Cunedda

Cunedda ab Edern, often called Cunedda Wledig, is traditionally credited as the founder of the First Dynasty of Gwynedd. His first name comes from the Brythonic Cuno-dagos, meaning "Good Hound/Warrior" or "Having Good Hounds/Warriors." The title Wledig is harder to pin down. It literally means "of a country" or "of a region," but as an epithet it may have indicated a position within the Roman hierarchy. All known figures who bore this title either had genealogical ties to Roman aristocracy or links to Roman administration, and they all ruled in the century after Rome left Britain.

Still, this interpretation has critics. Historian Rachel Bromwich pointed out that Welsh leaders of the time usually kept Latin titles rather than translating them. Other theories suggest the word is a cognate with the Irish word for "ruler," so it might simply mean "lord" or "ruler."

Early life

Cunedda’s family line goes back to his grandfather, Padarn Beisrudd, who lived in late Roman Britain. Padarn’s name translates as Paternus of the "red tunic" or scarlet cloak—a color linked to Roman officers. One traditional view identifies him as a Romano-British official of reasonably high rank, placed in command of Votadini troops in the Clackmannanshire region of Scotland in the 380s or earlier by Emperor Magnus Maximus. Another possibility is that he was a frontier chieftain granted Roman military rank, a practice seen elsewhere along the empire’s borders.

Genealogy

After Padarn’s death, his command may have passed to his son Edern, and then to Edern’s son Cunedda, who later founded the Kingdom of Gwynedd and became its first king. Like many early Welsh royal families, Cunedda’s genealogy was later traced back to Afallach, son of Beli Mawr—the legendary father of Cassivellaunus, a pre-Roman figure who fought Julius Caesar in 54 BC. Coel Hen, possibly based on a real post-Roman figure, was said to be Cunedda’s father-in-law and also a descendant of Beli Mawr.

Move to Gwynedd

As head of the House of Gwynedd, Cunedda’s line was claimed to continue through Rhodri Mawr and the later houses of Aberffraw, Dinefwr, and Mathrafal. According to Old Welsh tradition in section 62 of the Historia Brittonum, Cunedda came from Manaw Gododdin, in what is now the Falkirk region of Scotland. Maelgwn, the great king, was reigning in Gwynedd because his ancestor Cunedda, with his eight sons, had come from the north—from Manaw Gododdin—146 years before Maelgwn’s reign. They drove out the Scotti from those regions with great slaughter, and the Scotti never returned.

Cunedda and his forebears led the Votadini against Pictish and Irish incursions south of Hadrian’s Wall. Sometime after, the Votadini troops under Cunedda moved to North Wales to defend against Irish invasion, specifically the Uí Liatháin, as the Historia Brittonum records. Cunedda settled in the territory of the Venedoti, which became the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd.

Two explanations have been suggested for this move. Either Cunedda acted under orders from Magnus Maximus (or his successors), or from Vortigern, the high king of the Britons in the immediate post-Roman era. Oxford genealogist Peter Bartrum proposed dates ranging from the late 370s (favoring Maximus) to the late 440s (favoring Vortigern). The idea that Cunedda was following Roman orders has been challenged.

Historian David Dumville dismisses the notion of transplanting foederati from Scotland to Wales in this way, arguing that the political chaos of sub-Roman Britain would have made centralized control impossible by the 5th century. Maximus died by the end of 388, and Constantine III left Britain with the last Roman forces in 407—less than a generation later—so Rome likely had little direct influence over the Votadini’s military actions for any significant time, whether through Maximus or anyone else. Magnus Maximus (or his successors) may have handed control of the British frontiers to local chieftains earlier.

With the evacuation of the fort at Chester in the 370s—where Mike Ashley argues Cunedda later established his initial base—Maximus may have had little choice. Archaeological evidence shows Irish settlement on the Llŷn Peninsula and possible raids as far west as Wroxeter by the late 4th century, making it hard to believe that Roman or allied British forces mounted an effective defense in Wales. Academics like Sheppard Frere have argued that Vortigern, adopting elements of Roman statecraft, may have moved the Votadini south, just as he invited Saxon settlers to protect other parts of the island. In this version, Vortigern would have instructed Cunedda.