Merfyn Frych King of Gwynedd and Ynys Manaw

  General Notes:

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Merfyn Frych ('Merfyn the Freckled'; Medieval Latin: Marbinus, Mermin), also known as Merfyn ap Gwriad ('Merfyn son of Gwriad') and Merfyn Camwri ('Merfyn the Oppressor'),[1] was King of Gwynedd from around 825 to 844, the first of its kings known not to have descended from the male line of Cunedda.

Little is known of his reign, and his primary notability is as the father of Rhodri the Great and founder of his dynasty, which was sometimes called the Merfynion after him.[2] Merfyn came to the throne in the aftermath of a bloody dynastic struggle between two rivals named Cynan and Hywel – generally identified with the sons of Rhodri Molwynog,[3] despite that putting both men well into their 70s or 80s at the time[4] – at a time when the kingdom had been under pressure from Mercia.[5]

The Annales Cambriae say Merfyn died around 844, the same year in which a battle occurred at Cetyll,[6] but it is unclear whether those were two unrelated events or he fell in battle.[7][8]

From: http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/merfynrd.html
Merfyn Frych,
King of Gwynedd & Ynys Manaw
(c.780-844)
(Welsh: Merfyn; Latin: Marbinus; English: Mervin)

Merfyn the Freckled was the son of King Guriat of Ynys Manaw, heir to the lost Kingdom of South Rheged. His mother was Esyllt ferch Cynan, the heiress of Gwynedd, and after the death of her father's great rival in AD 825, the throne was secured for Merfyn. He crossed from Ynys Manaw (Isle of Man), where he was almost certainly already King, to bring a new stability as well as a new dynasty to Gwynedd after many years of Civil War. He reigned for nineteen years and, sadly, though Gwynedd gained from his rule, an absentee monarch left Manaw open to invasion. The Hiberno-Viking, Godred mac Fergus established himself there in 836 and the country was never recovered. Merfyn died in AD 844 and was succeeded by his son, Rhodri Mawr (the Great).

Merfyn married.