This is a list of the rulers of the Kingdom of Gwynedd . Many of them were also acclaimed "King of the Britons" or "Prince of Wales".
With Hywel's death, all male descendants of Maelgwn Gwynedd have expired. Merfyn the Freckled succeeds through his mother Esyllt, eldest daughter of Cynan Dindaethwy and niece of Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog.
The warfare among the sons of Rhodri meant that the descendants of Anarawd became considered a separate house – called the House of Aberffraw from their principal seat – from the junior branches in Deheubarth and elsewhere:
| Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig r. 1023–1039 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cynan ab Iago d. 1060 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gruffydd ap Cynan 1055-1081-1137 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owain Gwynedd 1100-1137-1170 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd r. 1170 | Iorwerth Drwyndwn 1145–1174 | Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd Prince 1170–1195 | Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd Prince 1170–1173 | Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd Prince 1170–1195 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Llywelyn the Great 1173-1195-1240 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) 1173-1195-1240 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth 1200–1244 | Dafydd ap Llywelyn 1215-1240-1246 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owain Goch ap Gruffydd d. 1282 | Llywelyn ap Gruffudd 1223-1246-1282 | Dafydd ap Gruffydd 1238-1282-1283 | Rhodri ap Gruffudd 1230–1315 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gwenllian of Wales 1282–1337 | Llywelyn ap Dafydd 1267-1283-1287 | Owain ap Dafydd 1265-1287-1325 | Tomas ap Rhodri 1300-1325-1363 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owain Lawgoch 1330–1378 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, also known as Llywelyn the Great, was a medieval Welsh ruler. He succeeded his uncle, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, as King of Gwynedd in 1195. By a combination of war and diplomacy, he dominated Wales for 45 years.
Owain ap Gruffudd was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great and the first to be styled "Prince of Wales" and the "Prince of the Welsh". He is considered to be the most successful of all the North Welsh princes prior to his grandson, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. He became known as Owain Gwynedd to distinguish him from the contemporary king of Powys Wenwynwyn, Owain ap Gruffydd ap Maredudd, who became known as Owain Cyfeiliog.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the first and only Welsh king to unite all of Wales under his rule from 1055 to 1063. He had also previously been King of Gwynedd and Powys from 1039 to 1055. Gruffydd was the son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, king of Gwynedd, and Angharad daughter of Maredudd ab Owain, king of Deheubarth, and the great-great-grandson of Hywel Dda. After his death, Wales was again divided into separate kingdoms.
The Kingdom of Gwynedd was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Powys and part of today's English West Midlands. More precisely, and based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries originally extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region of England in the east. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found there, and this region is referred to in later Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys".
Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd was king of Gwynedd from 1170 to 1195. For a time he ruled jointly with his brothers Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd and Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd.
Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd, King of Gwynedd in 1170, was a Welsh poet and military leader. Hywel was the son of Owain Gwynedd, king of Gwynedd and an Irishwoman named Pyfog. In recognition of this, he was also known as Hywel ap Gwyddeles. Hywel is also known as the Poet Prince for his bardic skills.
Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, sometimes spelled Blethyn, was an 11th-century Welsh king. King Harold Godwinson and Tostig Godwinson installed Bleddyn and his brother, Rhiwallon, as the co-rulers of kingdom of Gwynedd on his father's death in 1063, during their destruction of the kingdom of their half-brother, king Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Bleddyn became king of Powys and co-ruler of the Kingdom of Gwynedd with his brother Rhiwallon from 1063 to 1075. His descendants continued to rule Powys as the House of Mathrafal.
Maredudd ab Owain was a king of Gwynedd. A member of the House of Dinefwr, his patrimony was the kingdom of Deheubarth comprising the southern realms of Dyfed, Ceredigion, and Brycheiniog. Upon the death of his father King Owain ap Hywel Dda around 988, he also inherited the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, which he had conquered for his father. He was counted among the Kings of the Britons by the Chronicle of the Princes.
Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd was prince of part of Gwynedd, one of the kingdoms of medieval Wales. He ruled from 1175 to 1195.
Madog ap Llywelyn was the leader of the Welsh revolt of 1294–95 against English rule in Wales. The revolt was surpassed in longevity only by the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr in the 15th century. Madog belonged to a junior branch of the House of Aberffraw and was a distant relation of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last recognised native Prince of Wales. During his revolt, Madog issued a land grant in which he used the title "Prince of Wales".
Iorwerth Drwyndwn, known as Iorwerth mab Owain Gwynedd, was the eldest legitimate son of Owain Gwynedd and his first wife Gwladus ferch Llywarch. Owain had already other children born to various mistresses, but in c. 1128, a son, Iorwerth, was born to his wife. These parents' joy was abruptly dampened when they discovered their new son had a disfiguring birth defect. His entire nose was missing and his nostrils were mere holes in his face. For his entire life he would bear the nickname "Drwyndwn", meaning "broken nose". He received the same education and military training as his siblings, but due to his defect it proved hard to find him a wife.
Llywelyn Fawrap Maredudd ap Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd was a second cousin of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and Dafydd ap Llywelyn of the royal house of Gwynedd in the 13th century.
The House of Gwynedd was a royal house during medieval Wales. The dynasty is seen as being divided between the founding of the kings settlement in Gwynedd during the Roman invasion of Britain and the subsequent kingdoms in Wales until after the Norman invasion of Wales and the subsequent incorporation of the separate kingdoms into the Principality of Wales.
Llywarch ap Llywelyn was an important medieval Welsh poet. He is also known by his bardic name, "Prydydd y Moch".
This article is about the particular significance of the century 901–1000 to Wales and its people.
The history of Gwynedd in the High Middle Ages is a period in the history of Wales spanning the 11th to the 13th centuries. Gwynedd, located in the north of Wales, eventually became the most dominant of Welsh polities during this period. Contact with continental courts allowed for Gwynedd to transition from a petty kingdom into an increasingly sophisticated principality of seasoned courtiers capable of high-level diplomacy and representation, not only with the Angevin kings of England, but with the king of France and the Papacy. Distinctive achievements in Gwynedd include the further development of medieval Welsh literature, particularly the work of the princely court poets known as Beirdd y Tywysogion and the reformation of bardic schools; and the continued development of Cyfraith Hywel. All three of these further contributed to the development of a Welsh national identity in the face of Anglo-Norman encroachment on Wales.
The House of Aberffraw was a medieval royal court based in the village it was named after, Aberffraw, Anglesey within the borders of the then Kingdom of Gwynedd. The dynasty was founded in the 9th century by a King in Wales whose descendants founded the Welsh Royal Houses. The other medieval Welsh dynasties were the Royal Houses of Dinefwr, Mathrafal.