Anarawd ap Rhodri Mawr ap Merfyn

Prince of Gwynedd

On the death in battle of Rhodri Mawr in 877, his kingdom was divided between his sons. Anarawd, the eldest took Anglesey and the adjacent parts of Gwynedd, and was made overlord of his brothers. In 881, he avenged his father with a victory in battle against the Saxons. Later, Anarawd decided to pay homage to Alfred, in preference to allying himself with the Danes. in 895, with English help, Anarawd conducted a raid on his brother Cadell. (Lloyd 1:326-332).

Events

Date of Birth: about 835.

This estimated date is given by Bartrum (EVWG Early Series [41]).

Date of Death: 916.

This date is given by Lloyd (1:332) and by Thornton. Annales Cambriæ (s.a. 915) gives: “Anaraut rex [Britonum] moritur.” Brut y Tywysogion (s.a . 913) gives: “And Anarawd, son of Rhodri, king of the Britons, died.”

Relationships

Father: Rhodri Mawr ap Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad (about 815 - 878).

This relationship is shown by Bartrum (EVWG Early Series [41]), and given by Thornton, and by Miller (ODNB). It is supported by Asser (c. 80 ).

Mother: uncertain.

Bartrum (EVWG [41]) and Miller (ODNB) give Rhodri’s wife as Angharad ferch Meurig. Sims-Williams (WHR 17:1:1-40) argues that Angharad is probably a late invention. Baldwin (LaL) finds Sims-Williams’s arguments convincing.

Spouse: unknown.

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Most information below comes from Bartrum.)

Idwal Foel (about 890 - 942).

Elise (about 890 - 942).

References

Asser. Life of King Alfred. (William Henry Stevenson, ed.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1904).

Baldwin, Stewart. Llywelyn ap Iorwerth ancestor table. (Hosted at Rootsweb.ancestry.com. Accessed 23 May 2014).

Bartrum, Peter C (ed.) Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts. (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1968).

The sources Bartrum gives for Anarawd include:

Hanes Gruffudd ap Cynan -- the biography is probably from the 1170s, but Bartrum believes the pedigrees may be later (1200s).

1. “...Yago m. Idwal (m. Elissed) m. Meuryc mab Idwal foel m. Anaraut m. Rodri….”

Mostyn MS. 117. -- a MS from the late 1200s.

1. “...Gruffyd m. Kynan m. Iago m [Idwal m. Meuric m.] Idwal voel m. Anarawt m. Rodri m. Meruyn vrych, gwr priawt Esyllt verch Kynan Tindaethwy…”

Jesus College MS. 20 -- (dated to the first part of the 14th century):

20. “Llyma enweu meibon Rhodri mawr: Cadell, Meryun, Anarawt, Aidan, Meuruc, Morgant; Nest oed y vam ef. Ac Anghara[d] (verch) oed vam y rei ereill. A deu dyn oed idaw o wreic arall, Tutwawl ac Elisse.”

26. “Gruffud m. Kynan m. Iago m. Idwal m. Meuric m. Itwal voel m. Anarawt mab Rodri mawr.”

Achau Brenhinoedd a Thywysogion Cymru (probably based on a 15th century MSS):

1. “...Owain Gwynedd m. Gruffudd m. Kynan m. Iago m. Idwal m. Meirig m. Idwal voel m. Anarawd m. Rodri mawr…”

7.a. “Meibion Rhodri mawr: Anarawt a Chadell a Meurig a Merfyn a Thudawal a Gwriat a Gwydelig.”

7. b. “Meibion Anarawt ap Rhodri: Idwal voel ag Elisse.”

Annales Cambriæ (894)

Brut y Tywysogion (11)

Bartrum, Peter C., “Early Series [41] , and “Gruffudd ap Cynan 1 ” in An Electronic Version of Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1500.

The source Bartrum cites for Anarawd is his own Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts.

Bartrum, Peter C. A Welsh Classical Dictionary (1993).

Guy, Ben. Medieval Welsh Genealogy. (The Boydell Press, 2020).

From Guy’s critical edition of the Llywelyn ab Iorwerth genealogies, which were based on an archetype created no later than the first half of the fourteenth century from an original compilation dating to the early thirteenth century, partly based on earlier written sources (Note that Guy is striving for textual rather than genealogical accuracy):

11.1 Llywelyn ap Iorwerth ap Ywein ap Gruffyd ap Kynan ap Iago ap Idwal ap Meurig ap Idwall Foel ap Anarawt ap Rodri Mawr ap Essyllt ferch Kynan Dyndaethwy …[back to Adam]

Jones, Arthur (ed.) The History of Gruffydd ap Cynan. (Manchester U.P., 1910).

Lloyd, John Edward, A History of Wales. 2 volumes (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1911-1912).

Plummer, Charles. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel (787-1001 A.D.). (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889).

Sims-Williams, Patrick. “Historical need and literary narrative” in Welsh history review, Vol. 17, no. 1 (June 1994), p. 1-40.

Miller, Arthur “Anarawd ap Rhodri (d. 916)”, rev. David E. Thornton, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Thornton, David E. “Kings, chronicles and genealogies: Reconstructing mediaeval Celtic dynasties” in Family Trees and the Roots of Politics: The Prosopography of Britain and France from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century (Boydell Press, 1997).

Williams ab Ithel, John (ed.). Annales Cambriæ (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts; 1860).

Williams ab Ithel, John (ed.). Brut y Tywysogion; or, The Chronicle of the Princes (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts; 1860).

Abstracts and Transcriptions

From Asser’s Life of Alfred (c. 80)

(about 885)

...Anaraut quoque filius Rotri, cum suis fratibus, ad postremum amicitiam Northanhymbrorum deserens, de qua nullum bonum nisi damnum habuerat, amicitiam regis studiose requirens ad praesentiam illius advenit, cumque a rege honorifice receptus esset, et ad manum episcopi in filium confirmationis acceptus, maximisque donis ditatus, se regis dominio cum omnibus suis eadem condicione subdidit, ut in omnibus regiae voluntati sic oboediens esset, sicut Æthered cum Merciis.

From Brut y Tywysogion (s.a. 893)

893. And then, two years after that, Anarawd came to devastate Ceredigion and the Vale of Tywi.

From Annales Cambriæ (s.a. 894)

Anaraut cum Anglis venit vastare Cereticiaun et Strattui.