Dyfnwal (died 908
×915) was
King of Strathclyde
The list of the kings of Strathclyde concerns the kings of Alt Clut, later Strathclyde, a Brythonic kingdom in what is now western Scotland.
The kingdom was ruled from Dumbarton Rock, ''Alt Clut'', the Brythonic name of the rock, until around ...
. Although his parentage is unknown, he was probably a member of the Cumbrian dynasty that is recorded to have ruled the
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde (lit. " Strath of the River Clyde", and Strað-Clota in Old English), was a Brittonic successor state of the Roman Empire and one of the early medieval kingdoms of the Britons, located in the region the Welsh tribes referred to as ...
immediately before him. Dyfnwal is attested by only one source, a mediaeval chronicle that places his death between the years 908 and 915.
Ancestry
Dyfnwal's parentage is uncertain. No historical source accords him a patronym. He could have been a son of
Rhun ab Arthgal
Rhun ab Arthgal was a ninth-century King of Strathclyde. He is the only known son of Arthgal ap Dyfnwal, King of Alt Clut. In 870, during the latter's reign, the fortress of Alt Clut was captured by Vikings, after which Arthgal and his family may ...
, the last identifiable
King of Strathclyde
The list of the kings of Strathclyde concerns the kings of Alt Clut, later Strathclyde, a Brythonic kingdom in what is now western Scotland.
The kingdom was ruled from Dumbarton Rock, ''Alt Clut'', the Brythonic name of the rock, until around ...
before Dyfnwal. Rhun was a member of the long-reigning Cumbrian dynasty of Strathclyde. He is the last monarch to be named by a pedigree preserved within a collection of tenth-century Welsh genealogical material known as the ''
Harleian genealogies
__NOTOC__
The Harleian genealogies are a collection of Old Welsh genealogies preserved in British Library, Harley MS 3859. Part of the Harleian Library, the manuscript, which also contains the ''Annales Cambriae'' (Recension A) and a version of ...
''.
A certain son of Rhun was
Eochaid
Eochaid or Eochaidh (earlier Eochu or Eocho, sometimes Anglicised as Eochy, Achaius (disambiguation), Achaius or Haughey) is a popular medieval Irish language, Irish and Scottish Gaelic name deriving from Old Irish ''ech'', horse, borne by a variet ...
, a man who seems to have possessed a stake in the Scottish kingship before falling from power in the last decades of the ninth century. It is unknown if Eochaid actually ruled the
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde (lit. " Strath of the River Clyde", and Strað-Clota in Old English), was a Brittonic successor state of the Roman Empire and one of the early medieval kingdoms of the Britons, located in the region the Welsh tribes referred to as ...
, although it is possible. If Dyfnwal was not a son of Rhun, another possibility is that he descended from Eochaid: either as a son or grandson. Alternately, Dyfnwal could have represented a more distant branch of the same dynasty. If Dyfnwal was indeed a son of Eochaid, a sister of his could have been Eochaid's apparent daughter, Land, the wife of
Niall Glúndub mac Áeda attested by the twelfth-century ''
Banshenchas''.
Expansion
Rhun's father,
Arthgal ap Dyfnwal
Arthgal ap Dyfnwal (died 872) was a ninth-century King of Alt Clut. He descended from a long line of rulers of the British Kingdom of Alt Clut. Either he or his father, Dumnagual IV of Alt Clut, Dyfnwal ap Rhydderch, King of Alt Clut, may have r ...
, ruled the
Kingdom of Al Clud
Strathclyde (lit. "Strath of the River Clyde", and Strað-Clota in Old English), was a Brittonic successor state of the Roman Empire and one of the early medieval kingdoms of the Britons, located in the region the Welsh tribes referred to as Yr ...
. In the 870s, the kingdom's principal citadel—the eponymous fortress of
Al Clud ("Rock of the Clyde")—fell to the Irish-based Scandinavian kings
Amlaíb
Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" a ...
and
Ímar
Ímar ( non, Ívarr ; died c. 873), who may be synonymous with Ivar the Boneless, was a Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century who founded the Uí Ímair dynasty, and whose descendants would go on to dominate the Ir ...
. Thereafter, the kingdom's capital seems to have relocated up the
River Clyde to the vicinity of
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
and
Partick
Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and ...
. The relocation is partly exemplified by a shift in royal terminology. Until the fall of Al Clud, for example, the rulers of the realm were styled after the fortress; whereas following the loss of this site, the Kingdom of Al Clud came to be known as the Kingdom of Strathclyde in consequence of its reorientation towards Ystrad Clud (Strathclyde), the valley of the River Clyde.
At some point after the loss of Al Clud, the Kingdom of Strathclyde appears to have undergone a period of expansion. Although the precise chronology is uncertain, by 927 the southern frontier appears to have reached the
River Eamont
The River Eamont is a river in Cumbria, England and one of the major tributaries of the River Eden. The name of the river is from Old English (ēa-gemōt) and is a back formation from Eamont Bridge which means the ''junction of streams.''
The ...
, close to
Penrith. The catalyst for this southern extension may have been the dramatic decline of the
Kingdom of Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
at the hands of conquering Scandinavians, and the expansion may have been facilitated by cooperation between the Cumbrians and insular Scandinavians in the late ninth- and early tenth century. Amiable relations between these powers may be evidenced by the remarkable collection of contemporary Scandinavian-influenced sculpture at Govan.
Attestation
After Eochaid's career, the next notice of the Cumbrian realm is the record of Dyfnwal's death preserved by the ninth- to twelfth-century ''
Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
The ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'', or ''Scottish Chronicle'', is a short written chronicle of the Kings of Alba, covering the period from the time of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) (d. 858) until the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac ...
''. This is Dyfnwal's only attestation, and his appearance in this source could confirm that he was indeed related to the earlier rulers of Strathclyde. In any case, one particular passage of the chronicle notes the deaths of five kings during the reign of Dyfnwal's Scottish counterpart,
Custantín mac Áeda, King of Alba. Dyfnwal is the second of these five; the king before him is
Cormac mac Cuilennáin
Cormac mac Cuilennáin (died 13 September 908) was an Irish bishop and the king of Munster from 902 until his death at the Battle of Bellaghmoon. He was killed in Leinster.
Cormac was regarded as a saintly figure after his death, and his shri ...
; the ones after him are
Domnall mac Áeda,
Flann Sinna mac Maíl Sechnaill, and Niall Glúndub. Although Dyfnwal's death is not specifically dated by the chronicle, the context of the passage suggests that it took place in 908×915. Therefore, if the ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'' is to be believed, Dyfnwal died no later than 915.
Successor
Dyfnwal appears to have been the father of
Owain ap Dyfnwal, a man who succeeded him as King of Strathclyde. Dyfnwal's descendants are recorded to have ruled the Kingdom of Strathclyde into eleventh century.
The personal name ' was commonly employed by the Cumbrian royal dynasty. This name lays behind the place name of
Dundonald/
Dundonald Castle
Dundonald Castle is situated on a hill overlooking the village of Dundonald, between Kilmarnock and Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland. Dundonald Castle is a fortified tower house built for Robert II on his accession to the throne of Scotlan ...
(), derived from the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
''*Din Dyfnwal''. Although no Cumbrian monarch can be specifically linked to this location, any one of those named ''Dyfnwal'' could be the
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
. Another place that could have been named after any of these like-named kings is
Cardonald
Cardonald ( sco, Cardonal, gd, Cair Dhòmhnaill
) is ...
().
[ Hicks (2003) p. 147, 147 n. 20.]
Notes
Citations
References
Primary sources
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{{Kings of Strathclyde
10th-century deaths
10th-century Scottish monarchs
Monarchs of Strathclyde