Rhun Hir ap Maelgwn

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Rhun ap Maelgwn (c.492-c.586, reigned from c.549) (Latin: Rugenus, English: Run), also known as Rhun Hir ('the Tall') was a king of Gwynedd.

Ascending to the throne of what was then the most powerful kingdom of Britain in his twenties upon the death of his father, Maelgwn Hir ap Cadwallon, from plague, Rhun soon found himself embroiled in a dynastic dispute with Elidyr Mwynfawr, a Northern Brythonic prince from the line of Strathclyde. Elidyr had married Rhun's sister, and as a result believed himself to be the proper heir to the throne of Gwynedd. Elidyr's attempted invasion of Gwynedd, proved unsuccessful, and Elidyr himself was killed in the attempt. Elidyr's cousins, Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde and Clydno Eiten of Edinburgh, however, remained bitter rivals of Rhun and later raided and sacked Arfon (the area around Caernarfon). Raising an army from all over northern Wales, Rhun retaliated, supposedly marching unopposed through Northern Briton to the River Forth where they stayed many years. John Morris associates this invasion with the succession of Rhun's half-brother, Brude, to the throne of the Picts. Rhun reigned for another two decades, but little else is heard of him.

King Maelgwn demanded that a distant son of one of his lords, Elphin, praise him and his court. Elphin refused, claiming his bard, Taliesin was a better bard and his wife a prettier woman than anyone the King had in his court. Taliesin knew what was happening, because he was a seer, and told Elphin's wife. Maelgwn's son Rhun went to Elphin's house to seduce his wife and prove Elphin's claims weren't true. Rhun got her drunk. When she passed out, Rhun tried to take her wedding ring off to prove her unfaithfulness; since the ring wouldn't come off, he cut off her finger. When King Maelgwn attempted to show the finger to Elphin, he pointed out that his wife cut her fingernails more often than the owner of the finger, had servants to kneed dough and never had any under her nails, and her ring was loose on her finger, and that one was tight. Taliesin had had a servant replace Elphin's wife.

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