28-565: Hywel ap Cadell , commonly known as Hywel Dda , which translates to Howel the Good in English, was a Welsh king who ruled the southern Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth and eventually came to rule most of Wales . He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubarth, and proceeded to gain control over the entire country from Prestatyn to Pembroke . As a descendant of Rhodri Mawr through his father Cadell , Hywel
56-514: A single realm known as Deheubarth . This became the first significant event of his reign. During the year 928 Hywel made a pilgrimage to Rome , becoming the first Welsh prince to undertake such a trip and return, Hywel's wife Elen (death maybe 948 or 951), the daughter of Llywarch (d. 903), and granddaughter of King Hyfaidd of the Kingdom of Dyfed , died the same year. Upon his return he forged very close relations with Æthelstan of England. From
84-476: Is recorded after the death of Llywarch in 904, and Hywel's marriage to Llywarch's only surviving heir probably ensured that the kingdom came into his hands. Hywel and Clydog seem to have ruled Seisyllwg together following their father's death and jointly submitted to Edward the Elder of England in 918. However, Clydog died in 920, evidently leaving the whole realm to Hywel. Hywel soon joined Seisyllwg and Dyfed into
112-461: Is used for educational courses and for children and young people's debates. The local health board of south-west Wales , covering an area roughly corresponding to the kingdoms of Dyfed and Seisyllwg of which Hywel was King, also bears his name. Hywel was the son of King Cadell ap Rhodri of Seisyllwg . He had a brother, Clydog ap Cadell , who was probably the younger of the two. Hywel was later reputed to have married Elen ferch Llywarch (893-943),
140-515: The Scots , and marched with Hywel Dda of Deheubarth and Morgan ab Owain of Gwent against Owain ap Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde that year. Owain was forced to submit to the English king and appear at court by Christmas. Æthelstan died in 939 and was succeeded by his half-brother Edmund . In 942 Idwal, apparently fearing that the Saxons would support Hywel in usurping him, launched an attack on
168-560: The White Land in Dyfed ( Welsh : Tŷ Gwyn ar Daf ) in order to revise and codify the Laws of Wales. The story in the prologues lengthens with time, with more details in the later versions of the prologue. It seems highly unlikely that this meeting actually took place, with the purpose of the prologues being to emphasise the royal and Christian origin and background to the laws, and that in
196-560: The Britons " in the manner of his father. Idwal inherited the throne of Gwynedd on the death of his father Anarawd ap Rhodri in 916. He allied himself with Æthelstan of England upon the latter's accession in 924. As Æthelstan was eager to establish his authority across Britain, Idwal honoured him by visiting the English court in 927, 928 and 937. On the first of these visits, he signed charters agreeing to campaign with Æthelstan against
224-702: The Normans at Crug Mawr . The newly liberated region of Ceredigion , though, was not returned to his family but annexed by Owain. The long and capable rule of Gruffydd's son the Lord Rhys – and the civil wars that followed Owain's death in Gwynedd – briefly permitted the South to reassert the hegemony Hywel Dda had enjoyed two centuries before. On his death in 1197, though, Rhys redivided his kingdom among his several sons and none of them ever again rivalled his power. By
252-619: The Welsh of the north and east: by Llywelyn ap Seisyll of Gwynedd in 1018; by Rhydderch ab Iestyn of Morgannwg in 1023; by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Gwynedd in 1041 and 1043. In 1075, Rhys ab Owain and the noblemen of Ystrad Tywi succeeded in killing their lord Bleddyn ap Cynfyn . Although Rhys was quickly overrun by Gwynedd and Gwent , his cousin Rhys ap Tewdwr – through his marriage into Bleddyn's family and through battle – reestablished his dynasty's hegemony over south Wales just in time for
280-539: The Welsh to join a confederation of all the non-English peoples of Britain and Ireland to fight the Saxons . The poem may be linked to the alliance of Norse and Celtic kingdoms which challenged Æthelstan at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. No Welsh forces joined this alliance, and this may well have been because of the influence of Hywel. On the other hand, neither did he send troops to support Æthelstan. Hywel and Elen had
308-541: The dead king's sister Angharad , became steward of his kingdom. This gave Rhodri no standing to claim the kingship of Seisyllwg himself, but he was able to install his son Cadell as a subject king. Cadell died around 911, and his lands in Seisyllwg appear to have been divided between his two sons Hywel and Clydog. Hywel probably already controlled Dyfed by the time he assumed his father's lands in Ceredigion . No king
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#1732765425629336-559: The face of criticism of the laws from outside Wales especially during John Peckham 's period as Archbishop of Canterbury . Nevertheless, his name continued to be associated with Welsh law which remained in active use throughout Wales until the appointed date of implementation of the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 of King Henry VIII of England who asserted his royal descent by blood-line from Rhodri Mawr via Hywel Dda. Opinions vary as to
364-566: The fact that his laws were just and good. The historian Dafydd Jenkins sees in them compassion rather than punishment, plenty of common sense and recognition of the rights of women. Hywel Dda was a well-educated man even by modern standards, having a good knowledge of Welsh , Latin and English . The office building and original home of the Senedd is named Tŷ Hywel ("Hywel House" or "Hywel's House") in honour of Hywel Dda. The original assembly chamber, now known as Siambr Hywel ("Hywel's Chamber"),
392-472: The following children: Deheubarth United Kingdom Deheubarth ( Welsh pronunciation: [dɛˈhəɨbarθ] ; lit. ' Right-hand Part ' , thus 'the South') was a regional name for the realms of south Wales , particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: Venedotia ). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of Dinefwr , but that Deheubarth itself
420-493: The motives for Hywel's close association with the court of Æthelstan. J. E. Lloyd claimed Hywel was an admirer of Wessex , while David Peter Kirby suggests that it may have been the action of a pragmatist who recognised the realities of power in mid-10th century Britain. A Welsh-language poem entitled Armes Prydein , considered by Sir Ifor Williams to have been written in Deheubarth during Hywel's reign, called for
448-488: The new English king, Edmund . Idwal and his brother Elisedd were both killed in battle in 942 against Edmund's forces. By normal custom Idwal's crown should have passed to his sons , but Hywel intervened. He sent Iago and Ieuaf into exile and established himself as ruler over Gwynedd, which also probably placed him in control of the Kingdom of Powys , which was under the authority of Gwynedd. As such Hywel became king of nearly all of Wales except for Morgannwg and Gwent in
476-689: The outset Æthelstan's intention was to secure the submission of all other kings in Britain; unusually, Hywel embraced submission to England and used it to his advantage whenever possible. In 934, Hywel supported Æthelstan's invasion of Scotland . Later in his reign, he was able to leverage his close association with Æthelstan and the English crown to great effect in his ambitions within Wales. In 942 Hywel's cousin Idwal Foel , King of Gwynedd , determined to cast off English overlordship and took up arms against
504-581: The second wave of conquest: a prolonged Norman invasion under the Marcher Lords . In 1093, Rhys was killed in unknown circumstances while resisting their expansion into Brycheiniog and his son Gruffydd was briefly thrown into exile. Following the death of Henry I , in 1136 Gruffydd formed an alliance with Gwynedd for the purpose of a revolt against Norman incursions. He took part in Owain Gwynedd and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd 's victory over
532-496: The service of the church. At this time the prohibition against the marriage of clerics was not yet established. His sons produced a number of manuscripts and original Latin and vernacular poems. They were very active in the ecclesiastical and political life of Deheubarth. One son, Rhygyfarch (Latin: Ricemarchus ) of Llanbadarn Fawr, wrote the Life of Saint David and another, Ieuan, was a skilful scribe and illuminator. He copied some of
560-547: The south. A single coin in Hywel's name is known. It was produced by the Chester moneyer Gillys in about 946. As there is only one, it is unlikely that it is the sole survivor of a Welsh coinage and it was probably produced as a gesture by the English to the Welsh king. Following Hywel's death in 949 or 950, his kingdom was soon split into three. Gwynedd was reclaimed by the sons of Idwal Foel, Iago and Ieuaf , while Deheubarth
588-452: The supposed heiress of King Llywarch ap Hyfaidd of Dyfed , which connection was subsequently used to justify his family's reign over that kingdom. Hywel's father Cadell had been installed as King of Seisyllwg by his father, Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great) of Gwynedd , following the drowning of the last king in the traditional line, Gwgon , in 872. After Gwgon's death, Rhodri, husband to
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#1732765425629616-787: The time Llywelyn the Great won the wars in Gwynedd, in the first half of the 13th century, lords in Deheubarth merely appear among his clients. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I , the South was divided into the historic counties of Cardiganshire , Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire by the Statute of Rhuddlan . In the arena of the church, Sulien was the leader of the monastic community at Llanbadarn Fawr in Ceredigion. Born ca. 1030, he became Bishop of St David's in 1073 and again in 1079/80. Both of his sons followed him into
644-464: The works of Augustine of Hippo and may have written the Life of St. Padarn . The kingdom of Deheubarth was formed by the union of the kingdoms of Ceredigion, Seisyllwg and Dyfed. Ceredigion was absorbed into Seisyllwg and Dyfed was merged with Seisyllwg to form Deheubarth in 909. House Manaw Deheubarth was in the possession of the Normans from 1093 to 1155 From 1234 to 1283, Deheubarth
672-581: Was a member of the Dinefwr branch of the dynasty. He was recorded as King of the Britons in the Annales Cambriæ and the Annals of Ulster . Hywel is highly esteemed among other medieval Welsh rulers. His name is particularly linked with the codification of traditional Welsh law , which were thenceforth known as the Laws of Hywel Dda . The latter part of his name ( Dda , lit. "Good") refers to
700-483: Was divided between Hywel's sons. Hywel's name is associated with the laws of medieval Wales, which are commonly known as the Laws of Hywel Dda (Welsh: Cyfraith Hywel ). None of the law manuscripts can be dated to Hywel's time, but Hywel's name is mentioned in the prologues to the laws, and are also known as the Code of Dyfed . These describe how Hywel gathered expert lawyers and priests from each commote in Wales together in
728-532: Was not considered a proper kingdom on the model of Gwynedd, Powys , or Dyfed is shown by its rendering in Latin as dextralis pars or as Britonnes dexterales ("the Southern Britons") and not as a named land. In the oldest British writers, Deheubarth was used for all of modern Wales to distinguish it from Hen Ogledd ( Y Gogledd ), the northern lands whence Cunedda originated. Deheubarth
756-493: Was subject to the princes of Gwynedd 51°52′36″N 4°01′06″W / 51.8768°N 4.0184°W / 51.8768; -4.0184 Idwal Foel Idwal Foel (died c. 942) or Idwal ab Anarawd (Idwal son of Anarawd) was a 10th century King of Gwynedd in Wales . A member of the House of Aberffraw , he inherited the throne from his father, Anarawd ap Rhodri . William of Malmesbury credited him as " King of
784-431: Was united around 920 by Hywel Dda out of the territories of Seisyllwg and Dyfed , which had come into his possession. Later on, the Kingdom of Brycheiniog was also added. Caerleon was previously the principal court of the area, but Hywel's dynasty fortified and built up a new base at Dinefwr , near Llandeilo , giving them their name. After the high-water mark set by Hywel, Dinefwr was repeatedly overrun. First, by
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