}

Cadwallon's epithet, Lawhir, may possibly refer to him having longer than usual arms or might also be a metaphor, referring to the extent of his authority. The late medieval poet Iolo Goch claims that he could "reach a stone from the ground to kill a raven, without bending his back, because his arm was as long as his side to the ground."{{cite book |author1=Sabine Baring-Gould |author2=John Fisher |title=The Lives of the British Saints |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-G4AAAAAMAAJ |year=1908 |publisher=For the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, by C. J. Clark |pages=46–47}}

According to Gildas, Cadwallon's son, Maelgwn, murdered his uncle in order to ascend the throne, which suggests that the actual king of Gwynedd was not Cadwallon but his brother Owain Danwyn.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}