CYNAN ap IAGO (died 1060?), exiled prince

was the son of Iago ab Idwal, descended from Rhodri Mawr, and ruler of Gwynedd from 1033 to 1039. Upon the murder of Iago in the latter year by his own men and the accession to power of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, of a different house, Cynan found refuge among the Danes of Dublin. Here he married Ragnhildr, granddaughter of Sitric of the Silken Beard (died 1042), and thus became allied to the royal house. According to Powel's Historie of Cambria, he twice endeavoured to recover his patrimony from Gruffudd with the aid of a Dublin fleet; on the first occasion, in 1041, he had the good fortune to capture his rival, who was, however, soon released by his own people; on the second, in 1052, the ships were scattered by a great storm. The older authorities say nothing of Cynan's share in these events, which must, therefore, be regarded as doubtful. He was, in fact, so little known in Wales, that, on the appearance in 1075 of his son, Gruffudd ap Cynan, to claim his inheritance, the youth is described by the chronicler as 'grandson of Iago.' Gruffudd's biography says that his mother taught him as a lad of what stock he came and what were his rights, language which would imply that Cynan died not many years after the birth of his son.

Author

• Sir John Edward Lloyd, (1861 - 1947)

Sources

• J. E. Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest (London 1911), 358, 379-80

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Cynan ab Iago

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q3008718

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/