Anarawd ap Rhodri

Who was Anarawd ap Rhodri?

Anarawd ap Rhodri was a King of Gwynedd and referenced as "King of the Britons" in the Annales Cambriae.

Anarawd's father Rhodri the Great, by conquest and alleged inheritances, had become ruler of most of northern Wales. However, under Welsh law he was bound to divide his lands among his able-bodied children upon his death during a Mercian invasion around 878. Anarawd, the eldest, retained the principal estate at Aberffraw and the throne of Gwynedd. His brothers Cadell and Merfyn received large estates as well, sometimes said to include the kingdoms of Ceredigion and Powys, respectively. For this, one of the Welsh Triads records the brothers as the "Three Diademed Princes of the Isle of Britain".

The brothers are recorded as cooperating closely against the rulers of the remaining lesser kingdoms of Wales. Æthelred of Mercia invaded Gwynedd around 881 and the annals hailed his defeat at Cymryd in the Battle of the Conwy as Dial Rhodri: "God's vengeance for Rhodri". Tudwal was old enough to participate in this battle, but his disfigurement on the field left him unfit for rule in Welsh eyes.