Rhodri ap Merfyn ( 820 – 873/877/878), popularly known as Rhodri the Great ( cy, Rhodri Mawr), succeeded his father,

Merfyn Frych Merfyn Frych ('Merfyn the Freckled'; Old Welsh ''Mermin''), also known as Merfyn ap Gwriad ('Merfyn son of Gwriad') and Merfyn Camwri ('Merfyn the Oppressor'), was King of Gwynedd from around 825 to 844, the first of its kings known not to have de ...

, as King 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, and C ...

in 844. Rhodri annexed Powys c. 856 and Seisyllwg c. 871. He is called "

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 Norma ...

" by the ''

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...

.'' In some later histories, he is referred to as " King of Wales", although the title is anachronistic and his realm did not include southern Wales.

Lineage and inheritance

Rhodri was the son of King

, who had claimed

upon the extinction of Cunedda's male line. Rhodri then inherited the realm after his father's death around 844. Merfyn hailed from "Manaw" which may either refer to the Isle of Man or Manau, the ancestral homeland of all Gwynedd's kings since Cunedda. According to later genealogies, his mother or grandmother was Nest ferch Cadell of the ruling dynasty in Powys, and Rhodri inherited the kingdom through his uncle Cyngen and then the rule of the southern realms on the death of Gwgon, Rhodri's brother in law. Although surviving texts of Welsh law expressly forbid inheritance along the maternal line, Nest and Rhodri's supposed inheritance was later used to justify Gwynedd's annexation of Powys after the c. 855 death of Cyngen ap Cadell in preference to Cyngen's other heirs. Similarly, Rhodri's marriage to

Angharad ferch Meurig Angharad ferch Meurig was a 9th-century Welsh noblewoman. She was the wife of Rhodri the Great of Gwynedd, and mother of Anarawd (Rhodri's successor), Cadell ap Rhodri, and Merfyn. Life Angharad was the daughter of Meurig, evidently the King ...

was used to explain his supposed inheritance of her brother Gwgon's kingdom of Ceredigion after that king's death in 872 via a principle of ''

jure uxoris ''Jure uxoris'' (a Latin phrase meaning "by right of (his) wife"), citing . describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title ''suo jure'' ("in her own right"). Similarly, the husband of an heiress could becom ...

'' that does not survive in our sources for Welsh law.

Reign

Now the master of much of modern Wales, Rhodri faced pressure both from the English and, increasingly, from Vikings, called the "black gentiles" in the Welsh sources. The

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

are recorded ravaging Anglesey in 854. In 856, Rhodri won a notable victory and killed their leader Gorm. 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 ...

records two victories by Rhodri in 872: the first at a place given variously as Bangolau,''Archæologia Cambrensis'': "Chronicle of the Princes"
p. 15
Accessed 27 Feb 2013. Bann Guolou, Harleian MS. 3859. Op. cit. Phillimore, Egerton. ''Y Cymmrodor'' 9 (1888), pp. 141–83. or Bannoleu, The Annals of Wales (B text), p. 10. where he defeated the Vikings on Anglesey "in a hard battle" and the second at Manegid or Enegyd where the Vikings "were destroyed". The

records his death occurring at the Battle of Sunday on Anglesey in 873; 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 ...

record the two events in different years and Phillimore's reconstruction of its dates places Rhodri's death in 877. According to the Chronicle, Rhodri and his brother Gwriad were killed during a Saxon invasion (which probably would have been under

Ceolwulf Ceolwulf, occasionally spelt Ceolwulph, may refer to: * Ceolwulf I of Mercia, King of Mercia *Ceolwulf II of Mercia, King of Mercia *Ceolwulf of Northumbria (Saint Ceolwulf), King of Northumbria *Ceolwulf of Wessex Ceolwulf (died 611) was a Kin ...

of Mercia, given that the Wessex forces under

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

were fighting Vikings in East Anglia at the time). The Annals record no great details of the death, but where the B text calls Gwriad Rhodri's brother, the A text has him as Rhodri's son instead. It is likely he was killed in battle given that all the sources call his son Anarawd's victory over the Mercians at the

Battle of the Conwy The Battle of the Conwy took place in 881 between King Anarawd and his brothers of the northern Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd and a Mercian army almost certainly led by Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians. The Welsh were victorious, and the battle ended ...

a few years later "God's vengeance for Rhodri".

Succession

Rhodri died leaving at six sons to share his land among themselves. The traditional account is that his eldest, Anarawd, became king of Gwynedd and the head of the subsequent

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 t ...

. Another, Cadell, was given Ceredigion . Cadell's family was later known as the House of Dinefwr, after its base of operations was moved by Cadell's son, Rhodri's grandson, Hywel Dda to Dyfed following another (supposed) inheritance via Hywel's marriage to Elen ferch Llywarch. Hywel's wide domain, later known as Deheubarth, briefly eclipsed Gwynedd under his immediate heirs before fracturing. A fourth son, possibly too young to have been considered for the first division of Rhodri's lands, took part in Anarawd's 881 revenge against Mercia and, wounded there, became known to history as Tudwal the Lame, a condition disqualifying him from rule under Cyfraith Hywel, Welsh customary law.

Children

* Anarawd ap Rhodri (died 913) * Cadell ap Rhodri (854–907) *Gwriad ap Rhodri: He had a son named Gwgawn who was killed in 955. * Tudwal ap Rhodri (born 860)

Notes

References

External links

Rhodri the Great Britainaexpress.com

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodri the Great 820s births 878 deaths Year of birth uncertain Monarchs of Ceredigion Monarchs of Gwynedd Monarchs of Powys 9th-century Welsh monarchs