#7 - SEISYLL OF MEIRIONYDD
This is the pedigree Bartrum offers
for Seisyll:
"Seisyllt arglwydd Meirionydd ap Ednywain
ap Eunydd bach"
His notes for the pedigree read:
"Born c. 1170. His son, Einion, was
living in the time of Llywelyn the Great. (Pen 236 p. 111 quoted RWM i.1061-2 and PF i.98-99). Einion was the ancestor
of the family of Pugh of Mathafarn (see DWB) and other families in Meirionydd. He is sometimes said to be the brother
of Llywelyn (b. c. 970) ap Seisyll (e.g. Dwnn i.295, ii.107). This is of course absurd, but it is possible
that the pedigree given here belongs to Seisyll the father of Llywelyn; see note to [thye pedigree of Eunydd Bach].
There seems to be no definite information as to where Llywelyn ap Seisyll came from."
While we agree the pedigree
proposed is correct for this Seisyll, and his family constitutes a cousin line of the Peredur brothers both descended from
Gwyddno ap Cadwaladr, we date his birth c. 1080. His son was the first Einion ap Seisyll born c. 1110 and contemporary
with Owain Cyfeiliog[1]. That Einion had a grandson, also named Einion ap Seisyll, born c. 1175 who did live in the
time of Llewelyn Fawr. The Pugh family of Mathafarn has both Einions in their ancestry, being descended from Huw ap
Ieuan ap Dafydd Llwyd the noted bard.
It is certainly absurd
to cast Einion ap Seisyll as a brother of Llewelyn ap Seisyll, but equally as absurd to think the latter Seisyll is the man
in the proposed pedigree. He was king of Powys and Gwynedd, dying in 1023, long before Seisyll ap Ednowain was
born. We have argued that he was a member of the First Powys Dynasty[2].
While it is likely
Seisyll ap Ednowain was Lord of Ystumanner commote in Meirionydd which had its eastern border on the Dyfi river[3], during
his lifetime the Gwynedd kings were also Lords of Meirionydd. His full pedigree is:
830 Gwyddno ap Cadwaladr
l
860 Cynyr
l
895 Clydno
l
925 Idris
l
960 Iswallt
l
990 Brochwel
l
1020 Eunydd Bach
l
1050 Ednowain
l
1080 Seisyll
NOTES:
[1] See the paper "The Floruit of Einion ap Seisyll" at the link below:
[2] See the paper "End of the Powys Dynasty" at the link below:
[3] The Einion ap Seisyll of c. 1110 took his part of his father's lands
to Cyfeiliog about 1070 to escape the Gwynedd man who inherited the Lordship of Meirionydd following the death of King Owain
Gwynedd.
