'Rhodri ab Idwal' (c.
690-c.
754; reigned from c.
720) (
Latin: Rodericus;
English: Roderick), also known as 'Rhodri ''Molwynog''' ('the Bald and Gray') and as 'Rhodri I', was a king of
Gwynedd, also called
King of the Britons by the ''
Annals of Wales.''
The son of
Idwal ''Iwrch'' and his wife, Princess
Angharad of Brittany, comparatively little is known of Rhodri's life or accomplishments. There is even some debate as to when he actually assumed the throne of Gwynedd, with the years
712,
720,
722 or
730 being the most probable candidates. Legend suggests that Rhodri successfully invaded and occupied
Dumnonia for a time, before being expelled by the
Saxons. This story may indeed be apocryphal, and others have suggested that Rhodri instead focused on strengthening the island of
Anglesey, which, by this time, had become the stronghold of the kingdom. This argument is based on the understanding that
Æthelbald, king of Mercia and self-styled
Bretwalda, was continuing to press the kingdoms of
Wales, and that Rhodri would have been far more likely to have been forced to adopt a defensive, rather than offensive, policy in dealing with incursions from Mercia and other
Anglo-Saxon principalities.
Rhodri married
Margaret ferch Duplory, an
Irish princess, who bore him a son by the name of
Cynan ''Dindaethwy''. Because of the limited reliable information surrounding this period in Welsh history, it is not entirely clear who succeeded Rhodri upon his death, although the most likely candidate seems to be
Caradog ap Meirion, a distant cousin, and not his son, who would ascend to the throne only after the death of Caradog.