Llywarch ap Hyfaidd
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Llywarch ap Hyfaidd (died c. 904) was a king of Dyfed, an independent kingdom in southwest Wales.[1] He was the son of Hyfaidd ap Bleddri.[2] Sometime after his death at the beginning of the tenth century, Dyfed became part of the new kingdom of Deheubarth, ruled by Hywel Dda who was married to Llywarch's daughter Elen.[3][4][5]
Upon Llywarch's death in 904, the kingdom passed briefly to his brother Rhodri ap Hyfaidd, but he was killed by beheading in Arwystli, likely as a result of defeath in battle against Hywel or his father Cadell ap Rhodri, King of Seisyllwg or his uncle Anarawd ap Rhodri, King of Gwynedd. Hywel soon consolidated his rule, eventually merging Dyfed with his paternal inheritance as the new kingdom of Deheubarth. Later Welsh tradition held that Hywel inherited Dyfed peacefully through his supposed marriage to Llywarch's daughter Elen (d. 929)[6][7] in a manner similar to the stories told about his great-grandfather Merfyn's acquisition of Gwynedd, his grandfather Rhodri's acquisition of Powys, and his father Cadell's acquisition of Ceredigion, all of this despite female inheritance of land having no place in the Welsh law of the period.[8] However, the repeated attacks of Cadell and Hywel were recorded in Asser's Life of King Alfred, where it states Hyfaidd was replaced by his brother Rhodri, although the cause of his death is unknown.[7]
See also
References
- ^ Cheshire, Paul (2003). Kings, queens, chiefs & rulers: A source book. London: Flame Tree. p. 84. ISBN 9781904041801.
- ^ Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2013). Wales and the Britons, 350-1064. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-821731-2.
- ^ Williams, A. H. (1962). An Introduction to the History of Wales. Vol. I, Prehistoric Times to 1063 A.D. (Revised ed.). Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 161.
- ^ "The Laws of Howel the Good/The Houses of Cunedda and Rhodri Mawr - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "HYWEL DDA (Hywel the Good) (died 950), king and legislator | Dictionary of Welsh Biography". biography.wales. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ Thornton, David E. (1999). "Predatory Nomenclature and Dynastic Expansion in Early Medieval Wales". Medieval Prosopography. 20: 1–22. ISSN 0198-9405.
- ^ a b "Hywel Dda [Hywel Dda ap Cadell] (d. 949/50), king in Wales". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13968. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ Watkin, Thomas Glyn (15 September 2012). The Legal History of Wales. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-2545-2.
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