Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howel ab Ieuav
HOWEL ab Ieuav, or HOWEL Ddrwg, that is, Howel The Bad (d. 984), North Welsh prince, was the son of Ieuav, son of Idwal, who was imprisoned and deprived of his territory by his brother Iago about 969 (Annales Cambriæ, but not in the tenth-century MS.A). In 973 Howel was one of the Welsh kings who attended Edgar at Chester, promising to be his fellow-worker by sea and land (Flor. Wig. in Mon. Hist. Brit. p. 578). This submission procured him English aid against his uncle Iago, whom he drove out of his kingdom of Gwynedd. Henceforward he reigned in Iago's stead. Howel always showed that preference for the foreigner which caused patriotic historians of a much later generation to call him Howel the Bad, though there is nothing to show that he otherwise justified the title. Iago was taken prisoner about 978. In 979 Howel defeated and slew Cystennin, son of Iago, at the battle of Hir-barth. Having secured his kingdom, Howel joined his Saxon allies in 982, and invaded Brecheiniog (Annales Cambriæ, but cf. Brut y Tywysogion). In 984 he was himself slain by the treachery of the Saxons.
Annales Cambriæ (Rolls Ser.); Brut y Tywysogion (Rolls Ser. and ed. J. Gwenogvryn Evans); the Gwentian Brut (Cambrian Arch. Assoc.) adds many, probably doubtful, details.]