Ieuaf
Ieuaf (Welsh: "the younger") usually known as Idwal ap Idwal (English: Idwal son of Idwal), (died 988), to distinguish him from his father Idwal Foel, was joint king of Gwynedd in northern Wales from 950 to 969 with his brother Iago ab Idwal.[1] He possibly also ruled Powys for some time.[2][3]
Ieuaf was a son of King Idwal Foel (Idwal the Bald), who had become King of Gwynedd from 916[4][5] on the death of his father Anarawd ap Rhodri. Ieuaf's paternal great grandparents were Rhodri Mawr, King of Gwynedd and Angharad ferch Meurig of Ceredigion.[4] Upon his father Idwal's death in battle against the Anglo-Saxons in 942, he and his brother Iago ab Idwal were driven from their kingdom by their uncle Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, who took the crown for himself.[6]
On Hywel's death in 950, Ieuaf and Iago were able to drive out Hywel's sons, their cousins, at the Battle of Carno and reclaim the kingdom. However, fighting continued, with the brothers raiding as far south as Dyfed in 952 and their cousins raiding as far north as the Conwy valley in 954. The southern princes were finally defeated at the Battle of Llanrwst and chased back to Ceredigion.[6]
Having won, the brothers then began to quarrel among themselves. Iago took Ieuaf prisoner in 969, and Ieuaf played no further role in Gwynedd. Some sources indicated Ieuaf was imprisoned, (historian John Edward Lloyd stated that Ieuaf remained in captivity until his death in 988),[6] others that he was executed on his brother's orders.[1] Which ever was the case, Iago ruled for the best part of another decade with a brief hiatus in 974 when his nephew, Ieuaf's son and heir Hywel ab Ieuaf invaded and deposed him for a time.[3] Hywel ap Ieuaf fully usurped his uncle in 979 and ruled as King of Gwynedd until his death in 985, when his brother Cadwallon ab Ieuaf briefly took his place until his death the following year.[7]
Children
[edit]- Hywel ap Ieuaf
- Cadwallon ab Ieuaf
- Meurig ap Ieuaf
References
[edit]- ^ a b "IEUAF (or IDWAL) ab IDWAL FOEL (died 985), joint king of Gwynedd | Dictionary of Welsh Biography". biography.wales. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
- ^ "IAGO ab IDWAL FOEL (fl. 942-979), king of Gwynedd | Dictionary of Welsh Biography". biography.wales. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
- ^ a b Thornton, David E. (23 September 2004). Iago ab Idwal Foel (d. c. 979), king of Gwynedd. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b "IDWAL FOEL ('the Bald '; died 942), king of Gwynedd | Dictionary of Welsh Biography". biography.wales. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
- ^ Thornton, David E. (23 September 2004). Iago ab Idwal Foel (d. c. 979), king of Gwynedd. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b c John Edward Lloyd (1911). A history of Wales: from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest. Longmans, Green, & Co. p. 344.
- ^ Thornton, David E. (23 September 2004). Hywel ab Ieuaf (d. 985), king of Gwynedd. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.