Welsh/ Saxon conflicts timeline part 3

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Viking attacks on Wales increase dramaticly around this time, you will find a timeline of viking attacks in this link Timeline of Viking Raids on the Welsh

822 

Coelwulf of Mercia invaded north Wales and captures Deganwy from Gwynedd and occupies the whole of Powys.

Ceolwulf of Mercia conquers Powys

 Annales Cambriae

 "The fortress of Deganwy was destroyed by the Saxons and they took into their power the regio of Powys".

828 

The lands of Powys are liberated from Mercian occupation by Cyngen ap Cadell. 

The Pillar of Eliseg was probably commissioned at this time.


830 

Egbert of Wessex invades Powys and forces Cyngen ap Cadell to submit. Egbert then withdraws his forces.

 831

A.D. 831 The Saxons of Mercia came unawares by night, and burnt the monastery of Senghenydd, which stood in the place the castle now does. From thence they went to the Castle of Treoda, and burnt it, and escaped from thence over the Severn Sea with much stolen property, at the time there was peace between the men of Glamorgan and Gwent, and the Saxons of Mercia

849

Eight hundred and fifty was the year of Christ, when Meurug was killed by the Saxons.

853  

Burgred of Mercia overruns Powys. Cyngan ap Cadell abdicates and retires to Rome and his kingdom is annexed by Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd.

865  

Burgred of Mercia leads his forces against Rhodri Mawr and captures Anglesey, briefly, from Gwynedd. Burgred is later forced to withdraw as his realm is invaded by the Vikings.


870  

The battle of Bryn Onnen,  In the time of Rhodri the Great, the Saxons of Mercia made many attempts to invade Gwynedd. They were every time repelled, and in 870 A.D., the Chronicles tell us that a great battle was fought near Llangollen in which the Mercians suffered terrible loss.Cambridge County Histories: Merionethshire, 1913; p. 86.

There are two possible locations for this battle near Llangollen:

 The battle of Bryn Onnen took place in 870; (Thomas Jones, The Chronicle of the Princes, 1955, p.9); no further information is available as to its location; however, there are two farms, Rhyd Onnen Isaf and Rhyd Onnen Uchaf, on a steep-sided hill some 4km to the west of Llangollen in the Ordnance Survey kilometre square SJ1742.

A farmhouse, Coed-y-gadfa, meaning 'the battlefield wood' (nprn 404837), is shown on early editions of the Ordnance Survey maps some 5km northwest of Langollen at SJ 1749 4484.

B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 29 August 2006.


871 

The Irish Annals record that Óláfr Cuaran and Ívarr Beinlausi returned to Dublin after their raids against the Strathclyde Welsh, Albans, and Saxons with two hundred ships and English, Welsh, and Pictish captives to be sold into slavery.

872  

Rhodri the great won two battles this year,  the first at a place given variously as Bangolau, Bann Guolou,or Bannoleu, where he defeated the Vikings on Anglesey "in a hard battle" and the second at Manegiu or Enegydwhere the Vikings "were destroyed".

873 

Battle of Rhiw-saeson Fought A.D. 873" within the enclosure of Caerau hillfort

''The action of Rhiw Saeson, in Glamorgan, took place, in which the Welsh conquered the Saxons, and slaughtered them dreadfully

(Owen, 15).''


876 

The Norse attack in the famous Sunday Battle of Anglesea (Gweith Duw Sul)

In 877, a Danish force, aided by their client king Ceolwulf, assailed Anglesey, intent on avenging Gorm's death and securing communication routes with Dublin. They succeeded in defeating Rhodri in the Battle of Sunday and seizing Anglesey, compelling him into exile on Ireland.[7] The subsequent year marked Rhodri's return from Irish exile, winning a battle against the Vikings occupying Anglesey. However, Rhodri and his son Gwriad perished in a clash against Ceolwulf

Rhodri Mawr . . . is still found fighting the 'black gentiles' at the close of his life; the 'gwaith dyw Sul' or 'Sunday's fight' fought in Anglesey in 877 must have been an encounter with a heathen foe, and its issue is shown by the statement in the Irish Chronicles that Rhodri, king of the Welsh, in this year sought safety in Ireland from the attacks of the 'black gentiles'."
Source: J.E.Lloyd, A History of Wales, vol I, 1912, p. 326.
877: And the Sunday Battle took place in Anglesey.
Source: Thomas Jones, The Chronicle of the Princes, 1955, p.9
The location of the battle is not known; other, unverified, sources suggest a date of 876.
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 20 June 2006.


876 

The Western Host, the naval force supporting the Danish attack upon King Alfred of Mercia and led by Ivarr Beinlausi and Hubba, the sons of Ragnarr Loðbrokk, is off the Welsh coastline, indulging in the occasional raiding of the Welsh as well as maintaining the campaign against Alfred. The fleet wintered in South Wales.

880 

"Eight hundred and eighty was the year of Christ when the battle of the Conway took place for God to avenge Rhodri." [Rhodri had been slain by the Saxons in 878

Source: Thomas Jones, The Chronicle of the Princes, 1955, p.9.

"A raid upon Eryri conducted by Aethelred in 881 had been arrested by Anarawd at the mouth of the Conway, and the victory of Cymryd - the day of divine vengeance for Rhodri - had been won with great slaughter of the foe."

Source: J.E.Lloyd, A History of Wales, vol I, 1912, p.328.

890  

Y Normanyeit Duon or black Northmen attack Castell Baldwin in Powys.

890 

at least some of the "men of Strathclyde" are forced to relocate to Gwynedd after their kingdom, much weakened by the Vikings, is overrun by Angles and Scots'

893 

 A combined force containing men from Mercia, Wessex, and Wales besieged the Vikings at Buttington for several weeks, starving them out until finally the Vikings had to emerge and they were defeated there by the English and the Welsh: the surviving Vikings fled back to Essex

893 

The Danes, led by a man named Haesten, marched up beside the Thames, crossed over and ravaged the Severn Valley. Welshmen from Gwent and Glynwysing, as well as some of Anarawd's men from Gwynedd, cooperated with Alfred the Great to battle and defeat the raiders at Buttingtune on the Severn shore.

940  

Idwal Foel of Gwynedd invaded England and was driven back and later deprived of his lands.


 942

Hywel Dda's cousin Idwal Foel, King of Gwynedd, determined to cast off English overlordship took up arms against the new English king, Edmund. Idwal and his brother Elisedd were both killed in battle against Edwin's forces. By normal custom, Idwal's crown should have passed to his sons, but Hywel intervened. He sent Iago and Ieuaf into exile and established himself as ruler over Gwynedd, which also likely placed him in control of the Kingdom of Powys, which was under the authority of Gwynedd. As such Hywel dda became king of nearly all of Wales except for Morgannwg and Gwent in the south.

945 

following an English invasion of the Kingdom of the Cumbrians, ruled by Dyfnwal ab Owain, the English king is recorded to have granted or given it or a portion of it to the Scottish king. How much authority the Scots had over the Cumbrians is uncertain.

962

King Edgar the Peaceful invades Gwynedd.

985

 Hywel ap Ieuaf of Gwynedd is killed fighting Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia.

1012

 Earl Eodwin Streona of Mercia led an English attack against the Church

of St. David at Menevia making use of the Danish ships which King 

Ethelred took into his service that year


1031 

Scene of a desperate battle between the invading Saxons and the ancient Britons under Conan ab Sytsylt, in the year 1031, in which that chieftain and all his sons were slain."

Source: Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1833.

B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 01 September 2006.


1035

Caradog ap Rhydderch was killed by the "Saxons".

1039

Battle of Rhyd y Groes where Gruffudd ap Llywelyn – the recently crowned King of Gwynedd – ambushes a Mercian army led by Leofric of Mercia in Brycheiniog, destroying them. killing Edwin, brother of the Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He then attacked Dyfed,

1052

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was active on the Welsh border in 1052, when he attacked Herefordshire and defeated a mixed force of Normans and English in the Battle of Leominster and sacks the town.

1055 


 Gruffydd was also able to seize Morgannwg and Gwent, along with extensive territories along the border with England.

1056,

 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn won another victory over an English army near Glasbury. Now recognized as King of Wales, he claimed sovereignty over the whole of the country – a claim which was recognised by the English. 


Historian John Davies stated that Gruffydd was "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... Thus, from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor

1059

 Macht, son of Harold, came to Wales with a great army in his train; and the Prince Gruffudd, and Macht, with combined forces, proceeded against the Saxons, and devastated the country of England a great way towards its centre; and they returned to Wales with great spoil.

1062  

Harold Godwinson obtained the king's approval for a surprise attack on Gruffydd's court at Rhuddlan. Gruffydd was nearly captured but was warned in time to escape out to sea in one of his ships, though his other ships were destroyed.

1063

Harold's brother Tostig led an army into north Wales while Harold led the fleet first to south Wales and then north to meet with his brother's army. Gruffydd was forced to take refuge in Snowdonia where he met his death. Gruffydd's head and the figurehead of his ship were sent to Harold. The Ulster Chronicle states that he was killed by Cynan in 1064, whose father Iago had been put to death by Gruffydd in 1039. 

After the murder of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, Harold Godwinson married his widow Ealdgyth and divided Gruffydd's realm into the traditional kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, the rule of which were given to Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn. Gruffydd left two sons— Maredudd and Idwal–who in 1070 challenged Bleddyn and Rhiwallon at Mechain in an attempt to win back part of their father's kingdom. However, both sons were defeated, Idwal (or Ithel) being killed in combat and Maredudd dying of exposure after the battle. Rhiwallon was also killed in this battle, leaving Bleddyn to rule Gwynedd and Powys alone.

1065  

Harold Godwinson, after defeating Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1063 had begun to build a hunting lodge in Portskewet. Caradog ap Gruffydd prince of Gwent attacked and destroyed it, going on to ravage the district with his forces.






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