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This line extends from Rhodri the Great |
01. King Anarawd ap Rhodri,
son of Rhodri the Great was born abt. 857 AD and died in 916.
was a King of Gwynedd, referenced as "King
of the Britons" in the
Annales Cambriae (The Annals of Wales). Anarawd's father
Rhodri the Great, by conquest and alleged inheritances, had become ruler
of most of northern
Wales.
However, under
Welsh
law he was bound to divide his lands among his able-bodied children upon
his death during a
Mercian
invasion around 878. Anarawd, the eldest, retained the principal estate at
Aberffraw and the throne of Gwynedd. His brothers
Cadell and
Merfyn also received large estates, sometimes said to include the
kingdoms of
Ceredigion and
Powys, respectively. For this, one of the
Welsh Triads records the brothers as the "Three
Diademed
Princes of the Isle of Britain". (Rhodri's fourth son,
Tudwal the Lame, was apparently too young or not deemed able-bodied
enough for the initial division.) The brothers are recorded as cooperating
closely against the rulers of the remaining lesser kingdoms of Wales.
Æthelred of Mercia invaded Gwynedd around 881 and the Welsh annals
hailed his defeat at
Cymryd in the
Battle of the Conwy as Dial Rhodri: "God's vengeance for Rhodri".
Tudwal was old enough to participate in this battle, but his disfigurement
on the field saw him judged as unfit to rule. While Cadell then turned on
his brother Merfyn, creating the realm that would later empower
Hywel the Good, Anarawd made an alliance with the Danish king in York in
an attempt to guard himself against further Mercian attacks. After that
alliance proved unsatisfactory, he came to an agreement with
Alfred the Great of
Wessex,
visiting Alfred at his court. He received honours and gifts from the Saxons,
and King Alfred stood witness at his confirmation. According to Alfred's
biographer Asser,
Anarawd used his new Saxon allies to help in repelling a raid by his former
Danish allies around 894 and to ravage Cadell's lands in Ceredigion and
Ystrad Tywi the following year. Around 902, an attack on
Anglesey
by the Danes of Dublin under
Ingimundr was repulsed. Anarawd died c. 916,
succeeded by his eldest son
Idwal
the Bald. |
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02. King Idwal Foel ab Anarawd
son of Anarawd was
born abt. 883 AD and died in c942. He was a 10th-century
King of Gwynedd in
Wales. A
member of the
House of Aberffraw, he inherited the throne from his father,
Anarawd ap Rhodri.
William of Malmesbury credited him as "King
of the Britons" in the manner of his father. Idwal inherited the throne
of
Gwynedd on the death of his father
Anarawd around 916. He allied himself with
Æthelstan of England upon the latter's accession in 924. As Æthelstan
was eager to establish his authority across Britain, Idwal honoured him by
visiting the English court in 927, 928, and 937. On the first of these
visits, he signed charters agreeing to campaign with Æthelstan against the
Scots, and marched with
Hywel
Dda of
Deheubarth and
Morgan ab Owain of
Gwent against
Owain ap Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde that year. Owain was forced to
submit to the English king and appear at court by Christmas. Æthelstan died
in 939 and was succeeded by his half-brother
Edmund. In 942 Idwal, apparently fearing that the Saxons would support
Hywel in usurping him, launched an attack on the Saxons in Wales along with
his brother
Elisedd. The
Annales Cambriæ record his failure: "Idwal and his brother Elisedd
are killed in battle against the Saxons". The throne of Gwynedd should have
passed to Idwal's sons
Iago and
Ieuaf, but Hywel invaded and drove them from the kingdom. He reigned for
eight years before they were able to return and reclaim their patrimony. |
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03. Meurig ap Idwal (c917-c986) |
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04. Idwal ap Meurig (c945-996) |
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05. Prince Iago ab idwal ap Meurig (1023-1039)
was a
Prince of Gwynedd and Powys. He was also referred to as "King
of the Britons" in the
Annals of Ulster. On the death of
Llywelyn ap Seisyll in 1023, the rule of Gwynedd returned to the ancient
dynasty with the accession of Iago, who was a great-grandson of
Idwal
Foel. Very little is known about the reign of Iago. He was killed by his
own men in 1039 and replaced by Llywelyn ap Seisyll's son,
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Iago's grandson
Gruffudd ap Cynan later won the throne of Gwynedd, and because his
father,
Cynan ab Iago, was little known in Wales, Gruffudd was styled "grandson
of Iago" rather than the usual "son of Cynan". |
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06. King Cynan ap Iago (c1014-c1063)
was
a Welsh prince of the
House of
Aberffraw sometimes credited with briefly reigning as
King of Gwynedd. His father,
Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig, had been king before him and his son, Gruffudd,
was king after him. Iago was King of Gwynedd from 1023 to 1039 but was
killed (possibly by his own men) while Cynan was still young. The throne was
seized by
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, a member of a
cadet branch of the royal dynasty. Cynan fled to
Ireland and took refuge in the
Viking settlement at Dublin. He married Ragnailt, the daughter of its
King
Olaf Sigtryggsson and granddaughter of King
Sigtrygg Silkbeard. Ragnailt appeared on the list of the "Fair Women of
Ireland" in the
Book of Leinster and was also descended from
Brian
Boru. Cynan may have died fairly soon after the birth of their son
Gruffudd, as the 13th-century History of Gruffydd ap Cynan details
Cynan's ancestry but omits him from its account of Gruffudd's youth.
Instead, Gruffudd's mother tells him about his father and the patrimony he
should claim across the sea.[1]
Following two major
Saxon invasions under
Harold and
Tostig Godwinson, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was killed in 1063: the later
Welsh
Brut y Tywysogion reported he was done in by his own men, while the
Ulster Chronicle stated he was killed by Cynan ab Iago. This may
account for later records in Gwynedd calling Cynan a king or, alternatively,
it may simply have been an honorary title on account of his family. If Cynan
ruled, it was very briefly, for
Bleddyn ap Cynfyn was installed by the Saxons the same year. |
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07. King Gruffudd ap Cynan (c1055-1137)
sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until
his death in 1137.In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key
figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembered as
King of all the Welsh and
Prince of all the Welsh. |
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08. King Owain Gwynedd (c1100-1170)
was
King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding
his father
Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great (Welsh:
Owain Mawr) and the first to be styled "Prince
of Wales".He is considered to be the most successful of all the North
Welsh princes prior to his grandson,
Llywelyn the Great. He became known as Owain Gwynedd (Middle Welsh:
Owain Gwyned, "Owain of Gwynedd") to distinguish him from
the contemporary king of Powys Wenwynwyn, Owain ap Gruffydd ap Maredudd, who
became known as
Owain Cyfeiliog. |
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09. Iowerth ap Owain Drwyndwn (c1130-1174)
meaning "the flat-nosed"), was the eldest legitimate son of
Owain Gwynedd (the king of Gwynedd) and his first wife Gwladys (Gladys)
ferch Llywarch. He married Marared ferch
Madog. His son,
Llywelyn the Great, eventually united the realm and became known as
Llywelyn Fawr and is one of Wales's most famous monarchs. Iorwerth
received
Nant Conwy as his inheritance from his father, Owain Gwynedd. However,
he did not receive the crown succession, as was the normal tradition,
because of his nose defect (his
sobriquet 'Trwyndwn' means broken-nosed). |
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10. King Llywelyn "The Great" (c1173-1240)
was
a King of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually "Prince
of the Welsh" (in 1228) and "Prince
of Wales" (in 1240). By a combination of war and diplomacy he dominated
Wales for 45 years. During Llywelyn's childhood, Gwynedd was ruled by two of
his uncles, who split the kingdom between them, following the death of
Llywelyn's grandfather,
Owain Gwynedd, in 1170. Llywelyn had a strong claim to be the legitimate
ruler and began a campaign to win power at an early age. He was sole ruler
of Gwynedd by 1200 and made a treaty with King
John of England that year. Llywelyn's relations with John remained good
for the next ten years. He married John's natural daughter
Joan in 1205, and when John arrested
Gwenwynwyn of
Powys in
1208, Llywelyn took the opportunity to annex southern Powys. In 1210,
relations deteriorated, and John invaded Gwynedd in 1211. Llywelyn was
forced to seek terms and to give up all lands east of the River Conwy, but
was able to recover them the following year in alliance with the other Welsh
princes. He allied himself with the barons who forced John to sign
Magna Carta in 1215. By 1216, he was the dominant power in Wales,
holding a council at
Aberdyfi
that year to apportion lands to the other princes. Following King John's
death, Llywelyn concluded the Treaty of Worcester with his successor,
Henry III, in 1218. During the next fifteen years, Llywelyn was
frequently involved in fights with
Marcher lords and sometimes with the king, but also made alliances with
several major powers in the Marches. The Peace of Middle in 1234 marked the
end of Llywelyn's military career, as the agreed truce of two years was
extended year by year for the remainder of his reign. He maintained his
position in Wales until his death in 1240 and was succeeded by his son
Dafydd ap Llywelyn. |
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11. Gwladus Ddu Verch Llewelyn (c1205-1251)
was
a Welsh noblewoman who was a daughter of Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd and
Joan Plantagenet, a daughter of
John,
King of England. Sources differ as to whether Gwladus was Llywelyn's
legitimate daughter by his wife Joan or an illegitimate daughter by
Tangwystl Goch, but she is widely regarded to be the daughter of Joan.
Gwladus is recorded in
Brut y Tywysogion as having died at
Windsor in 1251. She married firstly,
Reginald de Braose, Lord of Brecon and Abergavenny in about 1215. After
Reginald's death in 1228 she was probably the sister recorded as
accompanying
Dafydd ap Llywelyn to London in 1229. She married secondly,
Ralph de Mortimer of
Wigmore about 1230. Ralph died in 1246, and their son, Roger de Mortimer,
inherited the lordship. |