Dyfnwal III of Strathclyde

Who is Dyfnwal III of Strathclyde?

Dyfnwal III was ruler of the Kingdom of Strathclyde for some period in the mid tenth century, and the son of one of his predecessors, Owen I of Strathclyde.

Dyfnwal is almost certainly the king visited by Cathróe of Metz. The vita of the latter saint states that Cathróe was Dyfnwal's relative. The visit must have happened between 941 and 946, meaning that Dyfnwal may have been reigning as early as 941. This fact presents historiographical problems, because the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 945 king Eadmund of England "harried all Cumbria and leased it to Máel Coluim, king of Scots, on the condition that he be his helper both on land and sea". The only possibilities are that, firstly, one source is wrong; secondly, that Strathclyde was a divided kingdom; thirdly, that Malcolm I of Scotland gave the kingdom to Dyfnwal as soon as he received it, with Cathróe visiting the following year; or that Máel Coluim simply became the overlord of Dyfnwal. It is perhaps worthy of note that Edmund I's campaign in Cumbria is associated with the downfall of Dunmail, said to be the "last king of Cumbria".