Anarawd ap Rhodri Mawr became King of Gwynedd in 878 on the death of his father. He abandoned an alliance with the Danish Kingdom of York and acknowledged Ælfred the Great as overlord; as did his brothers and other lesser rulers. The precise nature of this overlordship is not known, and there was an attempt to portray this submission as a desire for unity among Christian rulers against the pagan Danes. However, this recognition by Welsh rulers that that the King of England had claims upon them would be a central fact in the subsequent history of Wales.

A History of WalesÙC by John Davies, London, 2007, p. 83:

"According to Asser, the rulers of Dyfed and Brycheiniog feared the pwer of the sons of Rhodri, while the rulers of Gwent and Glywysing were threated by Aethelred, earl of Mercia. When Alfred came to the throne in 871, the whole of England, apart from the southern rim of Wessex, was in the hands of the Danes but, as a result of his successes against them, Alfred came to enjoy great power and renown. Asser states that the smaller rulers of Wales asked him for his patronage and that Anarawd ap Rhodri, king of Gwynedd and Poweys, followed their example, abandoning his alliance with the Danish kingdom of York. It is likely that his brother Cade3ll, ruler of Seisyllwg, did the same, and thus the king of Wessex became overlord of the whole of Wales. .. The recognition by Welsh rulers that the king of England had claims upon them would be a central fact in the subsequent political history of Wales."

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ÙDAnarawd ap Rhodri (died 916) was a King of ÙCuÙDGwynedd ÙC/uÙD, also referred to as King of the Britons " by the ÙCAnnales Cambriae
Anarawd's father ÙCuÙDRhodri the Great ÙC/uÙDhad eventually become ruler of most of ÙCuÙDWales , but on his death in 878 his kingdom was shared out between his sons, with Anarawd inheriting the throne of Gwynedd. Anarawd and his brothers Cadell and Merfyn are recorded as cooperating closely against the rulers of the remaining lesser kingdoms of Wales. ÙCuÙDEarl Aethelred of Mercia invaded Gwynedd in 881, but Anarawd was able to defeat him with much slaughter in a battle at the mouth of the ÙCuÙDRiver Conwy ÙC/uÙD, hailed in the annals as "God's vengeance for Rhodri", Rhodri having been killed in battle against the Mercians
Anarawd then made an alliance with the Danish king of ÙCuÙDYork ÙC/uÙD in an attempt to guard himself against further Mercian attacks. When this alliance proved unsatisfactory, he came to an agreement with Alfred the Great of Wessex , visiting Alfred at his court. In exchange for Alfred's protection Anarawd recognised the supremacy of Alfred. This was the first time a ruler of Gwynedd had accepted the supremacy of an English king, and formed the basis for the homage which was demanded by the English crown from then on.
In 894 Anarawd was able to repel a raid by a Danish host on North Wales, and the following year raided ÙCuÙDCeredigion and Ystrad Tywi in southern Wales. He is reported as having some English troops under his command for these raids. In 902 an attack on Ynys Môn Anglesey ) by some of the Danes of ÙCuÙDDublin ÙC/uÙD under Ingimund was repulsed. Anarawd died in 916 and was succeeded by his son ÙCuÙDIdwal Foel ÙC/uÙD (Idwal the Bald).
Anarawd would establish the princely House of Aberffraw , taking the name from his principal seat of government on Ynys Môn. His descendants would rule Gwynedd until the ÙCuÙDEdwardian conquest ÙC/uÙD of the late 13th century.


http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=aet-t&id=I14891
ANARAWD ap RHODRI (bu f. 916), tywysog, a mab hynaf Rhodri Mawr. Pan laddwyd ei dad yn 878 gan wyr Mercia daeth Anarawd yn bennaeth Mon a rhannau cyfagos Gwynedd. Efe, yn ddiau, oedd y gorchfygwr yn y frwydr ar lannau'r Conwy yn 881-buddugoliaeth a gyfrifai'r Cymry yn arwydd o ddial Duw am Rodri. Ar y cyntaf ceisiodd Anarawd ei nerthu ei hun trwy ymuno a brenhiniaeth Ddanaidd York; ond ni fu'r ymuno o fawr fudd iddo a throes yn hytrach at Alfred, brenin Wessex. Cafodd dderbyniad gwresog, gan gael anrhyd-edd a rhoddion; bu Alfred yn dad bedydd iddo pan gafodd fedydd esgob. Addawodd yntau ufudd-dod i Alfred, a thrwy hynny daeth yn gyfuwch ag Ethelred o Mercia. Dyna'i safle yn 893, yn 61 Asser; gyda chymorth o Loegr y llwyddodd (895) i anrheithio Ceredigion ac Ystrad Tywi, a ddelid, y mae'n fwy na thebyg, gan ei frawd Cadell. Bu f. yn 916 a dilynwyd ef gan ei fab Idwal Foel.
O Anarawd y disgynnodd tywysogion diwedd-arach Gwynedd, megis y disgynnodd llinach Deheubarth o'i frawd Cadell. Ni ellid ond disgwyl y byddai i wyr Deheubarth daeru yn nes ymlaen mai Cadell oedd yr hynaf o'r ddau frawd, ond y rnae'r dystiolaeth yn erbyn hyn. Cafwyd ymdriniaeth lawn ar y pwnc a gwrth-ateb i farn pobl y De gan Robert Vaughan, Hengwrt, yn ei lyfr British Antiquities Revived, 1662 (ail argraffiad yn 1834). Hist. W., 326-33.
J.E.LL.
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ANARAWD
it was Anarawd who ruled Gwynedd, and probably Powys too, after the death of his father; while Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi, the kingdom of Seisyllwg, was ruled by Cadell, the father of Hywel Dda. According to Asser, who gives a clear description of the Welsh political scene in the last quarter of the ninth century, the power of Anarawd and Cadell was much feared by the other Welsh kings in Dyfed, Brycheiniog, Gwent and Morgannwg; although Hywel ap Rhys in Mor-gannwg, and Penfoel ap Meurig in Gwent had much more reason to fear the Mercians. A striking characteristic of Welsh life through all the centuries of freedom is the peace which Gwent, Morgannwg and Brycheiniog enjoyed. Elisedd ap Tewdwr, of the old lineage of Brychan, ruled Brycheiniog. Dyfed was ruled by Hyfaidd ap Bledri, who had troubled the men of the great das of St. David's. Whatever the reason, the kings of these four small kingdoms were glad to have the patronage of Alfred, giving Asser the opportunity, he said, of serving St. David's better in the court of Wessex than he could have done at home.

The duty of Anarawd was to protect his kingdom against the greatest danger facing it. When this came from the side of the English, die prince made a treaty with the Danes, forming an alliance with their king in York whose kingdom stretched across England as far as the banks of the Mersey. However, when the threat from the Danes increased Anarawd turned to Alfred, who was very ready to welcome the co-operation of a king whose kingdom had withstood the Danish attacks so well. Anarawd paid a visit to the court of the famous English king - the first time for a king from Cymru to visit an English court - where he was received with every courtesy and honour by Alfred, who acted as sponsor for him when he received the sacrament of confirmation. Later on, however, this visit was turned into an argument by the English kings for demanding the homage of the kings of Cymru.

Everywhere at this time the foundations of European civilisation were crumbling. In Rome itself between 896 and 904 there were ten popes. In England in 892 the pressure of the Danes increased dangerously when their army crossed over from the Continent. Between 892 and 896 they overran central and southern England from sea to sea, and reached the Welsh border in 893 at Buttington, the con-fluence of the Severn and the Wye. There they were resisted by a large army of Welsh and English, the men of Gwent and Morgannwg uniting with the men of Mercia and Wessex.

A great number were killed before the Danes were finally driven back from the Welsh border. In 894 they occupied Chester and then attacked north-east Cymru, but were repulsed by Anarawd. It is believed that he had some English help, and when he attacked Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi in 895 there were a number of Englishmen amongst his soldiers. At the end of that year the Danes are seen again in the Vale of Severn, and in 896 they attack Brycheiniog, Gwent and Morgannwg. They must have been sorely disappointed for their great army collapsed that summer, and those who had settled in the north of England returned to their homes there. Once again the opposition met by the Black Host was stronger in Cymru than in England, which failed on the whole, with the brilliant exception of Alfred, to produce a system or leaders who inspired confidence.

'The richest and most populous part of old agricultural England - East Anglia - had failed in the race for leadership,' says Trevelyan, 'because it had no prince of the calibre of Edwin of Northumbria, Penda of Mercia or Alfred of Wessex. The Danes soon found how safe it was to land on the shores of helpless East Anglia and thence to overun decadent Northumbria and declining Mercia.'

Had the little Welsh kingdoms been as helpless as these great English ones, Cymru would have ceased to exist centuries ago.

The Welsh remained on their guard, their morale high. They had to defend their country by costly efforts over and over again during the years that followed, especially after the coming of the Danes in strength from Ireland in 902. They came from the west, the north, the east and the south. In 915 an army of the Black Host, which had founded a powerful kingdom in Normandy, sailed from Brittany to the Severn; but although they plundered the shores of Severn in Gwent and Morgannwg, they failed to colonise there, and so sailed on to Ireland. Nor did the English cease their onslaughts, as is shown by the story of their attacks in 916 on the royal fort of Brycheiniog, near Llyn Safaddan (Llangors Lake). When Anarawd died in that year, after reigning for thirty-eight years, the territory of Cymru was as intact, and its tradition as secure, as it had been in the time of his father. Anarawd was a worthy successor to Rhodri Fawr.

Land of my fathers, 2000 years of Welsh History, by Gwynfor Evans (1st Plaid Cymru M.P. Carmarthen 1966) Published and printed by John Penry Press, Swansea
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Anarawd ap Rhodri (d 916), prince; he was the eldest son of Rhodri Mawr (the Great), and, on the death of his father at the hands of the Mercians in 878, succeeded to Anglesey and the adjacent parts of Gwynedd. He was, no doubt, the victor in the battle fought in 881 on the banks of the Conway - a Mercian overthrow which the Welsh regarded as 'God's vengence for Rhodri.' At first, he sought security from further attack by an alliance with the Danish kingdom of York, but this bore little fruit, and instead he turned to Alfred of Wessex. He was cordially received; honour and givts were bestowed upon him, and the king stood as his godfather at confirmation. In return, he promised obedience to Alfred as over-king, a position which gave him equality with Ethelred of Mercia. Such was his standing in 893, according to Asser; it was with English help that in 895 he ravaged Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi, held most likely by his brother Cadell. He d. in 916, to be succeeded by his son Idwal Foel (the bald). From Anarawd were descenced the latter rulers of Gwynedd, as those of Deheubarth were from Cadell. It was but to be expected that the men of the South should later contend that the Cadell was the elder of the two, but the evidence is against that view. It was fully discussed and controverted by Robert Vaughan o fHengwrt in British Antiquities Revived.
[Dictionary of Welsh Biography p8]
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Anarawd (d 915?), a Welsh prince of the ninth century, was the son of Rhodri Mawr, or Roderick the Great, King of Gwynedd, or North Cymru, who, having succeeded to the sovereignty of South Cymru in right of his wife, became the supreme sovereign of all Cymru. Rhodri was killed in battle A.D. 877, fighting against the Saxon invaders of Anglesea, and in accordance with his directions his dominions were diveded among his three sons, Anarawd, Cadell, and Mervyn. Anarawd succeeding to Gwynedd, with authority over his brothers, and bearing the title of 'Brenin Cymru oll,' or king of all Cymru. Cadell and Mervyn obtained respectively South Cymru and Powys; Powys being a district corresponding roughly with Montgomeryshire and Herefordshire. Rhodri's conflict with the Saxons was continued by Anarawd, who completely defeated them at Cymryd, near Conway, in the year 880. This battle was called 'Dial Rhodri' or the avenging of Rhodri. Subsequently the Britons of Strathclyde, being hard pressed by the Saxons, were received into Cymru by Anarawd, who granted them the land between the Dee and the Conway, on condition of their expelling the Saxons. In 894 according to the 'Annales Cambriae,' or 893 according to the 'Brut,' Anarawd 'cum Anglis' devasted Cardigan, that is, the territory of his brother Cadell, for the purpose, probably, of enforcing payment of tribute due from the younger to the elder. The 'Annales Cambriae' record Mervyn's death in the year 903, Cadell's in 909, and Anarawd's in 915. The 'Brut' assigns Anarawd's death to the year 913. Anarawd was succeeded as king of Gwynedd by his son Idwal Foel, or 'the Bald;' but the dignity of 'Brenin Cymru oll' devolved upon his nephew Hywel, son of Cadell, famous in Welsh history as the great lawgiver, Hywel Dda.

One of the Triads speaks of Anarawd and his brothers as 'Tri theyrn taleithiog Ynys Prydain,' or 'Tri thywysog taleithiog,' 'the three diademed princes of the Isle of Britian.'
[Dictionary of National Biography I:370]
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ANARAWD, was the eldest son of Rhodri Mawr, who was sovereign prince of all Wales, which he divided between his three sons, on his death in A. D. 876. Anarawd had for his share Gwynedd or North Wales : Cadell had South Wales, and Mervyn had Powys. It has long been a matter of dispute whether Cadell or Anarawd was the elder brother. Dr. Owen Pughe, in his Cambrian Biography, calls Cadell the eldest; so likewise does Price in his Hanes Cymru, p. 392, but in p. 397, Anarawd is called the eldest. This dispute gave rise to a treatise by the eminent antiquary Vaughan of Hengwrt, entitled " British Antiquities revived," which was printed in Oxford, 1662, 4 to. and of which a second edition was published at Bala in 1834,4to. In this it appears to be well argued that Anarawd was the eldest, and had paramount authority over his brothers. However, his crown was far from being light, as he was engaged in constant wars with the Saxons. In 880, he fought the battle of Cymryd near the town of Aberconwy in Caernarvonshire, where he defeated the Saxons with great slaughter, and avenged the death of his father, who had been slain by them in "Anglesey. This battle is called in Welsh history," Dial Rhodri." His reign is also remarkable for the migration of the Northern Britons in 890, who, being pressed by their enemies, left Stratclyde,and were hospitably received by Anarawd, who gave them lands in Denbighshire and Flintshire, on condition that they expelled the Saxons who had taken possession of them, which was satisfactorily accomplished. In 892, Anarawd invaded his brother's territories in South Wales, which he laid waste with fire and sword. In 900, Cadell, who had previously reduced Powys under his dominion, died, and Anarawd thus became sovereign prince of all Wales, and reigned until his death in 913, when he left three sons,Edwal Vool, Ellis, and Meurig. Cadell, Anarawd, and Mervyn are recorded in tho Triads as the "Tri theyrn tal- eithiawg," or three diademed princes of the Isle of Britain. (My v. Arch. ii. 64.)

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From a "Historical Chronology of the Early British Kingdoms, Part 5: AD 805-937" at www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kingdoms:

878 King Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd, Powys, and Seisyllwg returns to his kingdoms, but is killed fighting the Mercians of King Ceolwulf II. His kingdoms are divided amongst his three sons, Anarawd, Merfyn and Cadell respectively. The Vikings winter in Dyfed. Death of King Run of Strathclyde. His son, Eochaid, succeeds to the throne and allies himself with his mother's cousin, King Giric of Alba. The two rule all Scotland together as join-monarchs.

880 King Anarawd of Gwynedd inititates a revenge attack on the Mercian armies and defeats them on the River Conwy.

c881 King Anarawd of Gwynedd and his brothers begin extensive military campaigns to quell resistance in Powys and Seisyllwg.

c885 Kings Hyfaidd of Dyfed, Elisedd of Brycheiniog and Hywel of Glywysing are harassed by the armies of King Anarawd of Gwynedd. They seek the protection of King Alfred of England and submit to his overlordship. Anarawd seeks an alliance with the Norse Kings of York.

894 King Anarawd of Gwynedd's shaky alliance with the Vikings collapses. His kingdom is ravaged by the Norsemen. Anarawd is forced to ask for help from King Alfred of England and submits to his overlordship. Alfred imposed oppressive terms and forces Anarawd to confirmation in the Christian Church with Alfred as godfather.

895 King Anarawd of Gwynedd is supplied with Englis troops to assist in his reconquest of Seisyllwg. he is successful and his brother, King Cadell, is finally able to take his rightful place on the Seisyllwg throne.

916 Death of King Anarawd of Gwynedd.

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1. Idwal Foel (The Bald) Ap Anarawd Ap Rhodri
2. Elise Ap Anarawd b: 885 in Aberffro, Malltraeth, Ynys Mon, Cymru