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Birth:          ABT  764 Wales
Death:           843 Battle of Cyfeiliog, Ketell, Wales

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merfyn_Frych
Merfyn Frych ('Merfyn the Freckled'; Medieval Latin: Marbinus, Mermin), also known as 
Merfyn ap Gwriad ('Merfyn son of Gwriad') and Merfyn Camwri ('Merfyn the 
Oppressor'),[1] was King of Gwynedd from around 825 to 844, the first of its kings 
known not to have descended from the male line of Cunedda.

Little is known of his reign, and his primary notability is as the father of Rhodri the 
Great and founder of his dynasty, which was sometimes called the Merfynion after 
him.[2] Merfyn came to the throne in the aftermath of a bloody dynastic struggle 
between two rivals named Cynan and Hywel – generally identified with the sons of 
Rhodri Molwynog,[3] despite that putting both men well into their 70s or 80s at the 
time[4] – at a time when the kingdom had been under pressure from Mercia.[5]

The Annales Cambriae say Merfyn died around 844, the same year in which a battle 
occurred at Cetyll,[6] but it is unclear whether those were two unrelated events or he 
fell in battle.[7][8]
Political background[edit]

The times leading up to Merfyn's reign were unsettled for both Gwynedd and 
neighboring Powys. Both kingdoms were beset by internal dynastic strife, external 
pressure from Mercia, and bad luck with nature. In 810, there was a bovine plague 
that killed many cattle (the primary form of wealth at the time) throughout Wales. The 
next year, the ancient wooden llys at Deganwy was struck by lightning. A destructive 
war for control of Gwynedd raged between 812 and 816, 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. Although our sources do not identify the combatants, the site 
had been the llys of King Cynan.[9]

Coenwulf of Mercia took advantage of the situation in 817, occupying Rhufoniog (see 
map) and laying waste to the mountains of Snowdonia. Coastal Wales along the Dee 
Estuary must have remained under Mercia through 821, as Coenwulf is recorded dying 
peacefully at Basingwerk in that year. In 823, Mercia laid waste to Powys and 
returned to Gwynedd to burn Deganwy to the ground. 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 former 
dominance, either in Wales or eastern England.[10]

Family background and marriage[edit]

See also: Gwriad ap Elidyr

Merfyn was linked to the earlier dynasty through his mother Esyllt, the daughter of 
King Cynan (d. after 816), rather than through his father Gwriad ap Elidyr.[11][note 1] 
As his father's origins are obscure, so is the basis of his claim to the throne.[11]

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.[13] 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.[14]

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[15] 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).[11] 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'.[16] Other 
locations for "Manaw" have been suggested, including Ireland, Galloway and Powys.
[11]

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".[17][18]

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

Reign[edit]

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.[11]

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"[24] (English: Merfyn Frych of the land of Manau).

Children[edit]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Rhodri the Great
Gwriad

Parents
AP ELIDIR Gwriad (ABT  738 - )
VERCH CYNAN Ethyllt (ABT  742 - )

Siblings
AP GWRIAD Merfyn "Frych" (ABT  764 -  843)

Marriage To VERCH CYNAN Esyllt (ABT  770 - )
    m.  

Notes

Parents
AP RHODRI Cynan "Dindaethwy" (ABT  745 -  817)
----- ----- ()

Children by VERCH CYNAN Esyllt ABT  770 - 
AP MERFYN Rhodri "Mawr" ("the Great") (ABT  820 -  878)

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