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glirctaoiirght €uxbvtmh* FIFTH SERIES.—VOL. VIII, NO. XXXII. OCTOBER 1891. CHIEF OF THE NOBLE TRIBES OF GWYNEDD. BY H. F. J. VAUGHAN, ESQ. Gwynedd, the most northerly of the portions into which Rhrodri Mawr divided his kingdom, though en- joying a precedence over Deheubarth and Powys, was in the earlier stages of its career less fortunate than either of them, so that the Welsh History observes,— " It had seldom been known before but that one of the princes was an usurper, and particularly in North Wales, where from the time of Edwal Foel none had legally ascended to the crown excepting Edwal, the son of Meiric, eldest son to Edwal Foel, in whose line the undoubted title of North Wales lawfully de¬ scended." Nor, on the other hand, must we presume that one usurper obtained Gwynedd, and left his de¬ scendants peaceably possessed of it generation after generation. Such a supposition is dispelled by com¬ paring the line of actual or de facto kings with that of the kings de jure. We will take the last first, and the succession is as follows from Rhrodri Mawr, Anarawd, Edwal Voel, Meirig, Edwal, Iago, Cynan, and Gruffydd, who was the last to bear the title of King of Wales. Now let us take the de facto kings,— Anarawd, Edwal Voel, Howel Dda of South Wales, Ieuaf and Iago (sons of 5th ser., vol. viii. 16