Everything about Cunedda totally explained
Cunedda ap Edern (c.
386–c.
460 AD; reigned from the
440s or
450s) (; ), also known as
Cunedda Wledig ("holder of lands"), was an important early
Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the royal dynasty of
Gwynedd.
The name
Cunedda derives from the
Brythonic word
counodagos, meaning 'good lord'. His
genealogy is traced back to
Padarn Beisrudd, which literally translates as Paternus of the Scarlet Robe. One traditional interpretation identifies Padarn as a
Roman (or
Romano-British) official of reasonably high rank who had been placed in command of
Votadini troops stationed in the
Clackmannanshire region of
Scotland in the
380s or earlier by the Emperor
Magnus Maximus. Alternatively, he may have been a frontier chieftain who was granted Roman military rank, a practice attested elsewhere along the empire's borders at the time. In all likelihood, Padarn's command in Scotland was assumed after his death by his son, Edern, and then passed to Edern's son, Cunedda.
Cunedda and his forebears led the Votadini against
Pictish and
Irish incursions south of
Hadrian's Wall. Sometime after this, the Votadini troops under Cunedda relocated to North Wales in order to defend the region from Irish invasion. Cunedda established himself in Wales, in the territory of the
Venedoti, which would become the centre of the
kingdom of Gwynedd. Two explanations for these actions have been suggested: either Cunedda was acting under the orders of Maximus (or Maximus's successors) or
Vortigern, the high king of the British in the immediate post-Roman era. The range of dates (suggested by
P. C. Bartrum) runs from the late
370s, which would favor Maximus, to the late
440s, which would favor Vortigern.
The suggestion that Cunedda was operating under instructions from Rome has been challenged by several historians.
David Dumville dismisses the whole concept of transplanting
foederati from Scotland to Wales in this manner, given that the political state of sub-Roman Britain would probably have made it impossible to exercise such centralised control by the
fifth century. As Maximus himself was dead by the end of
388, and
Constantine III departed from Britain with the last of Rome's military forces in
407, less than a generation later, it's doubtful that Rome had much direct influence over the military actions of the Votadini, either through Maximus or any other emissary, for any significant length of time.
Maximus (or his successors) may have handed over control of the British frontiers to local chieftains at an earlier date; with the evacuation of the fort at
Chester (which
Mike Ashley, incidentally, argues is most likely where Cunedda established his initial base in the region, some years later) in the 370s, he may have had little option. Given that the archaeological record demonstrates Irish settlement on the
Llŷn peninsula however and possible raids as far west as
Wroxeter by the late
4th century, it's difficult to conceive of either Roman or allied British forces having presented an effective defence in Wales.
Academics such as
Sheppard Frere have argued that it may have been Vortigern who, adopting elements of Roman statecraft, moved the Votadini south, just as he invited
Saxon settlers to protect other parts of the island. According to this version of events, Vortigern would have instructed Cunedda and his Votadini subjects to move to Wales in response to the aforementioned Irish incursions no later than the year
442, when Vortigern's former Saxon allies rebelled against his rule.
Cunedda's supposed grandson
Maelgwn Gwynedd was a contemporary of
Gildas, and according to the
Annales Cambriae died in
547. The reliability of early Welsh genealogies isn't uncontested however, and many of the claims regarding the number and identity of Cunedda's heirs didn't surface until as late as the
10th century. Nonetheless, if we accept this information as valid, calculating back from this date suggests the mid-
5th century interpretation.
Of Cunedda personally even less is known. Probably celebrated for his strength, courage, and ability to rally the beleaguered Romano-British forces of the region, he eventually secured a politically advantageous marriage to
Gwawl, daughter of
Coel Hen, the Romano-British ruler of
Eboracum (modern York), and is claimed to have had nine sons. The early kingdoms of
Ceredigion and
Meirionnydd were supposedly named after his two sons
Ceredig and
Meirion.
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