Peibio Clafrog

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Peibio Clafrog Pepianus, Bepian the Leperous
King of Ergyng
Reign	c. 555 - c. 585
Predecessor	(none)
Successor	Cynfyn
Issue	Cynfyn, Gwyddgi, Cynwst, Tewdr, Efrddyl
Father	Erb, King of Gwent and Glywysing

King Peibio Clafrog (also, in Latin, Pepianus, and in English, Bepian the Leprous) (died c. 585) was the King of Ergyng, a Welsh kingdom of the early medieval period. The kingdom of Ergyng became independent under Peibo's rule.

[edit] Life

Peibio was a younger son of King Erb of Gwent. Upon his father's death circa 555, his vast kingdom, which covered most of South Wales, was divided among his sons. Peibio took the lesser eastern portion known as Ergyng and may have been quite young upon his accession.

This unfortunate king apparently suffered from leprosy, thus his epithet of Clafrog, the Leprous. In subsequent centuries, this was mistaken for Glafoeriog, the Dribbler. Despite this affliction, Peibio married the daughter of a King Constantine (probably Saint Constantine of Cornwall, King of Dumnonia) and was the father of a family of at least four sons (Cynfyn, Gwyddgi, Cynwst and Tewdr) and a single daughter. Details of Peibo's life are mostly known through the exploits of his daughter, Princess Efrddyl.

Legend states that after returning from a military campaign, Peibo was shocked to discover his daughter pregnant. Shame and disgust led him to have the poor girl executed for adultery. She was tied up in a sack and thrown into the River Wye but, miraculously, always returned safely to the bank. So Peibio had her burnt on a funerary pyre at Madley, in Herefordshire. However, when he returned to recover her body, the King found Efrddyl sitting upon a large stone, among the ashes, clutching her new-born baby boy.

Upon seeing Peibio, the legend goes on to say, his little grandson reached out to the King and kissed him on the cheek. The scales of his leprosy immediately fell away and King Peibio found himself cured the disease. This grandson was Dyfrig, a saint and the first Bishop of Ergyng, an important figure in the establishment of Christianity in Wales.