Généalogie and Heritage

Source: Ancient Wales Studies

Description

Type	Valeur
Titre	Ancient Wales Studies

Texte


http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id12.html [6] Brut y Tywysogyon cites the death of Llewelyn in 1023; Gruffudd was born about 1010/12 according to most estimates. [7] The edling was the heir-apparent, the person entitled to reign after the King. According to the Laws of Hywel Dda, "it is right for him to be a son or nephew of the King." [8] Cynfyn married the mother of Rhiwallon and Bleddyn after she was widowed in 1023; we believe Rhiwallon was the older since he was given Powys after the death of Gruffudd ap Llewelyn, which was the only kingdom his father claimed a paternal right to possess. Our estimate for the brother's birthdates is 1024 and 1025, respectively. [9] ABT 7f cites Cynan ap Seisyll as a uterine brother of Llewelyn, while his obit is given by ByT in 1027 [10] No obit for Cynfyn is recorded. The Brut cites 1039 as the year Gruffudd came to power and that would presumably occur at the death of the previous king. He would have been 28/29 years old, so 1039 was not the

http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id12.html
[6] Brut y Tywysogyon cites the death of Llewelyn in 1023; Gruffudd was born about 1010/12 according to most estimates.
[7] The edling was the heir-apparent, the person entitled to reign after the King. According to the Laws of Hywel Dda, "it is right for him to be a son or nephew of the King."
[8] Cynfyn married the mother of Rhiwallon and Bleddyn after she was widowed in 1023; we believe Rhiwallon was the older since he was given Powys after the death of Gruffudd ap Llewelyn, which was the only kingdom his father claimed a paternal right to possess. Our estimate for the brother's birthdates is 1024 and 1025, respectively.
[9] ABT 7f cites Cynan ap Seisyll as a uterine brother of Llewelyn, while his obit is given by ByT in 1027
[10] No obit for Cynfyn is recorded. The Brut cites 1039 as the year Gruffudd came to power and that would presumably occur at the death of the previous king. He would have been 28/29 years old, so 1039 was not the

Médias

URL

Notes


END OF THE POWYS DYNASTY By Darrell Wolcott While it was necessary for dating purposes to portray the branch of the family found in the cited pedigrees, the men at the bottom were not in the senior (kingly) line. An expanded chart will reflect the probable branches: 850 Selyf 880 Aeddan 910 Brochwel ____________________l________________ l l l 940 Cadell 943 Seisyllt [4] 945 Selyf l l l 970 Nest 979 Llewelyn 975 Aeddan l l l 985 Cynfyn 1011 Gruffudd 1005 Brochwel ____l__________ ____l________ l l l l Rhiwallon Bleddyn Ithel Maredudd (Note: the Selyf born c. 945 had a second son named Beli, whose son Gruffudd named a son Gwyn;it is that line of the family shown in our first chart.) It would appear that the Cadell ap Brochwel of this chart is the king of Powys whose daughter Nest was the mother of Cynfyn ap Gwerystan. It was the brothers Rhiwallon and Bleddyn who took Powys from the sons of Gruffudd ap Llewelyn; we strongly suspect she was appropriated by the medieval genealogists and inserted as the Nest ferch Cadell ap Brochwel they cite as the mother of Rhodri Mawr.[5] Since the present King Cadell had no sons, succession probably fell to the next eldest son of Brochwel. There is no record that a Seisyllt ap Brochwel[4] ever was a king and he may have predeceased Cadell, making Llewelyn (eldest son of Seisyllt) the next Powys king. When Llewelyn was slain in 1023, his son Gruffudd was barely a teenager.[6] Celtic kings were expected to be warriors and they never had a tradition of child-kings. If we speculate that Llewelyn's cousin Aeddan also died prior to 1023 (he may even have fought alongside Llewelyn and fell with him), the leading men of Powys were faced with a problem of succession. Surely Gruffudd, in time, would be their king but one was required for the interim. Cynfyn ap Gwerystan was the maternal grandson of former king Cadell and seemed a good choice. One might also speculate that he was told his approval would be assured if he took to wife the widow of Llewelyn ap Seisyllt and became step-father to the edling[7], Gruffudd ap Llewelyn. Cynfyn did, in fact, marry the widowed Angharad ferch Maredudd ap Owain and probably did serve as the interim king of Powys. This likely was the basis of the claim laid by his sons in 1063; neither was yet old enough[8] to make such a claim when Gruffudd ap Llewelyn finally became king in 1039. However, it is known that Llewelyn had a brother named Cynan[9] who may have succeeded him, but he was killed in 1027 while young Gruffudd was still a teenager. Thus the tenure of Cynfyn may have begun fours years later than we first said; in that case his marriage had already occurred since Bleddyn was born of that union about 1025. Gruffudd ap Llewelyn became the king of Powys in 1039 and that year may mark the death of Cynfyn[10]. He immediately launched a campaign against Iago ap Idwal of Gwynedd, killing that king and annexing Gwynedd to Powys. Whether this was retaliation for a role Iago had in the death of Llewelyn 16 years earlier, as some claim, or for Iago's role in a possible attack against Powys which killed Cynfyn, is a matter of conjecture. But over the next 24 years, Gruffudd managed to forcibly take control of every kingdom in Wales and inflict much damage against the now-unified English nation to his east. In 1063, King Edward the Confessor authorized Harold Godwinson to take a large army into Wales to bring Gruffudd to heel. With a unified ground assult from the east and a naval blockade at his north, Gruffudd was trapped in his palace at Rhuddlan[11]. As Harold set about to scourge the lands of any who dared support Gruffudd, a contingent of his own men killed the King of all Wales and brought his head to Harold to sue for peace. Some reports indicate the brothers Bleddyn and Rhiwallon stood down to allow Harold's army to approach Rhuddlan, for which they were rewarded thusly: Rhiwallon, the oldest[9], was given rule over Powys and Bleddyn received Gwynedd. The two surviving sons of Gruffudd, then barely 20 years old, bided their time for another 6 years then sought their birthright on the battlefield in Mechain[12]. Both died either during, or as a direct result of, this clash with the sons of Cynfyn but not before they had killed Rhiwallon. Thus Bleddyn assumed the kingships of both Gwynedd and Powys and the rule by the lineage of Brochwel Ysgithrog at last was ended. We find no recorded attempts to regain the kingship by the descendants of the junior branch of thefamily shown in our chart; thereafter it became the senior line of the now non-royal family.

END OF THE POWYS DYNASTY
By Darrell Wolcott

While it was necessary for dating purposes to portray the branch of the family found in the cited pedigrees, the men at the bottom were not in the senior (kingly) line. An expanded chart will reflect the probable branches:

850 Selyf
880 Aeddan
910 Brochwel
____________________l________________
l l l
940 Cadell 943 Seisyllt [4] 945 Selyf
l l l
970 Nest 979 Llewelyn 975 Aeddan
l l l
985 Cynfyn 1011 Gruffudd 1005 Brochwel
____l__________ ____l________
l l l l
Rhiwallon Bleddyn Ithel Maredudd
(Note: the Selyf born c. 945 had a second son named Beli, whose son Gruffudd named a son Gwyn;it is that line of the family shown in our first chart.)

It would appear that the Cadell ap Brochwel of this chart is the king of Powys whose daughter Nest was the mother of Cynfyn ap Gwerystan. It was the brothers Rhiwallon and Bleddyn who took Powys from the sons of Gruffudd ap Llewelyn; we strongly suspect she was appropriated by the medieval genealogists and inserted as the Nest ferch Cadell ap Brochwel they cite as the mother of Rhodri Mawr.[5] Since the present King Cadell had no sons, succession probably fell to the next eldest son of Brochwel. There is no record that a Seisyllt ap Brochwel[4] ever was a king and he may have predeceased Cadell, making Llewelyn (eldest son of Seisyllt) the next Powys king.

When Llewelyn was slain in 1023, his son Gruffudd was barely a teenager.[6] Celtic kings were expected to be warriors and they never had a tradition of child-kings. If we speculate that Llewelyn's cousin Aeddan also died prior to 1023 (he may even have fought alongside Llewelyn and fell with him), the leading men of Powys were faced with a problem of succession. Surely Gruffudd, in time, would be their king but one was required for the interim. Cynfyn ap Gwerystan was the maternal grandson of former king Cadell and seemed a good choice. One might also speculate that he was told his approval would be assured if he took to wife the widow of Llewelyn ap Seisyllt and became step-father to the edling[7], Gruffudd ap Llewelyn. Cynfyn did, in fact, marry the widowed Angharad ferch Maredudd ap Owain and probably did serve as the interim king of Powys. This likely was the basis of the claim laid by his sons in 1063; neither was yet old enough[8] to make such a claim when Gruffudd ap Llewelyn finally became king in 1039. However, it is known that Llewelyn had a brother named Cynan[9] who may have succeeded him, but he was killed in 1027 while young Gruffudd was still a teenager. Thus the tenure of Cynfyn may have begun fours years later than we first said; in that case his marriage had already occurred since Bleddyn was born of that union about 1025.

Gruffudd ap Llewelyn became the king of Powys in 1039 and that year may mark the death of Cynfyn[10]. He immediately launched a campaign against Iago ap Idwal of Gwynedd, killing that king and annexing Gwynedd to Powys. Whether this was retaliation for a role Iago had in the death of Llewelyn 16 years earlier, as some claim, or for Iago's role in a possible attack against Powys which killed Cynfyn, is a matter of conjecture. But over the next 24 years, Gruffudd managed to forcibly take control of every kingdom in Wales and inflict much damage against the now-unified English nation to his east. In 1063, King Edward the Confessor authorized Harold Godwinson to take a large army into Wales to bring Gruffudd to heel. With a unified ground assult from the east and a naval blockade at his north, Gruffudd was trapped in his palace at Rhuddlan[11]. As Harold set about to scourge the lands of any who dared support Gruffudd, a contingent of his own men killed the King of all Wales and brought his head to Harold to sue for peace.

Some reports indicate the brothers Bleddyn and Rhiwallon stood down to allow Harold's army to approach Rhuddlan, for which they were rewarded thusly: Rhiwallon, the oldest[9], was given rule over Powys and Bleddyn received Gwynedd. The two surviving sons of Gruffudd, then barely 20 years old, bided their time for another 6 years then sought their birthright on the battlefield in Mechain[12]. Both died either during, or as a direct result of, this clash with the sons of Cynfyn but not before they had killed Rhiwallon. Thus Bleddyn assumed the kingships of both Gwynedd and Powys and the rule by the lineage of Brochwel Ysgithrog at last was ended. We find no recorded attempts to regain the kingship by the descendants of the junior branch of thefamily shown in our chart; thereafter it became the senior line of the now non-royal family.