The Gwentian Chronicle records the division of territories effected by "Rhodri the Great" and that "Gwynedd he conferred upon his son Anarawd and his palace was at Aberffraw in Mona".
King of Gwynedd. The Gwentian Chronicle is contradicted by Gerald of Wales´s Descriptio Kambriæ which records that “Rothericus magnus, qui Britannice Rotheri Maur dicebatur” had “tres filios...Mervinum, Anaraut et Cadelh” who divided Wales between them, “Mervino...Nortwallia, Anaraut Powisia, Cadelh...Sudwallia”. [The Gwentian Chronicle records that "Anarawd king of Gwynedd devastated Ceredigion, the territory of his brother Cadell" in 892.
The Annales Cambriæ record the death in 915 of "Anaraut rex". The Chronicle of the Princes of Wales records the death in 913 of "Anarawd son of Rhodri, king of the Britons". The Gwentian Chronicle records that "Anarawd son of Rhodri the Great, king of the Britons" died in 913 and then "Hywel son of Cadell ruled over all Wales".
The name of Anarawd´s wife is not known. 1
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He was the eldest son of Rhodri Mawr ( the Great ), and, on the death of his father at the hands of the Mercians in 878, succeeded to Anglesey and the adjacent parts of Gwynedd. He was, no doubt, the victor in the battle fought in 881 on the banks of the Conway — a Mercian overthrow which the Welsh regarded as ‘God's vengeance for Rhodri.’
At first, he sought security from further attack by an alliance with the Danish kingdom of York, but this bore little fruit, and instead he turned to Alfred of Wessex. He was cordially received; honour and gifts were bestowed upon him, and the king stood as his godfather at confirmation. In return, he promised obedience to Alfred as over-king, a position which gave him equality with Ethelred of Mercia. Such was his standing in 893, according to Asser; it was with English help that in 895 he ravaged Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi, held most likely by his brother Cadell. He d. in 916, to be succeeded by his son Idwal Foel ( the Bald ) .
From Anarawd were descended the later rulers of Gwynedd, as those of Deheubarth were from Cadell. It was but to be expected that the men of the South should later contend that Cadell was the elder of the two, but the evidence is against this view. It was fully discussed and controverted by Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt in British Antiquities Revived ( Oxford , 1662 ; reprinted, Bala , 1834 ). 2
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