Ithel or Idwal ap Hywel (died
[) was a ]king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
of Gwent in southeastern medieval Wales {{Commons category
Period
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to t ...
. He was called king of Gwent and Morgannwg
Morgannwg was a medieval Welsh kingdom formed via the merger of the kingdoms of the Kingdom of Glywysing and the Kingdom of Gwent.
Formation of Morgannwg
First under King Morgan the Generous (fl. ) until the end of the reign of his descendant ...
(i.e., Glywysing
Glywysing was, from the sub-Roman period to the Early Middle Ages, a petty kingdom in south-east Wales. Its people were descended from the Iron Age tribe of the Silures, and frequently in union with Gwent, merging to form Morgannwg.
Name and ...
) by the Chronicle of the Princes
''Brut y Tywysogion'' ( en, Chronicle of the Princes) is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. ''Bru ...
.[''Archæologia Cambrensis'', Vol. X, 3rd Series. "Chronicle of the Princes"]
p. 13
J. Russell Smith (London), 1864.
Along with his brother Meurig, Ithel assisted King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Rhodri the Great
Rhodri ap Merfyn ( 820 – 873/877/878), popularly known as Rhodri the Great ( cy, Rhodri Mawr), succeeded his father, Merfyn Frych, as King of Gwynedd in 844. Rhodri annexed Powys c. 856 and Seisyllwg c. 871. He is called " King of the Brito ...
of Gwynedd against the invasions of Beorhtwulf
Beorhtwulf (, meaning "bright wolf"; also spelled ''Berhtwulf''; died 852) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 839 or 840 to 852. His ancestry is unknown, though he may have been connected to Beornwulf, who ruled Mercia ...
, earl
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particula ...
of Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era= Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ...
, and his brother " Ithelwlf".[ According to the ]Annals of Wales
The (Latin for ''Annals of Wales'') is the title given to a complex of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales. The earliest is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th-century original; later ed ...
, Ithel's death preceded his brother's;[ Harleian MS. 3859. Op. cit. Phillimore, Egerton. ''Y Cymmrodor'' 9 (1888), pp. 141–83. ] according to the Chronicle, his death followed Meurig's.[ Both sources agree, however, that Ithel's demise was occasioned by the treachery of the men of ]Brycheiniog
Brycheiniog was an independent kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Norman ...
. The act was so infamous that the treason of the men of Brycheiniog became proverbial in medieval Wales. The Chronicle placed Ithel's death in its entry for AD 843; Phillimore's reconstruction of the dating of the A text of the Annals of Wales dated its entry to 848.[
This Ithel seems to have been the original namesake of the church at St Illtyd in Monmouthshire, although his cult was never sanctioned by the ]Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and the church's dedication was later altered.[Bradney, Alfred. ''A History of Monmouthshire'', Vol. 2, p. 47.]
References
Year of birth unknown
Monarchs of Gwent
840s deaths
9th-century Welsh monarchs
{{wales-bio-stub