O H1.VK)K\ OF 



Maelgwn to spend liis Christmas at liis court, was 

 imprisoned by liim in Dyi^anwy castle on account 

 of some dispute about religion and politics ; and 

 there are some poems extant, which were written 

 by Taliesin, who flourished at this period, in be- 

 half of his patron Elphin : by one of them it ap- 

 pears that he succeeded in procuring the release 

 of his friend from captivity, and he himself was 

 likewise admitted to the particular favour of the 

 king.' Maelgwn, wlio succeeded his father Cas- 

 wallon, A.D. 517, in the sovereignty of Gwynedd, 

 was elected king of the Britons, in A.D. 546, on 

 the death of king Arthur. Although the Saxons 

 were in possession of the greatest part of Britain, 

 and were encroaching on the retirement of the 

 Britons into Wales, we have no account of his 

 having fought with them ; but that he came into 

 contact with them mav be deduced from the no- 

 tice of the origin of the plague in the Triads. 

 In 552, he endowed the see of Bangor with lands 

 and franchises ; he likewise erected the town of 

 Bangor Vawr, and repaired Shrewsbury, and the 

 castle of Harlech. He is said, when at Bangor, 

 to liavr been struck with remorse for the crimes 



* See the orij^iiials in tlio Myvyiian Arcluvologv. Vol. I. 22, .'14. 07. 



