#afallach

There's a legend that Arthur was deadly wounded on a mountain pass between the summits of Snowdon and Lliwedd called Bwlch Y Saethaeu – the Pass of Arrows(North Wales, there's also a glen of Cwmllan) A cairn, Carnedd Arthur, was erected at the site and was still standing as late as 1850.

Arthur had Bedivere throw his sword Excalibur into the lake Glaslyn, where Arthur's body was later placed in a boat to be taken away by the "fair maids of the mountains" (??)

Following Arthur's death the knights descended into the cliffs of the Lliwedd peak and fell asleep in a cave awaiting the second coming of Arthur. (There was a tale of a bell hung at the entrance)

Snowdonia mountains belong to Nant Conwy today, but I'm not sure the borders were the same for the ancient Nant Conwy ruled by Afallach. If they were, and Snowdonia belonged to Afallach's lordship, then the area could have been called Ynis Afallach – the word ynis was sometimes used interchangeably for 'island' and 'realm', 'kingdom'.

So what if the dying Arthur's last ask to bring him to 'Avalon' meant the mountain site within the realm of Nant Conwy's lord?

Was the lake Glaslyn the original Lake of Arthuriana and Morgana its Lady? Was she a real person somehow connected to the family of Afallach ap Maeldaf, the uncle of Gwynedd's king or was just living in this area? Was the boat ride a burial rite? Or was she a fantastical fairy (according to Rhys Snowdonia folklore told about fairies living beneath lakes) linked to Arthur to give him legendary immortality?.....

They gladly joined Maelgwn in an attempt to unseat the neighboring ruler in Nant Conwy. The coup was successful, his mother's(Meddyf verch Maeldaf) brother fell to their swords. Maelgwn took over the Lord's manor and took to his bed a young lady, Gwallwen ferch Afallach. It was about the year 505 when she bore a son, Rhun, whom Maelgwn saw as a mirror image of himself (and indeed the boy did grow up to be taller and stronger than the average man). In seeking to identify this lady, we note that Maelgwn's mother would have been born c. 465 and her brother perhaps c. 460. A daughter of that brother would have occurred c. 490 and thus be of child-bearing age in 505. The timeline is wholly consistent with identifying the slain Lord of Nant Conwy as Afallach ap Maeldaf and Gwallwen as his daughter. We further suggest that Affalach's family was among the descendants of Eudaf Hen who had ruled Gwynedd prior to Maelgwn's.

Maelgwn is born sometime in the 480's. He is in his 20's around 500 AD when his father Cadwallon drives the Irish out of Anglesey. Cadwallon is an old man by now. Still fit to be a warlord, but the importance is shifted to his son. Four or five years later, Maelgwn's mother (Medyff)'s brother Afallach, King or Lord (the distinction is foggy in Celtic Royalty) of the nearby Nant Conwy (Gwynedd had splintered into a lot of subdivisions over the years) decides to try and overthrow Cadwallon. Maelgwn, a much better fighter than his now aged father, stops his uncle and exiles him, absorbing his kingdom into Gwynedd.

There was also another Afallach son of Brychan mentioned in Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts, but he is more obscure and was from the Southern Wales.

https://darrell75657.tripod.com/centerforthestudyofancientwales/id166.html

Of Argona and the Great Sorrow, Part III

When Taranis fell at Ravestone And the great host of Avalon at his side Naught was known upon Ynys Afallach ‘Til Chelwyr, falcon of the great king returned with tidings. His wings, though wounded, carried him To his mistress on the Isle of the Fair He bore with him a single token: Clochmôr, the sea-jewel.  That had sat on the brow of Taranis A blessing from his fair queen, Agrona   When she beheld the stone…