Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Biographies for this Draw
Macsen Wledig (Magnus Maximus) d.388
Macsen was born in Roman Hispania and may have served a first tour of duty in Britain in 368 during the Great Conspiracy, when Roman Britain came under attack from multiple directions. He then served from 380, and became Roman emperor in the West from 383 to 388, as a result of a rebellion launched from Briton, composed initially of mainly Welsh soldiers.
Macsen led campaigns against Picts and Gaels as they raided into Western and Northern Britannia, both before and after he became emperor, and helped fortify Wales’s defences. When he left to launch his attempt on the Imperial throne, it is thought he ensured the local leaders of the Civitae, the civil administrative areas would take control of their own defence and administrator, and for this, some historians have called him ‘Father of the Welsh Nation’ as his name – Wledig implies (‘of the nation’). Though he almost certainly also stripped Britain of much Roman Military strength, which would not return.
His tradition in Welsh heritage was long, appearing as the hero in several ancient poems, and being claimed as the founder of multiple dynasties of Welsh kingdoms
Why Vote for Macsen/Magnus?
- He handed over control of Wales to its Roman British people, possibly creating experience of self governance
- He had great symbolic value for the ancient Britannic Welsh helping form a sense of shared identity
Rhodri Mawr, ‘The Great’, born before 844, d. 878
Rhodri ruled the kingdom of Gwynedd from 844, brought Powys under his control in 855 and annexed Ceredigion in 872. By the time of his death, through a combination of marriage, alliances and war, he may have ruled an area that stretched from North to South Wales.
He was not always successful in external relations, and probably lost his life in 878 in a defeat by was Æthelred of Mercia. But his military exploits maintained a relatively secure, stable realm. And important art of that was his defeat in 856 of the ‘Black Host’, the Gaelic raiders of Anglesey under their leader Gorm, at a time when Viking raids were causing chaos all over Britain.
This security helped a cultural revival under Rhodri’s leadership . This may be the time when the works of Aneirin and Taliesin were written down, and the poem Canu Heledd created. Rhodri was well known by contemporaries, and such was his reputation that most Welsh rulers in the tenth and later centuries claimed descent from him.
Why vote for Rhodri?
- He fought off the Norsemen at a time when most rulers of Britain and Ireland were struggling to contain them
- He built a territory north to south
- His secure and settled kingdom enabled a golden age of poetry
Owain ap Gruffudd (Owain Gwynedd), 1100 –1170)
Before his accession to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in 1137, Owain lead campaigns against the Normans in Ceredigion. He used the chaos of the Anarchy in England to expand, taking parts of the Earldom of Chester, to River Dee, and in Powys. So successful was he, that he outwardly used the title Prince of all Wales.
Her came into conflict with Henry II after the anarchy. Henry’s campaign of 1157 was unsuccessful, but forced Owain to lose some of his new territory. But Owain was soon back in control, taking advantage of the Becket controversy to expand again. In 1065 when Henry launch another campaigns – which also met with failure.
Owain was clear that although he had to deal with the resistance of other Welsh kingdoms, Henry II and the Kings of England were the main threat to his power and independence.
He took an innovative and unique approach to this, establishing diplomatic relations with king Louis VII of France as ‘King of Wales’, to encourage cooperation and distraction against the English. More than any other Welsh king, Owain was part of a European diplomatic network or princes.
Brut described him as ‘a man of great renown and of infinite prudence and nobility, the bulwark and strength of Wales, unconquered from his youth’. Gerald of Wales, not always a fan of Owain’s, praised him for his justice, wisdom, and moderation as a ruler.
Owain established the principle of the King of Wales as an equal of other European monarchs. He considerably strengthened his kingdom of Gwynedd, preserving its territorial integrity and expanding it to include all of north Wales, and paving the way for the achievements of his grandson, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth.
He also died in his bed. But as so often, failed to ensure the preservation of his kingdom on his death.
Why vote for Owain ap Gruffudd ?
- Enhanced the strength of Gwynedd
- Established the idea of a king of Wales as an equal of fellow European monarchs
