Dyfnwal Hen or Dumnagual Hen ("Dyfnwal the Old") was a ruler of the Brittonic kingdom of

Alt Clut Dumbarton Castle (, ; ) has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland. It sits on a volcanic plug of basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is high and overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton. History Dumbarton Rock was forme ...

, 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 Hen Ogledd (), meaning the Old North, is the historical region that was inhabited by the Celtic Britons, Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands, alongside the fello ...

'' or "Old North" of Britain. As an ancestor figure, he compares to

Coel Hen Coel (Old Welsh: ''Coil''), also called ''Coel Hen'' (Coel the Old) and King Cole, is a figure prominent in Welsh literature and legend since the Middle Ages. Early Welsh tradition knew of a Coel Hen, a 4th-century leader in Roman Britain, Ro ...

, 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 Ceretic Guletic of Alt Clut was a king of Alt Clut, associated with Dumbarton Castle in the 5th century. He has been identified with Coroticus, a Brittonic warrior addressed in a letter by Saint Patrick. Portrayal by Patrick Of Patrick's two ...

, 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 Eidyn was the region around modern Edinburgh in sub-Roman and early medieval Britain, approximately during the 5th–7th centuries. It centred on the stronghold of Din Eidyn, thought to have been at Castle Rock, now the site of Edinburgh Cast ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

.MacQuarrie, p. 5. The ''

Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd ''Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd'' () is a brief Middle Welsh tract which claims to give the pedigrees of twenty 6th century rulers of the Hen Ogledd, the Brittonic languages, Brittonic-speaking parts of southern Scotland and northern England. It is att ...

'', 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 Roman usurpers were individuals or groups of individuals who obtained or tried to obtain power by force and without legitimate legal authority. Usurpation was endemic during the Roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third centu ...

Magnus Maximus. The ''Bonedd'' follows the Harleian in making Dyfnwal the great-grandfather of

Rhydderch Hael Rhydderch Hael (), Riderch I of Alt Clut, or Rhydderch of Strathclyde, or Redrath ( ''fl.'' 580 – c. 614) was a ruler of Alt Clut, a Brittonic kingdom in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" of Britain. He was one of the most famous kings in th ...

, 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 Gwyddno Garanhir was the supposed ruler of a sunken land off the coast of Wales, known as Cantre'r Gwaelod. He was the father of Elffin ap Gwyddno, the foster-father of the famous Welsh poet Taliesin in the legendary account given in the late med ...

of the

Taliesin Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Britons (Celtic people), 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 ...

legend. A highly confused track makes Dyfnwal the ancestor to the family of

Áedán mac Gabráin Áedán mac Gabráin (; ), also written as Aedan, was a king of Dál Riata from 574 until c. 609 AD. The kingdom of Dál Riata was situated in modern Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and parts of County Antrim, Ireland. Genealogies record that Áe ...

, a 6th-century ruler of the

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

kingdom of

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaels, Gaelic Monarchy, kingdom that encompassed the Inner Hebrides, western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North ...

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dumnagual 01 Of Alt Clut 6th-century Scottish monarchs Monarchs of Strathclyde