Idwal Foel

Idwal Foel ap Anarawd (English: Idwal the Bald) (died 942) was a King of Gwynedd, referred to as King of the Britons by William of Malmesbury in his Gesta Regum Anglorum. William spells his name as Judwalum in the original Latin (anglicized Jothwel); the Annales Cambriae spell it Iudgual.

Idwal inherited the throne of Gwynedd on the death of his father, Anarawd ap Rhodri in 916. He was obliged to acknowledge Athelstan of England as overlord. Following Athelstan's death, Idwal and his brother Elisedd took to arms against the English, but both were killed in battle in 942. The rule of Gwynedd should now have passed to his sons, Iago ab Idwal and Idwal, usually called Ieuaf ab Idwal. However Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, already ruler of most of south Wales, invaded Gwynedd and forced them into exile, adding Gwynedd to his realm. After Hywel's death in 950, Idwal's sons were able to claim the kingdom.

References

• John Edward Lloyd (1911). A history of Wales: from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest. Longmans, Green & Co.