Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig, king of Gwynedd

King of Gwynedd

Iago succeeded Llywelyn ap Seisyll as king of Gwynedd in 1023, and was killed in 1039. (Pryce ODNB “Gruffudd ap Cynan”)

Events

Date of Birth: about 990.

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

Date of Death: 1039.

This date is given by Pryce (ODNB “Gruffudd ap Cynan”).

Relationships

Father: Idwal ap Meurig ab Idwal Foel (about 960 - 996).

This relationship is shown by Bartrum (EVWG Early Series [41])., and given by Maund (pp. 62-64), and by Thornton.

Mother: unknown.

(supposed) Spouse: Afandreg ferch Gwair.

This relationship is shown by Bartrum (EVWG Early Series [41]) and given by Pryce (ODNB “Gruffudd ap Cynan”). The earliest source seems to be Achau Brenhinoedd a Thywysogion Cymru, probably based on a 15th century manuscript. Baldwin (LaI) considers this relationship doubtful.

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.)

Tangwystl (living 1075) married Llywarch Howlbwrch.

Crisli married Dryffin ap Cudd.

Cynan married Rhanullt ferch Olaf of Dublin.

References

The Annals of Ulster. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College Cork

College Road, Cork, Ireland — http://www.ucc.ie/celt

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 Iago 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):

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 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. “Idwal m. Meurig, oddyna Iago mab Idwal, oddyna Kynan mab Iago tad Gruffudd mab Kynan.”

Brut y Tywysogion 23.

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 Iago is his own Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts.

Chronicum Scotorum. (William M. Hennessy ed.) (London, Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1866).

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).

Parry, Sir Thomas. “Gruffydd ap Cynan” in Welsh Biography Online.

Pryce, Huw. “Gruffudd ap Cynan” in The 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 Annales Cambriæ

s.a. 1039 ...Iacob rex Venedotiæ occiditur Griffinus filius Lewelin in Nortwallia regnare inchoavit; qui dum regnavit, Anglos et gentiles persecutus est.

From Brut y Tywysogion

s.a. 1037 And Iago, king of Gwynedd, was slain; and Gruffudd, son of Llywelyn, son of Seisyll, governed in his stead…

From The Annals of Ulster

s.a. U1039.1 [from a listed of people killed] Iaco, ri Bretan, a suis; … omnes occisi sunt.

From Chronicum Scotorum

s.a. 1037 Iaco Rí Bretan a suis occisus est.