History of Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages controlled Ceredigion, taking Llanfihangel, Aberystwyth, and Llanbadarn Fawr. Liberating Llanbadarn, one local chronicler hailed Owain and Cadwaladr both as "bold lions, virtuous, fearless and wise, who guard the churches and their indwellers, defenders of the poor [who] overcome their enemies, affording a safest retreat to all those who seek their protection". The brothers restored the Welsh monks of Llanbadarn, who had been displaced by monks from Gloucester brought there by the Normans who had controlled Ceredigion. By late September 1136 a vast Welsh host gathered in Ceredigion, which included the combined forces of Gwynedd, Deheubarth, and Powys; and met the
Huwal of the West Welsh Huwal of the West Welsh Huwal was a Brittonic monarch of the early to mid-10th century whose name appears in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" as the ruler of the "West Welsh". His identity is a matter of debate: "West Welsh" in medieval English sources usually refers to the Cornish or Dumnonians, suggesting Huwal may have been an otherwise unknown king of that region, but many scholars identify him instead with Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, in western Wales. Huwal is recorded just once in the entry for 926 in manuscript D of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" as "Huwal king of the West Welsh"