Cunedda ap Edern, also called Cunedda Wledig ( 5th century), was an important early Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the Royal dynasty of Gwynedd, one of the very oldest of western Europe.
Name
The name Cunedda (spelled Cunedag in the AD 828 pseudo-history Historia Brittonum) derives from the Brythonic word , meaning "Good Hound/Warrior" or "Having Good Hounds/Warriors".
Early life
Cunedda's family is traced back to a grandfather living in late Roman Britain named Padarn Beisrudd. His name literally translates as Paternus of the "red tunic" or the scarlet cloak, a color attributed to Roman officers during the Roman Empire. One traditional interpretation identifies Padarn as a Roman (Romano-British) official of reasonably high rank who had been placed in command of the Votadini troops stationed in the Clackmannanshire region of Scotland in the 380s or earlier by the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus.
Alternatively, he may have been a frontier chieftain who was granted Roman military rank, a practice attested elsewhere along the empire's borders at the time. Possibly, Padarn's command in Scotland was assumed after his death by his son, Edern (), and then passed to Edern's son, Cunedda, who would later be the founder of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and become its first King.
Genealogy
Cunedda's genealogy, as many early Welsh Royal families, claimed descent from Afallach, son of Beli Mawr, the father of King Cassivellaunus. Cassivellaunus was a pre-Roman historical figure who fought against Julius Caesar during his invasion of Britain in 54 BC, as part of the Gallic Wars, and whose name was featured on many occasions in Caesar's war diaries. His successor was Tasciovanus, father of Cunobeline.
Both Cunedda and his father-in-law, King Coel Hen (Coel Godebog), claimed descent from Beli Mawr. Early versions of their genealogies are now part of the Harleian Library, under the Harleian collections and Jesus College collections, and are one of the few direct historical sources for Welsh dynastic history in the early Middle Ages.
Life
Move to Gwynedd
According to Old Welsh tradition contained in section 62 of the Historia Brittonum, Cunedda came from Manaw Gododdin, the modern Clackmannanshire region of Scotland: Maelgwn, the great king, was reigning among the Britons in the region of Gwynedd, for his ancestor, Cunedag, with his sons, whose number was eight, had come previously from the northern part, that is from the region which is called Manaw Gododdin, one hundred and forty-six years before Maelgwn reigned. And with great slaughter they drove out from those regions the Scotti who never returned again to inhabit them.
Cunedda and his forebears led the Votadini against Pictish and Irish incursions south of Hadrian's Wall. Sometime after this, the Votadini troops under Cunedda relocated to North Wales to defend the region from Irish invasion, specifically the Uí Liatháin, as mentioned in the Historia Brittonum. Cunedda established himself in Wales, in the territory of the Venedoti, which would become the centre of the kingdom of Gwynedd. Two explanations for these actions have been suggested: either Cunedda was acting under the orders of Magnus Maximus (or Maximus' successors) or Vortigern, the high king of the British in the immediate post-Roman era. The range of dates (suggested by Oxford genealogist Peter Bartrum) runs from the late 370s, which would favour Maximus, to the late 440s, which would favour Vortigern.
The suggestion that Cunedda was operating under instructions from Rome has been challenged by several historians. David Dumville dismisses the whole concept of transplanting foederati from Scotland to Wales in this manner, given that the political state of sub-Roman Britain would probably have made it impossible to exercise such centralised control by the 5th century. As Maximus himself was dead by the end of 388, and Constantine III departed from Britain with the last of Rome's military forces in 407, less than a generation later, it is doubtful that Rome had much direct influence over the military actions of the Votadini, either through Maximus or any other emissary, for any significant length of time.