Coordinates	45°30′″N73°40′″N
Native name	''Teyrnas Gwynedd''
Conventional long name	Kingdom of Gwynedd
Common name	Gwynedd
|continent	Europe
Region	British Isles
Country	Wales
Era	Middle Ages
Government type	Monarchy
Year start	5th century
Event end	Annexed by England
Year end	1282
|p1	sub-Roman Britain
Flag p1	Roman SPQR banner.svg
S1	Principality of Wales
Flag s1	Flag of Gwynedd.png
|image flag	Flag of Gwynedd.png
Flag type	Traditional Banner of the Aberffraw House of Gwynedd
Image coat	Arms of Llywelyn.svg
Symbol type	Traditional Arms of the Aberffraw House of Gwynedd
Image map caption	Medieval kingdoms of Wales.
Capital	Degannwy, Aberffraw and Abergwyngregyn
|common languages	Welsh
Leader1	Cunedda
Year leader1	450 - 460
Leader2	Maelgwn I
Year leader2	520 - 547
Leader3	Cadwallon II
Year leader3	625 - 634
Leader4	Gruffudd I
Year leader4	1081 - 1137
Leader5	Owain I
Year leader5	1137 - 1170
Leader6	Llywelyn II
Year leader6	1195 - 1240
Leader7	Llywelyn III
Year leader7	1253 - 1282
Footnotes	In Latin, Gwynedd was often referred to in official medieval charters and acts of the 13th century as ''Principatus Norwallia'' (Principality of North Wales).}}

Gwynedd () was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the Deceangli which were collectively known as ''Venedotia'' in late Romano-British documents. Between the 5th and 13th centuries Gwynedd grew to include Ynys Môn (Anglesey) and all of north Wales between the River Dyfi in the south and River Dee (''Welsh Dyfrdwy'') in the northeast. The Irish sea (''Môr Iwerddon'') washes the coast of Gwynedd to the west and north and lands formerly part of the Kingdom of Powys border Gwynedd in the south-east.

Gwynedd's strength lay in part due to the region's mountainous geography which made it difficult for foreign invaders to campaign in the country and impose their will effectively.

Popular tradition attributed to Nennius, a 10th-century Welsh chronicler, traced Gwynedd's foundation to Cunedda. According to Nennius, Cunedda migrated with his sons and followers from Brythonic Lothian, in southern Scotland, in the 5th century.

The main court of the Kingdom of Gwynedd was originally at Deganwy Castle, where Maelgwn Gwynedd (died 547) had his stronghold. The senior line of descendants of Rhodri the Great would make Aberffraw on Ynys Mon as their principal seat until 1170. In the thirteenth century, Llywelyn Fawr, his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn and grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had Abergwyngregyn on the north coast as their home.

Etymology

According to John Koch and several other historians, the Latin name "Venedotia" from whence the Welsh name "Gwynedd" comes is derived from the Irish word "Feni", referring at one time to a specific group on the island and later broadening to become a general reference to the Irish people as a whole, the free, nonslave people in particular. The Irish, especially the Laighin, are known to have colonized and/or conquered much of northern Wales in the mid-4th to early 5th centuries.

Alternatively, the name ''Gwynedd'' may derive from Brythonic ''Ueneda'', which may be akin to Goidelic (ancestor of Irish) ''Fenia'' (which gives ''fiana'', "war-band" in Old Irish - e.g. Finn and his warriors). Thus the possible meaning may be "Land of the Hosts" or "Land of the Warrior Bands".

Whatever the exact etymology of the name, a gravestone from the late 5th century now in Penmachno church seems to be the earliest record of the name. It is in memory of a man named Cantiorix and the Latin inscription is: "''Cantiorix hic iacit/Venedotis cives fuit/consobrinos Magli magistrati''", ("Cantiorix lies here. He was a citizen of Gwynedd and a cousin of Maglos the magistrate"). The references to "citizen" and "magistrate" suggest that Roman institutions may have survived in Gwynedd for a while after the legions departed.

History

Gwynedd in the Early Middle Ages

The Sons of Cunedda

At the end of the Roman period the western areas of Britannia which had been under military administration seem to have reverted quickly to tribal law and petty states. Raiders from Ireland such as the Uí Liatháin and Laigin harried the coasts initially razing towns and capturing slaves but later colonising large areas of what was then called ''Venedotia'' and later called Gwynedd, in particular Llŷn, the coasts of Arllechwedd, Arfon and the Isle of Mona. Legend, supported by some later written accounts, asserts that a prince called Cunedda (modern "Kenneth") from distant Manaw Gododdin—probably a refugee himself from the northern wars with the Picts—was "sent" to free these lands from the Irish scourge in about 450AD. He and his sons forced out the Irish and upon his death the realm was divided between his sons following Brythonic tradition. From these beginnings many of the ancient divisions of Gwynedd occur; his son Dynod was awarded Dunoding, another son Ceredig achieved Ceredigion and so forth. Cunedda's heir, Einion Yrth threw the last Irish out of Môn in 470. Einion Yrth's son Cadwallon Lawhir appears to have consolidated the realm during the time of relative peace following the Battle of Mons Badonicus where the Anglo-Saxons were soundly defeated. During that peace he managed to establish a mighty kingdom.

After Cadwallon, Gwynedd appears to have held a pre-eminent position amongst the petty Cambrian states in the post-Roman period. The great-grandson of Cunedda, Maelgwn Hir (''Maelgwn the Tall''), became one of the most famous (or infamous) leaders in Welsh history. There are several legends about his life concerning miracles either performed by him or in his presence. He is attributed in some old stories as hosting the first Eisteddfod and he is one of five Celtic British kings castigated for their sins by the contemporary Christian writer Gildas (who referred to him as Maglocunus, meaning 'Prince-Hound' in Brittonic) in ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae''. Maelgwn was curiously described as "the dragon of the island" by Gildas which was possibly a title (Pendragon?), but explicitly as the most powerful of the five named British kings.

"...you the last I write of but the first and greatest in evil, more than many in ability but also in malice, more generous in giving but also more liberal in sin, strong in war but stronger to destroy your soul...." Gildas Sapiens, ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae''

Maelgwn eventually died in 547 from the plague leaving a succession crisis in his wake. His son in law, Elidyr Mwynfawr of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, claimed the throne and invaded Gwynedd to displace Maelgwn's son Rhun Hir. Elidyr was killed in the attempt but his death was then avenged by his relatives who ravaged the coast of Arfon. Rhun counter-attacked and exacted the same penalty on the lands of his foes in what is now central Scotland. The long distances these armies travelled suggests they were moving across the Irish Sea but because almost all of what is now northern England was at this point (c.550) under British (Brythonic) rule it is possible his army marched to Strathclyde overland. Rhun returned to Gwynedd and the rest of his reign was far less eventful. He was succeeded by his son Beli in c.586. On the accession of Beli's son Iago in c.599 the situation in Britain had deteriorated significantly. Most of the area today called northern England and been overrun by the invading Angles of Deira and Bernicia who were in the process of forming a united Northumbrian kingdom. In a rare show of common interest it appears Gwynedd and neighbouring Powys acted in concert to rebuff the Anglican advance but were defeated at the Battle of Chester in 613. Following this catastrophe the approximate borders of northern Wales were set with the city of Caerlleon (now called Chester) and the surrounding Cheshire Plain falling under the control of the Anglo-Saxons. Most importantly the Britons of Wales were now cut off from their kin in Cumbria and Strathclyde.

Cadwallon ap Cadfan

The Battle of Chester would not end the ability of the Welsh to seriously threaten England (although England as a united realm would not exist for another 350 years). For among the most powerful of the early kings of Gwynedd was Cadwallon ap Cadfan (c.624 - 634) the grandson of Iago ap Beli. He became engaged in an initially disastrous campaign against Northumbria where following a series of epic defeats he was confined first to Môn and then just to Ynys Glannauc before being forced into exile across the Irish Sea to Dublin - a place which would come to host many royal refugees from Gwynedd. All must have seemed lost but Cadwallon raised an enormous army and after a brief time in Guernsey he invaded Dumnonia, relieved the West Welsh who were suffering a Mercian invasion and forced Penda, the pagan King of Mercia, into an alliance against Northumbria. With new vigour he returned to his Northumbrian foes, devastated their armies and slaughtered a series of their kings. In this furious campaign his armies devastated Northumbria, captured and sacked York in 633 and briefly controlled the kingdom. From contemporary accounts he is said to have massacred so many of the Anglo-Saxons they believed it was his intention to exterminate them. They were probably right.

"...he neither spared the female sex, nor the innocent age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths, ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all the race of the English within the borders of Britain." Bede (''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum)

However, these tumultuous events would come to be short-lived, for he died in battle in 634 close to Hadrians Wall. On account of these deeds he and his son Cadwaladr Fendigaid appear to have been considered the last two High Kings of Britain. Cadwaladr presided over a period of consolidation and devoted much time to the Church earning the title ''Fendigaid'' meaning "blessed".

Rhodri the Great and Aberffraw primacy

During the later 9th century and 10th century the coastal areas of Gwynedd, particularly Môn, were coming under increasing attack by Viking raiders. These raids no doubt had a seriously debilitating effect on the country but fortunately for Gwynedd the victims of the Vikings were not confined to Wales. The House of Cunedda - as the direct descendants of Cunedda are known - eventually expired in the male line in 825 upon the death of Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog and, as Sir John Edward Lloyd put it, "a stranger possessed the throne of Gwynedd."

This "stranger" who became the next King of Gwynedd was Merfyn "Frych" (meaning Merfyn "the Freckled"). When, however, Merfyn Frych's pedigree is examined - and to the Welsh pedigree meant everything - he seems not a stranger but a direct descendant of the ancient ruling line. Some sources state he was the son of Erthil, "a prince of the Northern Britons" (for more on this see: Y Gogledd Hen), while others suggest he was the son of Gwriad, the contemporaneous King of the Isle of Man. All sources agree that he was the son of Esyllt, heiress and niece of the aforementioned Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog, last of the House of Cunedda, and that his male line went back to the Men of the North, to Llywarch Hen, a first cousin of Urien Rheged and thus a direct descendant of Coel Hen. Thus the House of Cunedda and the new House of Aberffraw, as Merfyn's descendants came to be known, shared Coel Hen as a common ancestor, although the House of Cunedda traced their line through Gwawl his daughter and wife of Cunedda.

Merfyn married Nest ferch Cadell, the sister of Cyngen ap Cadell, the King of Powys, and founded what was to become known as the House of Aberffraw which was named after his principle court at Aberffraw on the Isle of Môn (Anglesey). No written records are preserved from the Britons of southern Scotland and northern England and it is very likely that Merfyn Frych brought many of these legends as well as his pedigree with him when he came to north Wales. It appears most probable that that it was at Merfyn's court that all the lore of the north was collected and written down during his reign and that of his son.

Rhodri Mawr (meaning Rhodri the Great) (844 - 878), son of Merfyn Frych and Nest ferch Cadell, was able to add Powys to his realm after its king (his maternal uncle) died on pilgrimage to Rome in 855. Later, he married Angharad the sister of King Gwgon of Seisyllwg and when Gwgon drowned in 872 Rhodri was able to annex that realm as well. This he became the first ruler since the days of Cunedda to control the greater part of Wales.

When Rhodri died in 878 the relative unity of Wales ended and it was once again divided into its component parts each ruled by one of his sons. Rhodri's eldest son Anarawd ap Rhodri inherited Gwynedd and would firmly establish the princely House of Aberffraw that would come to rule Gwynedd with but a few interruptions until 1283.

From the successes of Rhodri and the seniority of Anarawd among his sons the Aberffraw family claimed primacy over all other Welsh lords including the powerful kings of Powys and Deheubarth. In ''The History of Gruffydd ap Cynan'', written in the late 12th century, the family asserted its rights as the senior line of descendants from Rhodri the Great who had conquered most of Wales during his lifetime. Gruffydd ap Cynan's biography was first written in Latin and intended for a wider audience outside Wales. The significance of this claim was that the Aberffraw family owed nothing to the English king for its position in Wales, and that they held authority in Wales "by absolute right through descent," wrote historian John Davies.

The House of Aberffraw was displaced in 942 by Hywel Dda, a junior descendant of Rhodri Mawr and the King of Deheubarth. This occurred because Idwal Foel, the King of Gwynedd, was determined to cast off English overlordship and took up arms against the new English king, Edmund. Idwal and his brother Elisedd were both killed in battle against Edmund's forces. By normal custom Idwal's crown should have passed to his sons, Ieuaf and Iago ab Idwal, but Hywel Dda intervened and sent Iago and Ieuaf into exile in Ireland and established himself as ruler over Gwynedd until his death in 950 when the House of Aberffraw was restored.

Between 986 and 1081 the throne of Gwynedd was often in contention with the rightful kings frequently displaced by rivals within and outside the realm. One of these, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, originally from Powys, displaced the Aberffraw line from Gwynedd making himself ruler there, and by 1055 was able to make himself king of most of Wales. He became powerful enough to present a real menace to England and annexed some neighbouring parts after several victories over English armies. Eventually he was defeated by Harold Godwinson in 1063 and later killed by his own men in a deal to secure peace with England. Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon of the Mathrafal house of Powys, Gruffudd's maternal half-brothers, came to terms with Harold and took over the rule of Gwynedd and Powys.

Shortly after the Norman conquest of England in 1066 the Normans began to exert pressure on the eastern border of Gwynedd. They were helped by internal strife following the killing of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in 1075 by his cousin Trahaearn ap Caradog. Trahaearn seized the throne but was soon challenged by Gruffydd ap Cynan, the exiled grandson of Iago ab Idwal who had been living in the Hiberno-Norse stronghold of Dublin. In 1081 Trahaearn was killed by Gruffydd in battle and the ancient line of Rhodri Mawr was restored.

Gwynedd in the High Middle Ages

''See also Gwynedd in the High Middle Ages, Wales and the Normans: 1067–1283''

Gruffydd ap Cynan

The Aberffraw dynasty suffered various depositions by rivals in Deheubarth, Powys, and England in the 10th and 11th centuries. Gruffydd I ap Cynan (b.c.1055–1137), who grew up in exile in Hiberno-Norse Dublin, regained his inheritance following his victory at the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081 over his Mathrafal rivals then in control of Gwynedd. However, Gruffydd's victory was short-lived as the Normans launched an invasion of Wales following the Saxon revolt in northern England, known as the Harrowing of the North.

Shortly after the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081, Gruffydd was lured into a trap with the promise of an alliance but seized by Hugh the Fat, 1st Earl of Chester in an ambush near Corwen Earl Hugh claimed the Perfeddwlad up to the Clwyd river (the commotes of Tegeingl and Rhufoniog; the modern counties of ''Denbighshire Flintshire'' and ''Wrexham'') as part of Chester, and viewed the restoration of the Aberffraw family in Gwynedd as a threat to his own expansion into Wales. The lands west of the Clwyd were intended for his cousin Robert "of Ruddlan", and their advance extended to the Llŷn Peninsula by 1090. By 1094 almost the whole of Wales was occupied by Norman forces. However, although they erected many castles, Norman control in most regions of Wales was tenuous at best. Motivated by local anger over the "gratuitously cruel" invaders, and led by the historic ruling houses, Welsh control over the greater part of Wales was restored by 1100.

In an effort to further consolidate his control over Gwynedd, Earl Hugh of Chester had Hervé the Breton elected as Bishop of Bangor in 1092, and consecrated by Thomas of Bayeux, Archbishop of York. It was hoped that by placing a prelate loyal to the Normans over the traditionally independent Welsh church in Gwynedd would help to pacify the local inhabitants, and Hervé recognized the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the episcopal see of Bangor, a recognition hitherto rejected by the Welsh church.

However, the Welsh parishioners remained hostile to Hervé's appointment, and the bishop was forced to carry a sword with him and rely on a contingent of Norman knights for his protection. Additionally, Hervé routinely excommunicated parishioners who he perceived as challenging his spiritual and temporal authority.

Gruffydd escaped imprisonment in Chester, and slew Robert of Rhuddlan in a beachside battle at Deganwy on 3 July 1093. Gruffydd recovered Gwynedd by 1095, and by 1098 Gruffydd allied with Cadwgan ap Bleddyn of the Mathrafal house of Powys, their traditional dynastic rivalry notwithstanding. Gruffydd and Cadwgan led the Welsh resistance to the Norman occupation in north and mid Wales. However, by 1098 Earl Hugh of Chester and Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury advanced their army to the Menai Strait, with Gruffydd and Cadwgan regrouping on defensible Ynys Môn, where they planned to make retaliatory strikes from their island fortress. Gruffydd hired a Norse fleet from a settlement in Ireland to patrol the Menai and prevent the Norman army from crossing, however the Normans were able to pay off the fleet to instead ferry ''them'' to Môn. Betrayed, Gruffydd and Cadwgan were forced to flee to Ireland in a skiff.

The Normans landed on Môn, and their furious 'victory celebrations' which followed were exceptionally violent, with rape and carnage committed by the Norman army left unchecked. The earl of Shrewsbury had an elderly priest mutilated, and made the church of Llandyfrydog a kennel for his dogs.

During the 'celebrations' a Norse fleet led by Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, appeared off the coast at Ynys Seiriol (''Puffin island'') , and in battle that followed, known as the Battle of Anglesey Sound, Magnus shot dead the earl of Shrewsbury with an arrow to the eye. The Norse left as suddenly and as mysteriously as they had arrived, however leaving the Norman army weakened and demoralized.

The Norman army retired to England, leaving a Welshman, Edwin ap Goronwy, lord of Tegeingl, in command of a token force to control Ynys Môn and upper Gwynedd, and ultimately abandoning any colonization plans there. Edwin ap Goronwy transferred his allegiance to Chester following the defeat of his ally Trahaearn ap Caradog in 1081, a move for which earned him the epithet ''Fradwr'', traitor, among the Welsh.

In late 1098 Gruffydd and Cadwgan landed in Wales and recovered Ynys Môn without much difficulty, with Hervé the Breton fleeing Bangor for safety in England. Over the course of the next three years, Gruffydd was able to recover upper Gwynedd to the Conwy, defeating Hugh, Earl of Chester. In 1101, after Earl Hugh's death, Gruffydd and Cadwgan came to terms with England's new king, Henry I, who was consolidating his own authority and also eager to come to terms. In the negotiations which followed Henry I recognized Gruffydd's ancestral claims of Môn, Llŷn, Dunoding (Eifionydd and Ardudwy) and Arllechwedd, being the lands of upper Gwynedd to the Conwy which were already firmly in Gruffydd's control. Cadwgan regained Ceredigion, and his share of the family inheritance in Powys, from the new earl of Shrewsbury, Robert of Bellême.

With the settlement reached between Henry I and Gruffydd I, and other Welsh lords, the dividing of Wales between ''Pura Wallia'', the lands under Welsh control; and ''Marchia Wallie'', Welsh lands under Norman control, came into existence. Author and historian John Davies notes that the border shifted on occasion, "in one direction and in the other", but remained more or less stable for almost the next two hundred years.

After generations of incessant warfare, Gruffydd began the reconstruction of Gwynedd, intent on bringing stability to his country. According to Davies, Gruffydd sought to give his people the peace to "plant their crops in the full confidence that they would be able to harvest them". Gruffydd consolidated princely authority in north Wales, and offered sanctuary to displaced Welsh from the Perfeddwlad, particularly from Rhos, at the time harassed by Richard, 2nd Earl of Chester.

Alarmed by Gruffydd's growing influence and authority in north Wales, and on pretext that Gruffydd sheltered rebels from Rhos against Chester, Henry I launched a campaign against Gwynedd and Powys in 1116, which included a vanguard commanded by King Alexander I of Scotland. While Owain ap Cadwgan of Ceredigion sought refuge in Gwynedd's mountains, Maredudd ap Bleddyn of Powys made peace with the English king as the Norman army advanced. There were no battles or skirmishes fought in the face of the vast host brought into Wales; rather, Owain and Gruffydd entered into truce negotiations. Owain ap Cadwgan regained royal favor relatively easily. However Gruffydd I was forced to render homage and fealty and pay a heavy fine, though he lost no land or prestige.

The invasion left a lasting impact on Gruffydd, who by 1116 was in his 60s and with failing eyesight. For the remainder of his life, while Gruffydd I continued to rule in Gwynedd, his sons Cadwallon, Owain, and Cadwaladr, would lead Gwynedd's army after 1120. Gruffydd's policy, which his sons would execute and later rulers of Gwynedd adopted, was to recover Gwynedd's primacy without blatantly antagonizing the English crown.

The Expansion of Gwynedd

In 1120 a minor border war between Llywarch ab Owain, lord of a commote in the Dyffryn Clwyd cantref, and Hywel ab Ithel, lord of Rhufoniog and Rhos brought Powys and Chester into conflict in the Perfeddwlad. Powys brought a force of 400 warriors to the aid of its ally Rhufoniog, while Chester sent Norman knights from Rhuddlan to the aid of Dyffryn Clwyd. The bloody Battle of Maes Maen Cymro, fought a mile to the north-west of Ruthin, ended with Lywarch ab Owain slain and the defeat of Dyffryn Clwyd. However, It was a pyrrhic victory as the battle left Hywel ab Ithel mortally wounded. The last of his line, when Hywel ab Ithel died six weeks later he left Rhufoniog and Rhos bereft. Powys, however, was not strong enough to garrison Rhufoniog and Rhos, nor was Chester able to exert influence inland from its coastal holdings of Rhuddlan and Degannwy. With Rhufoniog and Rhos abandoned, Gruffydd I annexed the cantrefs.

On the death of Einion ap Cadwgan, lord of Meirionydd, a quarrel engulfed his kinsmen on who should succeed him. Meirionydd was then a vassal cantref of Powys, and the family there a cadet of the Mathrafal house of Powys. Gruffydd gave license to his sons Cadwallon and Owain to press the opportunity the dynastic strife in Meirionydd presented. The brothers raided Meirionydd with the Lord of Powys as important there as he was in the Perfeddwlad. However it would not be until 1136 that the cantref was firmly within Gwynedd's control. Perhaps because of their support of Earl Hugh of Chester, Gwynedd's rival, in 1124 Cadwallon slew the three rulers of Dyffryn Clwyd, his maternal uncles, bringing the cantref firmly under Gwynedd's vassalage that year. And in 1125 Cadwallon slew the grandsons of Edwin ap Goronwy of Tegeingl, leaving Tegeingl berift of lordship. However, in 1132 while on campaign in the commote of Nanheudwy, near Llangollen, 'victorious' Cadwallon was defeated in battle and slain by an army from Powys. The defeat checked Gwynedd's expansion for a time, "much to the relief of the men of Powys", wrote historian Sir John Edward Lloyd (J.E Lloyd).

In 1136 a campaign against the Normans was launched from Gwynedd in revenge for the execution of Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd ap Cynan, the wife of the Prince of Deheubarth and the daughter of Gruffydd. When word reached Gwynedd of Gwenllain's death and the revolt in Gwent, Gruffydd I's sons Owain and Cadwaladr invaded Norman controlled Ceredigon, taking Llanfihangle, Aberystwyth, and Llanbadarn. Liberating Llanbadarn, one local chronicler hailed Owain and Cadwaladr both as "bold lions, virtuous, fearless and wise, who guard the churches and their indwellers, defenders of the poor [who] overcome their enemies, affording a safest retreat to all those who seek their protection". The brothers restored the Welsh monks of Llanbadarn, who had been displaced by monks from Gloucester brought there by the Normans who had controlled Ceredigon. By late September 1136 a vast Welsh host gathered in Ceredigion, which included the combined forces of Gwynedd, Deheubarth, and Powys; met the Norman army at the Battle of Crug Mawr at Cardigan Castle. The battle turned into a rout, and then into a resounding defeat of the Normans.

When their father Gruffydd I died in 1137, the brothers Owain and Cadwaladr were on a second campaign in Ceredigion, and took the castles of Ystrad Meurig, Lampeter (''Stephen's Castle''), and Castell Hywell (''Humphries Castle'') Gruffydd I ap Cynan left a more stable realm then had hitherto existed in Gwynedd for more than 100 years. No foreign army was able to cross the Conwy into upper Gwynedd. The stability of Gruffydd's long reign allowed for Gwynedd's Welsh to plan for the future without fear that home and harvest would "go to the flames" from invaders. Cadwaladr, Gruffydd's youngest son, inherited the commote of Aberffraw on Ynys Môn, and the recently conquered Meirionydd and northern Ceredigion, that is Ceredigion between the rivers Aeron and the Dyfi.

By 1141 Cadwaladr and Madog ap Maredudd of Powys led a Welsh vanguard as an ally of the Earl of Chester in the Battle of Lincoln, and joined in the route which made Stephen of England prisoner of Empress Matilda for a year. Owain, however, did not participate in the battle, keeping the majority of Gwynedd's army at home. Owain, of restrained and prudent temperament, may have judged that the aiding in Stephen's capture would lead to the restoration of Matilda and a strong royal government in England; a government which would support Marcher lords, support hitherto bereft since Stephen's usurpation.

Owain and Cadwaladr came to blows in 1143 when Cadwaladr was implicated in the murder of Prince Anarawd ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth, Owain's ally and future son-in-law, on the eve of Anarawd's wedding to Owain's daughter. Owain followed a diplomatic policy of binding other Welsh rulers to Gwynedd through dynastic marriages, and Cadwaladr's border dispute and murder of Anarawd threatened Owain's efforts and credibility. As ruler of Gwynedd, Owain stripped Cadwaladr of his lands, with Owain's son Hywel dispatched to Ceredigion, where he burned Cadwaladr's castle at Aberystwyth.

Between 1148 and 1151, Owain I of Gwynedd fought against Madog ap Maredudd of Powys, Owain's son-in-law, and against the Earl of Chester for control of Iâl, with Owain having secured Rhuddlan Castle and all of Tegeingl from Chester. "By 1154 Owain had brought his men within sight of the red towers of the great city on the Dee", wrote Lloyd." Henry II raised his feudal host and marched into Wales from Chester. Owain positioned himself and his army at Dinas Basing (Basingwerk), barring the road to Rhuddlan, setting up a trap in which Henry II would send his army along the direct road along the coast, while he crossed through the woods to out-flank Owain. The Prince of Gwynedd anticipated this, and dispatched his sons Dafydd and Cynan into the woods with an army, catching Henry II unaware.

In the melee which followed Henry II was almost slain had not Roger, Earl of Hertford rescued the king. Henry II retreated and made his way back to his main army, by now slowly advancing towards Rhuddlan. Not wishing to engage the Norman army directly, Owain repositioned himself first at St. Asaph, then further west, clearing the road for Henry II to enter into Rhuddlan "ingloriously". Once in Rhuddlan Henry II received word that his naval expedition had failed, as instead of meeting Henry II at Degannwy or Rhuddlan, it had gone to plunder Môn.

In a later letter to the Byzantine Emperor, Henry probably recalled these experiences when he wrote of the Welsh:

A people called Welsh, so bold and ferocious that, when unarmed, they do not fear to encounter an armed force, being ready to shed their blood in defence of their country, and to sacrifice their lives for renown.

The naval expedition was led by Henry II's maternal uncle (Empress Matilda's half-brother), Henry FitzRoy; and when they landed on Môn, Henry FitzRoy had the churches of Llanbedr Goch and Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf torched. During the night the men of Môn gathered together, and the next morning fought and defeated the Norman army, with Henry FitzRoy falling under a shower of lances. The defeat of his navy and his own military difficulties had convinced Henry II that he had "gone as far as was practical that year" in his effort to subject Owain, and the King offered terms to the prince.

Owain I of Gwynedd, "ever prudent and sagacious", recognized that he needed time to further consolidate power, and agreed to the terms. Owain was to render homage and fealty to the King, and resign Tegeingle and Rhuddlan to Chester, and restore Cadwaladr to his possessions in Gwynedd.

The death of Madog ap Meredudd of Powys in 1160 opened an opportunity for Owain I of Gwynedd to further press Gwynedd's influence at the expense of Powys. However, Owain continued to further Gwynedd's expansion without rousing the English crown, maintaining his 'prudent policy' of ''Quieta non movere'' (''don't move settled things''), as Lloyd wrote. It was a policy of outward conciliation, while masking his own consolidation of authority. To further demonstrate his good-will, in 1160 Owain handed over to the English crown the fugative Einion Clud. By 1162 Owain was in possession of the Powys cantref of Cyfeiliog, and its castle of Tafolwern; and ravaged another Powys cantref of Arwystli, slaying its lord, Hywel ab Ieuaf. Owain's strategy was in sharp contrast to Rhys ap Gruffydd, prince of Deheubarth, who in 1162 rose in open revolt against the Normans in south Wales, drawing Henry II back to England from the continent.

In 1163 Henry II quarrelled with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, causing growing divisions between the king's supporters and the archbishop's supporters. With discontent mounting in England, Owain I of Gwynedd joined with Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth in a second grand Welsh revolt against Henry II. England's king, who only the prior year had pardoned Rhys ap Gruffydd for his 1162 revolt, assembled a vast host against the allied Welsh, with troops drawn from all over the Angevin empire assembling in Shrewsbury, and with the Norse of Dublin paid to harass the Welsh coast. While his army gathered on the Welsh frontier, Henry II left for the continent to negotiate a truce with France and Flanders to not disturb his peace while campaigning in Wales.

However, when Henry II returned to England he found that the war had already begun, with Owain's son Dafydd raiding Angevin positions in Tegeingle, exposing the castles of Rhuddlan and Basingwerk to "serious dangers", wrote Lloyd. Henry II rushed to north Wales for a few days to shore up defences there, before returning to his main army now gathering in Oswestery.

The vast host gathered before the allied Welsh principalities represented the largest army yet assembled for their conquest, a circumstance which further drew the Welsh allies into a closer confederacy, wrote Lloyd. With Owain I of Gwynedd the over all battle commander, and with his brother Cadwaladr as his second, Owain assembled the Welsh host at Corwen in the vale of Edeyrion where he could best resist Henry II's advance.

The Angevin army advanced from Oswestry into Wales crossing the mountains towards Mur Castell, and found itself in the thick forest of the Ceiriog Valley where they were forced into a narrow thin line. Owain I had positioned a band of skirmishers in the thick woods overlooking the pass, which harassed the exposed army from a secured position. Henry II ordered the clearing of the woods on either side to widen the passage through the valley, and to lessen the exposure of his army. The road his army travelled later became known as the ''Ffordd y Saeson'', the ''English Road'', and leads through heath and bog towards the Dee. In a dry summer the moors may have been passable, however "on this occasion the skies put on their most wintry aspect; and the rain fell in torrents [...] flooding the mountain meadows" until the great Angevin encampment became a "morass," wrote Lloyd. In the face of "hurricane" force wind and rain, diminishing provisions and an exposed supply line stretching through hostile country subject to enemy raids, and with a demoralized army, Henry II was forced into a complete retreat without even a semblance of a victory.

In frustration, Henry II had twenty-two Welsh hostages mutilated; the sons of Owain' supporters and allies, including two of Owain's own sons. In addition to his failed campaign in Wales, Henry's mercenary Norse navy, which he had hired to harass the Welsh coast, turned out to be too few for use, and were disbanded without engagement.

Henry II's Welsh campaign was a complete failure, with the king abandoning all plans for the conquest of Wales, returning to his court in Anjou and not returning to England for another four years. Lloyd wrote;

It later came to light that Hywel Trwyndwn (the bodyguard and brother to Iorweth) was not allowed to claim his inheritance due to his undesirable nose. this was then passed down the lineage through Thomas Davies, of Peniarth Fawr, to his yonges and most ferocious daughter Lyn "the Twrch deuar" Brasssington.

It is true that [Henry II] did not cross swords with [Owain I], but the elements had done their work for [the Welsh]; the stars in their courses had fought against the pride of England and humbled it to the very dust. To conquer a land which was defended, not merely by the arms of its valiant and audacious sons, but also by tangled woods and impassable bogs, by piercing winds and pitiless storms of rain, seemed a hopeless task, and Henry resolved to no longer attempt it.

Owain expanded his international diplomatic offensive against Henry II by sending an embassy to Louis VII of France in 1168, led by Arthur of Bardsey, Bishop of Bangor (1166–1177), who was charged with negotiating a joint alliance against Henry II. With Henry II distracted by his widening quarrel with Thomas Becket, Owain's army recovered Tegeingle for Gwynedd by 1169.

Like his father before him, Owain I promoted stability in upper Gwynedd as no foreign army was able to campaign past the Conwy, marking nearly 70 years of peace in upper Gwynedd and on Ynys Môn.

In his later reign Owain I was the styled ''princeps Wallensium'', Latin for the ''Prince of the Welsh'', a title of substance given his leadership of the Welsh and victory against the English king, wrote historian Dr. John Davies. Additionally, Owain I commissioned the ''Life of Gruffydd ap Cynan'', the biography of his father in which Owain firmly asserted his primacy over other Welsh rulers by "absolute right through decent" from Rhodri the Great, according to Davies. Owain I was the eldest male descendent of Rhodri the Great through paternal decent.

The adoption of the title ''prince'' (Latin ''princeps'', Welsh ''twysog''), rather than king (Latin ''rex'', Welsh ''brenin''), did not mean a diminution in status, according to Davies. The use of the title ''prince'' was a recognition of the ruler of Gwynedd in relation to the wider international feudal world. The princes of Gwynedd exercised greater status and prestige then the earls, counts, and dukes of the Angevin empire, suggesting a similar status as that of the King of Scots, himself nominally a vassel of the King of England, argued Davies. As Welsh society became further influenced by feudal Europe, the princes of Gwynedd would in turn use feudalism to strengthen their own authority over lesser Welsh lords, a "two-edged sword" for the King of England, wrote Davies. Though Gwynedd's princes recognized the ''de jure'' suzerainty of the King of England, they maintained a well established legal jurisprudence, separate from the English legal system, and were independent ''de facto'', wrote Davies.

Civil war and usurpation 1170–1195

When Owain Gwynedd died in November 1170 the realm was plunged into conflict between two rival factions within the ruling family. Throughout his life it is clear he favoured his eldest sons; those born of ''Pyfog the Irishwoman''. Annals state that these two sons; Rhun ab Owain Gwynedd and Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd; were illegitimate, but it is worth pausing to consider that victory is often written by the victors. Owain and his father, Gruffydd ap Cynan, had both drawn considerable strength from family connections they had maintained across the Irish Sea in Dublin, and it was these connections which had restored Gruffydd on several occasions to his throne and had provided his father, Cynan, with a place of refuge during the usurpations of the 11th Century. It is therefore possible that Owain hoped to maintain this Irish connection by ensuring the succession of one of his sons born of this Irish woman, Pyfog. Furthermore, it seems illogical - given the fact Owain was so set on their succession and the respect he no doubt commanded in Ireland - that the mother of Rhun and Hywel was a mere commoner and that both those children were born out of wedlock. What the annals record, however, is that in 1146 the eldest son and designated heir, Rhun - a man who was acclaimed as a great warrior - "died" mysteriously, and that Hywel his natural brother was proclaimed the new Edling or heir.

Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd duly succeeded his father in 1170 and the realm was plunged immediately into a civil war that appears to have been a conflict between two rival factions; one which was pro-Irish and seeking to ensure the succession of Hywel and protect the legacy of Owain Gwynedd and his father, and a second which seems to be an anti-Irish coalition and headed by Iorwerth Drwyndwn and Owain's widow, Cristin ferch Goronwy ab Owain.

They made their move, and within a few months of his succession Hywel was overthrown and killed at the Battle of Pentraeth in 1171. It seems that Iorwerth was injured badly enough to be ruled out of the succession (he was to die in 1174), leaving Dafydd as the leading figure in this cabal, which included his brother Rhodri as well as his half brother Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd and the nephews of another half brother Cynan ab Owain, namely Gruffudd ap Cynan and Maredudd ap Cynan.

Although the exact division of the spoils is unclear, Maelgwn appears to have gained Anglesey whilst the sons of Cynan held the cantrefs of Meirionydd, Eifionydd and Ardudwy between them. However Dafydd appears at to have been recognised as pre-eminent amongst them and was regarded in some way as the overall leader. Naturally, once he'd enjoyed some of the benefits of power, Dafydd felt disinclined to share, as well as no doubt nervous that he might also soon share the fate of his predecessor Hywel; in 1173 he acted against his brother Maelgwn and drove him into exile in Ireland thereby gaining possession of all Anglesey for himself.

The following year he expelled all his remaining family rivals and made himself master of all Gwynedd and in 1175 "seized through treachery" his brother Rhodri and imprisoned him for good measure. Thus Dafydd re-united all Gwynedd under his one rule and in order to strengthen his position he sought an agreement with Henry II. Due to his problems with the Church and Normandy, Henry was anxious to secure peace and order in Wales. It was agreed that Dafydd would marry Emma of Anjou, who was Henry's illegitimate half sister, and receive the manor of Ellesmere as dowry, but unlike his southern counterpart, Rhys ap Gruffudd, he received no 'official' recognition of his position in the north.

All this was done, as the Brut y Tywysogion explained regarding Dafydd "because he thought he could hold his territory in peace thereby", but it proved insufficient. Before the end of 1175 Rhodri had escaped from captivity and gathered sufficient support to be able to drive Dafydd from Anglesey and across the River Conwy. Faced with this turn of events, Dafydd and Rhodri agreed to divide Gwynedd between each other. Thereafter Dafydd's realm was restricted to Gwynedd Is Conwy, that is the Perfeddwlad, the land between the rivers Conwy and the Dee, whilst Rhodri retained Anglesey and Gwynedd Uwch Conwy. Secure in his now truncated realm, Dafydd now appears to have pushed ambition to one side and resolved to enjoy the quiet life. There is no record of him engaging in any further strife for the twenty years or so after the settlement of 1175. Dafydd may not have inherited the leadership abilities of his father but he had sufficient qualities of diplomacy and tact remaining to ensure he could live at peace with his neighbours. This appears to be the one quality recognised by his contemporaries as he was described by Giraldus Cambrensis as a man who showed "good faith and credit by observing a strict neutrality between the Welsh and English"

His brother Rhodri had a more eventful time and fell out with the descendants of Cynan. They acted against Rhodri in 1190 and drove him out of Gwynedd altogether. Rhodri fled to the safety of the Isle of Man only to be briefly reinstated in 1193 with the assistance of the Ragnvald, King of the Isles, to be driven out once more at the beginning of 1194.

Dafydd's nemesis proved to be his nephew Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, born most likely in the year 1173 and therefore only a child when all these events were played out. Llywelyn's father Iorwerth Drwyndwn had been involved in the early stages of the dynastic struggles and most likely died sometime around 1174. As the century drew to a close Llywelyn became a young man and conceived the ambition to stake his claim to power in Gwynedd. He conspired with his cousins Gruffudd and Maredudd and his uncle Rhodri and in the year 1194 they all united against Dafydd, defeated him at the Battle of Aberconwy and "drove him to flight and took from him all his territory except three castles".

Llywelyn the Great

''See also Llywelyn ap Iorwerth''

Llywelyn, later known as Llywelyn the Great, was sole ruler of Gwynedd by 1200, and made a treaty with King John of England the same year. Llywelyn's relations with John remained good for the next ten years. He married John's illegitimate daughter Joan, also known as Joanna, in 1205, and when John arrested Gwenwynwyn ab Owain of Powys in 1208 Llywelyn took the opportunity to annex southern Powys. In 1210 relations deteriorated and John invaded Gwynedd in 1211. Llywelyn was forced to seek terms and to give up all his lands east of the River Conwy, but was able to recover these lands the following year in alliance with the other Welsh princes. He allied himself with the barons who forced John to sign Magna Carta in 1215. By 1216 he was the dominant power in Wales, holding a council at Aberdyfi that year to apportion lands to the other princes.

Following King John's death, Llywelyn concluded the Treaty of Worcester with his successor Henry III in 1218. During the next fifteen years Llywelyn was frequently involved in fighting with Marcher lords and sometimes with the king, but also made alliances with several of the major powers in the Marches. The Peace of Middle in 1234 marked the end of Llywelyn's military career as the agreed truce of two years was extended year by year for the remainder of his reign.

Llywelyn the Great was determined to enforce the right of legitimate sons in Welsh succession law to bring Gwynedd in line with other Christian countries in Europe. However, by promoting his younger son Dafydd he was up against considerable support for his elder son Gruffydd from traditionalists in Gwynedd. However, with Gruffydd a prisoner the support for Gruffydd could not be transformed into anything more dangerous. Although Dafydd lost one of his most important supporters when his mother died in 1237, he retained the support of Ednyfed Fychan, the Seneschal of Gwynedd and the wielder of great political influence. Llywelyn suffered a paralytic stroke in 1237, and Dafydd took an increasing role in government. Dafydd ruled Gwynedd following his father's death in 1240.

Dafydd ap Llywelyn

Although King Henry III of England had accepted Dafydd's claim to rule Gwynedd, he was not disposed to allow him to retain his father's conquests outside Gwynedd. In 1241 the King invaded Gwynedd, and Dafydd was forced to submit in late August. Under the terms of the Treaty of Gwerneigron, he had to give up all his lands outside Gwynedd, and also to hand over to the King his half brother Gruffydd whom he had been keeping a prisoner. Henry thereby gained what could have been a useful weapon against Dafydd, with the possibility of setting Gruffydd up as a rival to Dafydd in Gwynedd, but Gruffydd died trying to escape from the Tower of London by climbing down a knotted sheet, and fell to his death in March 1244.

With his main rival dead Dafydd formed an alliance with other Welsh rulers and began a campaign against the English occupation of parts of Wales. After savage fighting the campaign was successful until Dafydd's sudden natural death brought it to a halt. At the time of his death he had no children and with Gruffydd dead the succession would pass to the sons of Gruffydd. The only adult sons of Gruffydd were Owain Goch ap Gruffydd and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd who divided the realm between them.

Llywelyn ap Gruffydd

Llywelyn was in Gwynedd at the time of his elevation to the throne and had fought alongside his uncle Dafydd during the last campaign of his reign. This gave him an advantage over his elder brother Owain who had been imprisoned in England with his uncle since 1242. Owain returned to Gwynedd - he apparently "escaped" or was released from Chester immediately after the news of Dafydd's death reached England. Llywelyn and Owain were able to come to agreement and the reduced territory of Gwynedd were divided between them.

In 1255 their younger sibling Dafydd ap Gruffydd reached maturity and Henry III sensing an opportunity to create mischief demanded that he be allowed his division of Gwynedd also. Llywelyn rejected this on the grounds that this would further weaken the realm and play into England's hands. Dafydd formed an alliance with Owain and at the Battle of Bryn Derwin met Llywelyn in battle. Llywelyn was victorious and imprisoned Owain and confiscated his lands. He also imprisoned Dafydd for a short period before coming to terms with him.

Between 1255 and 1258 Llywelyn orchestrated a campaign against England across all of Wales gaining allies in Deheubarth and Powys. By 1258 he was acknowledged by almost all the native rulers as Prince of Wales. In 1263 his brother Dafydd defected to England for reasons which are unclear. It has been speculated that the death of their mother may have had an effect.

The following year, 1264, the Baron's Revolt in England had reached its climax at the Battle of Lewes. Llywelyn signed the Treaty of Woodstock with Simon de Montfort thus forming an alliance against Henry III. Although de Montfort was soon defeated and killed by the English king the peace between England and Wales held, being formalised at the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267 and the title "Prince of Wales" was recognised by the King of England. All the native Welsh princes were to be vassals of Llywelyn and it is from this point that the independent history of the kingdom of Gwynedd comes to an end.

The principality of Wales was to be a short-lived creation. As is explained in greater detail elsewhere, the relationship between England and Wales broke down following the death of Henry III in 1272. By 1276 Llywelyn had been declared a rebel by the new King Edward I who was determined to be the master of the whole island of Great Britain. Diplomatic pressure followed up by an enormous invasion force broke the unity of Wales and allowed the English army to quickly occupy large areas forcing Llywelyn back into his Gwynedd heartland. With the capture of Môn and the Perfeddwlad, LLywelyn sued for peace and was forced to sign the Treaty of Aberconwy reducing his realm to almost same extent that had existed at the beginning of his reign in 1247; confined to the lands above the Conwy. Dafydd was restored and granted some lands in the Perfeddwlad by Edward, including the cantrefi of Rhôs and Rhufoniog.

A confined Llywelyn appears to have put all of his hopes into stabilising the succession through children sired by his new wife Eleanor de Montfort. Tragedy struck when she died during childbirth in 1282, giving birth to a daughter; Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn. This seems to have driven Llywelyn into what some historians have speculated to be a nervous breakdown and incapacitated him.

Rebellion over the rule of the English Crown arose and Dafydd was joined by Llywelyn. In November 1282 the Archbishop of Canterbury John Peckham came to North Wales to mediate between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Edward Longshanks. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was offered a bribe: one thousand pounds a year and an estate in England, if he would surrender his control (which extended at least to Gwynedd and Deheubarth) to Edward. Llywelyn wrote rejecting the offer . Within a month, Llywelyn, on 11 December 1282, was killed at Cilmeri in an ambush. His leaderless forces were routed shortly afterwards and the English forces led by Edward I moved to occupy Powys and eastern Gwynedd.

Dafydd ap Gruffydd

After these events Dafydd ap Gruffydd was proclaimed Prince of Wales. Dafydd continued the fight and kept the support of Goronowy ap Heilin, the Lord of Rhôs, as well as Hywel ap Rhys Gryg and his brother Rhys Wyndod, disinherited princes of Deheubarth.

However, as the English forces encircled Snowdonia and his people starved he was soon moving desperately from one fort to another as effective resistance was systematically crushed. Dolwyddelan which was at risk of becoming encircled was first abandoned on January 18, 1283. After this Dolbadarn Castle served as his base but by March this noble site in the heart of Snowdonia was also threatened forcing his departure. Finally, Dafydd moved his headquarters south to Castell y Bere near Llanfihangel-y-pennant. As the situation deteriorated it seems most likely that Dafydd and his family hoped to remain at Y Bere just long enough to avoid the worst of the Welsh winter before they were compelled to evacuate the site at the end of March in advance of the English forces who were manoeuvering to place it under siege. From this point forwards the prince, his family and the remains of his government were fugitives sleeping outdoors, forced to keep moving from place to place to avoid capture. Castell Y Bere's starving garrison would eventually surrender on April 25. After the fall of Y Bere, Dafydd's movements are speculative but he is recorded in May 1283 leading raids from the mountains supported to the bitter end by Goronwy ap Heilin, Hywel ap Rhys and his brother Rhys Wyndod.

The last months saw inward disintegration as well as submission to superior force. Nevertheless, Goronwy ap Heilin had committed himself to the struggle and died in rebellion, alongside the disinherited princes who stood with Dafydd ap Gruffudd in the last springtime of the principality of Wales, diehards who knew that theirs was not the heroism of a new beginning but the ultimate stand of the very last cohort clutching the figment of the political order that they had once been privileged to know.

On the 22nd June 1283, Dafydd ap Gruffudd was captured in the uplands above Abergwyngregyn close to Bera Mawr in a secret hiding place recorded as Nanhysglain. The site was no more than a hovel in a bog which may have been used previously by religious hermits. It is recorded that Dafydd, who had been betrayed, was "severely injured" during his capture. It is likely that his wife, daughters, niece and one of his sons were captured alongside him. His eldest son, Llywelyn ap Dafydd (aged about 15) was not there at the time because it is recorded that King Edward issued specific orders ''ad querendum filium David primogenitum'' to have him apprehended. Llywelyn ap Dafydd was detained later by "men of his own tongue" and taken into royal custody on 29 June. Following this any organised resistance ended until the uprising of Madog ap Llywelyn some eleven years later.

Dafydd was taken to Edward on the night of his capture, then moved under heavy guard by way of Chester to Shrewsbury where in October he was hanged, drawn and quartered. His children and legal successors were locked away and never released: his sons Llywelyn ap Dafydd and Owain ap Dafydd in Bristol Castle; his daughter and niece in priories in Lincolnshire.

End of independence

Following the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in 1282, and the execution of his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd the following year, eight centuries of independent rule by the house of Gwynedd came to an end, and the kingdom, which had long been one of the final holdouts to total English domination of Wales, was annexed to England. The remaining important members of the ruling house were all arrested and imprisoned for the remainder of their lives (Dafydd's sons Llywelyn ap Dafydd and Owain ap Dafydd in Bristol Castle, his daughters and niece in convents). Under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 the Kingdom of Gwynedd was broken up and re-organised into the English county model which created the counties of Anglesey, Carnarvonshire, Merionethshire, Denbighshire and Flintshire.

The ''Pura Walia'' (the new counties which had been Gwynedd plus Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire) continued to be within a nominal Principality of Wales ruled by the Council of Wales at Ludlow as a part of the English crown. The title Prince of Wales was retained by the sovereign to be eventually awarded to his son, Prince Edward (later Edward II). The Welsh Marches would be merged with the principality in 1534 under the Council of Wales and the Marches until all separate governance for Wales as an administrative entity was abolished in 1689.

There were many Gwynedd-based rebellions after 1284 with varying degrees of success with most being led by peripheral members of the old royal house. In particular the rebellions of Prince Madoc in 1294 and of Owain Lawgoch (the great-nephew of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd) between 1372-1378 are most notable. Because of this the old royal house was purged and any surviving members went in to hiding. A final rebellion in 1400 led by Owain Glyndŵr, a member of the rival royal house of Powys, also drew considerable support from within Gwynedd.

The royal house of Gwynedd may have endured in the guise of the Wynn and the Anwyl families who both claimed Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd as their ancestor. After the purges in Wales had finished in the 16th century a certain Ioan ap Morys of Gwydir proved his royal ancestry and he and his descendants were recognised across north Wales as the ''de jure'' Princes of Gwynedd until the male line of the Wynn family died out, probably in the late 18th century. Another claim could come via the surviving members of the Anwyl of Tywyn Family or from any surviving male descendants of Dafydd Goch, the acknowledged Bastard son of Dafydd ap Gruffudd who avoided detection during the royal purges and continued the line.

Welsh in warfare

According to Sir John Edward Lloyd, the challenges of campaigning in Wales were exposed during the 20 year Norman invasion of Wales. If a defender could bar any road, control any river-crossing or mountain pass, and control the coastline around Wales, then the risks of extended campaigning in Wales were too great.

The Welsh method of warfare during the reign of Henry II is described by Gerald of Wales in his work ''Descriptio Cambriae'' written c. 1190;

"Their mode of fighting consists in chasing the enemy or in retreating. This light-armed people, relying more on their activity than on their strength, cannot struggle for the field of battle, enter into close engagement, or endure long and severe actions...though defeated and put to flight on one day, they are ready to resume the combat on the next, neither dejected by their loss, nor by their dishonour; and although, perhaps, they do not display great fortitude in open engagements and regular conflicts, yet they harass the enemy by ambuscades and nightly sallies. Hence, neither oppressed by hunger or cold, not fatigued by martial labours, nor despondent in adversity, but ready, after a defeat, to return immediately to action, and again endure the dangers of war."''The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis translated by Sir Richard Colt-Hoare (1894), p.511''

The Welsh were revered for the skills of their bowmen. Additionally, the Welsh learned from their Norman rivals. During the generations of warfare and close contact with the Normans, Gruffydd I and other Welsh leaders learned the arts of knighthood and adapted them for Wales. By Gruffydd's death in 1137 Gwynedd could field hundreds of heavy well-armed cavalry as well as their traditional bowmen and infantry.

"They make use of light arms, which do not impede their agility, small coats of mail, bundles of arrows, and long lances, helmets and shields, and more rarely greaves plated with iron. The higher class go to battle mounted on swift and generous steeds, which their country produces; but the greater part of the people fight on foot, on account of the marshy nature and unevenness of the soil. The horsemen, as their situation or occasion requires, willingly serve as infantry, in attacking or retreating; and they either walk bare-footed, or make use of high shoes, roughly constructed with untanned leather. In time of peace, the young men, by penetrating the deep recesses of the woods, and climbing the tops of mountains, learn by practice to endure fatigue through day and night."''The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis translated by Sir Richard Colt-Hoare (1894), p.491''

In the end Wales was defeated militarily by the improved ability of the English navy to blockade or seize areas essential for agricultural production such as Anglesey. With control of the Menai Strait, an invading army could regroup on Anglesey; without control of the Menai an army could be stranded there; and any occupying force on Anglesey could deny the vast harvest of the island to the Welsh.

Lack of food would force the disbandment of any large Welsh force besieged within the mountains. Following the occupation Welsh soldiers were conscripted to serve in the English Army. During the revolt of Owain Glyndwr the Welsh adapted the new skills they had learnt to guerilla tactics and lightning raids. Owain Glyndwr reputedly used the mountains with such advantage that many of the exasperated English soldiery suspected him of being a magician able to control the natural elements.

Administration

In early times Gwynedd (or ''Venedotia'') may have been ruled from Chester. After the Battle of Chester in 613 when the city fell to the Anglo-Saxons the royal court moved west to the stronghold at Deganwy Castle near modern Conway. This site was destroyed in 860 and afterwards Aberffraw on Anglesey became the principal power base. However, as the English fleet became more powerful and particularly after the Norman colonization of Ireland began it became indefensible and from about 1200 until 1283 the home and headquarters of the Princes was Abergwyngregyn or simply just "Aber" (its shortened form adopted by the Crown of England after the conquest). Joan, Lady of Wales, died there in 1237; Dafydd ap Llywelyn in 1246; Eleanor de Montfort, Lady of Wales, wife of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales ("Tywysog Cymru" in modern Welsh), on 19 June 1282, giving birth to a daughter, Gwenllian. The royal home was occupied and expropriated by the English Crown in early 1283.

The traditional sphere of Aberffraw's influence in north Wales included Ynys Môn as their early seat of authority, and Gwynedd Uwch Conwy (''Gwynedd above the Conwy'', or ''upper Gwynedd''), and the Perfeddwlad (''the Middle Country'') also known as Gwynedd Is Conwy (''Gwynedd below the Conwy'', or ''lower Gwynedd''). Additional lands were acquired through vassalage or conquest, and by regaining lands lost to Marcher lords, particularly that of Ceredigion, Powys Fadog, and Powys Wenwynwyn. However these areas were always considered an addition to Gwynedd never part of Gwynedd.

The extent of the kingdom varied with the strength of the current ruler. Gwynedd was traditionally divided into "Gwynedd Uwch Conwy" and "Gwynedd Is Conwy" (with the River Conwy forming the dividing line between the two), which included Môn (Anglesey). The kingdom was administered under Welsh custom through thirteen ''Cantrefi'' each containing, in theory, one hundred settlements or ''Trefi''. Most cantrefs were also divided into cymydau (English commotes).

Ynys Môn

Cantref of Ynys Môn !Commote!!Modern local!

Notes
Cwmwd Aberffraw	Aberffraw	Aberffraw	Historic seat of rulers of Gwynedd
Cwmwd Cemais	Cemais	Cemaes
Cwmwd Talebolyon	Talebolyon
Cwmwd Llan-faes	Llan-faes	Llan-maes
Cwmwd Penrhos	Penrhos		Penrhos, Anglesey>Penrhos
Llys Rhosyr	Rhosyr	Newborough, Anglesey>Newborough, ''Niwbro''

Gwynedd Uwch Conwy

''Gwynedd above the Conwy'', or ''upper Gwynedd''

Cantref Arllechwedd

!Commote!!Modern local!

Notes
Arllechwedd Uchaf	Abergwyngregyn, Conwy County Borough
Arllechwedd Isaf	Trefriw, Conwy County Borough

Cantref Arfon

!Commote!!Modern local!

Notes
Arfon Uwch Gwyrfai	Gwynedd	Arfon above Gwyrfai
Arfon Is Gwyrfai	Gwynedd

Cantref Dunoding

!Commote!!Modern local!Gwynedd Council#Dwyfor

Notes
Ardudwy	Gwynedd Council#Meirionnydd
[[Eifionydd	Dwyfor area within Gwynedd|||Named after Eifion ap Dunod ap Cunedda

Cantref Llŷn

!Commote!!Modern local!

Notes
Dinllaen	Gwynedd Council#Dwyfor>Dwyfor council in Gwynedd county
Cymydmaen	Dwyfor council in Gwynedd county
Cafflogion

Cantref Meirionnydd

!Commote!!Modern local!

Notes
Cwmwd Ystumaner	Ystumaner	Gwynedd Council#Merionethshire>Merionethshire council in Gwynedd county
Cwmwd Tal-y-bont	Tal-y-bont

Gwynedd Is Conwy

Also known as Perfeddwlad, or "the Middle Country" or ''Gwynedd Is Conwy'' (Gwynedd below the Conwy, or lower Gwynedd)

Cantref Tegeingl:

*Cwnsyllt

*Prestatyn

*Rhuddlan

Dyffryn Clwyd:

*Colion

*Llannerch

*Dogfeiling

Rhufoniog

*Ceinmeirch

*Uwch Aled

*Is Aled

Cantref Rhos

*Uwch Dulas

*Is Dulas

*Y Creuddyn

==Rulers of Gwynedd==

House of Cunedda

Cunedda ''Wledig'' ap Edern (Cunedda the Imperator) (''c.''450–''c.''460)

Einion ''Yrth'' ap Cunedda (Einion the Impetuous) (''c.''470–''c.''480)

Cadwallon ''Lawhir'' ap Einion (Cadwallon Long Hand) (''c.''500–''c.''534)

Maelgwn ''Hir'' ap Cadwallon (Maelgwn Gwynedd) (''c.''520–''c.''547)

Line of Maelgwn Gwynedd

Rhun ''Hir'' ap Maelgwn (Rhun the Tall) (''c.''547–''c.''580)

Beli ap Rhun (''c.''580–''c.''599)

Iago ap Beli (''c.''599–''c.''616)

Cadfan ap Iago (''c.''613–''c.''625)

Cadwallon ap Cadfan (''c.''625–634)

Cadafael ''Cadomedd'' ap Cynfeddw (Cadfael the Battle-Shirker) (634–''c.''655)

Cadwaladr ''Fendigaid'' ap Cadwallon (Cadwallader the Blessed) (''c.''655–''c.''682)

Idwal ''Iwrch'' ap Cadwaladr (Idwal Roebuck) (''c.''682–''c.''720)

Rhodri ''Molwynog'' ap Idwal (Rhodri the Bald and Grey) (''c.''720–''c.''754)

Caradog ap Meirion (''c.''754–''c.''798)

Cynan ''Dindaethwy'' ap Rhodri (''c.''798–816)

Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog (814–825)

With Hywel's death all male descendants of Maelgwn Gwynedd have expired, and Merfyn the Freckled succeeds because his mother Esyllt was the eldest daughter of Cynan Dindaethwy ap Rhodri, and niece to the last king Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog.

House of Manaw

Merfyn ''Frych'' ap Gwriad (Merfyn the Freckled) (825–844)

Rhodri ''Mawr'' ap Merfyn (844–878); inherits Gwynedd from his father and Powys from his maternal uncle (who died without issue), then conquers most of rest of Wales.

House of Aberffraw

Anarawd ap Rhodri (878–916) (establishes the Aberffraw dynasty, the senior branch of descendants from Rhodri Mawr)

Idwal Foel ab Anarawd (Idwal the Bald) (916–942)

Hywel ''Dda'' ap Cadell (Howell the Good) (942–950) (Dinefwr dynasty, descended from the second son of Rhodri Mawr who ruled in Deheubarth, usurps Gwynedd from the Aberffraw line.)

Iago ab Idwal (950–979) (returns to the Aberffraw branch)

Ieuaf ab Idwal (950–969)

Hywel ab Ieuaf (974–985)

Cadwallon ab Ieuaf (985–986)

10th- and 11th-century usurpations

Maredudd ab Owain (986–999) Dinefwr dynasty seizes Gwynedd

Cynan ap Hywel (999–1005) Returns to the Aberffraw dynasty briefly

Aeddan ap Blegywryd (1005–1018) (minor commote lord usurps Gwynedd from the Aberffraw dynasty)

Llywelyn ap Seisyll (1018–1023) (Rhuddlan dynasty in lower Gwynedd usurps from Aeddan ap Blegywryd)

Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig (1023–1039) (Aberffraw dynasty returns)

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (1039–1063) (Llywelyn's son Gruffydd usurps from Aberffraw dynasty)

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn (1063–1075) (Mathrafal dynasty of Powys "receives" Gwynedd from the English King)

Trahaearn ap Caradog (1075–1081)

''' Aberffraw restoration

Gruffydd ap Cynan (1081–1137) (Aberffraw dynasty returns)

Owain Gwynedd ap Gruffydd (1137–1170) (After Owain rulers of Gwynedd are styled ''Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Snowdon'')

Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd r. 1170; killed by his younger brother Dafydd ab Owain in a conspiracy hatched by his stepmother Cristen, dowager princess of Gwynedd, and her sons Dafydd and Rhodri ab Owain.

Interregnum

Dafydd ab Owain ursurped the throne of Gwynedd from his brother Hywel ab Owain, and recognized as 'prince of Gwynedd' by the English Crown. However, his ascendency was short lived as he was displaced by other brothers, with the throne of Gwynedd returning to the senior legitimate heir of Owain Gwynedd with Llywelyn the Great.

Dafydd ''the Usurper'' (1170–1195), displaced elder brother Hywel ap Owain Gwynedd, but was himself displaced between 1195 ruling only lower Gwynedd. England recognized Dafydd as Prince of Gwynedd, though Welsh jurists did not.

* Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd (1170–1190) Ruling upper Gwynedd until 1174

* Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd (1170–1173), ruling Ynys Mon and supporter of his elder brother Hywel ap Owain's claim as Prince. After Hywel's death, Maelgwn was able to retain Ynys Mon from Dafydd the Usurper.

Restoration of the senior line:

Llywelyn ''Fawr'' ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) (1195–1240) ''de jure first Prince of Wales''

Dafydd I (1240–1246) (First acknowledged ''Prince of Wales'')

Owain Goch ap Gruffydd (Owen the Red) (1246–1255)

Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (Llywelyn the Last) (1246–1282) (Second acknowledged ''Prince of Wales'')

Dafydd ap Gruffydd (1282–1283) (not crowned but claimed the title)

Post-Conquest descendants

Madog ap Llywelyn (1294–1295) (not crowned but claimed the title)

Owain ap Tomas ap Rhodri (Owen the Red Hand) (1372–1378), great-nephew of Llywelyn the Last, in exile but claimed the title.

After Owain Lawgoch the line of Aberffraw would continue post conquest, and later direct male descendants would include the Wynn family and the Anwyl family, both claiming direct male descent from Owain Gwynedd.

Wynn Baronets of Gwydir (1611)

The Wynn Baronets of Gwydir were created in the Baronetage of England in 1611—one of the initial creations—for John Wynn, of Gwydir. The members of this line were heirs to the Aberffraw claim to the Principality of Gwynedd and Wales as direct descendents of Owain Gwynedd in the senior line from the 15th Century. The family continued to be prominent in politics, all the baronets save Owen sat as members of parliament, often for Carnarvon or Carnarvonshire. This creation became extinct in 1719, on the death of the fifth baronet. Wynnstay, near Ruabon, passed to Jane Thelwall and her husband Sir Watkin Williams, who took the name of Williams-Wynn in honor of his wife's princely heritage.

Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd (died November 1170) = Cristina ferch Gronw ap Owain ap Edwin

Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd, Lord of Anglesey (d.1195) = Annest ferch Rhys ap Gruffudd

Thomas ap Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd = Annest ferch Einion ap Seisyllt

Caradog ap Tomas = Efa ferch Gwyn ap Gruffudd ap Beli

Gruffudd ap Caradog = Lleuca ferch Llywarch Fychan ap Llywarch

Dafydd ap Gruffudd of Rhos = Efa ferch Gruffudd Fychan

Hywel ap Dafydd = Efa ferch Evan ap Hywel ap Maredudd

Maredudd ap Hywell (d. after 1353) = Morfydd ferch Ieuan ap Dafydd ap Trahaern Goch

Robert ap Maredudd = Angharad ferch Dafydd ap Llywelyn

Ifan ap Robert (b. 1438, died 1469) = Catherine ferch Rhys ap Hywel Fychan

Maredudd ap Ifan (Ieuan) ap Robert (b. c1459, died 18 March 1525) = Ales ferch William Gruffudd ap Robin

John "Wynn" ap Maredudd (died 9 July 1559) = Ellen Lloyd ferch Morys ap John

Morys Wynn ap John (d.1580) = Jane Bulkeley (1) Ann Grevill (2) Katherine of Berain (3)

Sir John Wynn ap Morys of Gwydir

*Jane Thelwall (great-granddaughter of Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet through his son William Wynn of Branas, and his son Sidney Wynn) married Watkin Williams (1692–1749). Her husband took the name Wynn in honor of his wife's princely heritage, establishing the Williams-Wynn family.

**Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet (1749–1789)

***Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet (1772–1840)

****Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 6th Baronet (1820–1885)

*****Sir Herbert Lloyd Watkin Williams-Wynn, 7th Baronet (1860–1944)

******Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 8th Baronet (1891–1949)

*******Sir Robert William Herbert Watkin Williams-Wynn, 9th Baronet (1862–1951)

********Sir Owen Watkin Williams-Wynn, 10th Baronet (1904–1988)

*********Sir David Watkin Williams-Wynn, 11th Baronet (b. 1940)

Sir Richard Wynn, 2nd Baronet (c. 1588–1649)

Sir Owen Wynn, 3rd Baronet (d. 1660)

Sir Richard Wynn, 4th Baronet (c. 1625–1674)

*Mary Wynn, Duchess of Ancaster and Kesteven, only child of Sir Richard Wyn

**Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven

***Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven

****Robert Bertie, 4th Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven (died without issue)

***Lady Georgina Charlotte Bertie, eldest daughter of the 3rd Duke, married George Cholmondeley, 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley

****George Cholmondeley, 2nd Marquess of Cholmondeley

*****see Marquess of Cholmondeley for continuation of the line

******David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, b. 1960, Lord Great Chamberlain to HM the Queen.

Anwyl family of Parc (later of Tywyn)

Like the Wynn family, the Anwyl family of Parc (and later of Tywyn) also claim Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd as their ancestor. However, they part from the Wynn family in the early 15th Century as they descend from Ieuan ap Maredudd whereas the Wynn family descends from Robert ap Maredudd (the elder brother). The brothers took opposing sides during the revolt of Owain Glyndwr. The Anwyl family has been maintained in the male line and survives in Wales to this day; the current head of the family is Evan Vaughan Anwyl of Tywyn (b.1943).

Images of Gwynedd

Eryri ''(the Snowdon range)'' is the highest mountain range in Wales. At 1085 metres (3,560 ft), ''Yr Wyddfa'' (''Snowdon'') is the second highest peak in Great Britain south of Scotland's Ben Nevis. The Welsh sought refuge in the mountain range in the face of invasions.

The name of the range in Welsh, Eryri is traditionally believed to derive from the Welsh word for eagle, ''eryr''. However, Welsh scholar Sir Ifor Williams argued the name's origin derived from a Welsh word meaning ''"highlands"''.

In the Middle Ages the title ''Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Snowdon'' (''Tywysog Aberffraw ac Arglwydd Eryri'') was used by the hereditary princes of Gwynedd; for example Llywelyn Fawr.

Sources

BBC Wales/History, ''The emergence of the principality of Wales'' extracted 26 March 2008

Notes

Category:Gwynedd Gwynedd Category:1282 disestablishments Category:States and territories established in the 5th century

ar:مملكة غوينيد br:Rouantelezh Gwynedd ca:Regne de Gwynedd cs:Království Gwynedd cy:Teyrnas Gwynedd es:Reino de Gwynedd eu:Gwyneddeko Erresuma fr:Royaume de Gwynedd id:Kerajaan Gwynedd it:Regno di Gwynedd nl:Koninkrijk Gwynedd no:Kongedømmet Gwynedd pl:Królestwo Gwynedd ru:Королевство Гвинед sh:Kraljevina Gwynedd uk:Королівство Гвінед

Gwynedd () is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated. A large proportion of the population is Welsh-speaking.

Gwynedd is the home of Bangor University and includes the scenic Llŷn Peninsula, and most of the Snowdonia National Park.

The name Gwynedd is also used for a preserved county, covering the Isle of Anglesey as well as the current county. Culturally and historically, the name can also be used for most of North Wales (for instance, the area covered by the Gwynedd Constabulary), corresponding to the approximate territory of the Kingdom of Gwynedd at its greatest extent.

History

Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th Century when it was conquered and subjugated by England. The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties originally created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, based on the principal territory of the former realm. It covered the entirety of the old counties of Anglesey, and Caernarfonshire along with all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd), and also a few parishes in Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoget, Llanrwst Rural and Tir Ifan.

The county was divided into five districts: Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey.

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included the former Denbighshire parts) passed to the new Conwy County Borough. The remainder of the county was constituted a principal area with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, reflecting that it covered most of the areas of those two counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. Modern Gwynedd is governed by Gwynedd Council. As a unitary authority the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain in use as area committees.

The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy - in 2003 the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the modern Gwynedd along with Anglesey, and the area of Conwy county borough is now entirely within Clwyd.

A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 from the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name Gwynedd. In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, Gwynedd had been proposed as a name for a local authority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police.

The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of the County of Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council does still appoint 9 of the 18 members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints 3; and the National Assembly for Wales appoints the remaining 6).

Welsh language

Prior to 2001, there had been a decline in Welsh speakers in Gwynedd. According to the 2001 census the number of Welsh speakers in Wales increased for the first time in over 100 years, with 20.5% in a population of over 2.9 million claiming fluency in Welsh, or one in five. Additionally, 28% of the population of Wales claimed to understand Welsh. However, the number of Welsh speakers declined in Gwynedd from 72.1% in 1991 to 68.7% in 2001. By 2003 however, a survey of schools showed that just over 94% of children between 3 and 15 were able to speak Welsh, though there have been concerns that the influx of English speakers is damaging the standing of Welsh.

Political controversy over housing market and Welsh language

In 1996 there were large protests, backed by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, against the construction of 800 houses at Morfa Bychan near Porthmadog. The protests followed a High Court decision that planning permission given in 1964 was still valid, which Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg described as a "scandal" in a 1998 report. The owners of the site later entered a legal agreement with the council which allowed building of a caravan site on part of the site, but which set aside the earlier permission for the houses; the council later also settled a compensation claim by the developers for its handling of the matter.

In 2001 nearly a third of all properties in Gwynedd were bought by buyers from out of the county, and with some communities reporting as many as a third of local homes used as holiday homes, whose owners spend less than six months of the year locally. Controversial comments by former Gwynedd county councillor Seimon Glyn of Plaid Cymru focused attention on the relationship between the property market and use of the Welsh language. Glyn was commenting on a report underscoring the problem of rocketing house prices outstripping what locals could pay, with the report warning that '...traditional Welsh communities could die out..." as a consequence. Concerned for the Welsh language under these pressures, Glyn said "Once you have more than 50% of anybody living in a community that speaks a foreign language, then you lose your indigenous tongue almost immediately". Plaid Cymru had long advocated controls on second homes, and a 2001 task force headed by Dafydd Wigley recommended land should be allocated for affordable local housing, and called for grants for locals to buy houses, and recommended council tax on holiday homes should double, following similar measures in the Scottish Highlands. However the Welsh Labour-Liberal Democrat Assembly coalition rebuffed these proposals, with Assembly housing spokesman Peter Black stating that "we [cannot] frame our planning laws around the Welsh language", adding "Nor can we take punitive measures against second home owners in the way that they propose as these will have an impact on the value of the homes of local people".

By autumn 2001 the Exmoor National Park authority in England began consideration to limit second home ownership there which was also driving up local housing prices by as much as 31%. Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru's Parliamentary Group Leader, said that the issues in Exmoor National Park were the same as in Wales, however in Wales there is the added dimension of language and culture. Reflecting on the controversy Glyn's comments caused earlier in the year, Llwyd observed "What is interesting is of course it is fine for Exmoor to defend their community but in Wales when you try to say these things it is called racist..." Llwyd called on other parties to join in a debate to bring the Exmoor experience to Wales when he said "... I really do ask them and I plead with them to come around the table and talk about the Exmoor suggestion and see if we can now bring it into Wales". By spring 2002 both the Snowdonia National Park (Welsh: ''Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri'') and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park (Welsh: ''Parc Cenedlaethol Arfordir Penfro'') authorities began limiting second home ownership within the parks, following the example set by Exmoor. According to planners in Snowdonia and Pembrokeshire, applicants for new homes must demonstrate a proven local need or the applicant had strong links with the area.

Notable people from Gwynedd

Wayne Hennessey footballer, current Welsh national team goalkeeper, playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

T. E. Lawrence, "Lawrence of Arabia"

David Lloyd George, statesman, born in Manchester but lived in Llanystumdwy from infancy

Owain Fôn Williams, footballer, currently playing for Stockport County.

Elin Fflur, Welsh singer

Duffy, soul singer-songwriter.

Opera singer Bryn Terfel.

Opera singer Gwyn Hughes Jones (Llanbedrgoch, 25-10-1969)

Hedd Wyn, born Ellis Evans, the famous poet came from the village of Trawsfynydd.

Bryn Fôn, popular Welsh Singer and actor

Group Captain Leslie Bonnet, RAF officer, writer and originator of the Welsh Harlequin Duck; and his wife Joan Hutt, artist

Clough Williams-Ellis, architect of Portmeirion

Sasha, DJ

Glyn Wise, runner-up on Big Brother 7

See also

List of Lord Lieutenants of Gwynedd

List of High Sheriffs of Gwynedd

List of places in Gwynedd for all villages, towns and cities in Gwynedd.

Snowdonia National Park

Llŷn Peninsula

References

External links

Gwynedd.com

Llywelyn - The Royal Line of Gwynedd

Bangor University

Gwynedd Council

Category:Counties of Wales Category:Principal areas of Wales Category:Preserved counties of Wales

be:Гвінед br:Kontelezh Gwynedd bg:Гуинед ca:Gwynedd cs:Gwynedd cy:Gwynedd da:Gwynedd de:Gwynedd et:Gwynedd es:Gwynedd eu:Gwynedd fr:Gwynedd gv:Gwynedd it:Gwynedd hu:Gwynedd nl:Gwynedd (graafschap) ja:グウィネズ (ウェールズ) no:Gwynedd nn:Gwynedd nds:Gwynedd pl:Gwynedd pt:Gwynedd ro:Gwynedd ru:Гвинед sco:Gwynedd simple:Gwynedd sh:Gwynedd fi:Gwynedd sv:Gwynedd uk:Гвінет

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the ''Annales Cambriae'', the ''Historia Brittonum'', and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as ''Y Gododdin''.

The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (''History of the Kings of Britain''). Some Welsh and Breton tales and poems relating the story of Arthur date from earlier than this work; in these works, Arthur appears either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn. How much of Geoffrey's ''Historia'' (completed in 1138) was adapted from such earlier sources, rather than invented by Geoffrey himself, is unknown.

Although the themes, events and characters of the Arthurian legend varied widely from text to text, and there is no one canonical version, Geoffrey's version of events often served as the starting point for later stories. Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established an empire over Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Gaul. Many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story appear in Geoffrey's ''Historia'', including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, the wizard Merlin, Arthur's wife Guinevere, the sword Excalibur, Arthur's conception at Tintagel, his final battle against Mordred at Camlann and final rest in Avalon. The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes, who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature. In these French stories, the narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such as various Knights of the Round Table. Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages but waned in the centuries that followed until it experienced a major resurgence in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the legend lives on, not only in literature but also in adaptations for theatre, film, television, comics and other media.

Debated historicity

The historical basis for the King Arthur legend has long been debated by scholars. The first datable mention of King Arthur is in a 9th century Latin text. One school of thought, citing entries in the ''Historia Brittonum'' (''History of the Britons'') and ''Annales Cambriae'' (''Welsh Annals''), sees Arthur as a genuine historical figure, a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons sometime in the late 5th to early 6th century. The ''Historia Brittonum'', a 9th-century Latin historical compilation attributed in some late manuscripts to a Welsh cleric called Nennius, lists twelve battles that Arthur fought. These culminate in the Battle of Mons Badonicus, or Mount Badon, where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. Recent studies, however, question the reliability of the ''Historia Brittonum'' as a source for the history of this period.

The other text that seems to support the case for Arthur's historical existence is the 10th-century ''Annales Cambriae'', which also link Arthur with the Battle of Mount Badon. The ''Annales'' date this battle to 516–518, and also mention the Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut (Mordred) were both killed, dated to 537–539. These details have often been used to bolster confidence in the ''Historia'''s account and to confirm that Arthur really did fight at Mount Badon. Problems have been identified, however, with using this source to support the ''Historia Brittonum'''s account. The latest research shows that the ''Annales Cambriae'' was based on a chronicle begun in the late 8th century in Wales. Additionally, the complex textual history of the ''Annales Cambriae'' precludes any certainty that the Arthurian annals were added to it even that early. They were more likely added at some point in the 10th century and may never have existed in any earlier set of annals. The Mount Badon entry probably derived from the ''Historia Brittonum''.

This lack of convincing early evidence is the reason many recent historians exclude Arthur from their accounts of sub-Roman Britain. In the view of historian Thomas Charles-Edwards, "at this stage of the enquiry, one can only say that there may well have been an historical Arthur [but ...] the historian can as yet say nothing of value about him". These modern admissions of ignorance are a relatively recent trend; earlier generations of historians were less sceptical. Historian John Morris made the putative reign of Arthur the organising principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain and Ireland, ''The Age of Arthur'' (1973). Even so, he found little to say about a historical Arthur.

Partly in reaction to such theories, another school of thought emerged which argued that Arthur had no historical existence at all. Morris's ''Age of Arthur'' prompted archaeologist Nowell Myres to observe that "no figure on the borderline of history and mythology has wasted more of the historian's time". Gildas' 6th-century polemic ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'' (''On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain''), written within living memory of Mount Badon, mentions the battle but does not mention Arthur. Arthur is not mentioned in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' or named in any surviving manuscript written between 400 and 820. He is absent from Bede's early 8th-century ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', another major early source for post-Roman history that mentions Mount Badon. Historian David Dumville has written: "I think we can dispose of him [Arthur] quite briefly. He owes his place in our history books to a 'no smoke without fire' school of thought ... The fact of the matter is that there is no historical evidence about Arthur; we must reject him from our histories and, above all, from the titles of our books."

Some scholars argue that Arthur was originally a fictional hero of folklore—or even a half-forgotten Celtic deity—who became credited with real deeds in the distant past. They cite parallels with figures such as the Kentish totemic horse-gods Hengest and Horsa, who later became historicised. Bede ascribed to these legendary figures a historical role in the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain. It is not even certain that Arthur was considered a king in the early texts. Neither the ''Historia'' nor the ''Annales'' calls him "''rex''": the former calls him instead "''dux bellorum''" (leader of battles) and "''miles''" (soldier).

Historical documents for the post-Roman period are scarce, so a definitive answer to the question of Arthur's historical existence is unlikely. Sites and places have been identified as "Arthurian" since the 12th century, but archaeology can confidently reveal names only through inscriptions found in secure contexts. The so-called "Arthur stone", discovered in 1998 among the ruins at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall in securely dated 6th-century contexts, created a brief stir but proved irrelevant. Other inscriptional evidence for Arthur, including the Glastonbury cross, is tainted with the suggestion of forgery. Although several historical figures have been proposed as the basis for Arthur, no convincing evidence for these identifications has emerged.

Name

The origin of the name Arthur remains a matter of debate. Some suggest it is derived from the Roman ''nomen gentile'' (family name) ''Artōrius'', of obscure and contested etymology (but possibly of Messapic or Etruscan origin). Some scholars have suggested it is relevant to this debate that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as ''Arthur'', or ''Arturus'', in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as ''Artōrius'' (though it should be noted that Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, this may not say anything about the origin of the name ''Arthur'', as ''Artōrius'' would regularly become ''Art(h)ur'' when borrowed into Welsh.

Another possibility is that it is derived from a Brittonic patronym ''*Arto-rīg-ios'' (the root of which, ''*arto-rīg-'' "bear-king" is to be found in the Old Irish personal name ''Art-ri'') via a Latinized form Artōrius. Less likely is the commonly proposed derivation from Welsh ''arth'' "bear" + (g)wr "man" (earlier ''*Arto-uiros'' in Brittonic); there are phonological difficulties with this theory—notably that a Brittonic compound name ''*Arto-uiros'' should produce Old Welsh ''*Artgur'' and Middle/Modern Welsh ''*Arthwr'' and not ''Arthur'' (in Welsh poetry the name is always spelled ''Arthur'' and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in ''-ur'' - never words ending in ''-wr'' - which confirms that the second element cannot be ''[g]wr'' "man").

An alternative theory, which has gained only limited acceptance among professional scholars, derives the name Arthur from Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear. Classical Latin ''Arcturus'' would also have become ''Art(h)ur'' when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the "guardian of the bear" (which is the meaning of the name in Ancient Greek) and the "leader" of the other stars in Boötes.

A similar first name is Old Irish ''Artúr'', which is believed to be derived directly from an early Old Welsh or Cumbric ''Artur''. The earliest historically attested bearer of the name is a son or grandson of Áedán mac Gabráin (d. AD 609),

Medieval literary traditions

The creator of the familiar literary persona of Arthur was Geoffrey of Monmouth, with his pseudo-historical ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (''History of the Kings of Britain''), written in the 1130s. The textual sources for Arthur are usually divided into those written before Geoffrey's ''Historia'' (known as pre-Galfridian texts, from the Latin form of Geoffrey, ''Galfridus'') and those written afterwards, which could not avoid his influence (Galfridian, or post-Galfridian, texts).

Pre-Galfridian traditions

The earliest literary references to Arthur come from Welsh and Breton sources. There have been few attempts to define the nature and character of Arthur in the pre-Galfridian tradition as a whole, rather than in a single text or text/story-type. One recent academic survey that does attempt this, by Thomas Green, identifies three key strands to the portrayal of Arthur in this earliest material. The first is that he was a peerless warrior who functioned as the monster-hunting protector of Britain from all internal and external threats. Some of these are human threats, such as the Saxons he fights in the ''Historia Brittonum'', but the majority are supernatural, including giant cat-monsters, destructive divine boars, dragons, dogheads, giants and witches. The second is that the pre-Galfridian Arthur was a figure of folklore (particularly topographic or onomastic folklore) and localised magical wonder-tales, the leader of a band of superhuman heroes who live in the wilds of the landscape. The third and final strand is that the early Welsh Arthur had a close connection with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn. On the one hand, he launches assaults on Otherworldly fortresses in search of treasure and frees their prisoners. On the other, his warband in the earliest sources includes former pagan gods, and his wife and his possessions are clearly Otherworldly in origin.

One of the most famous Welsh poetic references to Arthur comes in the collection of heroic death-songs known as ''Y Gododdin'' (''The Gododdin''), attributed to the 6th-century poet Aneirin. In one stanza, the bravery of a warrior who slew 300 enemies is praised, but it is then noted that despite this "he was no Arthur", that is to say his feats cannot compare to the valour of Arthur. ''Y Gododdin'' is known only from a 13th-century manuscript, so it is impossible to determine whether this passage is original or a later interpolation, but John Koch's view that the passage dates from a 7th-century or earlier version is regarded as unproven; 9th- or 10th-century dates are often proposed for it. Several poems attributed to Taliesin, a poet said to have lived in the 6th century, also refer to Arthur, although these all probably date from between the 8th and 12th centuries. They include "Kadeir Teyrnon" ("The Chair of the Prince"), which refers to "Arthur the Blessed", "Preiddeu Annwn" ("The Spoils of Annwn"), which recounts an expedition of Arthur to the Otherworld, and "Marwnat vthyr pen[dragon]" ("The Elegy of Uther Pen[dragon]"), which refers to Arthur's valour and is suggestive of a father-son relationship for Arthur and Uther that pre-dates Geoffrey of Monmouth. Other early Welsh Arthurian texts include a poem found in the ''Black Book of Carmarthen'', "Pa gur yv y porthaur?" ("What man is the gatekeeper?"). This takes the form of a dialogue between Arthur and the gatekeeper of a fortress he wishes to enter, in which Arthur recounts the names and deeds of himself and his men, notably Cei (Kay) and Bedwyr (Bedivere). The Welsh prose tale ''Culhwch and Olwen'' (c. 1100), included in the modern Mabinogion collection, has a much longer list of more than 200 of Arthur's men, though Cei and Bedwyr again take a central place. The story as a whole tells of Arthur helping his kinsman Culhwch win the hand of Olwen, daughter of Ysbaddaden Chief-Giant, by completing a series of apparently impossible tasks, including the hunt for the great semi-divine boar Twrch Trwyth. The 9th-century ''Historia Brittonum'' also refers to this tale, with the boar there named Troy(n)t. Finally, Arthur is mentioned numerous times in the ''Welsh Triads'', a collection of short summaries of Welsh tradition and legend which are classified into groups of three linked characters or episodes in order to assist recall. The later manuscripts of the Triads are partly derivative from Geoffrey of Monmouth and later continental traditions, but the earliest ones show no such influence and are usually agreed to refer to pre-existing Welsh traditions. Even in these, however, Arthur's court has started to embody legendary Britain as a whole, with "Arthur's Court" sometimes substituted for "The Island of Britain" in the formula "Three XXX of the Island of Britain". While it is not clear from the ''Historia Brittonum'' and the ''Annales Cambriae'' that Arthur was even considered a king, by the time ''Culhwch and Olwen'' and the Triads were written he had become ''Penteyrnedd yr Ynys hon'', "Chief of the Lords of this Island", the overlord of Wales, Cornwall and the North.

In addition to these pre-Galfridian Welsh poems and tales, Arthur appears in some other early Latin texts besides the ''Historia Brittonum'' and the ''Annales Cambriae''. In particular, Arthur features in a number of well-known ''vitae'' ("Lives") of post-Roman saints, none of which are now generally considered to be reliable historical sources (the earliest probably dates from the 11th century). According to the ''Life of Saint Gildas'', written in the early 12th century by Caradoc of Llancarfan, Arthur is said to have killed Gildas' brother Hueil and to have rescued his wife Gwenhwyfar from Glastonbury. In the ''Life of Saint Cadoc'', written around 1100 or a little before by Lifris of Llancarfan, the saint gives protection to a man who killed three of Arthur's soldiers, and Arthur demands a herd of cattle as ''wergeld'' for his men. Cadoc delivers them as demanded, but when Arthur takes possession of the animals, they turn into bundles of ferns. Similar incidents are described in the medieval biographies of Carannog, Padarn and Eufflam, probably written around the 12th century. A less obviously legendary account of Arthur appears in the ''Legenda Sancti Goeznovii'', which is often claimed to date from the early 11th century although the earliest manuscript of this text dates from the 15th century. Also important are the references to Arthur in William of Malmesbury's ''De Gestis Regum Anglorum'' and Herman's ''De Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Laudensis'', which together provide the first certain evidence for a belief that Arthur was not actually dead and would at some point return, a theme that is often revisited in post-Galfridian folklore.

Geoffrey of Monmouth

The first narrative account of Arthur's life is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin work ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (''History of the Kings of Britain''). This work, completed c. 1138, is an imaginative and fanciful account of British kings from the legendary Trojan exile Brutus to the 7th-century Welsh king Cadwallader. Geoffrey places Arthur in the same post-Roman period as do ''Historia Brittonum'' and ''Annales Cambriae''. He incorporates Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, his magician advisor Merlin, and the story of Arthur's conception, in which Uther, disguised as his enemy Gorlois by Merlin's magic, sleeps with Gorlois's wife Igerna at Tintagel, and she conceives Arthur. On Uther's death, the fifteen-year-old Arthur succeeds him as King of Britain and fights a series of battles, similar to those in the ''Historia Brittonum'', culminating in the Battle of Bath. He then defeats the Picts and Scots before creating an Arthurian empire through his conquests of Ireland, Iceland and the Orkney Islands. After twelve years of peace, Arthur sets out to expand his empire once more, taking control of Norway, Denmark and Gaul. Gaul is still held by the Roman Empire when it is conquered, and Arthur's victory naturally leads to a further confrontation between his empire and Rome's. Arthur and his warriors, including Kaius (Kay), Beduerus (Bedivere) and Gualguanus (Gawain), defeat the Roman emperor Lucius Tiberius in Gaul but, as he prepares to march on Rome, Arthur hears that his nephew Modredus (Mordred)—whom he had left in charge of Britain—has married his wife Guenhuuara (Guinevere) and seized the throne. Arthur returns to Britain and defeats and kills Modredus on the river Camblam in Cornwall, but he is mortally wounded. He hands the crown to his kinsman Constantine and is taken to the isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds, never to be seen again.

How much of this narrative was Geoffrey's own invention is open to debate. Certainly, Geoffrey seems to have made use of the list of Arthur's twelve battles against the Saxons found in the 9th-century ''Historia Brittonum'', along with the battle of Camlann from the ''Annales Cambriae'' and the idea that Arthur was still alive. Arthur's personal status as the king of all Britain would also seem to be borrowed from pre-Galfridian tradition, being found in ''Culhwch and Olwen'', the ''Triads'' and the Saints' Lives. In addition, many of the elements that Monmouth's King Arthur includes are strong parallels to "Culhwch and Olwen." The motifs and themes of loyalty, honor, giants, gift giving, wife-stealing, and magical creatures are prominent in both stories. Furthermore, Monmouth derived many of his character's names from "Culhwch and Olwen"; Sir Kay comes from "Kai"; Sir Bedivere is derived from "Bedwyr"; and lastly Sir Gawain is "Gwalchmei" in Welsh. Also, the heroines of both tales have similar names: the meaning of Guinever is "White Phantom", while Olwen equates with "of the white track." Finally, Geoffrey borrowed many of the names for Arthur's possessions, close family and companions from the pre-Galfridian Welsh tradition, including Kaius (Cei), Beduerus (Bedwyr), Guenhuuara (Gwenhwyfar), Uther (Uthyr) and perhaps also Caliburnus (Caledfwlch), the latter becoming Excalibur in subsequent Arthurian tales. However, while names, key events and titles may have been borrowed, Brynley Roberts has argued that "the Arthurian section is Geoffrey’s literary creation and it owes nothing to prior narrative." So, for instance, the Welsh Medraut is made the villainous Modredus by Geoffrey, but there is no trace of such a negative character for this figure in Welsh sources until the 16th century. There have been relatively few modern attempts to challenge this notion that the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' is primarily Geoffrey's own work, with scholarly opinion often echoing William of Newburgh's late-12th-century comment that Geoffrey "made up" his narrative, perhaps through an "inordinate love of lying". Geoffrey Ashe is one dissenter from this view, believing that Geoffrey's narrative is partially derived from a lost source telling of the deeds of a 5th-century British king named Riotamus, this figure being the original Arthur, although historians and Celticists have been reluctant to follow Ashe in his conclusions.

Whatever his sources may have been, the immense popularity of Geoffrey's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' cannot be denied. Well over 200 manuscript copies of Geoffrey’s Latin work are known to have survived, and this does not include translations into other languages. Thus, for example, around 60 manuscripts are extant containing Welsh-language versions of the ''Historia'', the earliest of which were created in the 13th century; the old notion that some of these Welsh versions actually underlie Geoffrey's ''Historia'', advanced by antiquarians such as the 18th-century Lewis Morris, has long since been discounted in academic circles. As a result of this popularity, Geoffrey's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' was enormously influential on the later medieval development of the Arthurian legend. While it was by no means the only creative force behind Arthurian romance, many of its elements were borrowed and developed (e.g., Merlin and the final fate of Arthur), and it provided the historical framework into which the romancers' tales of magical and wonderful adventures were inserted.

Romance traditions

The popularity of Geoffrey's ''Historia'' and its other derivative works (such as Wace's ''Roman de Brut'') is generally agreed to be an important factor in explaining the appearance of significant numbers of new Arthurian works in continental Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly in France. It was not, however, the only Arthurian influence on the developing "Matter of Britain". There is clear evidence for a knowledge of Arthur and Arthurian tales on the Continent before Geoffrey's work became widely known (see for example, the Modena Archivolt), as well as for the use of "Celtic" names and stories not found in Geoffrey's ''Historia'' in the Arthurian romances. From the perspective of Arthur, perhaps the most significant effect of this great outpouring of new Arthurian story was on the role of the king himself: much of this 12th-century and later Arthurian literature centres less on Arthur himself than on characters such as Lancelot and Guenevere, Perceval, Galahad, Gawain, and Tristan and Isolde. Whereas Arthur is very much at the centre of the pre-Galfridian material and Geoffrey's ''Historia'' itself, in the romances he is rapidly sidelined. His character also alters significantly. In both the earliest materials and Geoffrey he is a great and ferocious warrior, who laughs as he personally slaughters witches and giants and takes a leading role in all military campaigns, whereas in the continental romances he becomes the ''roi fainéant'', the "do-nothing king", whose "inactivity and acquiescence constituted a central flaw in his otherwise ideal society". Arthur's role in these works is frequently that of a wise, dignified, even-tempered, somewhat bland, and occasionally feeble monarch. So, he simply turns pale and silent when he learns of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere in the ''Mort Artu'', whilst in Chrétien de Troyes's ''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'' he is unable to stay awake after a feast and has to retire for a nap. Nonetheless, as Norris J. Lacy has observed, whatever his faults and frailties may be in these Arthurian romances, "his prestige is never—or almost never—compromised by his personal weaknesses ... his authority and glory remain intact."

Arthur and his retinue appear in some of the ''Lais'' of Marie de France, but it was the work of another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, that had the greatest influence with regard to the above development of the character of Arthur and his legend. Chrétien wrote five Arthurian romances between c. 1170 and c. 1190. ''Erec and Enide'' and ''Cligès'' are tales of courtly love with Arthur's court as their backdrop, demonstrating the shift away from the heroic world of the Welsh and Galfridian Arthur, while ''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'' features Yvain and Gawain in a supernatural adventure, with Arthur very much on the sidelines and weakened. However, the most significant for the development of the Arthurian legend are ''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'', which introduces Lancelot and his adulterous relationship with Arthur's queen (Guinevere), extending and popularizing the recurring theme of Arthur as a cuckold, and ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'', which introduces the Holy Grail and the Fisher King and which again sees Arthur having a much reduced role. Chrétien was thus "instrumental both in the elaboration of the Arthurian legend and in the establishment of the ideal form for the diffusion of that legend", and much of what came after him in terms of the portrayal of Arthur and his world built upon the foundations he had laid. ''Perceval'', although unfinished, was particularly popular: four separate continuations of the poem appeared over the next half century, with the notion of the Grail and its quest being developed by other writers such as Robert de Boron, a fact that helped accelerate the decline of Arthur in continental romance. Similarly, Lancelot and his cuckolding of Arthur with Guinevere became one of the classic motifs of the Arthurian legend, although the Lancelot of the prose ''Lancelot'' (c. 1225) and later texts was a combination of Chrétien's character and that of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's ''Lanzelet''. Chrétien's work even appears to feed back into Welsh Arthurian literature, with the result that the romance Arthur began to replace the heroic, active Arthur in Welsh literary tradition. Particularly significant in this development were the three Welsh Arthurian romances, which are closely similar to those of Chrétien, albeit with some significant differences: ''Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain'' is related to Chrétien's ''Yvain''; ''Geraint and Enid'', to ''Erec and Enide''; and ''Peredur son of Efrawg'', to ''Perceval''. Up to c. 1210, continental Arthurian romance was expressed primarily through poetry; after this date the tales began to be told in prose. The most significant of these 13th-century prose romances was the Vulgate Cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle), a series of five Middle French prose works written in the first half of that century. These works were the ''Estoire del Saint Grail'', the ''Estoire de Merlin'', the ''Lancelot propre'' (or Prose ''Lancelot'', which made up half the entire Vulgate Cycle on its own), the ''Queste del Saint Graal'' and the ''Mort Artu'', which combine to form the first coherent version of the entire Arthurian legend. The cycle continued the trend towards reducing the role played by Arthur in his own legend, partly through the introduction of the character of Galahad and an expansion of the role of Merlin. It also made Mordred the result of an incestuous relationship between Arthur and his sister and established the role of Camelot, first mentioned in passing in Chrétien's ''Lancelot'', as Arthur's primary court. This series of texts was quickly followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle (c. 1230–40), of which the ''Suite du Merlin'' is a part, which greatly reduced the importance of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere but continued to sideline Arthur, now in order to focus more on the Grail quest. As such, Arthur became even more of a relatively minor character in these French prose romances; in the Vulgate itself he only figures significantly in the ''Estoire de Merlin'' and the ''Mort Artu''.

The development of the medieval Arthurian cycle and the character of the "Arthur of romance" culminated in ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', Thomas Malory's retelling of the entire legend in a single work in English in the late 15th century. Malory based his book—originally titled ''The Whole Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights of the Round Table''—on the various previous romance versions, in particular the Vulgate Cycle, and appears to have aimed at creating a comprehensive and authoritative collection of Arthurian stories. Perhaps as a result of this, and the fact that ''Le Morte D'Arthur'' was one of the earliest printed books in England, published by William Caxton in 1485, most later Arthurian works are derivative of Malory's.

Decline, revival, and the modern legend

Post-medieval literature

The end of the Middle Ages brought with it a waning of interest in King Arthur. Although Malory's English version of the great French romances was popular, there were increasing attacks upon the truthfulness of the historical framework of the Arthurian romances—established since Geoffrey of Monmouth's time—and thus the legitimacy of the whole Matter of Britain. So, for example, the 16th-century humanist scholar Polydore Vergil famously rejected the claim that Arthur was the ruler of a post-Roman empire, found throughout the post-Galfridian medieval "chronicle tradition", to the horror of Welsh and English antiquarians. Social changes associated with the end of the medieval period and the Renaissance also conspired to rob the character of Arthur and his associated legend of some of their power to enthral audiences, with the result that 1634 saw the last printing of Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' for nearly 200 years. King Arthur and the Arthurian legend were not entirely abandoned, but until the early 19th century the material was taken less seriously and was often used simply as vehicle for allegories of 17th- and 18th-century politics. Thus Richard Blackmore's epics ''Prince Arthur'' (1695) and ''King Arthur'' (1697) feature Arthur as an allegory for the struggles of William III against James II. Similarly, the most popular Arthurian tale throughout this period seems to have been that of Tom Thumb, which was told first through chapbooks and later through the political plays of Henry Fielding; although the action is clearly set in Arthurian Britain, the treatment is humorous and Arthur appears as a primarily comedic version of his romance character.

John Dryden's masque ''King Arthur'' is still performed, largely thanks to Henry Purcell's music, though seldom unabridged.

Tennyson and the revival

In the early 19th century, medievalism, Romanticism, and the Gothic Revival reawakened interest in Arthur and the medieval romances. A new code of ethics for 19th-century gentlemen was shaped around the chivalric ideals that the "Arthur of romance" embodied. This renewed interest first made itself felt in 1816, when Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' was reprinted for the first time since 1634. Initially the medieval Arthurian legends were of particular interest to poets, inspiring, for example, William Wordsworth to write "The Egyptian Maid" (1835), an allegory of the Holy Grail. Pre-eminent among these was Alfred Lord Tennyson, whose first Arthurian poem, "The Lady of Shalott", was published in 1832. Although Arthur himself played a minor role in some of these works, following in the medieval romance tradition, Tennyson's Arthurian work reached its peak of popularity with ''Idylls of the King'', which reworked the entire narrative of Arthur's life for the Victorian era. First published in 1859, it sold 10,000 copies within the first week. In the ''Idylls'', Arthur became a symbol of ideal manhood whose attempt to establish a perfect kingdom on earth fails, finally, through human weakness. Tennyson's works prompted a large number of imitators, generated considerable public interest in the legends of Arthur and the character himself, and brought Malory’s tales to a wider audience. Indeed, the first modernization of Malory's great compilation of Arthur's tales was published shortly after ''Idylls'' appeared, in 1862, and there were six further editions and five competitors before the century ended.

This interest in the "Arthur of romance" and his associated stories continued through the 19th century and into the 20th, and influenced poets such as William Morris and Pre-Raphaelite artists including Edward Burne-Jones. Even the humorous tale of Tom Thumb, which had been the primary manifestation of Arthur's legend in the 18th century, was rewritten after the publication of ''Idylls''. While Tom maintained his small stature and remained a figure of comic relief, his story now included more elements from the medieval Arthurian romances, and Arthur is treated more seriously and historically in these new versions. The revived Arthurian romance also proved influential in the United States, with such books as Sidney Lanier's ''The Boy's King Arthur'' (1880) reaching wide audiences and providing inspiration for Mark Twain's satiric ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' (1889). Although the "Arthur of romance" was sometimes central to these new Arthurian works (as he was in Burne-Jones's ''The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon'', 1881–1898), on other occasions he reverted back to his medieval status and is either marginalised or even missing entirely, with Wagner's Arthurian operas providing a notable instance of the latter. Furthermore, the revival of interest in Arthur and the Arthurian tales did not continue unabated. By the end of the 19th century, it was confined mainly to Pre-Raphaelite imitators, and it could not avoid being affected by the First World War, which damaged the reputation of chivalry and thus interest in its medieval manifestations and Arthur as chivalric role model. The romance tradition did, however, remain sufficiently powerful to persuade Thomas Hardy, Laurence Binyon and John Masefield to compose Arthurian plays, and T. S. Eliot alludes to the Arthur myth (but not Arthur) in his poem ''The Waste Land'', which mentions the Fisher King.

Modern legend

In the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of the romance tradition of Arthur continued, through novels such as T. H. White's ''The Once and Future King'' (1958) and Marion Zimmer Bradley's ''The Mists of Avalon'' (1982) in addition to comic strips such as ''Prince Valiant'' (from 1937 onward). Tennyson had reworked the romance tales of Arthur to suit and comment upon the issues of his day, and the same is often the case with modern treatments too. Bradley's tale, for example, takes a feminist approach to Arthur and his legend, in contrast to the narratives of Arthur found in medieval materials, and American authors often rework the story of Arthur to be more consistent with values such as equality and democracy. The romance Arthur has become popular in film and theatre as well. T. H. White's novel was adapted into the Lerner-Loewe stage musical ''Camelot'' (1960) and the Disney animated film ''The Sword in the Stone'' (1963); ''Camelot'' itself, with its focus on the love of Lancelot and Guinevere and the cuckolding of Arthur, was itself made into a film of the same name in 1967. The romance tradition of Arthur is particularly evident and, according to critics, successfully handled in Robert Bresson's ''Lancelot du Lac'' (1974), Eric Rohmer's ''Perceval le Gallois'' (1978) and perhaps John Boorman's fantasy film ''Excalibur'' (1981); it is also the main source of the material utilised in the Arthurian spoof ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1975).

Re-tellings and re-imaginings of the romance tradition are not the only important aspect of the modern legend of King Arthur. Attempts to portray Arthur as a genuine historical figure of c. 500 AD, stripping away the "romance", have also emerged. As Taylor and Brewer have noted, this return to the medieval "chronicle tradition"' of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the ''Historia Brittonum'' is a recent trend which became dominant in Arthurian literature in the years following the outbreak of the Second World War, when Arthur's legendary resistance to Germanic invaders struck a chord in Britain. Clemence Dane's series of radio plays, ''The Saviours'' (1942), used a historical Arthur to embody the spirit of heroic resistance against desperate odds, and Robert Sherriff's play ''The Long Sunset'' (1955) saw Arthur rallying Romano-British resistance against the Germanic invaders. This trend towards placing Arthur in a historical setting is also apparent in historical and fantasy novels published during this period. In recent years the portrayal of Arthur as a real hero of the 5th century has also made its way into film versions of the Arthurian legend, most notably the TV series ''Arthur of the Britons'' and the feature films ''King Arthur'' (2004) and ''The Last Legion'' (2007). The 2008 BBC series ''Merlin'' is a reimagining of the legend in which the future King Arthur and Merlin are young contemporaries. ''Camelot'' (2011) is an exclusive short series of episodes which depict Arthur in ancient Briton and his struggle for the throne. Also, a recent Disney film, ''Avalon High'' has been released, the story about a modern day King Arthur and his knights of the round table.

Legacy as a role model

In European Christian culture of the Middle Ages Arthur was created a member of the Nine Worthies, a group of heroes encapsulating all the ideal qualities of chivalry. His life was thus proposed as a valuable subject for study by those aspiring to chivalric status. This aspect of Arthur in the Nine Worthies was popularised firstly through literature, and was thereafter adopted as a frequent subject for painters and sculptors. Arthur has also been used as a model for modern-day behaviour. In the 1930s, the Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table formed in Britain to promote Christian ideals and Arthurian notions of medieval chivalry. In the United States, hundreds of thousands of boys and girls joined Arthurian youth groups, such as the Knights of King Arthur, in which Arthur and his legends were promoted as wholesome exemplars.

Legacy in popular culture

Arthur's diffusion within contemporary culture goes beyond obviously Arthurian endeavours, with Arthurian names being regularly attached to objects, buildings and places. As Norris J. Lacy has observed, "The popular notion of Arthur appears to be limited, not surprisingly, to a few motifs and names, but there can be no doubt of the extent to which a legend born many centuries ago is profoundly embedded in modern culture at every level."

See also

Historical basis for King Arthur

King Arthur's family

King Arthur's messianic return

King Arthur's weapons

List of Arthurian characters

List of books about King Arthur

List of films based on Arthurian legend

Nine Worthies, of which Arthur was one

Notes

References

. . . . . . . . . Second ed. . . . . . . . 2nd. ed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (EBSCO subscription required for online access.) . . Conference paper. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 vols. . . . . . . . . . (JSTOR subscription required for online access.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 vols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trans. Thomas Kerth. . Third, revised, ed. . . . . . .

External links

. An excellent site detailing Welsh Arthurian folklore. . A detailed and comprehensive academic site, which includes numerous scholarly articles, from Thomas Green of Oxford University. . The only academic journal solely concerned with the Arthurian Legend; a good selection of resources and links. . Provides texts and translations (of varying quality) of Welsh medieval sources, many of which mention Arthur. . An interesting collection of articles on King Arthur by various Arthurian enthusiasts. . . Provides valuable bibliographies and freely downloadable versions of Arthurian texts. . An online peer-reviewed journal that includes regular Arthurian articles; see especially the first issue.

*"Arthur and Gorlagon", translated by Frank A. Milne, notes by Alfred Nutt. ''Folk-Lore''. Volume 15, 1904.

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Sam(uel) Thompson (21 May 1916 – 15 February 1965) was a Northern Irish playwright best known for his controversial plays ''Over the Bridge'', which exposes sectarianism, and ''Cemented with Love'', which focuses on political corruption. His works fall into the social realist genre but are distinct in their dramatisation of Northern Irish issues; they were ground-breaking in documenting sectarian violence before the eruption of the Troubles.

Life

Born and educated in a working-class Protestant area in Ballymacarrett, Belfast, Thompson was the seventh of eight children of a lamp-lighter and part-time sexton of St Clement's Church. He spent most of his working life as a painter in the Belfast shipyards, starting aged 14 at Harland and Wolff and working for Belfast Corporation after the Second World War, and much of his writing draws on these experiences.

Thompson was a lifelong socialist and a committed trades unionist; he became a shop steward at the Belfast Corporation. His opposition to sectarian discrimination was to cost him his job. He stood unsuccessfully for parliament as the Labour party candidate for the rural South Down constituency in 1964.

He married May Thompson in 1947. He suffered a heart attack in June 1961, dying suddenly from a second heart attack in 1965.

Writing

Thompson was encouraged to begin writing for radio in 1955, aged 39, by novelist and radio producer Sam Hanna Bell, who overheard him telling stories of shipyard life in a pub. His first piece, the radio documentary feature ''Brush in Hand'' about shipyard apprenticeship, was broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland in 1956.

Several radio plays and documentary features for the BBC were to follow. ''Tommy Baxter, Shopsteward'' (1957) focuses on discrimination against a trades union official by the management, while ''The General Foreman'' (1958) takes on the difficult role of the foreman mediating between management and the workforce. The autobiographical piece ''The Long Back Street'' (1959) describes poverty and sectarian violence during Thompson's early life in Ballymacarrett. He became a full-time playwright and actor in 1959.

His later works for radio include the documentary ''A Bed for the Night'' in which he interviews inmates of a Belfast hostel for the homeless, and the serial ''The Fairmans: Life in a Belfast Working Family'' (1960–1).

''Over the Bridge''

The stage play ''Over the Bridge'', Thompson's best-known work, charts the tragic course of a sectarian dispute in the shipyard. Thompson offered the play to James Ellis, then director of the Ulster Group Theatre, early in 1958, reportedly saying "I got a play you wouldn't touch with a bargepole!" Ellis accepted it, and rehearsals had already started for a production in April 1959 when the theatre's Board of Directors headed by J. Ritchie McKee refused to produce the play, criticising it in the ''Belfast Telegraph'' as "full of grossly vicious phrases and situations which would undoubtedly offend and affront every section of the public" and stating "It is the policy of the directors of the Ulster Group Theatre to keep political and religious controversies off our stage." Ellis and many actors of the Ulster Group Theatre resigned to form their own company, and Thompson successfully sued the Board for breach of contract.

''Over the Bridge'' finally opened in Belfast on 26 January 1960, directed by Ellis and starring J. G. Devlin, Joseph Tomelty and Harry Towb; Thompson played one of the minor roles. It was highly successful, with an estimated total audience of 42,000 people during the six-week run, far greater than had attended any play in the city previously. On tour, ''Over the Bridge'' enjoyed considerable success in Dublin and Glasgow, and also played in Edinburgh, Brighton and the London West End. The play was later adapted for television by Granada and for radio by BBC Belfast.

Ten years after its production, Sam Hanna Bell wrote that "at last the unclean spirit of sectarianism had been dragged before the floodlights and examined with passion, pity and corrosive laughter". Later critics also consider the play to have been ground-breaking; James McAleavey considers ''Over the Bridge'' and the controversy surrounding its staging to be "a landmark in the cultural history of Northern Ireland and ... prophetic of the Troubles to follow;" Michael Parker describes it as "a potent example of a text which illuminates the condition of the culture that frames it" and adds "the story of its reception provides incontrovertible evidence of the unease within the Unionist establishment during this period;" while Lance Pettitt calls the play "a powerful indictment of the failure of labour politics against religious fundamentalism".

Thompson's second stage play, ''The Evangelist'' (1963) is based on the religious revival in Ulster of 1859 and focuses on the exploitation of evangelism; it proved neither as controversial nor as successful as ''Over the Bridge''.

''Cemented with Love''

The television play ''Cemented with Love'' saw a return to controversy: a black comedy which deals with corrupt electoral practices including bribery, gerrymandering and personation, the play lambasts both Unionist and Nationalist parties. Intended for broadcast during the 1964 general election year, it was repeatedly postponed due to protests from the BBC in Belfast. After a campaign led by the producer from BBC London, ''Cemented with Love'' finally appeared in May 1965 as part of ''The Wednesday Play'' series, a few months after Thompson's death. It was adapted as a stage play in 1966 by Tomás MacAnna.

Thompson had completed a draft of a further stage play, ''The Masquerade'', set in London, before his death.

Blue Plaque

On 26 January 2010, a Blue Plaque was unveiled at Montrose Street South, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, the location of the house playwright Sam Thompson was born in, on the 50th anniversary of the first performance of his controversial play ''Over The Bridge''.

Works

Stage plays

''Over the Bridge'' (1957)

''The Evangelist'' (1963)

''The Masquerade'' (not produced)

Television plays

''Cemented with Love'' (1965)

''The Teabreakers'' (unknown)

Radio

''Brush in Hand'' (1956)

''Tommy Baxter, Shopsteward'' (1957)

''The Island Men''

''The General Foreman'' (1958)

''The Long Back Street'' (1959)

''The Fairmans: Life in a Belfast Working Family'' (1960–1)

''A Bed for the Night''

References

External links

Newmann K. ''Dictionary of Ulster Biography'' (1993)

EIRDATA: Sam Thompson (includes list of critical works)

RASCAL (NI): Sam Thompson

Category:1916 births Category:1965 deaths Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Northern Ireland Category:Northern Ireland Labour Party politicians Category:People from Belfast