Kynon ab Clydno Eiddin

    Cynon ab Clydno Eiddin is celebrated in the Triads as one of the Three wisely-counselling Knights of Arthur's Court.
"Three counselling Knights were in the Court of Arthur, which were Cynon the son of Clydno Eiddin, Aron the son of Kynfarch ap Meirchion gul, and Llywarch hen the son of Elidir Lydanwyn. And these three knights were the Counsellors of Arthur, and whatever dangers threatened him in any of his wars, they counselled him, so that none was able to overcome Arthur; and thus he conquered all the nations through three things which followed him; and these were, Good hope, and the consecrated arms which had been sent him, and the virtue of his warriors; and through these he came to wear twelve crowns upon his head, and he became Emperor of Rome."
   And in another place it is added, "And he had nothing but success when he acted by the advice which he received from them, and reverses when he did not follow their counsel."
   Kynon is also called one of the three ardent Lovers, on account of his passion for Morvyth, daughter of Urien Rheged.
"The three ardent lovers of the Island of Britain, Caswallawn the son of Beli for Flur the daughter of Mugnach Gorr, and Trystan the son of Talluch for Yseult the wife of March Meirchawn his uncle, and Kynon the son of Clydno Eiddin for Morvyth the daughter of Urien."
   He is mentioned by Aneurin, "And Kynon-like rushes they fell before his hand.- 0 son of Clydno, a song of lasting praise will I sing unto thee."
   And it is possiblee that he was one of the three, who, together with the Bard himself, escaped from the disastrous battle of Cattraeth.
"The Warriors who went to Cattraeth were renowned;
Wine and Mead out of golden goblets was their beverage.
That year was to them one of exalted dignity,
Three warriors and three score and three hundred, wearing the golden torques.-
Of those who marched forth after the excess of revelling,
But three escaped from the conflict of gashing weapons;
The two War-dogs of Aeron and Kynon the dauntless,
(And I myself from the spilling of blood) worthy are they of my song."
   Gray has given a poetical version of this passage in his fragments, commencing with the words, "To Cattraeth's vale in glittering row."
   Also, in another poem by Aneurin, named the Gwarchan (or Incantation) of Cynvelyn, are the following lines;
"Three Warriors and three score and three hundred,
To the conflict of Cattraeth went forth.
Of those who hastened from the banquet of mead,
Three only returned,
Kynon, and Kadreith, and Katlew of Catnant,
And I myself from the shedding of blood."
   Kynon is frequently mentioned by the bards of the Middle Ages, and celebrated both for his bravery and for his devotion as a lover. It is in the latter character that he is alluded to by Gruffudd ap Meredith, in the beginning of the fourteenth Century, who compares the force of his own passion to that of Kynon for Morvyth, and that of Uther Pendragon for the fair Ygrayne.
"As the sigh of Uther for the love of Ygraine, the fair and splendid,
And the sigh of Kynon for the love of the beauteous daughter of Urien,
Such is the sigh of the bard for the lovely object of his affections."
Myv. Arch.
   In the Memorials of the Graves of the Warriors, the following stanza records the place of the sepulture of Kynon.
"The grave of a warrior of high renown
Is in a lofty region-but a lowly bed,
The grave of Kynon the son of Clydno Eiddin."
   In another stanza, the term lowly bed seems to be explained, and it would appear that a little hollow among the mountains was meant:
"Whose is the grave beneath the hill?
It is the grave of a warrior valiant in the conflict
The grave of Kynon the son of Clydno Eiddin."