the usurpers. With the help of his friends and kinsfolk, he collected a fleet of Irish Danes and appeared off Abermenai.
Gruffydd's name now first appears in the chronicles. In 1075 (Brut y Tywysogion, s.a. 1073) he attacked Anglesey, and was welcomed by the men of Lleyn and Arvon (Life). With the help of the Norman marcher, Robert of Rhuddlan, he defeated and slew Cynwric, and drove into flight Trahaiarn, son of Caradog. Trahaiarn, however, soon defeated his troops at the battle of Bron yr Erw and drove him back to Ireland. Another attempt was equally a failure, and Gruffydd remained several years longer in Ireland.
About 1081 (Ann. Cambr.; Bruty Tywysogion, s. a. 1079; Gwentian Brut, s. a. 1080), Gruffydd ab Cynan again came to Wales with his Norse allies, and was joined by Rhys ab Tewdwr [q. v.], who two or three years before had made himself king of Deheubarth. At the battle of Mynydd Carno, Gruffydd and Rhys defeated aud slew Trahaiarn (Ann. Cambr.; Gwentian Brut). His death gave Gruffydd a foothold in Gwynedd, where he now ruled for some years in peace. Gruffydd's biographer, who denies Rhys any share in the victory, adds that war between the two allies at once broke out, in which Gruffydd terribly ravaged Rhys's territory.
The older Welsh chronicles make no further mention of Gruffydd until 1099. His biographer tells, however, how he was betrayed by his 'barwn,' Meiryawn Goch (i.e. the Red), into the hands of Earl Hugh of Chester, who kept him in close confinement in Chester Castle for either twelve or sixteen years. During this period Hugh built four castles in Gwynedd which gave him command of all the country. These details can hardly be correct, but the fact of Gruffydd's imprisonment, if not by the earl, by the earl's chief follower, is confirmed by the epitaph which Ordericus Vitalis composed on Robert of Rhuddlan (Historia Ecclesiastica, iii. 288, ed. Le Prévost, 'cepit Grithfridum regem '). This must, however, have been before 1087, in which year Ordericus throws a new light on Gruffydd's movements. Again in alliance with Rhys, son of Tewdwr, and again supported by a fleet of Irish Norsemen, Gruffydd took advantage of the Norman revolt against Rufus and retaliated on Robert of Rhuddlan for his frequent devastations of Snowdon by a predatory expedition. He was compelled to retire when Robert hurried from the siege of Rochester to defend his dominions. By July Robert had reached his border stronghold of Dwyganwy. On 3 July Gruffydd entered the Conway with three ships and plundered the neighbourhood. He had the good fortune to slay Robert, who had rashly rushed down from the castle with but one companion to protect his lands. But Gruffydd was not strong enough to resist his followers. He cut off Robert's head with his own sword and retreated hastily by sea (Ord. Vit. iii. 280-9). The Normans still dominated Anglesey by Earl Hugh's castle of Aberlleiniog. He was not without rivals or partners in the rule of Gwynedd. In 1094, when the North Welsh rose in revolt, it is Cadwgan ab Bleddyn [q. v.], rather than Gruffydd, who takes the foremost place among the Cymry (Brut y Tywysogion, sub an. 1092; Anglo-Saxon Chron. sub an. 1097). Only the doubtful authority of the 'Gwentian Brut' connects Gruffydd by name with this movement, and he seems to have lived the life of a wandering viking, constantly taking refuge in Ireland or Man (Life}. A curious tale of his viking days comes from the life of St. Gwenlliw (Lives of the Cambro-British Saints, p. 151, Welsh MSS. Soc.) But the rising, whoever led it, was successful, and the destruction of the castle in Anglesey secured for the Welsh the special patrimony of Gruffydd (Flor. Wig. sub an. 1094). In 1095 William Rufus himself led an expedition into Snowdon with little result (Ann. Cambr. sub an. 1095, and Anglo-Saxon Chron. sub an. both agree in this). His expeditions in 1097 were equally unsuccessful. If Gruffydd had attacked him, boasts his biographer, none of his army would have remained alive. Yet in 1098 the two Earls Hugh of Chester and Shrewsbury again appeared in Mona and built or rebuilt the castle of Aberlleiniog. 'The Britons agreed in council to save Mona and invited to their defence a fleet that was at sea from Ireland.' But the pirates were bribed by the French, and Gruffydd and Cadwgan were compelled to retreat to Ireland. In 1099, however, a new revolt followed close after King Magnus's invasion of Anglesey and the death of Hugh of Shrewsbury, which brought the two Welsh kings back again. At last terms were arranged with the English and Gruffydd was left in possession of Mona, which he now governed quietly for several years. While his ally Cadwgan became vassal of Robert of Belleme for Ceredigion, Gruffydd seems to have held Anglesey as an independent prince (Freeman, William Rufus, ii. 424). He had, according to his biographer, visited the court of Henry I, and obtained from him the possession of Lleyn, Eivionydd, Ardudwy, and Arllechwedd. As he got these districts by the mediation of Hervey, the Breton bishop of Bangor, it must have been before 1109, the date of Hervey's translation to Ely.
