on Sun Jan 05 2025
Yes, you heard that right! Just when you thought your Monday was tough, imagine being held for ransom by a group known for raiding and pillaging. Talk about a medieval ‘surprise!’ But fear not, for our hero soon found a knight in shining armor—Edward the Elder, the Anglo-Saxon ruler, who swoops in like a historical superhero, and pays a cool 40 pounds of silver for the saintly rescue.
Yet, the vagueness of his life only adds to his allure. Historians are still debating the exact extent of his diocese, leaving us with more questions than answers—an existential crisis, but for a bishop. Did he really inherit some serious bishopric territory from his father, Alfred the Great? The scholarly battle continues!
Moreover, Cyfeilliog’s brain was undoubtedly as sharp as his silver ransom. He’s often credited with authoring a cryptogram that appeared as a marginal note in the ninth-century Juvencus Manuscript. Imagine scribbling a cheeky note in the margins of a text centuries before the internet! If only he had Instagram—his captions would go viral!
As we piece together the puzzle of Cyfeilliog, the twelfth-century Book of Llandaff makes a bold announcement that he kicked the bucket in 927. But historians, those intrepid truth-seekers, are scratching their heads. Is that date accurate for a bishop who was a pretty big deal decades earlier? Oh, the suspense!
So, as we reflect on the paradox that is Cyfeilliog—a captured bishop, a potential cryptography prodigy, and a silver-slinging saint in a world too often defined by chaos—we’re left asking ourselves: What on earth was going on in the wetlands of Wales back in the 9th century?
Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s tip our hats to the man who wore many hats (none of them Viking, thankfully). Here’s to you, Cyfeilliog: the enigma wrapped in a golden—well, silver—ransom!
Wikipedia article of the day is “Cyfeilliog”.
Check it out: Article-Link