Editing Cadwaladr (section)

== Cadwaladr and Cædwalla ==
Geoffrey's account of the pilgrimage of Cadwaladr is believed to derive from a confusion between Cadwaladr and his near-contemporary [[Cædwalla of Wessex]] (reigned 685 – 688). He also conflates Cadwaladr's son Ivor with Cædwalla's successor [[Ine of Wessex|Ine]].<ref>{{harvcolnb|Haddan|Stubbs|1869|p=202}}, in the footnote explanations.</ref> According to [[Bede]] Cædwalla, king of Wessex, renounced his throne and went to Rome in 688 to be baptised by the pope, dying soon afterwards. Ine took the throne in 689.

The argument that Geoffrey confused Cadwaladr with Cædwalla acquired significance in the late 1570s. At that time, when 
[[St. Peter's Basilica|St. Peter's]] in [[Rome]] was being rebuilt, the tombstone of Caedwalla was found, confirming Bede's story that he had died in Rome. Welshmen in Rome, seeking to validate Geoffrey, claimed that the tomb was that of Cadwaladr. This raised the prospect that his sacred bones could be returned to Britain in fulfilment of the prophecy.

The English critics stated that Geoffrey had simply mixed up the two kings and that Cadwaladr's pilgrimage was thus pure fiction.<ref name = "nice"/> According to Jason Nice, the Welsh "attempt to "prove" the legend of Cadwaladr in Rome belonged to a longstanding tradition that held that Wales' special relationship with Rome could reinforce Welsh identity and protect Welshmen from English aggression", a belief that was grounded in the supposed prophecy given to Cadwaladr.<ref name = "nice"/> [[Raphael Holinshed]] summed up the English view in his 1577 ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles|Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland]]'':

{{blockquote|But herein appeareth the error of the British writers in taking one for another, by reason of resemblance of names, for where Ceadwalla king of the [[Wessex|Westsaxons]] about that time moved of a religious devotion, after he was converted to the faith, went unto Rome, and was there baptised, or else confirmed of the foresaid [[Pope Sergius I]], and shortly after departed this life in that city in the foresaid year of 689 or thereabouts. The Welshmen count him to be their Cadwallader: which to be true is very unlike by that which may be gathered out the learned writings of divers good and approved authors.<ref>[http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/holinshed/texts.php?text1=1577_0187 Holinshed, R.; ''The Historie of Englande'', 1577, Volume 1, p. 183.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220000701/http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/holinshed/texts.php?text1=1577_0187 |date=2015-02-20}}</ref>}}

Also traced to Geoffrey's fertile imagination are stories of Ivor ap Alan and [[Ine of Wessex|Ynyr]] travelling from Brittany to Britain.<ref>{{harvcolnb|Stephens|1857|pp=81-82}}</ref> The choice of names for Ivor and Ynyr in the stories may be a consequence of spurious additions to the [[Leges Edwardi Confessoris|Laws of Edward the Confessor]], which inaccurately speak of good relations between [[Kingdom of Wessex|Wessex]] and the Welsh in the reign of King [[Ine of Wessex]] (reigned 688 – 726).