Editing Hywel Dda (section)

== Legacy ==
[[File:Hywel Dda at Cardiff City Hall.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Statue of Hywel Dda at [[City Hall, Cardiff]]]]
[[File:F._65r._Dragon.jpg|thumb|right|A Welsh text of the Laws of Hywel Dda from the 14th century]]
[[File:Hywell Dda (PB02300).jpg|thumb|upright|Imaginary portrait of Hywel Dda by Hugh Williams, 1909]]

Following Hywel's death in 949 or 950, his kingdom was soon split into three. Gwynedd was reclaimed by the sons of Idwal Foel, [[Iago ab Idwal|Iago]] and [[Ieuaf]],{{sfn|Pierce|1959|p={{page needed|date=September 2022}} }} while Deheubarth was divided between Hywel's sons.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fisher |first=Deborah |url=https://www.google.co.il/books/edition/Royal_Wales/7XmvBwAAQBAJ?hl=iw&gbpv=1&pg=PA13&printsec=frontcover |title=Royal Wales |date=2010-09-30 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=978-0-7083-2312-0 |language=en}}</ref>

Hywel's name is associated with the laws of medieval Wales, which are commonly known as the Laws of Hywel Dda (Welsh: [[Cyfraith Hywel]]). None of the law manuscripts can be dated to Hywel's time, but Hywel's name is mentioned in the prologues to the laws, and are also known as the ''Code of Dyfed''. These describe how Hywel gathered expert lawyers and priests from each commote in Wales together in the ''White Land'' in Dyfed ({{langx|cy|[[Whitland Abbey|Tŷ Gwyn ar Daf]]}}){{efn|which is thought to have been close to [[Whitland]], [[Carmarthenshire]]}} in order to revise and codify the Laws of Wales.<ref name=DWB/>{{sfn|Tout|1891|pp=105–107}} The story in the prologues lengthens with time, with more details in the later versions of the prologue. It seems highly unlikely that this meeting actually took place, with the purpose of the prologues being to emphasise the royal and Christian origin and background to the laws, and that in the face of criticism of the laws from outside Wales especially during [[John Peckham]]'s period as [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Nevertheless, his name continued to be associated with Welsh law which remained in active use throughout Wales until the appointed date of implementation of the [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542]] of King [[Henry VIII]] of England who asserted his royal descent by blood-line from [[Rhodri Mawr]] via Hywel Dda.{{sfn|Davies|1999}}

Opinions vary as to the motives for Hywel's close association with the court of Æthelstan. [[John Edward Lloyd|J. E. Lloyd]] claimed Hywel was an admirer of [[Wessex]],{{sfn|Lloyd|1912}} while [[David Peter Kirby]] suggests that it may have been the action of a pragmatist who recognised the realities of power in mid-10th century Britain.{{sfn|Kirby|1976|pp=1–13}}

A [[Welsh-language]] poem entitled ''[[Armes Prydein]]'', considered by Sir [[Ifor Williams]] to have been written in [[Deheubarth]] during Hywel's reign, called for the Welsh to join a confederation of all the non-English peoples of Britain and [[Ireland]] to fight the [[Saxons]].{{sfn|Williams|1972|p={{page needed|date=September 2022}} }} The poem may be linked to the alliance of Norse and Celtic kingdoms which challenged Æthelstan at the [[Battle of Brunanburh]] in 937. No Welsh forces joined this alliance, and this may well have been because of the influence of Hywel. On the other hand, neither did he send troops to support Æthelstan.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}