Sawyl Benn Ychel or Ben Uchel ("high-head", "arrogant"), also known as Samuil Penissel ("low-head", "humble"), was a Brythonic king of the sub-Roman period, who appears in old Welsh genealogies and the Welsh Triads.

The genealogies[1], in which he appears under both epithets, make him the son of Pabo Post Prydain, a descendant of Coel Hen, the presumed king of the Old North. Some historians, notably John Morris, locate Sawyl in the south Pennines area (the modern Peak District, a name which may date from its settlement by the Anglian Pecset).[2] He is listed as one of the 'Three Arrogant Men of the Island of Britain' in the Welsh Triads.[3]

Other genealogies say he was the father of St. Asaph. Elis Geruffydd's Chronicle says that his daughter married Maelgwn Gwynedd. [4] An Irish genealogy says that a "Samuel Chendisel"[5] married Deichter, daughter of Muiredach Muinderg, the king of Ulster, and they had two sons: Sanctan, who became bishop of Cil-dá-les and founded Kilnasantan in County Dublin, and Matóc Ailithir. The Irish Liber Hymnorum confirms that both Sanctan and Matóc came to Ireland from Britain.[6]

According to the Welsh Life of Saint Cadoc, a king named Sawyl Penuchel held court at Allt Cunedda near Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire. Cadoc pursued Sawyl's warband after they stole food from Llancarfan Abbey. He found them sleeping under a tree and cut off their hair, before fleeing to a nearby bog. When Sawyl and his men gave chase, they all drowned in the bog.[7]. Whether this is the same king, having fled to Wales after his northern kingdom was overrun by the Saxons, a different man of the same name, or simply an error by the composer of the Life, is unclear. This Sawyl was supposedly buried in nearby mound known as Banc Benuchel. A body was excavated there in 1850, covered with a hexagonal stone imitating a battle-shield.[8]

Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his History of the Kings of Britain (1136), uses the name Samuil Penessil for a legendary pre-Roman king of Britain, preceded by Redechius and succeeded by Pir.[9] William R. Cooper in his translation of Brut y Bryttaniait argues that Geoffrey of Monmouth was mistaken in his translation of the original works from which he drew his Historia:

Geoffrey of Monmouth (3:19) misreads his text by dividing this king’s name into two. Latinizing Sawl as Samuil (misreading the w for mui) and benn Ychel as Penissel, he makes the fictitious Penissel to reign after Samuil, the mistake being further exasperated by misreading the Latin cui samuil, cui penissel. It is further confused by the issel element meaning ‘humble’ (perhaps an intended irony), and the ychel element meaning ‘proud’, for Sawl benn Ychel (or Sawyl ben Uchel) is listed in the Welsh Triads (23) as one of the three ‘haughty’ men of the island of Britain (tri thrahauc enys prydein).[1]

References

  1. ^ Harleian Genealogies 19; The Descent of the Men of the North at Celtic Literature Collective
  2. ^ Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein p. 256; John Morris (1973), The Age of Arthur pp. 214-215; Ford, Sawyl Penuchel; Post-Roman Celtic Kingdoms: the Peak
  3. ^ Rachel Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, third edition, 2006, p. 45
  4. ^ Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, p. 496
  5. ^ Chend-isel is the Irish equivalent of the Welsh Pen-issel, "low-head".
  6. ^ Peter C. Bartrum (1993), A Welsh Classical Dictionary, National Library of Wales, pp. 580-581.
  7. ^ Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein p. 496; David Nash Ford, Sawyl Penuchel at Early British kingdoms
  8. ^ Ford, Sawyl Penuchel
  9. ^ History of the Kings of Britain 3.19 at Wikisource. Lewis Thorpe's translation for Penguin Classics (p. 105) gives two kings, Samuil followed by Penessil.
Preceded byRedechius Legendary kings of Britain Succeeded byPir of the Britons
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