The genealogies,[1] in which he appears under both epithets, make him the son of Pabo Post Prydain, a descendant of Coel Hen, the presumed king of the Old North.
John Morris locates Sawyl in the south Pennines area (the modern Peak District, a name which may date[clarification needed] from its settlement by the Anglian Pecset).
[4] An Irish genealogy says that a "Samuel Chendisel"[5] married Deichter, daughter of Muiredach Muinderg, the king of Ulster, and they had two sons: Sanctan, who became bishop of Cil-dá-les and founded Kilnasantan in County Dublin, and Matóc Ailithir.
[6] According to the Welsh Life of Saint Cadoc, a king named Sawyl Penuchel held court at Allt Cunedda near Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire.
When this mound was excavated in 1850, a large body covered with a hexagonal stone imitating a battle-shield was discovered, which people have presumed to have been the remains of Sawyl Penuchel.