perception.
From the time the Roman legions deserted Britannia in the late fourth century AD, we know the names of many Welsh rulers and quite a lot about some individuals. This is largely due to the preservation of the Celtic Christian tradition in Wales, carrying along with it the tradition of monastic learning. The De Excidio Britanniae, a work by the sixth century ‘saint’ Gildas, begins with a brief history of Roman Britain, and goes on to criticize contemporary rulers such as Maelgwn Gwynedd (who is believed to have reigned during the 520s) for failing to live up to the moral standards expected of a king. According to Gildas, Maelgwn committed treason, murder and adultery. The same ruler is mentioned in several other medieval manuscripts, where, though recognized as a wicked man, he is accorded some degree of respect for his achievements. Gildas explains this by pointing out that Maelgwn was a patron of many bards, whose sole purpose in life was to praise him.
Among the other sources for early British history are the Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae. The Historia Brittonum was written in the ninth century, and is attributed to a monk named Nennius, whose exact identity is doubtful. The Annales Cambriae is believed to have been produced in the tenth century, but covers the years 447–954. It was written at the command of Owain ap Hywel (d.987), king of Deheubarth, a son of Hywel Dda. Finally, of course, we have the Brut y Tywysogion, which deals with Welsh royal doings from the year 682 right up to 1332. The date of its original composition is uncertain, as it is thought to be a translation of a lost Latin work entitled Cronica Principium Wallie, which was in turn based on the annals kept by Christian monasteries, specifically the Cistercian abbey of Strata Florida in Ceredigion.
RULING MEDIEVAL WALES
The Welsh rulers whose names are recorded by history tend to be those who stood out among their peers in some way. Most Welshmen, even princes, were known by patronymics, a practice that does not assist the historian in attempting to differentiate between them. Rhodri Mawr (‘the great’) and his grandson, Hywel Dda (‘the good’), are among the few who were given nicknames that reflected their achievements. Rhodri’s father, Merfyn Frych (‘the freckled’) (d.844) is thought to have originated from the Isle of Man, another Celtic kingdom. Rhodri himself had the task of seeing off the Viking marauders who threatened the coast of Wales throughout the ninth and tenth centuries.
Rhodri was a true warrior-king, who met his death in battle. Hywel Dda, on the other hand, gained much of his territorial advantage by shrewd allegiances. Hywel’s success as a ruler manifests itself in the coins of his reign that survive. He had them minted at Chester, which demonstrates the absence of any fear of the English on his part.
Morgan Hen (‘the old’), a king of Morgannwg (d.975) can be assumed to have gained his nickname as a result of his longevity, and longevity was a prized thing at a time when life expectancy in Britain was around thirty. Staying alive might in itself have been enough to enable a ruler to stay on his throne, but the nickname may have an additional connotation of wisdom and experience.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (c.1007–63) is perhaps an exception to the rule that the most successful Welsh kings acquired nicknames. Gruffydd overcame several military setbacks to maintain and extend his hold on power. His reputation for aggression eclipsed even his reputation as a king, yet he remains known by a patronymic. This seems to demonstrate that a warlike nature was then, as it is now, far from being the only quality the Welsh admired in a ruler.
Owain Gwynedd (c.1100–70), a direct descendant of Rhodri Mawr, was one of the most successful all-round rulers Wales has ever known, so much so that his ‘nickname’ is the name of his kingdom. Owain personified Gwynedd, at a time when it was strong enough to take the greatest aggression the Normans could offer and retain its independence. Without his presence, Wales might quickly have disappeared from the map altogether.
If there is a more prestigious epithet than Owain’s, it is the one applied to his nephew, Rhys ap Gruffydd (1132–97), known to the Welsh simply as ‘Yr Arglwydd Rhys’ and to the English as ‘The Lord Rhys’. Rhys established himself firmly in Deheubarth after the death of his mother, Gwenllian, and two of his brothers, during the 1136 rebellion centred in Ceredigion.
THE ROYAL CHARACTER
The term ‘royal’, in the English language, means ‘relating to a king’. In the Welsh language, the equivalent term is ‘brenhinol’, which has exactly the same connotation. What does this mean? What does it take to be kingly?
It was important to the Welsh to have leaders whose power was absolute and unquestioned. Hence the Roman emperor Magnus Maximus (d.388) passed into folklore as ‘Macsen Wledig’ (‘Wledig’ meaning ‘land-owning’) through the Mabinogion. The real-life Maximus was a Celt from the Iberian peninsula, making him all the more interesting to those who recognized his ethnic connection with Wales. The grain of truth that no doubt lies within the folk tale of Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig (The Dream of Macsen Wledig) was emphasized by its author because it was seen as a subject for pride that an emperor, immigrant though he was, should have taken a bride from among the native people. That a Welsh princess should have become consort of such a huge empire was viewed as an achievement for Wales as a whole.
What had been tribes in Celtic times gradually developed into self-governing regions. Their rulers were known by various titles, including ‘brenin’ (king) and ‘tywysog’ (prince). ‘Tywysog’ has its roots in the verb ‘tywys’ (‘to lead’) and words of similar origin appear in other Celtic languages, notably ‘Taoiseach’, the title given to the prime minister of Ireland. ‘Brenin’ seems to have replaced another Welsh word, ‘rhi’, derived from the Latin ‘rex’, and to be etymologically connected with the name of the tribe dominant in the region in pre-Roman times, the Brigantes.
The most prominent of these petty kingdoms were Powys, Gwynedd, Seisyllwg, Dyfed, Brycheiniog, Morgannwg and Gwent. Who were these early Welsh royal families and how did they arrive at their positions of absolute, if territorially limited, power? It seems clear from the use of the word ‘tywysog’ that leadership was one of the main things the people sought from their rulers; but there was much more to it than that.
The Normans did not invent the feudal system, any more than the English invented the class system. Since Roman times, or perhaps even earlier, Welsh society had been developing its own pecking order, founded primarily on the ownership of land; this was the only kind of wealth and power that endured. Wales being a small country, its sub-kingdoms and principalities even smaller and its agricultural land poorer, the hierarchy was correspondingly reduced. Whilst it may seem to have been a society of near-equals, compared with today’s experience, this was not really the case. The ‘uchelwr’ (a word which carries the combined connotations of ‘landowner’, ‘nobleman’ and ‘administrator’) was the wielder of power on a day-to-day basis. These were the people who ran Wales in the Middle Ages. If the land could be kept in the family, they might retain their power for many generations.
The correspondence between material possessions and earthly power is self-evident, but the rulers of Wales were also strongly associated with its religious life. Kings and queens were often regarded as saints, and vice versa. When Magnus Maximus was deposed and killed in 388, his Welsh widow, Elen, is said to have returned to Wales with her two sons, Cystennin and Publicius, and all three became regarded as saints. It seems fairly certain that there was confusion over their identity; it is easy to see how Elen may have become conflated with St Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine. For some, Magnus Maximus himself, an orthodox Christian emperor who persecuted the Pelagian heretics, acquired the image of a martyr.
This view of kings as religious leaders as well as political and military ones is especially common in the early Middle Ages. Even St David seems to have played a part in politics. David (or Dewi Sant as he is known in Welsh) was one of the most vociferous opponents of the Pelagian heresy which swept Britain in the fifth
