Not to be confused with the 8th-century king of Gwent,Ffernfael ab Idwal. For other Welsh rulers of the same name, seeFfernfael..
Ffernfael ap Meurig orFfyrnfael[1] orFernmail,[2] fl. 880s, wasking ofGwent in southeastWales jointly with his brotherBrochfael ap Meurig.[3]Asser says in his biography ofAlfred the Great that "Brochfael and Ffyrnfael, (sons of Meurig and kings of Gwent), driven by the might and tyrannical behaviour ofEaldorman Æthelred and theMercians, petitioned King Alfred of their own accord, in order to obtain lordship and protection from him in the face of their enemies".[1]
In early medieval Wales, it was common for brothers to share the kingship.[4] Brochfael and Ffernfael are both listed in theBook of Llandaff as witnesses to a charter of their father, but Ffernfael does not witness any surviving charter of his own, whereas several show Brochfael as a royal grantor and witness. Ffernfael may have been subordinate to Brochfael.[5][6]
^abKeynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael, eds. (1983).Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources. London, UK: Penguin Classics. p. 96.ISBN978-0-14-044409-4.
^Charles-Edwards, Thomas (2011). "Dynastic Succession in Early Medieval Wales". In Griffiths, R. A.; Schofield, P. R. (eds.).Wales and the Welsh in the Middle Ages. Cardiff, UK: University of Wales Press. p. 76.ISBN978-0-7083-2446-2.