Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd

Cynan from Owain († 1174 ) was a Welsh ruler of a part of the principality of Gwynedd.

He was an illegitimate son of Owain Gwynedd, about his mother is not known. He took in 1145 along with his brother Hywel from Owain in an attack on Cardigan in part, at the looted the city, the castle of the Anglo-Norman lords Robert Fitzstephen but could not be captured. Two years later, the brothers sold their uncle Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd of Meirionnydd, when they conquered the country from different directions. Cynan was now Lord of Ardudwy in north-west Wales, but was imprisoned in 1150 by his father.

1157 he put together with his brother Dafydd an ambush in the forests of Hawarden, in which a part of the army of King Henry II suffered heavy losses. In 1159 he was one of the Welsh princes who tried together with five Anglo-Norman Earls overthrow Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth. After the death of his father Gwynedd was divided into wars of succession between his sons, Cynan was able to hold in Eifionydd, Ardudwy and Meirionnydd.

After his death in 1174 his elder son Gruffydd ap Cynan took over the rule in Meirionnydd and Ardudwy, Maredudd ap Cynan his younger son inherited Eifionydd. Owain Gwynedd 's grandson Llywelyn Together with from Iorwerth in 1194 they beat her uncle Dafydd from Owain, who went into captivity Llywelyn in 1197. 1195 took over and Gruffydd Maredudd after the death of her uncle Rhodri Owain from the lands west of the Conwy. Gruffydd ap Cynan died in 1200, his territories fell to Llywelyn. 1201 annexed Llywelyn Eifionydd and the Lleyn Peninsula and became the sole ruler of Gwynedd.