House of Rhodri

Who was Rhodri Mawr?

Rhodri Mawr succeeded his father, Merfyn Frych, as King of Gwynedd in 844. Over the following decades, his authority extended into Powys and Seisyllwg, bringing much of Wales under his rule. In 856 he killed the Viking leader Horm, an event recorded in the Irish annals. He was killed by the English in 878.

Read more about Rhodri Mawr

Through his sons, Rhodri became the ancestor of the great royal houses of medieval Wales: Aberffraw in Gwynedd and Dinefwr in Deheubarth, whose lines include Hywel Dda, Llywelyn the Great and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.

About This Project

Play video: Welsh Family History: From Beulah to Rhodri Mawr

Our Family, Our Story

House of Rhodri is a family-history project rooted in Beulah, Wales, and in the research of my mother, Sarah Arianwen Mary Edwards, known as Arianwen. I’m David Eurwyn Edwards, and I’m bringing together the family trees, documents, photographs and memories she left behind so that her work can be preserved, understood and shared with this and future generations.

Our story began with a school project. In 1994, my niece Ruth Williams, now Ruth Hawes, created a family tree at Lampeter Secondary School and won first prize for it in the school eisteddfod. Her work sparked her grandmother’s curiosity about the generations who came before us.

Mam went on to attend a family history course in Newcastle Emlyn, led by Grace Hagen. An article published in the Welsh-language publication Y Gambo in October 2001 records her enthusiasm for the course and the research visits that accompanied it. With research assistance from Dr Michael Siddons, she traced her mother’s side of the family through Welsh pedigrees to Rhodri Mawr.

In September 2026, I returned to Wales for the first time in ten years. The main purpose was to pay my respects to my parents, grandparents, and uncles at our family memorial in Glynarthen, while also spending time with my sisters and revisiting places connected to my own life. During that visit, Mam’s research was entrusted to my care. Preserving it became the beginning of this project.

How We Work

We begin with the material Mam collected and follow the connections she recorded, checking them against other sources wherever possible. We aim to explain where each connection comes from, distinguish evidence from interpretation, and acknowledge gaps rather than fill them with certainty.

The distinction matters particularly when the family tree reaches into early medieval Wales. Descent from figures such as Rhodri Mawr rests partly on traditional Welsh pedigrees, some of which were written down centuries after the people they describe, rather than on contemporary records alone. We do not treat every generation as equally well documented. Throughout the site, we identify the kind of source supporting a connection and make uncertainty clear.

This is an ongoing exploration, not a claim that every ancestral link has already been independently verified. We welcome corrections and additional evidence, and we respect the privacy of living relatives.

Above all, House of Rhodri is about preserving the people behind the names: their lives, their places, and the stories that connect the family who came before us with those still to come.