Merfyn Frych

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Merfyn Frych (or Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad) (English: Merfyn the Freckled, son of Gwriad) was King of Gwynedd (reigned 825 – 844), the first king not descended from the male line of Maelgwn Gwynedd. Little is known of his reign, and his primary notability is as the father of Rhodri the Great. Merfyn came to the throne in the aftermath of a bloody dynastic struggle between brothers Cynan (reigned 798 – 816) and Hywel (reigned 816 – 825),[1] at a time when the kingdom had been under pressure from Mercia.[2] The Annales Cambriae says that he died in 844, the same year in which a battle occurred at Ketill (or Cetyll), but it does not make clear whether there is a connection, or whether it is referring to two unrelated events.[3][4]

Political background

The times leading up to Merfyn's reign were unsettled for both Gwynedd and neighbouring Powys. Both kingdoms were beset by internal dynastic strife, external pressure from Mercia, and bad luck from nature's whims. In 810 there was a bovine plague that killed many cattle throughout Wales. The next year Deganwy, the ancient fortified llys (English: royal court) of Maelgwn Gwynedd and built of wood, was struck by lightning. A destructive dynastic war raged in Gwynedd between 812 and 816, particularly on Anglesey, while in Powys a son of the king was killed by his brother "through treachery". In 818 there was a notable battle at Llanfaes on Anglesey. The combatants are not identified, but the site had been the llys of King Cynan.[5]

Coenwulf of Mercia took advantage of the situation in 817, occupying Rhufoniog (see map) and laying waste to the mountains of Eryri (English: Snowdonia), the defensive stronghold of Gwynedd. Coastal Wales along the Dee Estuary was still in Mercian hands in 821, as it is known that Coenwulf died peacefully at Basingwerk in that year. In 823 Mercia laid waste to Powys and returned to Gwynedd to burn down Deganwy.

Gwynedd and Powys then gained a respite when Mercia's attention turned elsewhere and its fortunes waned. King Beornwulf was killed fighting the East Anglians in 826, his successor Ludeca suffered the same fate the following year, and Mercia was conquered and occupied by Ecgberht of Wessex in 829. Though Mercia managed to throw off Ecgberht's rule in 830, it was thereafter beset by dynastic strife, and never regained its dominance, either in Wales or eastern England.[6]

It was just as Mercian power was on the verge of breaking that Merfyn Frych came to the throne, certainly a case of fortuitous timing.

Family background and marriage

Merfyn was linked to the earlier dynasty through his mother Ethyllt (or Etthil or Essyllt, Esyllt), the daughter of King Cynan (d. 816), rather than through his father Gwriad.[7][note 1] As his father's origins are obscure, so is the basis of his claim to the throne (see below).[7]

Merfyn allied his own royal family with that of Powys by marrying Nest, daughter or sister of King Cadell ap Brochwel.[note 2]

Reign

Precious little is known of Merfyn's reign. Thornton suggests that Merfyn was probably among the Welsh kings who were defeated by Ecgberht, king of Wessex, in the year 830, but it is unknown how this affected Merfyn's rule.[7]

Merfyn is mentioned as a king of the Britons in a copyist's addition[note 3] to the Historia Brittonum and in the Bamberg Cryptogram, [note 4] but as both sources are traced to people working in Merfyn's own court during his reign, it should not be considered more significant than someone's respectful reference to his patron while working in his service.

In the literary sources, Merfyn's name appears in the Dialogue between Myrddin and his sister Gwenddydd (Welsh: Cyfoesi Myrddin a Gwenddydd ei chwaer), found in the mid-13th-century manuscript known as the Red Book of Hergest. The dialogue is a prophecy of the future kings, and lists among them Merfyn in the passage "meruin vrych o dir manaw"[14] (English: Merfyn Frych of the land of Manau).

Gwriad, Merfyn's father

Extremely little is known of Merfyn's father Gwriad. Merfyn claimed descent from Llywarch Hen through him, and the royal pedigree in Jesus College MS. 20 says that Gwriad was the son of Elidyr, who bears the same name as his ancestor, the father of Llywarch Hen, Elidyr lydanwyn.[15] Supporting the veracity of the pedigree is an entry in the Annales Cambriae, which states that Gwriad, the brother of Rhodri the Great, was slain on Anglesey by the Saxons. That is to say, Merfyn named one of his sons after his father Gwriad.[16]

The discovery of a cross inscribed Crux Guriat (English: Cross of Gwriad) on the Isle of Man and dated to the 8th or 9th century[17] raised the question of whether Gwriad's possible connection to "Manaw" was to Manaw Gododdin, once active in North Britain, or to the Isle of Man (Welsh: Ynys Manaw).[7] John Rhys suggested that Gwriad might well have taken refuge on the Isle of Man during the bloody dynastic struggle between Cynan and Hywel prior to Merfyn's accession to the throne, and that the cross perhaps does refer to the refugee Gwriad, father of Merfyn. He goes on to note that the Welsh Triads mention a 'Gwryat son of Gwryan in the North'.[18] Other locations for "Manaw" have been suggested, including Ireland, Galloway and Powys.[7]

While Rhys' suggestion is not implausible, his reference to Gwriad's father Gwrian contradicts the royal pedigree, which says that Gwriad's father was Elidir, so this may be a confusion of two different people named Gwriad. Gwriad's name does appear with northern origins in the Welsh Triads as one of the "Three kings, who were of the sons of strangers" (sometimes referred to as the "Three Peasant Kings"), where he is identified as the son of "Gwrian in the North".[19][20]

The other literary references to Gwriad and his father Gwrian also suggest that this Gwriad is a different person with the same name as Merfyn's father. For example, Gwrian's name also appears in The Verses of the Graves (Welsh: Englynion y Beddau) in the Black Book of Carmarthen,[21] as does Gwriad's name,[22] which also appears in the Gododdin.[23]

Notes

  1. ^ There is nothing in what is known of Welsh law stating specifically that women were capable of transmitting legal title of kingship, and it is not known whether Merfyn came to the throne through usurpation or prior arrangement. Lloyd's article on Merfyn in the Dictionary of National Biography says that claims of kingship through a maternal line were sometimes recognised under the Welsh law of inheritance and cites mamwys (English: maternity, heirship through the female line) for the justification.[8] However, mamwys refers to matters of property.
  2. ^ The view that Ethyllt was Merfyn's mother and Nest his wife is held by Davies[9] and many others, including David E. Thornton[7] and Lloyd,[10] who notes the consistency of the genealogies in Jesus College MS 20 and Harleian MS 3859 against the contrary account that Nest was the mother and Ethyllt the wife. Thornton gives Nest as Cadell's sister.[7]
  3. ^ Merfyn's name appears twice in the Historia Brittorum as 'Mermin', with both mentions attributed to later additions to the Historia made in Gwynedd during Merfyn's reign. He is mentioned in a passage as quarto Meruini regis Britonum, and in another passage as ad annum quartum Mermini regis.[11] In his History of Wales, Lloyd notes that this is the addition of a later copyist. Additionally, he notes that the text annum quartum Mermini regis does not appear in other copies of the Historia.[12]
  4. ^ The Bamberg Cryptogram was published with English annotation in 1892. It was discovered at Bamberg, Germany and it contains characters that must be translated from Greek numerals to Latin text using using a key in order to read the message (a form of cryptogram), hence the document's name. It is accompanied by Latin text that names several medieval people of note, and includes the words Mermin Britannorum regis. This was written at the court of Merfyn during his reign.[13]

Citations

  1. ^ Parry 1829:63, Brut y Saeson. Hywel would defeat and exile Cynan, who died soon thereafter.
  2. ^ Parry 1829:63, Brut y Saeson, in 823 Mercia devastated Powys and burned Deganwy.
  3. ^ Phillimore 1888:165, Annales Cambriae — year 844, "mermin moritur. gueith cetill."
  4. ^ Lloyd 1911:324, A History of Wales, Vol I – Lloyd notes that some later copyists had invented a definite connection of the battle with Mercia and Merfyn, where no such connection was stated in the original source.
  5. ^ Lloyd 1911:232, A History of Wales, Vol I
  6. ^ Kirby 1991:153–7
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Thornton 2004
  8. ^ Lloyd 1909:277, Dictionary of National Biography, article Merfyn
  9. ^ Davies 1990:81, A History of Wales
  10. ^ Lloyd 1911:324, A History of Wales, Vol I
  11. ^ Nennius c. 800:3, 14, Historia Brittonum
  12. ^ Lloyd 1911:224, The Age of Isolation, in A History of Wales, Vol I, in footnote 145
  13. ^ Stokes & 1892 pp-71 – 72, On a Mediaeval Cryptogram
  14. ^ Skene 1868b:222, Red Book of Hergest
  15. ^ Phillimore 1887:87, Pedigrees from Jesus College MS. 20 — The genealogical line for Merfyn's son Rhodri the Great traces all the way back to Coel Hen through Llywarch Hen: "Rodri ma6r. M. Meruyn vrych. M. G6rhyat. M. Elidyr. M. sandef. M. Alcun. M. tegyth. M. Ceit. M. douc. M. Llewarch hen. M. Elidyr lydanwyn. M. Meircha6n. M. G6rgust. M. Keneu. M. Coil hen. mal y mae vchot." A subsequent pedigree traces Rhodri's ancestry back to Maxen wledig through Gwriad's paternal grandmother.
  16. ^ Phillimore 1888:166, Annales Cambriae — year 877, "Rotri et filius eius guriat a saxonibus iugulatur."
  17. ^ Kermode 1897:48 – 53, A Welsh Inscription in the Isle of Man
  18. ^ Rhys 1897:52 – 53, Note on Guriat
  19. ^ Skene 1868b:368, Red Book of Hergest — Three kings, who were of the sons of strangers: Gwryat, son of Gwryan yn y Gogled; and Cadafel, son of Cynfedw in Gwynedd; and Hyreidd Hir, son of Bleidic in Deheubarth.
  20. ^ Fraser 2009:185 suggests that the Gwriad of the triad is to be identified with that King Guret of Alt Clut whose death is recorded under the year 658 by the Annals of Ulster.
  21. ^ Skene 1868a:309, Verses of the Graves — "II. The graves which the thicket covers? They would not succumb without avenging themselves: Gwryen, Morien, and Morial."
  22. ^ Skene 1868a:309, Verses of the Graves — "III. "The graves which the shower bedews? Men that would not succumb stealthily: Gwen, and Gwrien, and Gwriad."
  23. ^ Skene 1868a:385, Y Gododdin — "My witnesses are Owain the son of Eulad, And Gwryen, and Gwyn, and Gwryad."

References

Further reading

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog		 King of Gwynedd
825–844		 Succeeded by
Rhodri the Great