Hywel Dda's Campaigns in Deheubarth
Who Fought
History & Significance
Hywel ap Cadell (died c.950), commonly known as Hywel Dda, which translates to Howel the Good in English, was a Welsh king who ruled the southern Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth and eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubarth and proceeded to gain control over the entire country from Prestatyn to Pembroke. As a grandson of Rhodri Mawr through his father Cadell, Hywel was a member of the Dinefwr branch of the dynasty. He was recorded as King of the Britons in the Annales Cambriæ and the Annals of Ulster.
Hywel is highly esteemed among other medieval Welsh rulers. His name is particularly linked with the codification of traditional Welsh law, which were thenceforth known as the Laws of Hywel Dda. The latter part of his name (Dda, lit. "good") refers to the fact that his laws were just and good. The historian Dafydd Jenkins sees in them compassion rather than punishment, plenty of common sense and recognition of the rights of women. Hywel Dda was a well-educated man even by modern standards, having a good knowledge of Welsh, Latin and English.
The office building and original home of the Senedd is named Tŷ Hywel ("Hywel House" or "Hywel's House") in honour of Hywel Dda. The original assembly chamber, now known as Siambr Hywel ("Hywel's Chamber"), is used for educational courses and for children and young people's debates. The local health board of south-west Wales, covering an area roughly corresponding to the kingdoms of Dyfed and Seisyllwg of which Hywel was King, also bears his name.
Hywel was the son of King Cadell ap Rhodri of Seisyllwg. He had a brother, Clydog ap Cadell, who was probably the younger of the two. Hywel was later reputed to have married Elen ferch Llywarch (893-943), the supposed heiress of King Llywarch ap Hyfaidd of Dyfed, which connection was subsequently used to justify his family's reign over that kingdom.
Hywel's father Cadell had been installed as King of Seisyllwg by his father, Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great) of Gwynedd, following the drowning of the last king in the traditional line, Gwgon, in 872. After Gwgon's death, Rhodri, husband to the dead king's sister Angharad, became steward of his kingdom. This gave Rhodri no standing to claim the kingship of Seisyllwg himself, but he was able to install his son Cadell as a subject king. Cadell died around 911, and his lands in Seisyllwg appear to have been divided between his two sons Hywel and Clydog.
Hywel probably already controlled Dyfed by the time he assumed his father's lands in Ceredigion. No king is recorded after the death of Llywarch in 904, and Hywel's marriage to Llywarch's only surviving heir probably ensured that the kingdom came into his hands. Hywel and Clydog seem to have ruled Seisyllwg together following their father's death and jointly submitted to Edward the Elder of England in 918. However, Clydog died in 920, evidently leaving the whole realm to Hywel. Hywel soon joined Seisyllwg and Dyfed into a single realm known as Deheubarth. This became the first significant event of his reign.
The ground they fought on
The site of Hywel Dda's Campaigns in Deheubarth lies on Arenig Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Arenigian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.
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- Hywel Dda · Wikipedia
- Deheubarth · Wikipedia