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Aelhaiarn

Welsh saint, disciple of Beuno

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ18593818 ↗
Source-derived summary

Saint Aelhaiarn or Aelhaearn (Welsh for "Iron Brow"; fl. early 7th century) was a Welsh confessor and saint of the British Church. He was a disciple of Saint Beuno. His feast day was usually observed on 2 November, although it is sometimes recorded as the 1st and is no longer observed by either the Anglican or Catholic church in Wales.

Life

Saint Aelhaiarn is listed among the Bonedd y Seint (Genealogies of the Saints). He was the brother of saints Llwchaiarn and Cynhaiarn and son of Hygarfael (or Cerfael), son of Cyndrwyn, a prince of Pengwern, in modern-day Shropshire. The area of Cyndrwyn's control was centred on the Severn valley around Shrewsbury. Aelhaiarn was said to have been a disciple of Saint Beuno, who also a member of the dynasty and thus a cousin. Beuno's activity was sponsored by Cadfan and other members of Gwynedd's Cuneddan dynasty; Aelhaiarn seems to have accompanied him out of Powys to Edeirnion and thence to northeastern Llŷn.

Miracles

The principal miracle associated with Aelhaiarn was actually performed by Beuno, who was said to have raised him from the dead (among six others).

Editorial summary

“Aelhaiarn” enters the record as welsh saint, disciple of Beuno. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Aelhaiarn, Welsh and saint can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current 188-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Aelhaiarn, Welsh and saint.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Aelhaiarn” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Aelhaiarn, Welsh and saint provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18593818. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Aelhaiarn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.