Eiludd Powys


Eiludd Powys was an early 7th-century King of Powys.
One theory asserts that when Manwgan ap Selyf came to the throne in 613 he was a young boy, which led to an invasion of Powys by Eluadd ap Glast, the erstwhile King of Dogfeiling. The usurper probably managed to hold the throne for some thirty years or more before he was killed fighting the Northumbrians, possibly at the Battle of Maes Cogwy in 642. The Dogfeiling dynasty was finally crushed by the Saxons around 656. He was more likely the son or younger brother of Selyf "Sarffgadau" ap Cynan Garwyn. It is not known which he is as there are two accounts one in Jesus College Ms. 20 that makes him the son of Selyf and brother of Manwgan whereas the Harleian Ms. 3859 makes him the brother of Selyf Sarffgadau. Either is plausible, as it is not unheard of that a brother succeeds in absence of a mature heir, or that the eldest is passed over in the succession. There is an interesting reference to the descendants of Selyf, serpents of battle, by the 12th-century Powysian court poet Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr, who, after the dynasty's fall, went to work for Gwynedd and then Powys Wenwynwyn.