Anarawd ap Rhodri
Anarawd ap Rhodri (died c. 916) was a King of Gwynedd and referenced as "King of the Britons" in the Annales Cambriae.
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,[1] retained the principal estate at Aberffraw and the throne of Gwynedd. His brothers Cadell and Merfyn received large estates as well, 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".[2] (Rhodri's fourth son, Tudwal the Lame, was apparently too young 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 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 left him unfit for rule in Welsh eyes.
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 honors and gifts from the Saxons and King Alfred stood witness at his confirmation. According to 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 next 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.
See also
References
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Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Anarawd. |
- ↑ The House of Dinefwr descended from Cadell would later claim that their ancestor had been elder. That this was a simple lie is shown, inter alia, in British Antiquities Revived-Oxford, 1662; reprinted Bala, 1834.
- ↑ Welsh: Tri theyrn taleithiog Ynys Prydain or Tri thywysog taleithiog. Myv. Arch., Gee's ed., p. 405, No. 43.
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Further reading
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Anarawd ap Rhodri
Aberffraw Dynasty
Born: Unknown Died: 916 |
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| Preceded by | King of Gwynedd 878–916 |
Succeeded by Idwal Foel ab Anarawd |
