Cunedda

 ( Monarchs Of Gwynedd ) 

These figures also all ruled in the century after the Roman withdrawal from Britain. However, this interpretation is subject to criticism. The historian Rachel Bromwich argued that translating Latin titles into Welsh is unusual for contemporary Welsh leaders, who typically used the original Latin titles. There are other competing theories concerning the true meaning of the term. The word Gwledig is a cognate with the Irish word flaith, which means ruler. Therefore, the word may simply mean "lord" or "ruler".

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. Possibly, Padarn's command in Scotland was assumed after his death by his son, Edern (), and then passed to Edern's son, Cunedda, who would later be the founder of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and become its first King.

Coel Hen, possibly based on a historical figure from post-Roman Britain, was said to be Cunedda's father-in-law and also to be a descendant of Beli Mawr.

Maelgwn, the great king, was reigning among the Britons in the region of Gwynedd, for his ancestor, Cunedag, with his sons, whose number was eight, had come previously from the northern part, that is from the region which is called Manaw Gododdin, one hundred and forty-six years before Maelgwn reigned. And with great slaughter, they drove out from those regions the Scotti who never returned again to inhabit them.Bartrum, Peter; A Welsh Classical Dictionary, National Library of Wales, 1993, p. 172.

Cunedda and his forebears led the Votadini against Picts and Irish incursions south of Hadrian's Wall. Sometime after this, the Votadini troops under Cunedda relocated to North Wales to defend the region from Irish invasion, specifically the Uí Liatháin, as mentioned in the Historia Brittonum. Cunedda established himself in Wales, in the territory of the Venedoti, which would become the centre of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Two explanations for these actions have been suggested: either Cunedda was acting under the orders of Magnus Maximus (or Maximus' successors) or Vortigern, the high king of the British in the immediate post-Roman era. The range of dates (suggested by Oxford genealogist Peter Bartrum) runs from the late 370s, which would favour Maximus, to the late 440s, which would favour Vortigern.

The suggestion that Cunedda was operating under instructions from Roman Empire has been challenged by several historians. David Dumville dismisses the whole concept of transplanting foederati from Scotland to Wales in this manner, given that the political state of sub-Roman Britain would probably have made it impossible to exercise such centralised control by the 5th century. As Magnus Maximus himself was dead by the end of 388, and Constantine III departed from Britain with the last of Rome's military forces in 407, less than a generation later, it is doubtful that Rome had much direct influence over the military actions of the Votadini, either through Maximus or any other emissary, for any significant length of time.

Magnus Maximus (or his successors) may have handed over control of the British frontiers to local chieftains at an earlier date; with the evacuation of the fort at Chester (which Mike Ashley, incidentally, argues is most likely where Cunedda established his initial base in the region, some years later) in the 370s, he may have had little option. Given that the archaeological record demonstrates Irish settlement on the Llŷn Peninsula however and possible raids as far west as Wroxeter by the late 4th century, it is difficult to conceive of either Roman or allied British forces having presented an effective defence in Wales.

Academics such as Sheppard Frere have argued that it may have been Vortigern who, adopting elements of Roman statecraft, moved the Votadini south, just as he invited Saxons settlers to protect other parts of the island. According to this version of events, Vortigern would have instructed Cunedda and his Votadini subjects to move to Wales in response to the aforementioned Irish incursions no later than the year 442, when Vortigern's former Saxon allies rebelled against his rule. Some historians even suggest that Cunedda never even moved to North Wales and simply died while fighting the Picts, and Nennius's claims about Cunedda are just simply propaganda for the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Based on the fact that despite Nennius saying Cunedda "drove out the Irish with great slaughter and that they never returned" it is not entirely true as there was heavy Irish presence among the southern Welsh Kingdoms and Anglesey even in the 6th century.

Cunedda's supposed great-grandson Maelgwn Gwynedd was a contemporary of Gildas,, De Excidio, sections 28 and 29 (in English), De Excidio, sections 28 and 29 (in Latin) and according to the Annales Cambriae died in 547., Annales Cambriae, year 547 – "Mortalitas magna inqua pausat mailcun rex genedotae" The reliability of early Welsh genealogies is not uncontested however, and many of the claims regarding the number and identity of Cunedda's heirs did not surface until as late as the 10th century. Nonetheless, if we accept this information as valid, calculating back from this date suggests the mid-5th century interpretation.