Anarawd ap Rhodri

Anarawd ap Rhodri (died 916) was a King of Gwynedd, also called King of the Britons by the Annals of Wales.

Anarawd's father Rhodri the Great had eventually become ruler of most of Wales, but on his death in 878 his kingdom was shared out between his sons, with Anarawd inheriting the throne of Gwynedd. Anarawd and his brothers Cadell and Merfyn are recorded as cooperating closely against the rulers of the remaining lesser kingdoms of Wales. Earl Aethelred of Mercia invaded Gwynedd in 881, but Anarawd was able to defeat him with much slaughter in a battle at the mouth of the River Conwy, hailed in the annals as "God's vengeance for Rhodri", Rhodri having been killed in battle against the Mercians.

Anarawd then made an alliance with the Danish king of York in an attempt to guard himself against further Mercian attacks. When this alliance proved unsatisfactory, he came to an agreement with Alfred the Great of Wessex, visiting Alfred at his court. In exchange for Alfred's protection Anarawd recognised the supremacy of Alfred. This was the first time a ruler of Gwynedd had accepted the supremacy of an English king, and formed the basis for the homage which was demanded by the English crown from then on.

In 894 Anarawd was able to repel a raid by a Danish host on North Wales, and the following year raided Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi in southern Wales. He is reported as having some English troops under his command for these raids. In 902 an attack on Ynys Môn (Anglesey) by some of the Danes of Dublin under Ingimund was repulsed. Anarawd died in 916 and was succeeded by his son Idwal Foel (Idwal the Bald).

Anarawd would establish the princely house of Aberffraw, taking the name from his principal seat of government on Ynys Môn. His descendants would rule Gwynedd until the Edwardian conquest of the late 13th century.

References

*Citation
last=Lloyd
first=John Edward
author-link=John Edward Lloyd
year=1911
date=1911
contribution=
title=A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest
volume=I
edition=2nd
publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co
publication-date=1912
publication-place=London
pages=
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NYwNAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover