Rhain ap Cadwgan ( en, Regin son of Cadogan; died c. 740) was an 8th-century

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

Dyfed Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed was also the name of the area's county council and the name remains in use f ...

and

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 ...

Wales of the Early Middle Ages Wales in the early Middle Ages covers the time between the Roman departure from Wales c. 383 until the end of the 10th century. In that time there was a gradual consolidation of power into increasingly hierarchical kingdoms. The end of the earl ...

. He succeeded his father Cadwgan, who succeeded his father Caten ap Cloten.

Biography

Rhain's great-grandfather, Cloten, had married the heiress of Brycheiniog, briefly uniting the two kingdoms. During Rhain's rule, however,

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

Seisyll of

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cer ...

invaded Dyfed and annexed its

Cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divided into ''cantrefi'', which were ...

Ystrad Tywi Ystrad Tywi (, ''Valley of the Tywi'') is a region of southwest Wales situated on the banks of the River Tywi and possibly the River Loughor. Although Ystrad Tywi was never a kingdom itself, it was historically a valuable territory and was foug ...

(c. 710), cleaving apart Rhain's realm; Ceredigion and

were merged by Seisyll to form

Seisyllwg Seisyllwg () was a petty kingdom of medieval Wales.Davies, p. 85 It is unclear when it emerged as a distinct unit, but according to later sources it consisted of the former Kingdom of Ceredigion plus the region known as Ystrad Tywi. Thus it cover ...

. Sometime after this, the reduced Dyfed-Brycheiniog was briefly called Rhainwg, but the detached parts could not be maintained as a unit, and Rhain's younger brother - Awst ( en, Augustus) - was appointed as a governor of Brycheiniog. Rhain's son, Tewdws succeeded him in Dyfed. Following Awst's death, Tewdws asserted his right to Brycheiniog, only allowing Awst's son, Elwystl, to rule a sub-division of it. Tewdws later murdered Elwystl, forcibly re-establishing Rhainwg.

John Edward Lloyd Sir John Edward Lloyd (5 May 1861 – 20 June 1947) was a Welsh historian, He was the author of the first serious history of the country's formative years, ''A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest'' (1911). Ano ...

, History of Wales

Three brothers: Tewdos, Gruffudd and Caten

The various manuscripts identifying Rhain's wife and immediate descendants are particularly inconsistent, and muddled. There are a number of possible conclusions: *that Rhain's son Tewdos (also known as Tewdwr) had two sons - Maredudd and Nowy Hen, between whom the land was divided; Maredudd received Dyfedd and Nowy Hen received Brycheiniog. In syzygy with this, **that Tewdos' mother (Rhain's wife) was the daughter of Elisedd ap Gwylog (the king of

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

) and Sanan(t) ferch Nowy, Cloten's younger sister; that her grandson - Nowy Hen - was the father of Grufydd. **alternatively, that (as in Jesus College Manuscript 20), Sanan(t) was the daughter of Elisse, the son of Nowy Hen; Sanan(t) and an unnamed king of Powys were the parents of Grufydd *alternatively, that Rhain had three or four sons - Tewdos, Naufedd Hen, Tewdwr, and possibly also Elisse - between whom the land was divided; Dyfed going to Tewdos (whose son Maredudd inherited it from him), Naufedd Hen receiving Cantref Selyf of Brycheiniog, Tewdwr receiving

Cantref Mawr Cantref Mawr was a cantref in south-west Wales. It was of strategic importance in medieval Wales as the location of the main seat of the princes of Deheubarth at Dinefwr. ''Cantref Mawr'' means "The Great Cantref". Each cantref in medieval Wale ...

, and Elisse (or Naufedd Hen, if Elisse didn't exist) receiving the remainder of Brycheiniog. In close-union with this alternative, that Tewdwr's son and heir was also named ''Elisse'', and his daughter Sanan(t) married Nowy, an unidentified king, whose son was Gruffydd; Naufedd Hen, meanwhile, was the great-great-grandfather of a man named ''Elisse ap Gwylog'' (eg. as in Peniarth Manuscript 131).

References

, - 8th-century Welsh monarchs Monarchs of Dyfed Monarchs of Brycheiniog {{Wales-hist-stub