General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> Prince Of Wales
Howel DDA (Welsh), English HYWEL THE GOOD (d. AD 950), chieftain called in the prologues to the Welsh lawbooks "king of all Wales." This epithet was indeed appropriate for Howel, particularly during the last years of his reign.
He became ruler of Seisyllwg (roughly the area of Dyfed and the Towy Valley) jointly with his brother Clydog after the death of their father, Cadell (c. 910), but after Clydog's death in 920 he ruled alone. Sovereignty over Dyfed in southwest Wales came to him through his wife, Elen, daughter of Llywarch ap Hyfaidd (d. 904), the last king of its dynasty; he acquired Gwynedd, in northwest Wales, and probably Powis, in northeast Wales, on the death of his cousin Idwal Foel ap Anarawd, in 942. Howel's reign was remarkable for its peacefulness, the result of his consistent policy of subservience to England. Howel's first recorded act is his homage to Edward the Elder in 918. Thereafter, he often attended the English court, and his name is found as a witness to 12 charters of Athelstan and Edred between 928 and 949.
Howel was the only Welsh ruler to issue his own coins. He is remembered chiefly for the codification of Welsh law attributed to him. Although there is no contemporary record of this work, Howel was certainly responsible for a coordination of preexisting law. There are biographies by J.E. Lloyd (1928) and J.G. Edwards (1929). [Encyclopaedia Britannica CD, 1997, Howel Dda]
John Davies, in "A History of Wales," Allen Lane - The Penguin Press, London, 1993, states, "About 904, Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, king of Dyfed, died; his kingdom came into the posession of Hywel ap Cadell ap Rhodri, the ruler of Seisyllwg and the husband of Elen, Llywarch's sister. It would appear that Hywel also took possesion of Brycheiniog, for its royal line ends with Tewdwr ap Griffri, who died about 930. The enlarged kingdom came to be known as Deheubarth, a unit of central importance in the history of Wales during the following four centuries. Deheubarth was united with the territories of Idwal ab Anarawd ap Rhodri -- Gwynedd and Powys -- in 942, and Hywel died in 950 the ruler of a kingdom which extended from Prestatyn to Pembroke."