Early Ceredigion and its Rulers

EARLY CEREDIGION AND ITS RULERS

By Darrell Wolcott

When we think of the Welsh kingdom of Ceredigion, it is usually as those lands existed in the 11th century: ten commotes lying along the west coast of Wales between the Dyfi and the Teifi rivers. But were those its bounderies back in the 5th century when it became the eponym of Ceredig ap Cunedda?

Professor John E. Lloyd observed that in the 6 commotes north of the Aeron valley, the influence of St. Padarn is strong; his base at Llanbadarn Fawr held wide authority as the mother church of all Northern Ceredigion. But south of the Aeron, one moves into another region which knows nothing of Padarn but is part of the realm of St Dewi.[1] Most will recognise Dewi as St David, generally identified as the bishop seated at Menevia in Dyfed. Both holy men claim descent from Ceredig ap Cunedda, although Padarn was related only via his mother. His father, Petrwn ap Emyr Llydaw, married Gwen ferch Ceredig ap Cunedda[2] and we may assume it was this marriage which brought Padarn to Ceredigion. The two saints can be charted as:

385 Cunedda

415 Ceredig

_________________l____ Emyr Llydaw* 390

l l l

445 Cedig Draws** 450 Gwen===Petrwn 435

l l

480 Sant/Sandde 470 St Padarn

510 St David/Dewi

*This is the earliest of the men called Emyr Llydaw, being a great-great grandson of Cynan Meriadog. This Emyr's grandson is also called Emyr Llydaw in the old pedigrees.

** This generation is missing from many early pedigrees of St David, but can be found in Bonedd y Saint, 1

We suggest that the lands first named Ceredigion were those 6 commotes north of the Aeron, and that the 4 commotes south of that river were then a part of Dyfed.[3] Much historical conjecture is made of an 8th century king of Ceredigion named Seisyll conquering certain adjacent lands to form a territory called Seisyllwg.[4] We think this was when the lands south of the Aeron were added to the original kingdom of Ceredigion. The whole may have been called Seisyllwg during his lifetime, but within a generation all 10 commotes were simply "Ceredigion".[5] It continued to exist as a separate kingdom until being merged into Deheubarth by Hywel Dda in the 10th century. It's royal family, however, did not become extinct in the male line until 4 generations later in the second half of the 11th century.

Ceredigion had few natural harbors along its coast, so was generally accessible only overland. Neither the Romans nor the pre-Cunedda occupants built any notable forts there, nor have remains of any regal-appearing manors of that age been seen. One would expect that it had been sparsely populated in the days of Ceredig. Later, its geographic features served to protect it from both Saxon invasions and Danish raiders. Its enemies in the 9th to 11th centuries were primarily its neighbors to the north and south.

Nothing at all is known of the reign of Ceredig; by the year 600, only men descended from his son Iusay/Usai are found in the ancient pedigrees. And the descent of those men from Ceredig is missing two generations. For our charts, we shall assume there were two pairs of men called "Serwyl/Serguil ap Usai" simply to have a name to fill each generational slot, but the gaps may occur anywhere between c. 450 and c. 600. Thus:

415 Ceredig ap Cunedda

450 Iusay

480 Serguil

510 Usai

540 Serwyl

570 Boddw

600 Arthfoddw

____________l___________

l l

630 Arthglwys 630 Eiddon Ddu

665 Clydog (next chart)

700 Seisyllt

735 Arthen, ob 807

770 Dyfnwallon

800 Meurig

_____l________

l l 835

830 Gwgan, ob 872 Angharad===Rhodri Mawr 820

We assume the family on the left in our chart[6] was the senior branch of the Royal Family, since the obits of both Arthen and Gwgan cite those men as kings of Ceredigion. The traditional historians of Wales claim that Rhodri Mawr added Ceredigion to his Gwynedd kingship when Gwgan ap Meurig drowned in 872 with no known sons. We have previously shown that to have been not only unlikely, but pure medieval conjecture.[7] Instead, we posit the Ceredigion Royal Family continued its rule after 872 through the cousin line descended from Eiddon Ddu[8]:

630 Eiddon Ddu

665 Seisyllt

695 Llywarch

730 Cloddien Frych

760 Caradog

790 Meurig

825 Einion

860 Owain

____________l_________________

l l l

890 Gwriad 890 Teithwalch 895 Meirchion

(next chart) (later chart) (later chart)

We suspect that after Gwgan ap Meurig of the senior line died, the kingship was conferred upon Einion ap Meurig of this junior branch, who was followed by his son, Owain. The eldest son of Owain ap Einion was Gwriad, who held the kingship until about 932.[9] Others have suggested that Hywel Dda of Deheubarth probably added Ceredigion to his kingdom after Gwriad disappeared from the Athelstan charters witness lists. His obit is not recorded, but Gwriad was survived by sons Anarawd and Gwgan.

Both the male names Gwriad and Anarawd occur here for the first time in the Ceredigion family, having previously been known primarily in the Gwynedd family descended from Merfyn Fyrch. This suggests a marriage between the two families such as posited in this chart:

755 Gwriad, Isle of Man

790 Merfyn Frych

_________l_________

l l

820 Rhodri Mawr 830 Gwriad* Einion 825

l l l

850 Anarawd 870 daughter====Owain 860

890 Gwriad

____________l__________

l l

920 Anarawd 925 Gwgan

* Most ancient texts say the Gwriad who was killed in 878 was the brother of Rhodri, not his son as modern historians claim.

If, as we suspect, Hywel Dda had taken the kingship of Ceredigion about 932, the sons of Gwriad ap Owain would have been sub-teenaged boys. Ten years later, upon the death of Idwal Foel, Hywel Dda also took over Gwynedd. But when Hywel died in 949, the sons of Idwal Foel successfully reclaimed Gwynedd as their patrimony. We suspect the sons of Gwriad likewise attempted to reclaim Ceredigion as their patrimony. The Brut says that Anarawd ap Gwriad was slain in 954 and Gwgan his brother was killed in 957. It thus would appear that Owain ap Hywel Dda successfully held onto Ceredigion, while the more remote kingdom of Gwynedd slipped from his grasp.

While the lineage of Gwriad of Ceredigion became extinct in 957, that royal family survived in the families descended from the younger brothers of Gwriad. The eldest of those brothers was Teithwalch whose lands lay in the far north of Ceredigion:

890 Teithwalch

920 Odwin

950 Morfydd[10]====Eunydd ap Pyll 935

965 Einion

This family branch ended with a heiress, who married a man from Meirionydd and carried much land in north Ceredigion to her son, Einion ap Eunydd. Her grandsons were Peredur Beiswrydd and Peredur Beisgwyn, from whom descended both Gwaithfoed of Meirionydd and Gwaithfoed of Ceredigion as well as other notable families. There is no indication that Odwin ap Teithwalch contested Owain ap Hywel Dda for rule in Ceredigion after his first-cousins were slain, perhaps being content with a lordship north of the Aeron valley.

We now turn to Meirchion, the youngest brother of Gwriad, who held lands in far south Ceredigion. After the death of Odwin ap Teithwalch, the family of Meirchion was the last surviving cadet of the old Ceredigion royal family.

895 Meirchion

925 Gwgan

960 Carwed

995 Llywarch Llwyd

1030 Morfydd

Again, no males of this family appear to have contested Owain ap Hywel Dda, or his descendants, for the kingship of Ceredigion. But the line ended with an 11th century heiress. The pedigrees[11] cite Morfydd as "Morydd, king of Cardigan AD 830" ab Llywarch Llwyd", but we think both the dating and gender are incorrect. It is our view that she was the daughter of Llywarch Llwyd and that she married a Dyfed man. Men named Llawr and Assur/Alser descended from her, names found almost exclusively in the Dyfed families descended from Tudwal Gloff. Thus, we would identify her husband as the c. 1020 Uchdryd ap Aleth ap Llawr ap Aelan ap Alser ap Tudwal, and make him the ancestor of Llewelyn, Lord of Iscerdin, ap Hoedliw ap Llawr ap Assur ap Dyfnfarch ap Morfydd ferch Llywarch Llwyd. [12]

It was, we suggest, with this 11th century heiress that the Royal Family descended from Ceredig ap Cunedda became extinct. That family's rule over Ceredigion, however, likely ended with the earlier death of Gwriad ap Owain c. 932 and certainly ended with the death of his sons in the decade of the 950's.