Cunedda

Cunedda ap Edern or Cunedda Wledig (fl. 5th century) was an important early Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd.

Background and life

The name Cunedda (spelled Cunedag in the 9th century pseudo-history Historia Brittonum) derives from the Brythonic word *Cunodagos, meaning good hound. His genealogy is traced back to a grandfather named Padarn Beisrudd, which literally translates as Paternus of the "red tunic". One traditional interpretation identifies Padarn as a Roman (or Romano-British) official of reasonably high rank who had been placed in command of Votadini troops stationed in the Clackmannanshire region of Scotland in the 380s or earlier by the Emperor Magnus Maximus. Alternatively, he may have been a frontier chieftain who was granted Roman military rank, a practice attested elsewhere along the empire's borders at the time. In all likelihood, Padarn's command in Scotland was assumed after his death by his son, Edern (Latin: Æturnus), and then passed to Edern's son, Cunedda.