Research Notes:

The Gwentian Chronicle, the Annales Cambriæ, and the Chronicle of the Princes of Wales all name "Idwal son of Rhodri".... The chronology is stretched for Idwal to have been the son of King Rhodri "Mawr/the Great". However, it is clear that he must have been a different person from Idwal "Foel/the Bald", son of Anarawd ap Rhodri King of Gwynedd..., as the two persons are both named in the passage in the Gwentian Chronicle which records that "the Welsh gained their freedom…through the bravery and wisdom of Eidwal the Bald and his brother Elisseu…and Idwal son of Rhodri the Great" in 940. There is no record of Idwal having been provided for with territories by King Rhodri unlike his three surviving legitimate sons... If Idwal was Rhodri´s son, he must have been illegitimate, born late in his father´s life. It is suggested instead that the earlier passage in the Gwentian Chronicle is correct and that Idwal was the son of Anarawd. A different perspective is provided by Gerald of Wales´s Descriptio Kambriæ which records the descent of the rulers of North Wales in reverse chronological order as follows: “David filius Oenei, Oeneus filius Griphini, Griphinus filius Canani, Cananus filius Iago, Iago filius Ythewal, Ythewal filius Meuric, Meuric filius Anaudrech, Anaudrech filius Mervini, Mervinus filius Roderici magni”. This descent omits Meuric, son of Idwal..., the omission of a generation suggesting that the earlier ancestry may be truncated.

King of Gwynedd. He visited Æthelstan King of Wessex many times between 931 and 937. [The Gwentian Chronicle records that "the Welsh gained their freedom…through the bravery and wisdom of Eidwal the Bald and his brother Elisseu, Cadell son of Arthvael son of Hywel lord of Glamorgan, and Idwal son of Rhodri the Great" in 940 after the death of King Æthelstan, but adding that "on that account they were killed by the Saxons by treachery and ambush".

The Annales Cambriæ record that "Iudgual filius Rodri et filius eius Elized" were killed by the Saxons in 943. ¹