#1 - CYNDDELW ab EINION of Widigada
Bartrum's "preferred"
pedigree of this family reads:
"Llywelyn ddu ap Dafydd
ap Ieuan vychan ap Ieuan ap Gwion ap Einion (ap Ieuan ap Gwion ap Einion) ap Karadog vychan ap Kradoc ap Kynddelw ap Einion
ap Elffin ap Gwyddno garanir"
His notes for the pedigree
reads:
"Cynddelw ap Einion was ancestor
of a few families in Widigada. Llywelyn Ddu was born c. 1370. For his few descendants, see Dwnn i, 27, 207, ii,
25, 30, 33. Omitting the duplicated names 'Ieuan ap Gwion ap Einion' we get a date of birth of about 1100 for Cynddelw
ab Einion, but the evidence is insufficient. Another line from Cynddelw ab Einion, also in Widigada, is found in Pen
140 p 115. This would put the birth of Cynddelw in about 1200.
"According to a tract on the
family of the Lord Rhys in Dwnn ii, 99, the mother of Morgan ap Rhys was Nest ferch Caradog Fychan ap Caradog. These
may well be the Caradog Fychan ap Caradog of this pedigree, in which case the birth of Cynddelw would be c. 1070".
Our first question concerns
where this family lived and when they lived there. Widigada is a commote in Cantref Mawr of Ystrad Tywy (Carmarthenshire)
located centrally but immediately north of the Tywy river, and includes the ancient seat of Hywel Dda at Dinefwr. While
we do find some 14th century descendants of Cynddelw ap Einion who married ladies of Widigada, they themselves lived in the
commote of Cetheiniog located immediately to the east. Other descendants, and their spouses, cluster around the commote
of Is Cennen immediately south of Widigada and Cetheiniog but in Cantref Bychan.
Secondly, we identify
two different men called 'Llewelyn Ddu ap Dafydd ap Ieuan Fychan ap Ieuan', one born c. 1345 and another born c. 1370.
The earlier Llewelyn Ddu had a single daughter, Gwenllian[1], born c. 1375 while the later man had a son John[2] and two unnamed
daughters [3]...these children born c. 1405/10.
Next, we find the
sources which Bartrum cited are in substantial agreement that there were, in fact, repeating strings of men named 'Ieuan ap
Gwion ap Einion' and we cannot justify the deletion of one such group. Thus, we would date the birth of Cynddelw ap
Einion to c. 1000 and agree that Bartrum's pedigree, without emendation, is correct for the Llewelyn Ddu born c. 1345.
Our chart for both men of this name will be presented below.
Finally, we suggest
that the Morgan ap Lord Rhys found in Dwnn ii, 99 was the son of a Nest ferch an unknown Caradog Fychan ap Caradog, a lady
born near 1155. [4] This Morgan died of old age in 1251 and was thus born c. 1170/80. [5] Bartrum's guess
that Nest was a great-granddaughter of Cynddelw ap Einion fails chronologically.
We, of course,
reject the 'ap Elffin ap Gwyddno Garanhir' which the majority of citations append to Cynddelw ap Einion; no credible sources
confirm the existence of such a man. But the mythical Gwyddno ruled legendary lands on the coast of Ceredigion which
were supposedly inundated by Cardigan Bay in the days of Taliesin the Bard (mid-6th century). Current scholars believe
the tale was created in reference to a Gwyddno ap Clydno[6] of the same time period, a man who descended from Meirion ap Cunedda
and whose lands also border Cardigan Bay, but farther north in Meirionydd. Descended from that Gwyddno was a later Gwyddno
ap Cadwaladr[7] born c. 830.
It is our conclusion
that Cynddelw was actually "ap Einion ap Eunydd ap Pyll ap Sandde ap Gwyddno ap Cadwalader[8]. This Eunydd, a man of
Meirionydd born c. 935, married the heiress of northern Ceredigion[9] which adjoins Meirionydd. They had a son, Einion,
who we suggest married a lady of Is Cennen: a daughter of Rhiryd ap Mor ap Ynyr ap Pasgen[10]. Einion had sons (a) Peredur
Beisgwyn[11], born c. 995, who inherited his grandmother's lands in Ceredigion; (b) Peredur Beiswyrdd[12], born c. 1000, who
was the youngest and inherited his father's manor in Meirionydd; and (c) Cynddelw, born c. 997, who settled upon lands provided
by his mother's family in Ystrad Tywy. None of his descendants are found in either Meirionydd or Ceredigion, evidence
that he held no lands there. His brothers may have, for reasons unknown, forced him to flee from Meirionydd and confiscated
his share of the inheritance.
If she were the mother
of Cynddelw, the daughter of Rhiryd ap Mor would be a lady of Is Cennen whose father held the early Lordship of Gower which
some historians called "Rheged".[13] In the lifetime of Cynddelw, this was within the kingdom of Deheubarth ruled by
the descendants of Hywel Dda.
The two principal families
descended from Cynddelw ap Einion appear as:
997 Cynddelw
l
1030 Caradog
l
1060 Caradog Fychan
l
1095 Einion
l
1125 Gwion
l
1155 Ieuan
l
1185 Einion
l
1215 Gwion
_______________l____________
l
l
1250 Ieuan
1250 Gwion Fychan (a)
l
l
1280
Ieuan Fychan
1280 Ieuan
l
l
1315 Dafydd (b)
1310 Ieuan Fychan
l
l
1345
Llewelyn Ddu (c) 1340
Dafydd
l
l
1375 Gwenllian (d) 1370
Llewelyn Ddu (e)
l
1405 John (f)
(a)
Some pedigrees of the family of John ap Llewelyn Ddu include a Gwion Fychan in his ancestry, including Dwnn i, 27 and Dwnn
i, 207; these follow Dafydd ap Ieuan Fychan ap Ieuan with "Gwion ap Gwion Fychan" which are reversed from the order in which
a Fychan normally follows a same-named father, so we would correct that to "Gwion Fychan ap Gwion".
(b) Dwnn i, 94 and Mostyn Ms 114, 19 cite "Lleuci ferch Gwilym ap Ieuan ap Hywel" married "Dafydd ap Ieuan Fychan ap
Ieuan". Dwnn 1, 94 extends the ancestry of Lleuci to "Ieuan ap Hywel ap Gwgan Sais of Widigada ap Einion ap Llywarch".
That Einion ap Llywarch was born c. 1165[14] dating Lleuci to c. 1325
(c) Dwnn i, 94 cites "Llewelyn Ddu ap Dafydd ap Ieuan Fychan" married "Elen ferch Philip ap Dafydd ap Iorwerth ap Rhys
ap Maredudd ap Hywel ap Rhanallt". We identify Rhanallt as the wife of Llywarch ap Cynhaethwy, the same Llywarch mentioned
in item (b) immediately above, so Hywel would be a brother of the Einion ap Llywarch born c. 1165. Accordingly, Elen
would date from 1355 or one generation later than the Lleuci mentioned above.
(d)
Pen 132, 253; Pen 133, 84; and Pen 131, 299 cite "Gwenllian ferch
Llewelyn Ddu ap Dafydd ap Ieuan Fychan" married "John (Ieuan) ap Gruffudd
ap Llewelyn Foethus". Llewelyn Foethus ap Llewelyn Ddu ap Owain was a well-known man descended from Elystan Glodrydd,
and was born c. 1300. Thus, John ap Gruffudd was born c. 1365
(e)
Pen 133, 61 cites "Meddefys ferch Gruffudd ap Maredudd Ddu" married Llewelyn Ddu ap Dafydd ap Ieuan". In the pedigree
of Einion ap Cynfelyn of Maesmawr, there are two men named Gruffudd ap Maredudd Ddu ap Gruffudd ap Maredudd ap Einion ap Cynfelyn...one
born c. 1295 and the other c. 1355. If each had a daughter named Meddefys, the ladies would be born c. 1330 and c. 1385.
Pen 133, 61 says Meddefys also married "Ieuan ap Madog ap Gwenwys"; Ieuan ap Madog was the grandfather of the celebrated Sir
Gruffudd Fychan of Garth and was born c. 1320. The Meddefys of c. 1330 would fit as the wife of Ieuan ap Madog, while
the Meddefys of c. 1385 must have married the Llewelyn Ddu ap Dafydd born c. 1370. Neither lady could have married the
Llewelyn Ddu ap Dafydd born c. 1345
(f) Dwnn ii,
59 cites "the mother of Gwilym ap John ap Llewelyn Ddu was Lleuci Llwyd ferch Walter ap Ieuan ap Llewelyn" Dwnn 1, 207
calls the wife of John ap Llewelyn Ddu and mother of Gwilym "Marged ferch Walter ap Ieuan ap Llewelyn ap Rhydderch Ddu ap
Owain ap Arod". Descended from Rhys ap Tewdwr, this lady (whether called Lleuci or Marged) was born c. 1415 and must
have married a John ap Llewelyn Ddu born c. 1405
To further show there
were two men named Llewelyn Ddu ap Dafydd ap Ieuan who lived a generation apart, we present a chart showing marriage connections
to the family of Llewelyn Foethus:
1300
Llewelyn Foethus
l
1330 Gruffudd Llewelyn Ddu 1345
l
l
1360 Ieuan/John=====Gwenllian 1375
l
1395 Gwilym Llewelyn Ddu
1370
l
l
1425 Rhys
John 1405
l
l
1455 Lleuci*===========Gwilym 1440
* This marriage is cited in Dwnn 1, 207
