Maredudd ab Owain (died 999) was a King of Deheubarth, and through conquest also of Gwynedd

Kingdom of Gwynedd

Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...

 and Powys, kingdoms in medieval Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

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Maredudd was the son of Owain ap Hywel

Owain ap Hywel

Owain ap Hywel was king of Deheubarth in south Wales and probably also controlled Powys.Owain was the son of Hywel Dda, originally king of Deheubarth but by the end of his life king of most of Wales. On Hywel's death in 950 Deheubarth was shared between Owain and his two brothers, Rhodri and Edwin...

 and the grandson of Hywel Dda

Hywel Dda

Hywel Dda , was the well-thought-of king of Deheubarth in south-west Wales, who eventually came to rule Wales from Prestatyn to Pembroke. As a descendant of Rhodri Mawr, through his father Cadell, Hywel was a member of the Dinefwr branch of the dynasty and is also named Hywel ap Cadell...

. His father was king of Deheubarth before him. As Owain grew too old to lead in battle his son Maredudd took his place, and in 986 captured Gwynedd from Cadwallon ab Ieuaf

Cadwallon ab Ieuaf

Cadwallon ap Ieuaf was a King of Gwynedd.Cadwallon was the son of Ieuaf ab Idwal and succeeded to the throne of Gwynedd on the death of his brother Hywel ab Ieuaf in 985. He only reigned for a year, for in 986 Maredudd ab Owain of Deheubarth invaded Gwynedd, slew Cadwallon and annexed his...

. On Owain's death in 988 Maredudd also became ruler of Deheubarth. He may have controlled all Wales apart from Gwent and Morgannwg.

He is recorded as raiding Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

n settlements on the borders of Radnor and as paying a ransom of one penny a head to rescue some of his subjects who had been taken captive in Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 raids. Danish raids were a constant problem during Maredudd's reign. In 987 Godfrey Haroldson raided Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

, killing one thousand and carrying away two thousand as captives; Maredudd is supposed to have paid a huge ransom for the freedom of the hostages. Maredudd died in 999 and was described by the Brut y Tywysogion

Brut y Tywysogion

Brut y Tywysogion 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 y Tywysogion has survived as several Welsh translations of an original Latin version, which has...

as "the most famous King of the Britons

King of the Britons

The Britons or Brythons were the Celtic-speaking people of what is now England, Wales and southern Scotland, whose ethnic identity is today maintained by the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons...

". Following his death, the throne of Gwynedd was recovered for the line of Idwal Foel

Idwal Foel

Idwal Foel ap Anarawd was a King of Gwynedd, referred to as King of the Britons by William of Malmesbury in his Gesta Regum Anglorum. William spells his name as Judwalum in the original Latin ; the Annales Cambriae spell it Iudgual.Idwal inherited the throne of Gwynedd on the death of his...

 by Cynan ap Hywel

Cynan ap Hywel

Cynan ap Hywel was a Prince of Gwynedd, one of the kingdoms or principalities of medieval Wales.After the death in 999 of Maredudd ab Owain who had seized Gwynedd from the line of Idwal Foel, the rule of Gwynedd returned to the original dynasty in the form of Idwal's great-grandson, Cynan ap Hywel...

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