Elen Luyddawg

Elen Luyddawg [ 'elen' lijðaug ] is a legendary figure from British mythology . In the Christian tradition she is passed down as Saint Helen of Caernarfon .

mythology

In the short story Breuddwyd Macsen ("Macsen's Dream"), recorded in the Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch ("The White Book of Rhydderch"), Elen Luyddawg is the daughter of the British King Eudaf Hen and the sister of Cynan . The Roman Emperor Macsen Wledig falls in love with a beautiful unknown woman because of a dreamy face, who his messengers finally find in Wales . After the conquest of Britain , he married Elen, made her his empress, gave Eudaf Hen the reign of Britain and stayed with her for seven years. When a counter-emperor for the Roman Empire is appointed in Rome , he is able to regain his crown with the help of Cynan.

Christian tradition

Saint Helen of Caernarfon is mentioned as the church founder of the late 4th century in Wales, where she is said to have introduced monasticism according to the Gallic rite. That is why she was made a saint. She was the wife of Magnus Maximus ( Macsen ) and mother of five children, including the sons Cystennin (also Custennin or Konstantin ) and Peblig ( Publicus , who is mentioned in the calendar of the Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru , the Church in Wales ). Although she lived sixty years after Helena , the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great , she was sometimes confused with Helena because of the sons' names. Helen is the patroness of Lanelan on the Gower Peninsula and the church of Penisa'r-waun near Caernarfon . Saint Gregory of Tours and the biographer Sulpicius Severus report that Maximus / Macsen and Helen / Elen visited Saint Martin of Tours on their trip to Gaul .

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Myths and legends from Wales and Britain
• Celtic women

literature

• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
• David Hugh Farmer: The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (4th ed). Oxford University Press, Oxford 1997, ISBN 0-19-280058-2 .
• Nigel Pennick: The Celtic Saints: An Illustrated and Authoritative Guide to These Extraordinary Men and Women. Sterling Pub., New York; Thorsons, London; 1997, ISBN 0-7225-3481-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture , p. 110.