THE "SONS" OF OWAIN ap CADWGAN ap BLEDDYN
By Darrell Wolcott
Most readers will
know Owain primarily for his reputed role as abductor of the infamous Nest ferch Rhys ap Tewdwr in 1109, taking her and
her young children from the castle of her husband Gerald of Windsor.[1] Before discussing two sons attributed
to Owain, we should first place his life firmly on the timeline of history.
Owain
was the eldest son of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn; he is first noted in the Brut in 1106. The incident where he supposedly
abducted Nest ferch Rhys is recorded in 1109 when both Owain and Nest would have been about 25 years old. In that era,
men did not marry that young, especially if their father were still alive. His father was killed in 1111.
For the four years following 1109, Owain is depicted as an outlaw leading a small band of friends and kinfolks, raiding and looting
and burning the manors of Normans in Wales. He went into hiding when pursued by armies sent by King Henry, only
to emerge and continue as before. Such a lifestyle is not exactly compatable with a man having a kidnapped woman
and small children in tow, especially one as well-known as Nest. In 1114, he was pardoned by that king and granted
knighthood, but was killed while on a military mission for Henry in 1116. He could not have been much past the age of
30; we would assign his birthdate to c. 1085. There is no record that Owain ever married. But did he have one or more
sons, by Nest or other ladies? The noted Welsh genealogist Peter Bartrum makes Owain the father of Llewelyn and Einion,
both by very thin authority.
LLEWELYN AP OWAIN:
Unmentioned by any
historians, this man occurs brieflly in the Welsh annals and chronicles under the year 1128 and possibly in 1129.
His identification as a son of Owain ap Cadwgan ap Bleddyn of Powys and Ceredigion is problematical and almost certainly incorrect.
The earliest manuscript
to mention him is the Rolls version of Annales Cambriae [2], a Latin document thought to have been written about 1286.
Here, we find this entry:
"1128 - Lewelin filius Owini
captus est a Maredut, traditusque Johannis filio scilicet Pain"
This
is usually translated "Llewelyn ap Owain was seized by Maredudd, who handed him over to Payne fitz John". The latter
was the Norman sheriff of Shropshire and Herefordshire. Without placing the report into any surrounding context,
neither man can be identified with any degree of confidence.
A bit
later, about 1288, another version of Annales Cambriae[3] contains a parallel entry:
"1128
- Lewelin filius Owein ab avunculo suo Mareduc capitur"
Most
have read this to say "Llewelyn ap Owain was seized by Maredudd, his mother's brother". We do not know if the author
of this manuscript had access to sources beyond those available to the scribe who penned the earlier version, or if he simply
assumed the cited Maredudd was a man he knew who had a sister married to a man named Owain.
The
incident appears in the Peniarth Ms 20 version of the Brut y Tywysogyon, written in Welsh in the 14th century, as:
"1125 rect
1128 - And Llewelyn ab Owain was seized by Maredudd his uncle, his father's brother, and placed in the hands of Payn fitz
John; and the latter sent him to the castle of Bridgenorth to be interned".
We don't
have a copy of the Welsh text, but editor Thomas Jones gave the above translation when he published the Brut in 1952. Note
that while Maredudd is again identified as the uncle of Llewelyn, here he becomes the brother of Llewelyn's father, not his
mother. The last phrase concerning what Payne did with the prisoner is absent from all earlier reports.
The
other 14th century version of the Brut, the so-called Red Book of Hergest version, cites:
"1125
rect 1128 - Ac yna y delit Llywelyn ap Ywein y gan Varedud ap Bledyn, y ewythyr, vrawt y hendat. A hwnnw a'c rodes yn
llaw Baen ap Jeuan, y gwr a'e hanuones ygharchar hyt yghastell Brwch".
In his 1955 work, editor Thomas Jones translates this as "And then Llywelyn ab Owain was seized by Maredudd ap Bleddyn, his
uncle, brother to his grandfather. And he placed him in the hands of Payn fitz John, the man who sent him to prison
in the castle of Bridgenorth".
We see here another evolution of the identification of Maredudd. He now becomes the great uncle of Llewelyn, the brother
of his grandfather. By identifying Maredudd as the man who was king of Powys, the author of this chronicle apparently
knew that Maredudd ap Bleddyn did not have a brother named Owain but did have a brother who named a son Owain. While
not mentioned in the report, it is from this report that Bartrum and others claim the man seized was Llewelyn ap Owain ap
Cadwgan ap Bleddyn; no other sons of Bleddyn named a son Owain. Thus, we have a "correction" to the earlier scribe who
had changed Maredudd from a maternal to a paternal uncle. Now Maredudd is two generations older than Llewelyn.
Clearly, the revisions here were for the sole purpose to make the citation "fit" a particular family.
The
final version of the chronicles called Brehinedd y Saesson, a Welsh manuscript of c. 1461, says:
"1125
rect 1128 - Ac y delhis Llywelyn ap Owein Moredud a'y rodi yn llaw Payn vab Jhon y gadw yn gastell Brugge"
Editor Thomas Jones, in 1971, translates this as: "And Llywelyn ap Owain seized Maredudd and placed him in the hands of Payn
fitz John to be kept in the castle at Bridgenorth".
Now we have reverted back to the terse report from the earliest sources; this version knows nothing of the identity of Maredudd
nor any relationship with Llewelyn, but reverses the roles of the men.
We were first sceptical of the identification of this Llewelyn as a son of Owain ap Cadwgan for several reasons. If
he were also a son of Nest ferch Rhys as Bartrum claims, he could not reasonably be older than 18 in the year 1128.
And if Nest were his mother, how did such a child of hers escape the attention of historians? Even if Owain ap Cadwgan
had fathered this Llewelyn by an unknown consort, it seems unlikely he ever knew Owain; such a child would surely have been
raised by his mother during Owain's outlaw years, and still a child when Owain was killed in 1116. He could not have
been old enough in 1128 to make a claim for part of Owain's lordships, so why should Powys king Maredudd ap Bleddyn seize
and imprison him?
It is when we read
the accounts found in the annals and chronicles for the 3 to 4 year period immediately following 1028 that a different identify
for Llewelyn seems indicated. From 1029 to 1032, we are told of an internecine war between the grandsons of Trahaearn
ap Caradog, probably over lands in Arwystli. This former interim king of Powys and Gwynedd was killed in 1081, leaving
4 sons. It appears Owain ap Trahaearn was the eldest and received the lordship of Arwystli. Llywarch ap Trahaearn
became lord of Cydewain, but it isn't known what shares the younger brothers, Meurig and Gruffudd, received. But their
obits are recorded in 1106, slain by Owain ap Cadwgan for unknown reasons.
No obit is recorded
for Owain ap Trahaearn, but he was born c. 1065 and would have been past age 60 in 1128. Llywarch ap Trahaearn was a
bit younger and known to have been a loyal ally of King Henry I. We suggest the survivor of these brothers died
in 1128 and the next generation of first-cousins began to battle each other for the family lands. It isn't known whether
the sons of Owain invaded Llywarch's lands or if the sons of Llywarch sought to take Owain's lands.
As we read the events cited
for the years 1128 to 1132, you will notice how the names coincide with the family of Trahaearn ap Caradog:
1035 Trahaearn, ob 1081
________________________l___________________
l
l
l
l
Gruffudd 1065
Owain 1070 Llywarch
Meurig
l
l
l l
2 sons
l
l son
l
l
_______________l_______
l
l
l l
l l
Llewelyn Ieuaf Iorwerth
Meurig l
l
_____l______________
l l
l
Maredudd Madog Iorwerth
The earliest of the 1128 reports names
a Llewelyn ap Owain and a Maredudd, one of which seized the other. In 1129, we find:
1. Maredudd ap Llywarch killed the son of Meurig, his first cousin, and blinded the sons
of Gruffudd, his other two first cousins
2. Ieuaf ap Owain slew
Maredudd ap Llywarch
The bloodshed continued
in 1130 as:
1. Llewelyn ap Owain killed
Iorwerth ap Llywarch
2. Llewelyn ap Owain was
blinded by Maredudd ap Bleddyn
3. Ieuaf ap Owain was
killed by his first cousins, the sons of Llywarch
4. Madog ap Llywarch
was killed by Meurig, his first cousin
The two final reports are:
1131 - Meurig was blinded
1132 - Iorwerth ap Owain was
slain.
Of the 10 grandsons of
Trahaearn ap Caradog depicted in our chart, every one had either been killed or blinded by 1132. Although still a toddler
in 1132, Hywel ap Ieuaf ap Owain had emerged as Lord of Arwystli before 1162. And Robert ap Llywarch, a man not mentioned
in the family wars (perhaps because he was yet in his early teens), appears to have become Lord of Cydewain. Why modern
historians think a son of Owain ap Cadwgan became embroiled in the wars between the grandsons of Trahaearn ap Caradog is something
I shall leave for them to explain. Only by serial "emendations" to the record over the passing of time do we arrive
at wording which says that the 1128 Llewelyn ap Owain was a great-nephew of Maredudd ap Bleddyn.
Should we instead identify
him as Llewelyn ap Owain ap Trahaearn, the 1128 Maredudd who seized him could have been a brother of his mother since there
is no record of who that Owain married. But we find it much more likely the men were first-cousins and it
signaled the opening blow in the coming family war. Thus, we would identify Maredudd as a son of Llywarch ap Trahaearn.
EINION AP OWAIN:
This brings us to Einion, the other claimed son of Owain ap Cadwgan. He is unknown to the Brut chroniclers and the early
genealogists, first appearing in pedigrees written near the year 1600. A single family line is mentioned whose residences
and marriage connections place it in Brecknock/Glamorgan....far from either Powys or Ceredigion where Owain ap Cadwgan and
his father held lands. And in only two of these late pedigrees are there sufficient generations listed to make
them chronologically stable. One of those calls the son of Owain ap Cadwgan "Einion" while the other calls him
"Ieuan".
Llyfr Baglan, 127 Harleian
Ms 5835, 21/22
Cynfyn
Cynfyn
Bleddyn
Bleddyn
Cadwgan
Cadwgan
Owain
Owain
Einion
Ieuan
Gronwy*
Gwrgeneu
Gwrgeneu*
Gwrgeneu Fychan
Gwrgeneu Fychan
Llywarch**
Gronwy
Gronwy**
Gronwy Fychan Gronwy
Fychan
Rhun
ends
*The
text is not clear as to whether these are two separate generations or are cited as a single man. It first says one son
of Einion was "Gronowe" then digresses with other data. Later, it continues "Gwrgey aforesaid was father to Gwrgenay
Fychan" but there was no previously-mentioned "Gwrgey", only "Gronowe"
**According to LB 127, Llywarch and Gronwy were brothers, with Llywarch not the father of any later-cited men. Four
other citations, all of which contain too few generations, make Rhun a son of Gronwy ap Llywarch...but none of those mention
a son of Owain ap Cadwgan named either Einion or Ieuan. Three of them say "Rhun ap Gronwy ap Llywarch ap Gwrgan ap Gwrgeneu
Fychan ap Owain ap Cadwgan", a construction which is 2 generations deficient.[4]
