Notes |
- Rhodri the Great AKA Roderick the Great (in Welsh, "Rhodri Mawr") was
the first ruler of Wales to be called "Great", and the first to rule
most of present-day Wales. The son of Merfyn Frych, he inherited the
principality of Gwynedd on his father's death in 844, and Powys from
his uncle. He proceeded to marry Angharad, daughter of the ruler of
Seisyllwg, which he duly inherited on the accidental death of his
brother-in-law in 871. Rhodri succeeded in holding off both Viking and
Saxon invaders, offering security to his subjects at a time of great
danger and unrest throughout the British Isles. It was, however, the
Vikings who drove Rhodri away from his home territory in 877, and he
fled to Ireland. Returning the following year in an attempt to regain
his kingdom, he was killed in battle against the Mercians.
According to legend, the first Dinefwr Castle was built by Rhodri Mawr
- King of Wales in the 9th century. It is unavoidable that attention
should focus on those Welsh rulers who extended their power over much
of Wales in the centuries prior to the Norman conquest. They
foreshadowed the attempts by the princes of Gwynedd in the 13th
century to create a unified Welsh state, and they matched contemporary
developments in England, and similar, but later, developments in
Scotland. So, Rhodri Mawr (844-78) is presented as one who set a
pattern for the future. He either ruled or, by his personal qualities,
dominated much of Wales.
Chroniclers of his generation hailed Rhodri ap Merfyn as Rhodri Mawr
(Rhodri the Great), a distinction bestowed upon two other rulers in
the same century - Charles the Great (Charlemagne, died 814) and
Alfred the Great (died 899). The three tributes are of a similar
nature - recognition of the achievements of men who contributed
significantly to the growth of statehood among the nations of the
Welsh, the Franks and the English. Unfortunately, the entire evidence
relating to the life of Rhodri consists of a few sentences; yet he
must have made a deep impression upon the Welsh, for in later
centuries being of the line of Rhodri was a primary qualification for
their rulers. Until his death, Rhodri was acknowledged as ruler of
more than half of Wales, and that as much by diplomacy as by conquest.
Rhodri's fame sprang from his success as a warrior. That success was
noted by The Ulster Chronicle and by Sedulius Scottus, an Irish
scholar at the court of the Emperor Charles the Bald at Liege. It was
his victory over the Vikings in 856 which brought him international
acclaim. Wales was less richly provided with fertile land and with the
navigable rivers that attracted the Vikings, and the Welsh kings had
considerable success in resisting them. Anglesey bore the brunt of the
attacks, and it was there in 856 that Rhodri won his great victory
over Horn, the leader of the Danes, much to the delight of the Irish
and the Franks.
It was not only from the west that the kingdom of Rhodri was
threatened. By becoming the ruler of Powys, his mother's land, he
inherited the old struggle with the kingdom of Mercia. Although Offa's
Dyke had been constructed in order to define the territories of the
Welsh and the English, this did not prevent the successors of Offa
from attacking Wales. The pressure on Powys continued; after 855,
Rhodri was its defender, and he and his son, Gwriad, were killed in
battle against the English in 878. (Source:
http://www.castlewales.com/rhodri.html)
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