Kingdom of Gwynedd (Guynet)

Welsh Royal blog observing before and after the medieval ages. Hello/ helo shwmai ? This English language (I am also proficient in Welsh) blog I wrote (no AI used) and posted is in an overlapping chronological order, and is dedicated to some parts of Welsh medieval history and is supported by genealogical research to do with the Royal House of Aberffraw ( HouseOfAberffraw.org ) and its parent house as rulers of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Also, the work directly addresses the history of the former medieval rulers of the country Wales (Cymru) in the United Kingdom on the European continent . The blog primarily involves the documentation of the former royal houses of Wales (Cambria) and their foundations over a millennium ago. I have gone into detail about the monarchs of Welsh Kingdoms who were titled as medieval Kings of Wales and their own respective Kingdoms which evolved from the title. Then, I also mention the prequel and origins of the Iron Ages ( British and Roman) titular Kings...

The original boundaries of Wales for over a millennium, starting with the early Iron Ages until sub-Roman Britain and the Old North (Wikipedia links used). Image courtesy of Wiki commons, attributed to Notuncurious,  map of the original boundaries of Britain .  The boundaries of the countries of Great Britain have changed from their foundation over millennia ago. Firstly, during the early Iron Age, Britain was split into regions based on the tribal land borders of the newly emerging Celts. This was an era when Britain was a land lived by Giants. Gogmagog inhabited Britain (Albion) circa 3,000 years ago and fought a battle against Brutus of Troy , the giant died defending Britain against the invader who came from  Troy . Brutus' family had escaped the Greek empire after the siege of the city of Troy during the Trojan War , in 1184 BC ( Eratosthenes estimate, others 940 BC) from what is now the Republic of Türkiye. His family fled to Italy, and then sailed via Aquita...

Iron Age settlements of hut circles in hillforts, Wales, and the British Isles (Wikipedia links used). Image courtesy of Wiki Commons, attributed to Stephen Elwyn Roddick,  Llynon Mill roundhouse reconstruction, Llanddeusant, Anglesey . The British Iron Age simply put was the beginning of mining iron  in Great Britain. The new technologies of smelting metals into weapons were to help hunt prey and enable a new society of Celtic tribes to grow in Wales and the British Isles, this was similar to the European Iron Age too.  At its earliest, 500 BC is generally the accepted timeframe for the start of the Iron Age in Anglesey, Wales after a late Bronze Age. The British Iron Age tribes were the nomadic Celtic peoples and it was their hunter-gatherer ancestors who had previously settled parts of Wales and had assembled  Neolithic monuments such as megaliths  on locations in some cases later used for Iron Age hillforts. Some areas were first settled at the end of th...

Roman occupation of Wales in brief (Wikipedia links used) The Roman conquest of Britain began in 55 BC and ended in 410 AD. During this period, the Celtic British Kingdoms were established throughout Great Britain. The Celtic tribes resisted the Roman invasions from mainland Europe for over a century, however, the turning point was in 52 AD when the leaders of the tribes surrendered to the Roman Emperor, Claudius who had previously invaded less than a decade before. Britain (Britannia) was divided into 4 provinces ruled by Governors. Arch of Claudius  Latin inscription image from wiki source, Jenni Ahonen,  Capitoline museum inscription .  “For Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, son of Drusus, High Priest, holding tribunician power for the eleventh time, Consul for the fifth time, hailed Imperator in the field twenty-two times, Censor, Father of his country. The Senate and the People of Rome [have dedicated this] because he accepted the surrender o...

The establishment of The Kingdom of Gwynedd, circa 401, by Cunedda Wledig (Wikipedia links used) After the Roman occupation (c. 400s), the original tribal boundaries of Wales were changed. This was when tribal Wales was divided into four kingdoms: The Kingdom of Gwynedd (north), The Kingdom of Powys (east), The Kingdom of Gwent (south), and The Kingdom of Dyfed (west). Of the original 4 Welsh Kingdoms, Gwynedd's Mona (Anglesey) settlement of Aberffraw was the location of the Princes of Wales' principal seat.   Image of the main  Kingdoms of Wales  (Gwynedd north-west), courtesy of Wiki Commons, attributed to Notuncurious. Historically, the Welsh Royal Family of Aberffraw descended from sub-Roman Britain and the Kingdom of Gwynedd (Medieval Latin: Venedotia). The founding member and ancestor of the Kings of Gwynedd was King Cunedda Wledig (386-470) of the House of Gwynedd . He was a Roman soldier and warlord who came from Manaw Gododdin which is modern C...

The emergence of the Kings of Gwynedd permanently in the Aberffraw district (cantref), Wikipedia links used. After the original division of Kingdoms in sub-Roman Britain, Wales was further divided into what was called the ' Cantrefi ' (similar to townships). Then within the cantref were ' commotes ' (cymwt in middle Welsh) which were a further land division. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, attributed to  XrysD through Wiki Commons ,  Welsh cantrefi map.   The Kingdom of Gwynedd's (Guynet) cadet branch was in the Aberffraw cantref on the Isle of Anglesey , North Wales. The dynasty was named the  House of Aberffraw  and it would align itself with Gwynedd and its rulers, they had held successive royal titles from different locations at the same time. Those titles could be of King or Prince of Gwynedd, or of Aberffraw, also Lord of Eryri (Snowdon) or Anglesey as well as temporary vassal lordships south of Gwynedd in Ceredigion and Meirionnydd (Merioneths...

Migration of Northern Europeans to the British Isles during the first millennium,  post-Roman Empire.  Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Vikings (Wikipedia links used). Wales , first called  Cambria , and Great Britain , known as  Albion . The countries were once divided into many so-called petty Kingdoms . For example,  Rhos and Edeirnion  were before the merging of Gwynedd with other Kingdoms during the 5th century AD. During this period, the Saxon territories in  England  were first established during the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons . They were a religiously Pagan group of tribes from the European North Sea who had invaded the  British Isles  following the departure of the Roman legions after four centuries of controlling the Brittonic people and mining their lands. This was an era when the borders of Wales were once much more than they are today. The territories were further east and north than now within what is to...

The importance of the  Kingdoms of Ergyng and Ewias, successor to the Earls of Ewias and Urtchingfilde and Governors of North Cambria (Wikipedia links). Image courtesy of Wiki Commons, attributed to Notuncurious,  map of Wales, post-Roman; Anglo-Saxon . Some of the Welsh Kingdoms lie in what is now western England but kept their status as Brythonic Celts. The best example of a petty Kingdom in ancient Wales now found in England is the Kingdom of Ewyas.  The historical beginnings of Ewias started with the emergence of the titular King of Britain and the first King of Cambria (Wales),  Camber  circa 1,100 BC. He was the son of Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of the Kingdom of Britain (Albion), and the man who divided the main island of Great Britain into Wales, Scotland, and England. His sons were given provinces to rule as Governors and titular royals. Camber's eldest son, Gorbonian became the  Duke of Cornwall  and Governor of Cambria. ...