Kingdom of Gwynedd (Guynet)

The establishment of The Kingdom of Gwynedd (Venedotia) , 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  Cunedda Wledig (386-470) of the House of Gwynedd  also known as the First Dynasty of Gwynedd. He was a Roman soldi...

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 , also known as the second dynasty of Gwynedd, 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 i...

The extinction of Cunedda's lineal (direct descendant) male line inheritance of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. The emergence of the Merfynion dynasty from the House of Manaw in the 9th century, and the beginnings of the Cambro-Norse era (Wikipedia articles linked). The Kingdom of Gwynedd had firmly established itself as a contender for supremacy as ruler of the British Isles after the Roman occupation of Britain at the end of the 4th century. Then came the Anglo-Saxon invasions between the 5th to 11th centuries. This was the prequel to and at the same time as the Cambro-Norse era against the Vikings, lasting between the 850s to the 1100s, culminating in the Norman invasion. The consecutive invasions of Wales meant a need for a change in personnel to protect the kingdom, this forced the emergence of the Second Dynasty of Gwynedd , named the Merfynion dynasty, after a 9th century King of Gwynedd,  Merfyn Frych  (Merfyn the Freckled, Old Welsh: Mermin, Merfyn the oppressor). Image ...

The laws of Wales (Cyfraith Hywel). The internal factions battling for the Kingdom of Gwynedd, civil wars, and conquests to and from Wales, circa. 900-1300 (Wikipedia articles linked). The founding of the Royal House of Aberffraw in Gwynedd saw a new era of governance within the monarchy. Rhodri the Great (Mawr) divided Wales into factions as Kingdoms ruled by Royal Houses. Although Rhodri's descendants were cousins in separate royal households, they were also competitors, and stability was needed to control the country of Wales . This era saw the new laws written for Wales for the first time in over a millennium after the Iron Age. The original laws were the  Molmutine Laws  and had been written by Dyfnwal Moelmud, circa 400 BC. A descendant of Camber (c. 1,000 BC), the first King of Wales and King of Britain in his own right. The next time was  Hywel Dda (Howel the Good) in the 10th century, he was a grandson of Rhodri Mawr, King of Gwynedd, and son of Cadell, the fo...

The family tree of Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd, King of the Welsh, and his royal descendants claimed the original Celtic (native) title of Prince of Wales, era circa 1137 -1283. And also the effects of the Norman invasion on Wales' royalty (Wikipedia articles linked). The original Princes of Wales were not of English or French origins as presumed from the investiture of the first Prince of Wales, Edward I of England in 1301, that is the history taught as common knowledge today. There is a different history of the Princes, an obscure origins story starting in the 11th century. Those original Princes of Wales were Welsh monarchs from respective Kingdoms within the borders of Wales who claimed Celtic ancestry and then newly mixed with Viking blood ( Northern European ). The era of the native (Celtic) Princes of Wales officially began just before 1165, and then continued sporadically for 200 years until the death of the hereditary male line lineal successor of the Aberffraw d...

The Aberffraw family's Llywelyns (also Llewelyn) in the 13th century; Grandfather, grandson, cousin. The Welsh Princes of Wales, and subsequent  internal  factions against fellow Welsh, and external rebellions against England. Then the eventual  demise of the Royal House of Aberffraw (Wikipedia links used). The Royal family of Aberffraw through warfare had controlled all of Gwynedd and most of North Wales by the 12th century. After the emergence of the Normans in Wales in the 11th century, the neighbouring kingdoms throughout Wales could not protect their lands as effectively as the Kingdom of Gwynedd had done. Deheubarth , Morgannwg , and Powys , the other three of the big 4 kingdoms lost swathes of land to the invaders. But, Gwynedd grew in size, reaching south along the coast into Meirionydd and Ceredigion and west north Wales to Powys. However, the gains were not achieved through peace but through war.  As well as the Aberffraw Llywelyns (anglicised as Leolinus...