#5 - RHYS CHWITH
Bartrum favored this pedigree:
"Rys chwith ap Llywelyn vychan ap Rys gam
ap Llywelyn vawr ap Rys ap Iorwerth ap Kredic ap Gwallter ap Pill ap Predur peisswyn"
His notes on this man say:
"Born c. 1250. He was of Iscoed in
southwest Ceredigion and his tribe is described as one of the Prif lwythav o achoedd Sir Aberteifi. (Wrexham 1, p.
172). He is said to have been Esquire of the Body to Edward I. (Dale Castle Ms pp. 26. 34)"
Our work also dates Rhys Chwith (left-handed) to
c. 1250; however Bartrum has dated his ancestor Peredur Beisgwyn a generation too early, so he inserts an extra name into
his pedigree. The "Rhys Gam" he places between Llewelyn Fychan and Llewelyn Fawr only appears in two manuscripts[1],
both of which also err in the two generations which immediately follow Peredur. We would delete it. In rejecting
these two citations, we would also replace the names which follow Kredic with Clodri ap Gwylfyw found in better sources[2].
Thus, our preferred pedigree
looks like this:
995 Peredur Beisgwyn
l
1030 Gwylfyw
l
1060 Clodri
l
1090 Ceredig
l
1125 Iorwerth
l
1155 Rhys
l
1185 Llewelyn Fawr
l
1215 Llewelyn Fychan
l
1250 Rhys Chwith
Sir Rhys ap Rhys
Chwith married Mabli ferch Hywel ap Rhys Foel ap Rhys ap Rhydderch ap Cadifor ap Dyfnwal of Castell Hywel in Ystrad Tywy,
a lady born c. 1300. The citations[3] match her with Rhys Chwith, but Sir Rhys was born c. 1280 and Mabli could not
be his mother.
Earlier, we deleted a
Rhys Gam from the pedigree of Rhys Chwith although one citation[4] cites a Rhys Gam ap Llewelyn Fawr. In fact, he was
a son of that Llewelyn Fawr but was a brother of Llewelyn Fychan who was father to Rhys Chwith. The two brothers, born
c. 1215 and 1220, married sisters. Llewelyn Fychan ap Llewelyn Fawr married Lleuci[5] ferch Richard ap Llewelyn ap Hoedliw,
while Rhys Gam ferch Llewelyn Fawr married Arddun[6] ferch Richard ap Llewelyn ap Hoedliw. Llewelyn ap Hoedliw was born
c. 1170[7], and his granddaughters were born c. 1230 and 1235.
This south Wales family
is one of those torn between the Welsh and Normans, electing to give early support to Edward I but continuing to marry only
Welsh ladies. They were not happy with Gwynedd's Llewelyn ap Gruffudd trying to become prince of all Wales.
