Gruffydd ap Cynan: LINKS BETWEEN IRELAND AND WALES
Source: iStockPhoto
Gruffydd ap Cynan was a hugely successful king of Gwynedd in the Middle Ages yet most of his childhood was spent in Ireland, much of the support he enlisted in his fight against the Normans came from Ireland and many of the changes he brought to enhance Welsh poetry and music came from Ireland. Should we be surprised by this?
Ireland and Wales lie only three hundred miles from each other over the Irish Sea. The Welsh language and the Irish language are grouped as Celtic deriving originally from a common Indo-European parent language. There is much evidence of Irish settlement along the coast of Wales soon after the Romans left Briton. There were religious connections, both being Christian countries, and it is believed that St Patrick, who became the first bishop in Ireland was actually born in Wales yet taken to Ireland as a slave. Although he escaped and returned to Wales taking his ecclesiastical training at Llantwit Major, he then returned to Ireland. Additionally, there was strong trade between Wales and Ireland. Welsh ponies, for example, were extremely popular in Ireland for their hardiness. The Irish Annals of Tigernach tell us that King Sitric’s son paid 120 Welsh horses to the king of Brega in 1029. It might even be possible that the Welsh were trading whisky as well since we know that Reaullt Hir, a mighty Welsh warrior, distilled whisky brewed by monks in Ynys Enlli back in the fourth century!
At the time of Gruffydd ap Cynan, however, there was something else that was driving connections between Wales and Ireland. The Norse had, for hundreds of years, been supreme on the sea and although they were best known for their raiding they were also wonderful traders. In the ninth century, the Norse set up a trading centre in Ireland in Dublin. This was the main one of many others including Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and others. The Norse rulers in Ireland became extremely powerful and wealthy and they had trading alliances not only all over the Irish Sea but as far as the Mediterranean. There was a strong alliance between North Wales and the Dublin Hiberno- Norse, with marriages cementing those alliances. When Gruffydd ap Cynan presented his credentials to be King of Gwynedd, he not only told the Welsh nobles of his Welsh heritage stemming back to Hywel Dda but he also reminded them of the strength of his Norse lineage to add to his suitability. Gruffydd’s mother was descended from King Sitric, a Norse warrior of huge repute.
The Hiberno-Norse of Dublin were more than happy to support Gruffydd’s claims to the throne of Gwynedd and to provide him with whatever men and ships he required. This was not only because they saw Gruffydd as one of their own but it made sense to have a strong trading alliance with Gwynedd geographically positioned as it was. Ships wanting to sail to the English trading centre at Chester would be vulnerable as they passed the North Wales coast. To have the Normans in charge of such a strategic area would not have suited their ends. The Hiberno-Norse of Dublin wanted to be able to sail and trade freely.
Gruffydd did not forget his time in Ireland and wanted Wales to benefit from things that had impacted him as a child growing up near Dublin. Gruffydd was a cultured king and patron of the arts. He encouraged Welsh bards to look at the way Irish poets structured their verse, even bringing poets and musicians from Ireland to enhance Welsh music and poetry. He also brought the first bagpipe from Ireland into Wales as well as harpists who worked with the Welsh harpists to produce different kinds of music.
If you are interested in what was happening in 11th and 12th century Wales and Ireland you might want to read, ‘The Welsh Traitor’s Daughter’ by Arianwen Nunn available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.