Idwal Foel (Idwal the Bald; died c. 942) or Idwal ab Anarawd (Idwal son of Anarawd) was a 10th-century

King of Gwynedd Prior to the Conquest of Wales, completed in 1282, Wales consisted of a number of independent kingdoms, the most important being Gwynedd, Powys, Deheubarth (originally Ceredigion, Seisyllwg and Dyfed) and Morgannwg ( Glywysing and Gwent). Boun ...

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 the south. It had a population in ...

. A member of the

House of Aberffraw The Royal House of Aberffraw was a cadet branch of the Kingdom of Gwynedd originating from the sons of Rhodri the Great in the 9th century. Establishing the Royal court ( cy, Llys) of the Aberffraw Commote would begin a new location from which ...

, he inherited the throne from his father, Anarawd ap Rhodri.

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a ...

credited him as "

King of the Britons The title King of the Britons ( cy, Brenin y Brythoniaid, la, Rex Britannorum) was used (often retrospectively) to refer to the most powerful ruler among the Celtic Britons, both before and after the period of Roman Britain up until the No ...

" in the manner of his father.William of Malmesbury. ''

Gesta Regum Anglorum The ''Gesta Regum Anglorum'' (Latin for "Deeds of the Kings of the English"), originally titled ("On the Deeds of the Kings of the English") and also anglicized as or , is an early-12th-century history of the kings of England by William of Malme ...

''.

Life

Idwal inherited the throne of

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait ...

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 Hywel Dda, sometimes anglicised as Howel the Good, or Hywel ap Cadell (died 949/950) was a king of Deheubarth who eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubart ...

Deheubarth Deheubarth (; lit. "Right-hand Part", thus "the South") was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House o ...

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 Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings an ...

. 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 Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago ha ...

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.

Children

* Meurig,Williams, Jane. ''A History of Wales: Derived from Authentic Sources''
p. 151
Longmans, Green, & Co., 1869. Accessed 19 Feb 2013. whose grandson was

Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig (died 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 ...

* Iefan *

Cynan Cynan (also spelled Conan or Kenan) is a Welsh masculine given name. It may refer to: * Cynan, the bardic name of Albert Evans-Jones (1895–1970), Welsh poet and dramatist * Cynan ab Iago (11th century), prince of Gwynedd and father of Gruffydd ...

* Idwal, also called "Ieuaf" ("the younger") or "Idwal Fychan" ("little Idwal") * Rhodri

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Idwal Foel 940s deaths Year of death uncertain Year of birth unknown 10th-century Welsh monarchs House of Aberffraw Monarchs of Gwynedd Welsh princes