Editing Cadwaladr (section)

== Early mythic significance ==
Cadwaladr's name is invoked in a number of literary works such as in the ''[[Armes Prydein]]'', an early 10th-century prophetic poem from the [[Book of Taliesin]]. While the poem's "Cadwaladr" is an emblematic figure, scholars have taken the view that the Cadwaladr of ''Armes Prydein'' refers to the historical son of Cadwallon and that already at this stage he "played a messianic role" of some sort, but "its precise nature remains uncertain".<ref>{{harvcolnb|Wright|1992}}</ref> He is typically paired with [[Conan Meriadoc]], the founder of British settlements in Brittany. Conan and Cadwaladr are identified as warriors who will return to restore British power. ''Armes Prydein'' says, "Splendour of Cadwaladr, shining and bright, defence of armies in desolate places. Truly he [Conan] will come across the waves, the promise of prophecy in the beginning."<ref name = elis/>

According to Elissa R. Henken, Cadwaladr was well established as a "prophesied deliverer" of the Britons before Geoffrey's version of his life altered its ending. This may be because he was seen as the man who would carry forward the achievement of his father Cadwallon, the last great war leader of the Britons: "it is quite likely that the father and son became confused in folk memory, a fusion enhanced by Cadwaladr, whose name is a compound meaning 'battle-leader', also having assumed his father's epithet Bendigaid (Blessed)."<ref name = elis>{{harvcolnb|Henken|1996}}</ref>