Dyfnwal Hen or Dumnagual Hen ("Dyfnwal the Old") was a ruler of the
Brittonic kingdom of
Alt Clut, later known as Strathclyde, probably sometime in the early 6th century. His biography is vague, but he was regarded as an important ancestor figure for several kingly lines in the ''
Hen Ogledd
Yr Hen Ogledd (), in English the Old North, is the historical region which is now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands that was inhabited by the Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages. Its population sp ...
'' or "Old North" of Britain. As an ancestor figure, he compares to
Coel Hen, another obscure figure credited with founding a number of northern dynasties.
According to the
Harleian genealogies
__NOTOC__
The Harleian genealogies are a collection of Old Welsh genealogies preserved in British Library, Harley MS 3859. Part of the Harleian Library, the manuscript, which also contains the '' Annales Cambriae'' (Recension A) and a version of ...
, Dyfnwal was the son of a
Cinuit, the son of
Ceretic Guletic, probably his predecessors as king. The Harleian genealogies name three of his sons, each of whom formed a kingly line:
Clinoch, Dyfnwal's successor as king of Alt Clut;
Guipno (NB this is NOT the same name as "Gwyddno"
[David Dumville "St Patrick" Boydell & Brewer 1993 p 112]), who fathered the later king
Neithon; and Cynfelyn, a king of
Eidyn or
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.
[MacQuarrie, p. 5.] The ''
Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd'', a later genealogy of northern kings, gives a modified version of Dyfnwal's family tree.
[Bromwich, pp. 256–257.] Here, he is the son of Idnyued and the grandson of
Maxen Wledig, better known as the
Roman usurper Magnus Maximus. The ''Bonedd'' follows the Harleian in making Dyfnwal the great-grandfather of
Rhydderch Hael, a later king of Alt Clut, but his other descendants are altered significantly.
[ A Gwyddno is included, but he listed as Dyfnwal's great-grandson rather than son, and he is specifically identified as Gwyddno Garanhir of the ]Taliesin
Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the ''Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the court ...
legend.[ A highly confused track makes Dyfnwal the ancestor to the family of Áedán mac Gabráin, a 6th-century ruler of the ]Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, an ...
kingdom of Dál Riata.[
]
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumnagual 01 Of Alt Clut
6th-century Scottish monarchs
Monarchs of Strathclyde