Cuneglas

Cuneglasus (fl. 540) was a prince of Rhos in Gwynedd, Wales, in the late 5th or early 6th century. He was castigated for various sins by Gildas in De Excidio Britanniae. The Welsh form Cynlas Goch is attested in several genealogies of the Rhos royal line. The two names are assumed to refer to the same ruler.

Cuneglasus and Gildas Cuneglasus is one of the five "tyrants" of Britain denounced by Gildas in his c. early sixth century CE work On the Ruin of Britain. Gildas says of him:

"You bear, you rider and ruler of many, and guider of the chariot which is the receptacle of the bear"; "You contempter of God and vilifier of his order"; "You tawny butcher, as in the Roman tongue thy name signifies"; one who raises war against men, indeed against his own countrymen, as well as against God; one who has "thrown out of doors your wife" and lustfully desires "her detestable sister who had vowed unto God, the everlasting chastity of widowhood".

The first phrase is notably obscure. The Latin ("container; refuge") would literally describe a bear's lair or cage, which seems unlikely. Bartrum gives the translation as "driver of a chariot belonging to a bear's den". Those seeking an identification of Arthur with Cuneglasus's putative father Owain have seen it as reference to Cuneglasus's guiding the chariot containing his father's casket. However the JC disagrees with the other sources on the exact relationship between the three men. Cynlas' cognomen, "Goch", is only mentioned in the ABT. This is also the only source which specifically connects him with Rhos. The Welsh genealogies also mention a brother of Owain Danwyn and paternal uncle to Cynlas: Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion. Maelgwn is known as a son of Cadwallon, and consequently a paternal cousin of Cynlas.

Cynlas may have been the eponymous figure behind the ancient township of Cynlas, located in Llandderfel, Penllyn.

A grave of Cynlas is mentioned in a 1745 source, as located in Bangor Church, Caernarvonshire (Caernarfonshire).