ID: I10339
Name: *Rhodri "the Great" Ap MERFYN
Sex: M
Name: Rhodri "Mawr" Ap MERFYN
Birth: ABT 820 in Caer Seiont, Carnarvonshire, Wales 1
Death: ABT 878 in Anglesey, Wales 1
Death: 876 in Anglesey, Wales 2
Occupation: BET 844 AND 878 King of Gwynedd 3
Occupation: BET 855 AND 878 King of Powys 3
Occupation: BET 872 AND 878 King of of Seisyllwg (southern Wales) 3
Note:
Rhodri the Great (in Welsh, Rhodri Mawr; occasionally in English, Roderick the Great) (c. 820–878) was the first ruler of Wales to be called 'Great', and the first to rule most of present-day Wales. He was called King of the Britons by the Annals of Ulster.

The son of Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad king of Gwynedd and Nest ferch Cadell of the royal line of Powys, he inherited the kingdom of Gwynedd on his father's death in 844. When his uncle Cyngen ap Cadell ruler of Powys died on a pilgrimage to Rome in 855 Rhodri inherited Powys. In 872 Gwgon, ruler of Seisyllwg in southern Wales, was accidentally drowned, and Rhodri added his kingdom to his domains by virtue of his marriage to Angharad, Gwgon's sister. This made him the ruler of the larger part of Wales.

Rhodri faced pressure both from the English and increasingly from the Danes, who were recorded as ravaging Anglesey in 854. In 856 Rhodri won a notable victory over the Danes, killing their leader Gorm (sometimes given as Horm). Two poems by Sedulius Scotus written at the court of Charles the Bald, king of the Western Franks, celebrate the victory of "Roricus" over the Norsemen.

In 877 Rhodri fought another battle against the Norse invaders on Anglesey, this time being forced to flee to Ireland. On his return the following year, he and his son Gwriad were said to have been killed by the English under Alfred the Great, though the precise manner of his death is unknown. When his son, Anarawd ap Rhodri won a victory over the Mercians a few years later, it was hailed in the annals as "God's vengeance for Rhodri".

His son Cadell ap Rhodri conquered Dyfed, which was later joined with Seisyllwg by Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda to become Deheubarth. Like his grandfather, Hywel would come to rule to bulk of Wales.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

RODERIC MAWR, or the Great, who succeeded as King of Wales 843 and was slain at Anglesea in a battle against the English 876; married Anghared, daughter and heiress of Merich Dyfnwal ap Arthen ap Silsylht, King of Cardigan, and sister and heir of Gwygan ap Merick, Lord of Cardigan.
(Fenwick Allied Ancestry, page 181)


Father: *Merfyn "Frych" Ap GWRAID b: ABT 764 in Wales
Mother: *Nest Verch CADELL b: in Powys, Wales

Marriage 1 *Angharad Verch MEURIG b: ABT 825 in Ceredigion, Wales
Children
*Anarawd Ap RHODRI b: ABT 857 in Gwynedd, Wales
*Merfyn Ap RHODRI b: ABT 859
*Cadell Ap RHODRI b: ABT 861 in Deheubarth, Wales
Aeddan Ap RHODRI b: ABT 862
Tudwal Ap RHODRI b: ABT 863
Meurig Ap RHODRI b: ABT 865
Rhodri Ap RHODRI b: ABT 866
Gwriad Ap RHODRI b: ABT 867
Gwyddelig Ap RHODRI b: ABT 869
Nest Verch RHODRI b: ABT 870
Angharad Verch RHODRI b: ABT 871

Sources:
Title: 1Wikipedia
Title: Fenwick Allied Ancestry
Page: 181
Title: 1Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia