Gwriad ap Merfyn or ap Rhodri was a 9th-century prince of
Gwynedd
Gwynedd (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the North West Wales, north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County B ...
in northern
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. He is an obscure figure, sometimes being listed as
Rhodri the Great
Rhodri ap Merfyn ( 820 – 873/877/878), popularly known as Rhodri the Great ( cy, Rhodri Mawr), succeeded his father, Merfyn Frych, as King of Gwynedd in 844. Rhodri annexed Powys c. 856 and Seisyllwg c. 871. He is called "King of the Britons" ...
's brother and sometimes as his son.
The
Chronicle of the Princes
''Brut y Tywysogion'' ( en, Chronicle of the Princes) is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. ''Brut ...
' entry for AD 873 reads:. and
Gweirydd son of Owain of
Glamorgan were killed by the Saxons; and then the women of
Anglesey
Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a Local government in Wales, principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strai ...
took arms and rushed upon the Saxons and slaughtered them grievously until they were obliged to flee.Similarly, the 877 entry for ''
The Kings of the English'' reads "Rhodri and Gwriad his brother..."
Other sources, however, record a Gwriad ap Rhodri as the progenitor of the "men of
Nant Mawr in
Twrcelyn
Twrcelyn is an electoral ward in the north of Anglesey, Wales. It includes the communities
A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms ...
" on Anglesey or list him among the children of Rhodri Mawr. As the lesser figures of these lists of children vary both in name and number from source to source, it is possible this Gwriad was simply created to link other genealogies to Rhodri.
[Maund, Kari. ]
The Welsh Kings
', p. 43. Tempus Pub., 2002. Accessed 27 Feb 2013.
References
Welsh princes
9th-century Welsh people
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