Triffyn Farfog

{{Short description|King of Dyfed}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Triffyn Farfog''' ({{langx|en|Triffyn the Bearded}}) was a semi-legendary fifth century king of Dyfed, father of Aergol Lawhir and grandfather of Vortipor. Peter Bartrum estimated his date of birth at around 430 AD.<ref name="BartrumTriffyn">{{cite book |last1=Bartrum |first1=Peter C. |author1-link=Peter Bartrum |title=A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000 |date=1993 |publisher=National Library of Wales |location=Aberystwyth |pages=707–709 |edition=2009 |chapter='''Triffyn''', king of Dyfed}}</ref>

== Biography == Triffyn's name is usually considered as derived from the Roman title ''tribunus'', and in some texts his name is written much closer to the original Latin word.<ref name="WadeEvansWCO">{{cite book |last1=Wade-Evans |first1=Arthur |title=Welsh Christian Origins |date=1934 |publisher=The Alden Press |location=Oxford |pages=91, 261–262}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Caradog of Llancarfan |author1-link=Caradog of Llancarfan |editor1-last=Williams |editor1-first=Hugh |editor1-link=Hugh Williams (historian) |title=Gildas: The Ruin of Britain, Fragments from Lost Letters, the Penitential, Together with The Lorica of Gildas |date=1899 |publisher=David Nutt |location=London |pages=398–399 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FdwCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA398 |access-date=14 August 2025 |language=en |chapter=Vita Gildae}}</ref><ref name="BartrumTriffyn" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Owen |first1=George |author1-link=George Owen of Henllys |editor1-last=Owen |editor1-first=Henry |title=The Description of Penbrokshire |date=1906 |publisher=The Bedford Press |location=London |page=277 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aYzSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA277 |access-date=17 August 2025 |language=en}}</ref> While Triffyn's parentage of Aergol is consistent in sources, his own descent is now unclear with multiple ancestries claimed in different genealogies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thornton |first1=David E. |title=Kings, Chronologies, and Genealogies: Studies in the Political History of Early Medieval Ireland and Wales |date=2003 |publisher=Unit for Prosopographical Research |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-900934-09-1 |page=153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xw_YySYSscQC&pg=PA153 |access-date=17 August 2025 |language=en}}</ref> Early Irish genealogies name Triffyn's father as {{ill|Aed Brosc|it|Aed Brosc}}, an invader of the dynasty of Eochaid Allmuir ("Eochaid the Foreigner"), remembered in his native land as a member of the Déisi.<ref>Bartrum, "'''Eochaid Allmuir'''", ''op. cit.'', p. 286.</ref> Welsh genealogies that do not mention Aed Brosc name Triffyn's father as Owain Fraisg.<ref>Bartrum, "'''Aed Brosc'''", ''op. cit.'', p. 1.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barry |first1=Rev. E. |title=Records of the Barrys. First Chapter.—Barrymore. Notes and Corrections. |journal=Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society |date=January–March 1900 |volume=VI |issue=45 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jQt7AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA9 |access-date=17 August 2025 |series=Second Series |language=en}}</ref> In addition some Welsh genealogies claim Triffyn was a descendant of the Roman usuper Magnus Maximus.<ref name="BartrumTriffyn" /><ref name="BartrumEWGT">{{cite book |editor1-last=Bartrum |editor1-first=P. C. |editor1-link=Peter Bartrum |title=Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts |date=1966 |publisher=University of Wales Press |location=Cardiff |pages=4, 10, 30, 45–46, 106}}</ref>

Triffyn is supposed to have married Gwledyr, daughter of Clydwyn ap Ednyfed, though this connection is described in tentative language by Bartrum.<ref name="BartrumTriffyn" />

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

Category:430s births Category:5th-century deaths Category:Monarchs of Dyfed Category:5th-century monarchs in Europe Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:Year of death unknown Category:Legendary monarchs