Notes for Gryffyd ap Cynan
31
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruffydd_ap_CynanGruffydd ap Cynan (also spelled Gryffydd ap Cynan) (c. 1055 – 1137) was a King of
Gwynedd. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to
Norman rule, and was remembered as
King of all Wales. As a descendant of
Rhodri Mawr, Gruffydd ap Cynan was a senior member of the princely house of
Aberffraw.
Through his mother Gruffydd had close family connections with the Danish settlement around
Dublin and he frequently used
Ireland as a refuge and as a source of troops. He three times gained the throne of Gwynedd and then lost it again before regaining it once more in 1099 and this time keeping power until his death. Gruffydd laid the foundations which were built upon by his son
Owain Gwynedd and his great-grandson
Llywelyn the Great.