Dwywe

Saint Dwywe (Dwywai) was a Welsh holy woman of the 5th or 6th century, estimated to have been born between 465 and 585. She was a native of the ancient Cumbric-⁠speaking kingdoms, which stretched from south-⁠western Scotland down to South Yorkshire.

She was, according to tradition, a princess, the daughter of Gwallog ap Lleenog of the royal house of Elmet, east and south of Leeds. Her father and the family were forced to flee after a war with the Angles of Bernicia, were taken in by Welsh kinsfolk and settled near Barmouth. She is thought to have been the wife of Dunawd Fyr (or Dunod Fawr, a son of Cunedda) and the mother of Saint Deiniol, who founded monasteries on the Dee and at Bangor; she may also be the mother of Cynwyl, Gwarthan and Aneirin. Her name contains the element dwy- ("holy"), so some suspect that the Christian tradition about her has absorbed stories of a local goddess. She is remembered in a church of Saint Dwywe. She is honored as a saint of the undivided Church.