Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad
Encyclopedia
Merfyn Frych (Merfyn the Freckled, son of Gwriad) was King of Gwynedd
(reigned 825 – 844), the first king not descended from the male line of Maelgwn Gwynedd. Little is known of his reign, and his primary notability is as the father of Rhodri the Great
. Merfyn came to the throne in the aftermath of a bloody dynastic struggle between brothers Cynan
(reigned 798 – 816) and Hywel
(reigned 816 – 825), at a time when the kingdom had been under pressure from Mercia
. The Annales Cambriae
says that he died in 844, the same year in which a battle occurred at Ketill (or Cetyll), but it does not make clear whether there is a connection, or whether it is referring to two unrelated events.
The times leading up to Merfyn's reign were unsettled for both Gwynedd and neighbouring Powys. Both kingdoms were beset by internal dynastic strife, external pressure from Mercia
, and bad luck from nature's whims. In 810 there was a bovine plague that killed many cattle throughout Wales. The next year Deganwy
, the ancient fortified llys (royal court
) of Maelgwn Gwynedd and built of wood, was struck by lightning. A destructive dynastic war raged in Gwynedd between 812 and 816, particularly on Anglesey
, while in Powys a son of the king was killed by his brother "through treachery". In 818 there was a notable battle at Llanfaes
on Anglesey
. The combatants are not identified, but the site had been the llys of King Cynan.
Coenwulf of Mercia
took advantage of the situation in 817, occupying Rhufoniog
(see map) and laying waste to the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia
), the defensive stronghold of Gwynedd. Coastal Wales along the Dee Estuary
was still in Mercian hands in 821, as it is known that Coenwulf died peacefully at Basingwerk
in that year. In 823 Mercia laid waste to Powys and returned to Gwynedd to burn down Deganwy.
Gwynedd and Powys then gained a respite when Mercia's attention turned elsewhere and its fortunes waned. King Beornwulf
was killed fighting the East Anglia
ns in 826, his successor Ludeca
suffered the same fate the following year, and Mercia was conquered and occupied by Ecgberht of Wessex
in 829. Though Mercia managed to throw off Ecgberht's rule in 830, it was thereafter beset by dynastic strife, and never regained its dominance, either in Wales or eastern England
.
It was just as Mercian power was on the verge of breaking that Merfyn Frych came to the throne, certainly a case of fortuitous timing.
Merfyn allied his own royal family with that of Powys by marrying Nest
, daughter or sister of King Cadell ap Brochwel.
Merfyn is mentioned as a king of the Britons in a copyist's addition to the Historia Brittonum and in the Bamberg Cryptogram, but as both sources are traced to people working in Merfyn's own court during his reign, it should not be considered more significant than someone's respectful reference to his patron while working in his service.
In the literary sources, Merfyn's name appears in the Dialogue between Myrddin and his sister Gwenddydd , found in the mid-13th-century manuscript known as the Red Book of Hergest
. The dialogue is a prophecy of the future kings, and lists among them Merfyn in the passage "meruin vrych o dir manaw" (Merfyn Frych of the land of Manau).
through him, and the royal pedigree in Jesus College MS. 20
says that Gwriad was the son of Elidyr, who bears the same name as his ancestor, the father of Llywarch Hen, Elidyr lydanwyn. Supporting the veracity of the pedigree is an entry in the Annales Cambriae, which states that Gwriad, the brother of Rhodri the Great
, was slain on Anglesey
by the Saxons. That is to say, Merfyn named one of his sons after his father Gwriad.
The discovery of a cross inscribed Crux Guriat (Cross of Gwriad) on the Isle of Man
and dated to the 8th or 9th century raised the question of whether Gwriad's possible connection to "Manaw" was to Manaw Gododdin
, once active in North Britain, or to the Isle of Man
. John Rhys
suggested that Gwriad might well have taken refuge on the Isle of Man during the bloody dynastic struggle between Cynan and Hywel prior to Merfyn's accession to the throne, and that the cross perhaps does refer to the refugee Gwriad, father of Merfyn. He goes on to note that the Welsh Triads
mention a 'Gwryat son of Gwryan in the North'. Other locations for "Manaw" have been suggested, including Ireland, Galloway
and Powys.
While Rhys' suggestion is not implausible, his reference to Gwriad's father Gwrian contradicts the royal pedigree, which says that Gwriad's father was Elidir, so this may be a confusion of two different people named Gwriad. Gwriad's name does appear with northern origins in the Welsh Triads
as one of the "Three kings, who were of the sons of strangers" (sometimes referred to as the "Three Peasant Kings"), where he is identified as the son of "Gwrian in the North".
The other literary references to Gwriad and his father Gwrian also suggest that this Gwriad is a different person with the same name as Merfyn's father. For example, Gwrian's name also appears in The Verses of the Graves
in the Black Book of Carmarthen
, as does Gwriad's name, which also appears in the Gododdin
.
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...
(reigned 825 – 844), the first king not descended from the male line of Maelgwn Gwynedd. Little is known of his reign, and his primary notability is as the father of Rhodri the Great
Rhodri the Great
Rhodri the Great was King of Gwynedd from 844 until his death. He was the first Welsh ruler to be called 'Great', and the first to rule most of present-day Wales...
. Merfyn came to the throne in the aftermath of a bloody dynastic struggle between brothers Cynan
Cynan Dindaethwy ap Rhodri
Cynan Dindaethwy ap Rhodri was King of Gwynedd . His reign was marked by a destructive dynastic power struggle with his brother Hywel, and is not otherwise notable....
(reigned 798 – 816) and Hywel
Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog
Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog was King of Gwynedd . He rose to power following a destructive dynastic struggle in which he deposed his brother, King Cynan Dindaethwy ap Rhodri . During Hywel's reign Gwynedd's power was largely confined to Anglesey...
(reigned 816 – 825), at a time when the kingdom had been under pressure from 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...
. The Annales Cambriae
Annales Cambriae
Annales Cambriae, or The Annals of Wales, is the name given to a complex of Cambro-Latin chronicles deriving ultimately from a text compiled from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales, not later than the 10th century...
says that he died in 844, the same year in which a battle occurred at Ketill (or Cetyll), but it does not make clear whether there is a connection, or whether it is referring to two unrelated events.
Political background
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...
, and bad luck from nature's whims. In 810 there was a bovine plague that killed many cattle throughout Wales. The next year Deganwy
Deganwy
Deganwy is a village in Conwy County Borough in Wales with a population of 3,700. It is in a more English-speaking region of North Wales, with only 1 in 4 residents speaking Welsh as a first language...
, the ancient fortified llys (royal court
Royal court
Royal court, as distinguished from a court of law, may refer to:* The Royal Court , Timbaland's production company*Court , the household and entourage of a monarch or other ruler, the princely court...
) of Maelgwn Gwynedd and built of wood, was struck by lightning. A destructive dynastic war raged in Gwynedd between 812 and 816, particularly on 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...
, while in Powys a son of the king was killed by his brother "through treachery". In 818 there was a notable battle at Llanfaes
Llanfaes
Llanfaes is a small village on the island of Anglesey, Wales, located on the shore of the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from the north Wales coast.- History :...
on 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...
. The combatants are not identified, but the site had been the llys of King Cynan.
Coenwulf of Mercia
Coenwulf of Mercia
Coenwulf was King of Mercia from December 796 to 821. He was a descendant of a brother of King Penda, who had ruled Mercia in the middle of the 7th century. He succeeded Ecgfrith, the son of Offa; Ecgfrith only reigned for five months, with Coenwulf coming to the throne in the same year that Offa...
took advantage of the situation in 817, occupying Rhufoniog
Rhufoniog
Rhufoniog was a small sub-kingdom of the Dark Ages Gwynedd, and later a cantref in medieval Wales. According to tradition, it was ruled by its eponymous founder Rhufon, the third son of the first King of Gwynedd, Cunedda, and his direct descendants from the year 445 until the year 540 when it was...
(see map) and laying waste to the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia
Snowdonia
Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...
), the defensive stronghold of Gwynedd. Coastal Wales along the Dee Estuary
Dee Estuary
The Dee Estuary is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five miles 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles wide forming the boundary between the Wirral Peninsula in north-west England and...
was still in Mercian hands in 821, as it is known that Coenwulf died peacefully at Basingwerk
Basingwerk Abbey
Basingwerk Abbey is the ruin of an abbey near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, in the care of Cadw .The abbey was founded in 1132 by Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester, who brought Benedictine monks from Savigny Abbey in southern Normandy. In 1147, the abbey became part of the Cistercian Order and...
in that year. In 823 Mercia laid waste to Powys and returned to Gwynedd to burn down Deganwy.
Gwynedd and Powys then gained a respite when Mercia's attention turned elsewhere and its fortunes waned. King Beornwulf
Beornwulf of Mercia
Beornwulf was King of Mercia from 823 to 825. His short reign saw the collapse of the Mercia's supremacy over the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy....
was killed fighting the East Anglia
Kingdom of the East Angles
The Kingdom of East Anglia, also known as the Kingdom of the East Angles , was a small independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom that comprised what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens...
ns in 826, his successor Ludeca
Ludeca of Mercia
Ludeca was King of Mercia, from 826 to 827. He became king after the death of Beornwulf in battle against the rebellious East Angles, but he too was killed in another failed attempt to subjugate them in the next year....
suffered the same fate the following year, and Mercia was conquered and occupied by Ecgberht of Wessex
Egbert of Wessex
Egbert was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent...
in 829. Though Mercia managed to throw off Ecgberht's rule in 830, it was thereafter beset by dynastic strife, and never regained its dominance, either in Wales or eastern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
It was just as Mercian power was on the verge of breaking that Merfyn Frych came to the throne, certainly a case of fortuitous timing.
Family background and marriage
Merfyn was linked to the earlier dynasty through his mother Ethyllt (or Etthil or Essyllt, Esyllt), the daughter of King Cynan (d. 816), rather than through his father Gwriad. As his father's origins are obscure, so is the basis of his claim to the throne (see below).Merfyn allied his own royal family with that of Powys by marrying Nest
Nest ferch Cadell
Nest ferch Cadell was the daughter of Cadell ap Brochfael a late 8th century King of Powys, wife of Merfyn Frych King of Gwynedd and mother to Rhodri the Great, King of both Powys and Gwynedd....
, daughter or sister of King Cadell ap Brochwel.
Reign
Precious little is known of Merfyn's reign. Thornton suggests that Merfyn was probably among the Welsh kings who were defeated by Ecgberht, king of Wessex, in the year 830, but it is unknown how this affected Merfyn's rule.Merfyn is mentioned as a king of the Britons in a copyist's addition to the Historia Brittonum and in the Bamberg Cryptogram, but as both sources are traced to people working in Merfyn's own court during his reign, it should not be considered more significant than someone's respectful reference to his patron while working in his service.
In the literary sources, Merfyn's name appears in the Dialogue between Myrddin and his sister Gwenddydd , found in the mid-13th-century manuscript known as the Red Book of Hergest
Red Book of Hergest
The Red Book of Hergest is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preserves a collection of Welsh prose and poetry, notably the tales of the Mabinogion, Gogynfeirdd poetry...
. The dialogue is a prophecy of the future kings, and lists among them Merfyn in the passage "meruin vrych o dir manaw" (Merfyn Frych of the land of Manau).
Gwriad, Merfyn's father
Extremely little is known of Merfyn's father Gwriad. Merfyn claimed descent from Llywarch HenLlywarch Hen
Llywarch Hen was a 6th-century prince of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a ruling family in the Hen Ogledd or 'Old North' of Britain...
through him, and the royal pedigree in Jesus College MS. 20
Genealogies from Jesus College MS 20
The genealogies from Jesus College MS 20 are a medieval Welsh collection of genealogies preserved in a single manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Jesus College, MS 20, folios 33r–41r...
says that Gwriad was the son of Elidyr, who bears the same name as his ancestor, the father of Llywarch Hen, Elidyr lydanwyn. Supporting the veracity of the pedigree is an entry in the Annales Cambriae, which states that Gwriad, the brother of Rhodri the Great
Rhodri the Great
Rhodri the Great was King of Gwynedd from 844 until his death. He was the first Welsh ruler to be called 'Great', and the first to rule most of present-day Wales...
, was slain on 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...
by the Saxons. That is to say, Merfyn named one of his sons after his father Gwriad.
The discovery of a cross inscribed Crux Guriat (Cross of Gwriad) on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
and dated to the 8th or 9th century raised the question of whether Gwriad's possible connection to "Manaw" was to Manaw Gododdin
Manaw Gododdin
Manaw Gododdin was the narrow coastal region on the south side of the Firth of Forth, part of the Brythonic-speaking Kingdom of Gododdin in the post-Roman Era. Its notability is as the homeland of Cunedda prior to his conquest of North Wales, and as the homeland of the heroic warriors in the...
, once active in North Britain, or to the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. John Rhys
John Rhys
Sir John Rhys was a Welsh scholar, fellow of the British Academy, celticist and the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University.-Early years and education:...
suggested that Gwriad might well have taken refuge on the Isle of Man during the bloody dynastic struggle between Cynan and Hywel prior to Merfyn's accession to the throne, and that the cross perhaps does refer to the refugee Gwriad, father of Merfyn. He goes on to note that the Welsh Triads
Welsh Triads
The Welsh Triads are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness...
mention a 'Gwryat son of Gwryan in the North'. Other locations for "Manaw" have been suggested, including Ireland, Galloway
Galloway
Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...
and Powys.
While Rhys' suggestion is not implausible, his reference to Gwriad's father Gwrian contradicts the royal pedigree, which says that Gwriad's father was Elidir, so this may be a confusion of two different people named Gwriad. Gwriad's name does appear with northern origins in the Welsh Triads
Welsh Triads
The Welsh Triads are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness...
as one of the "Three kings, who were of the sons of strangers" (sometimes referred to as the "Three Peasant Kings"), where he is identified as the son of "Gwrian in the North".
The other literary references to Gwriad and his father Gwrian also suggest that this Gwriad is a different person with the same name as Merfyn's father. For example, Gwrian's name also appears in The Verses of the Graves
Englynion y Beddau
The Englynion y Beddau is a Middle Welsh verse catalogue listing the resting places of legendary heroes. It consists of a series of englynion, or short stanzas in quantitative meter, and survives in a number of manuscripts...
in the Black Book of Carmarthen
Black Book of Carmarthen
The Black Book of Carmarthen is thought to be the earliest surviving manuscript written entirely or substantially in Welsh. Written in around 1250, the book's name comes from its association with the Priory of St. John the Evangelist and Teulyddog at Carmarthen, and is referred to as black due to...
, as does Gwriad's name, which also appears in the Gododdin
Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Britonnic kingdom of Gododdin and its allies who, according to the conventional interpretation, died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a place named Catraeth...
.