Caradog ap Meirion

Caradog ap Meirion (English: Caradog son of Meirion) was King of Gwynedd (reigned 754? – 798). This era in the history of Gwynedd was not notable, and given the lack of reliable information available, serious histories of Wales, such that as by Davies, do not mention Caradog,^[1] while that of Lloyd mentions his name only in a footnote quoting the year of his death in the Annales Cambriae.^[2]

The year of Caradog's rise to the throne is an assumption based on the death of King Rhodri Molwynog in 754, noted in the Annales Cambriae.^[3] As the records are quite sparse in this era, an intervening king or kings between Rhodri and Caradog is not precluded. The sole references to Caradog in the historical record are the appearance of his name in genealogies such as those in Jesus College MS. 20,^[4] and the note of his death in 798 in the Annales Cambriae,^[5] which says that he was killed by the Saxons (ie, the Mercians).

It was during Caradog's reign that the Welsh church adopted the Catholic method of calculating Easter through the efforts of Bishop Elfodd in 768,^[6] thus removing an ecclesiastical point of contention. In 796 a battle occurred at Rhuddlan Marsh (Welsh: Morfa Rhuddlan), but neither the combatants nor the outcome is given.^[7]^[2] According to Brut Aberpergwm, a purported medieval Welsh text which was accepted as such by the editors of the Myvyrian Archaiology but which is now known to be the work of Iolo Morganwg, Caradog was slain in the 796 battle. Thomas Stephens was the first to doubt the text's authenticity^[8] and it is now known to be one of Iolo's many antiquarian forgeries.

The pedigree in Jesus College MS. 20 states that the later King Hywel (reigned 816 – 825) was Caradog's son, while historical works such as that by Lloyd say that Hywel was the son of Caradog's predecessor and the brother of his successor, King Cynan (reigned 798 – 816).^[9] Lloyd does not cite his sources for this assertion.

Citations

^ Davies 1990, A History of Wales
^ ^a ^b Lloyd 1911:201, A History of Wales, Vol. I
^ Phillimore 1888:161, Annales Cambriae, year 754, "Rotri rex brittonum moritur"
^ Phillimore 1887:89 — his son's pedigree is given as: Howel. M. Crada6c. M. meircha6n. M. Howel. M. Runya6n. M. Einya6n. M. Idwm. M. Cadwall. M. meic. M. Ewein. M. Cenlas. M. Ewein danwyn. M. Einya6n yrth. M. Cuneda Wledic.
^ Phillimore 1888:163, Annales Cambriae, year 798, "Caratauc rex guenedote apud saxones iugulatur"
^ Phillimore 1888:162, Annales Cambriae, year 768, "Pasca commutatur apud brittones emendante elbodugo homine dei"
^ Phillimore 1888:163, Annales Cambriae, year 796, "... et bellum rud glann"
^ Stephens 1857:86, The Book of Aberpergwm
^ Lloyd 1911:231, A History of Wales Vol. I

References

Davies, John (1990), A History of Wales (First ed.), London: Penguin Group (published 1993), ISBN 0-713-99098-8
Lloyd, John Edward (1911), A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, I (2nd ed.), London: Longmans, Green, and Co (published 1912), http://books.google.com/?id=NYwNAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover
Phillimore, Egerton, ed. (1887), "Pedigrees from Jesus College MS. 20", Y Cymmrodor, VIII, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, pp. 77 – 92, http://www.archive.org/details/ycymmrodor08cymmuoft
Phillimore, Egerton (1888), "The Annales Cambriae and Old Welsh Genealogies, from Harleian MS. 3859", in Phillimore, Egerton, Y Cymmrodor, IX, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, pp. 141 – 183, http://books.google.com/books?id=aFMrAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA141
Stephens, Thomas (12 November 1857), "The Book of Aberpergwm, Improperly Called the Chronicle of Caradoc", Archaeologia Cambrensis, Third, IV, London: Cambrian Archaeological Association (published 1858), pp. 77 – 96, http://books.google.com/books?id=jZkVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA77

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Preceded by Rhodri Molwynog ap Idwal	King of Gwynedd 754? – 798	Succeeded by Cynan Dindaethwy ap Rhodri

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Name	Caradog ap Meirion
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Date of death	798
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