The early Kingdom and Sub Kingdoms of Gwynedd 450 - 950
Gwynedd
According to long-established tradition based on generally accepted fact, a group of Votadini Picts under Cunedda Wledig were transferred from the area around Stirling and the mouth of the Firth of Forth. as part of a strategy to secure western Britain from Irish raiders, and he subsequently governed most of North Wales. Gwynedd was the most powerful of the Welsh kingdoms in the 6th century and 7th century, who in alliance with allies such as Penda of Mercia were able to lead their armies as far as Northumbria and control it for a period, however like the other Welsh kingdoms, it was mainly engaged in defensive warfare against the growing power of Mercia. The name of Gwynedd probably derives from Cunedda, being distorted or adapted into Weneda and then Gwynedd.
c. 450–c. 460 - Cunedda Wledig ap Edern (Cunedda the Imperator) - See seperate post "Introduction to the Dark Ages"
c. 470–c. 480 - Einion Yrth ap Cunedda (Einion the Impetuous) - The seventh (but apparently the strongest) son of Cunedda, it is believed he travelled with his father to north Wales in the early 450s to expel Irish raiders from the region. After his father's death, aided by his brother Ceredig, ruler of Ceredigion, and his nephew Meirion, ruler of Meirionydd, Einion built upon his father's successes and further established his family's rule in the region.
c. 500–c. 534 - Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion (Cadwallon Long Hand) - According to tradition, Cadwallon ruled during, or shortly after, the Battle of Mons Badonicus, and King Arthur's victory over the Saxons. Cadwallon's name is not connected with the legendary battle, but he may have benefitted from the period of relative peace and prosperity throughout Britain that it procured. The most momentous military achievement of Cadwallon's reign was the final expulsion of Irish settlers on Anglesey. Cadwallon's epithet, Lawhir, may possibly refer to him having longer than usual arms or might also be a metaphor, referring to the extent of his authority. The late medieval poet Iolo Goch claimed that he could "reach a stone from the ground to kill a raven, without bending his back".
c. 520–c. 547 - Maelgwyn Hir ap cadwallon (Maelgwn the Tall) also known as Maelgwyn Gwynedd - The history of Brythonic Gwynedd begins with the conquest of the Irish Gaelic peoples of northern Wales by Maelgwn's great-grandfather Cunedda, with the conquest finally completed by Maelgwn's father Cadwallon. Maelgwn was the first king to enjoy the fruits of his family's conquest and he is considered the founder of the medieval kingdom's royal family and thus the Kingdom is named after him. By tradition, his royal court (llys) was located at Deganwy, in the Creuddyn peninsula of Rhos. Tradition also holds that he died of the 'Yellow Plague' of Rhos at nearby Llanrhos, and was buried there. Other traditions say that he was buried at Ynys Seiriol (Puffin Island, off Anglesey).
The evidence suggests that he held a pre-eminent position among the kings in Wales and in the parts of northern Britain known as Yr Hen Gogledd (The Old North). Maelgwn was a generous supporter of Christianity, he made donations to support Saints Brynach in Dyfed, Cadoc in Gwynllwg, Cybi in Anglesey, Padarn in Ceredigion, and Tydecho in Powys. The fact that these donations are not restricted to the Kingdom of Gwynedd implies that Maelgwn had a responsibility to those regions beyond the responsibilities of a king to his own kingdom. He is also associated with the foundation of Bangor.
gildas tells us that he had taken up life as a monk but then returned to the secular world; that he had been married and divorced, then remarried to the widow of his nephew after being responsible for his nephew's death; and that he was tall, he also describes him as the "dragon of the island", the island being Anglesey, which was the ancient stronghold of the kings of Gwynedd.
c. 547–c. 580 - Rhun Hir ap Maelgwyn (Rhun the Tall) - The town of Caerhun (Conwy), said to have been named after him, was one of Rhun's strongholds, it had great military significance, as it would have guarded an important river crossing of the River Conwy, leading to an entrance into Snowdonia, the defensive heartland of Gwynedd.
It is thought that the northern prince Elidyr Mwynfawr ap Gorwst Priodawr (Elidyr the Courteous) had been slain contesting Rhun's succession to Maelgwn Gwynedd's throne at Aber Mewydus in the cantref of Arfon, on River menai. Elidyr's northern relatives invaded Gwynedd in retaliation, burning Arfon in the process. Rhun quickly assembled an army and proceeded to the banks of the Gweryd (the Firth of Forth) in the North and waged a war against Alt Clut (Strathclyde) and Gododdin (Stirling). Rhun and his army remained in the North for a considerable length of time, with Rhun eventually killed in battle.
c. 580–c. 599 - Beli ap Rhun - Beli was the either the father or grandfather of Saint Edeyrn.
c. 599–c. 613 - Iago ap Beli - He may have been killed at the Battle of Chester, as the result of an axe blow to the head delivered by Cadafael Wyllt (Cadafael the Wild), one of his own men. He is also credited as having founded a deanery at Bangor.
c. 613–c. 625 - Cadafan ap Iago - He is known from the grant he gave to Saint Beuno for the monastery at Clynnog Fawr (on LLyn Peninsula), and from his inscribed gravestone at Llangadwaladr on Anglesey, The inscription refers to him as sapientisimus (most wise), and as this term is historically used for ecclesiastics, it suggests that at some point, Cadfan had resigned as king to live out his remaining years as a monk.
c. 625–634 - Cadwallon ap Cadfan - He is best remembered as the King of the Britons who invaded and conquered Anglian controlled Northumbria, defeating and killing its King, Edwin, He was thereafter remembered as a national hero by the Britons and as a tyrant by the Anglo-Saxons.
After the Battle of Chester in 613, Edwin of Northumbria, had gone from strength to strength in his attempts to expand his Kingdom, he conquered the Brythonic kingdom of Elmet(west Yorkshire) and launched successful campaigns against Lindsey (Lincolnshire) in 625 and Wessex in 626. In 629 he invaded Anglesey, forcing Cadwallon to flee firstly to Puffin Island off Anglesey and then to Ireland. Cadwallon returned and in 630, in alliance with King Penda of Mercia, whose Kingdom was also threatened by Northumbria, defeated Edwin at the battle at Digoll (Long Mountain) nr Welshpool, thereby regaining control of Gwynedd.
In 633 the alliance of Cadwallon and Penda along with forces from Powys and Pengwern, went on the offensive and at the battle of Hatfield Chase (nr Doncaster in South Yorkshire) defeated and killed Edwin and his son Osfrith. Northumbria fell into disarray and split back into the Kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, as the Anglo Saxon chronicle put it "Cadwallon and Penda went and did for the whole land of Northumbria". Cadwallon and Penda continued their advance and after peace talks had broken down defeated and killed Kings Eanfrith of Bernicia and Osric of Deira.
Bede tell us that following his victories, Cadwallon ruled over the "provinces of the Northumbrians" for a year, "not like a victorious king, but like a rapacious and bloody tyrant." and, "though he bore the name and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition and behaviour, that he neither spared the female sex, nor the innocent age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths, ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all the race of the English within the borders of Britain."
This negative account by Bede can be thought of as contradictory, as Penda himself was English and a later king of Wessex Caedwalla, was named after Cadwallon suggesting a certain amount of respect. Also Cadwallon and Penda were acting in response to the aggressive expansionism of Edwin.
Cadwallon was finally defeated by an army under Eanfrith's brother, Oswald, at the Battle of Heavenfield (nr Durham) and killed at a place nearby called "Denis's-brook".
634–c. 655 - Cadael Cadomedd ap Cynfedw (Cadfael the Battle-Shirker)
Then in 655, when Penda led an alliance of Mercians, Welsh, Deirans, and East Anglians against Bernicia, besieging Oswiu (Oswald's brother) at a stronghold somewhere in the north and compelling him to sue for peace. Having won the war the alliance returned south, the Welsh in particular pleased to have reclaimed items of dignity (the so-called "Restoration of Iudeu") taken from the kingdom of Gododdin by the Northumbrians. Oswiu however, although beaten had not been defeated and launched an attack on the alliance at the unknown location called the Winwaed ( Maes Gai, ). Penda was killed and according to Nennis, Cadafael had left for home the night before the battle (thereby earning him the name Battle-shirker), his reign ended shortly after. Gwynedd went into decline and would not become a military power for some 200 years.
Oswiu quickly followed up his defeat of Penda by overrunning Mercia and launching a surprise assault on Pengwern's Llys (Royal court), killing King Cynyddlan of Dogfeiling (a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd). After this attack Pengwern disappears from the historical record.
c. 655–c. 682 - Cadwaldr (Cadwallader the Blessed) - Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682, with Cadwalader himself becoming a victim of the second one. Y Ddraig Goch (The Red Dragon) has long been known as a Welsh symbol, first appearing in the Mabinogian. It is commonly referred to as 'The Red Dragon of Cadwaladr',
c. 682–c. 720 - Idwal Iwrch ap Cadwaldr (Idwal the Roebuck)
c. 720–c. 754 - Rhodri Molwynog ap Idwal (Rhodri the Bald and Gray)
The first king not descended from the male line of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, his claim to the throne came through his mother Ethyllt, a daughter of Cynan and he is primarily known as the father of Rhodri the Great. He married Nest, sister of the King of Powys firstly allying Powys with Gwynedd and later absorbing it into the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Merfyn came to the throne after a period of sustained pressure from Mercia, but his reign coincided its decline and Mercia never regained its dominance in Wales and Wales began a long period of growth as it renewed contacts with the Continent, and made new ties with Wessex. The independance of Wales at this time is emphasised by the Anglo Saxon law obliging Welsh people living in England to renounce their Welsh ancestry or leave the country. Merfyn was killed at the battle of Cetyll fighting Beorhtwulf of Mercia in 844.
844–878 - Rhodri Mawr ap Merfyn (Rhodri the Great)
When his maternal uncle, King Cyngen ap Cadell of Powys died on a pilgramage to Rome in 855 Rhodri inherited Powys, then in 872 Rhodri added Seisyllwg to his Kingdom after King Gwgon drowned accidentally, Rhodri was married to Gwgan's sister Angharad. These peaceful inheritances made him the ruler of the larger part of Wales and the first to be called 'Great' .
During his reign Rhodri had to deal with the ever increasing Viking threat, who were recorded as ravaging Anglesey in 854 and won a notable victory over them in 856, killing their leader Gorm, however Rhodri was forced to flee to Ireland in 876 after a further battle with the Vikings. On his return the following year, he and his son Gwriad were killed in battle against Ceolwulf II of Mercia.
After Rhodri's death, his Kingdom was divided amoungst his sons, Anarawd ap Rhodri became the king of Gwynedd, Cadell ap Rhodri (father of Hywel Dda) became King of Seisyllwg and Merfyn ap Rhodri became king of Powys.
Anarwd defeated Lord Aethelred of Mercia in a battle at the mouth of the River Conwy in 881, in retribution for the death of his father at the hands of the Mercians, it was hailed in the annals as "God's vengeance for Rhodri". Anarawd then in an attempt to guard himself against further Mercian attacks made alliances with firstly the Danish King of York and then Alfred the Great of Wessex, who stood witness at his confirmation. The Danish alliance had broken down and in 894 Anarawd repelled a revenge by them on North Wales. The following year Anarawd and Alfred ravaged Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi (held by his brother Cadell) and in 902 successfully defended an attack on Ynys Môn (Anglesey) by the Danes of Dublin under Ingimund.
Anarawd is credited with establishing the House of Aberthaw, its name taken from his principal seat of government on Ynys Môn and his descendants would rule Gwynedd until the Edward 1 campaign of 1292.
Sub Kingdoms of Gwynnedd
Gwynedd seems to have remained politically stable throughout the period, with most of its sub kingdoms remaining under its authority, eventually re-merging into the kingdom.
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Rhôs (moorland in Welsh)
It is a region to the east of the River Conwy in north Wales. It started as a minor kingdom of Ceredigion, but became a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd in the late fifth century. It later became a medieval cantref in the kingdom of Gwynedd.
Its first king was Owain Ddantgwyn (White-Tooth), who ruled c.480 and is sometimes acquainted with King Arthur Pendragon, his son Cynlas Goch was denounced by the monk, Gildas, who wrote that Cynlas was the “guider of the chariot which is the receptacle of the bear“. The bear refering to the “Fort of the Bear”, possibly Dinerth, the name of a hillfort on Bryn Euryn in Llandrillo yn Rhos and was probably a stronghold of the Kings of Rhos. The Gwynedd Archaeological Trust have undertaken an excavation of this hillfort and their investigations have revealed a massive defensive stone wall, faced with good-quality limestone blocks originally rising to about ten feet high. The ramparts were eleven and a half feet thick.
Under the rule of St Einon, Rhos absorbed Afflogion to become the Kingdom of Lleyn, but after his death, Rhos was drawn back under the direct control of Gwynedd, with a ninth generation descendant of Cynlas becoming King Caradog ap Meirchion of Gwynedd.
- Afflogion
A tiny territory on the Lleyn Peninsula, founded by one of Cunedda's sons, Afloyg, however it did not retain its semi-autonomous position and after Afloyg's death, St Einion, King of Rhos, was allowed by his cousin and over-king, Maelgwyn Gwynedd, to absorb it. The enlarged sub-kingdom was rename Lleyn, as Einion now controlled eastern Gwynedd and the whole of the Lleyn Peninsula.
- Meirionydd
Meirionydd was one of the more powerful of the Gwyneddian offshoots. It was founded by Meirchion, a grandson of Cunedda (who was in the original migration from the north). His father, Typaun, was Cunedda's eldest son who apparently died before the migration from Manaw Gododdin.
- Rhufoniog
Founded by Rhwfon (apparently also known as Brochwel), Cunedda's third son, in the Denbeigh area. It seems to have been a short-lived wonder, and was merged back into Gwynedd the mid-fifth century. Maelgwyn Gwynedd seems to have been intent on directly ruling as much of the kingdom as possible, but Rhwfon's immediate descendants still enjoyed a degree of self-rule on Gwynedd's eastern border.
- Dunoding
Based on the area around Porthmadog and Harlech, Dunoding, named after Cunedda's fourth son, and existed until well into the tenth century.
- Dogfeiling
Dogfeilion existed from 445, it was based around Ruthin.
Upon the death of Cunedda, his youngest (eighth) son, Dogfael, inherited the land which was named in his honour. Dogfael's own son, Elnaw, gained the Dumnonian sub-kingdom of Glastenning (Glastonbury), and during the following generation, under Cyndrwyn, the eastern Pengwern sub Kingdom of Caer Luit Coyt(now known as Wall, nr Lichfield in Staffordshire) was secured for one son (whose own son ruled all of Pengwern), whilst another son continued to rule in Glastenning. Follwing the death of Selyf Sarffgadau King of Powys at the Battle of Chester in 613 it is thought that Eluadd ap Glast (alias Eluan Powys), King of Dogfeiling invaded and conquered Powys, holding it for around thirty years. The Dogfeiling dynasty was finally crushed by the Saxons c.656
- Edeyrnion
A sub-kingdom of Gwynedd, situated near Bala. Virtually nothing is known of this realm aside from the name of its founder, Edeyrn, a son of Cunedda. By the twelfth century, the process of merging and dividing Wales between divisions of Gwynedd's later rulers meant that Edeyrnion was controlled by North Powys.
- Osfeilion
The territory governed by Osfael ap Cunedda was confined to Holyhead island, and must have been remote and short-lived.