MAREDUDD AP EDNOWAIN BENDEW
By Darrell Wolcott
In his
"Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1400", Peter Bartrum cites 4 sources [1] for a Maredudd ap Ecnowain Bendew, with 3 of those sources
citing Iorwerth as a son of Maredudd. The 4th source [2] apparently cites a Gruffudd as a son of Maredudd. Bartrum
marked that source as "corrupt" and does not include a Gruffudd ap Maredudd ap Ednowain Bendew anywhere in his indexes.
He dates this Maredudd to his "Generation 4" or circa 1130 plus or minus about 17 years. With that estimated birth date,
he could not be a son of the c. 1020 Ednowain Bendew ap Neiniad of Tegeingl, so Bartrum attached him to his "Ednowain Bendew
II", who had dated to c. 1100. [3]
Our earlier work [4] identified this
"Ednowain Bendew II" as a man born c. 1050 and probably the same man as Owain ap Edwin of Tegeingl whose father-in-law WAS
Ednowain Bendew ap Neiniad. Our own estimate of the birth date of the Maredudd ap Ednowain found in the sources mentioned
above is c. 1115, and is almost consistent with Bartrum's dating of him. It is, however, wholly inconsistent with him
being a son of either the c. 1020 Ednowain Bendew ap Neiniad or the c. 1050 Owain ap Edwin a.k.a Ednowain Bendew II.
In attempting to reconcile these
dates, our first step will delete the nickname "Bendew" from the Ednowain who appears in the cited source material.
In the same manner in which virtually any Brochwel, who descended from Brochwel Ysgithrog, is often given the original Brochwel's
nickname, so is it likely that an Ednowain who descended from Ednowain Bendew might be wrongly cited as "Bendew". This
is particularly true if the later Endowain had a son with the same name as a son of the original Ednowain. The likely
ancestry of our c. 1115 Maredudd should be one of the following:
1020 Ednowain Bendew ap Neiniad 1050 Ednowain
Bendew II
l
l
1055 Maredudd
1085 Ednowain (not Bendew)
l
l
1085 Ednowain (not Bendew)
1115 Maredudd
l
1115 Maredudd
In both cases, the authors of our
citations simply stopped adding ancestors when they came to a Maredudd ap Ednowain and appended "Bendew" to that Ednowain.
In our opinion, the first construction shows the pedigree most likely to be correct. There are two reasons for
our choice. First, we think it was the extended family of a single man (Madog ap Owain ap Edwin) who opted to call the
father of this Madog "Ednowain Bendew". [5] The families of all the brothers of that Madog did not join that deception,
so "Ednowain Bendew II" would have a single son, Madog. Secondly, the only residence locations cited for men descended
from Maredudd ap Ednowain [6] places them in Whitfield Parish, Coleshill commote, in Tegeingl. This is the same commote
where Ednowain Bendew ap Neiniad had resided, and he likely had been its Lord. [7]
There
are only 3 cited marriages [8] in the subsequent family of Maredudd ap Ednowain. One of those contains more generational
links than the others and should yield an apparent earlier date for Maredudd. We present it first:
1020 Llywarch Hwlbwrch
l
1055 Llywarch Goch
Ednowain 1085
l
l
1090 Cynan
Maredudd 1115
l
l
1120 Iorwerth
Gruffudd Ddwn (a) 1145
l
l
1150 Llywarch Goch Rs
(b) 1175
l
l
1180 Llywarch Fychan
Gronwy Sais 1210
l
l
1210 Cadwgan
Dafydd Llwyd 1240
l l
1240 Ithel Llwyd
Ednyfed 1270
l
l
1275 Bleddyn Bleddyn
1300
l
l
1310 Cynwrig
Gruffudd 1335
l
l
1345 Bleddyn
Iolyn 1365
l
l
1380 Rhys=============Tangwystl
1395
(a) some citations
include the nickname, some do not
(b) most citations use "Rs" to mean "Rhys" but others
use it to mean "Rhissert" the Welsh spelling for Richard. There are competing citations in which the grandfather of
Dafydd Llwyd ap Gronwy Sais is sometimes called Rhys and sometimes called Richard
The family in the
right-hand column combines segments found in Cardiff Ms 3.8, 35; and Pen. 134, 120. It extends back to the c. 1115
Maredudd and is the one which includes a "Gruffudd Ddwn ap Maredudd".
,
The
next cited marriages occur in the family which includes a "Gruffudd Ddwn ap Iorwerth" and also includes another "Gronwy Sais
ap Rs" as father to sons Gwyn and Gruffudd. Again, the citations clash, with some identifying "Rs" as Rhys
and some calling him Richard.
In considering
the actual pedigree prior to the c. 1115 Maredudd, we think there are sufficient early sources who believed that Ednowain
Bendew ap Neiniad did have a son named Maredudd, even though none of them managed to extend the pedigree back far enough to
actually include him. Our construction as "Maredudd (1115) ap Ednowain (1085) ap Maredudd (1055) ap Ednowain Bendew
(1020) ap Neiniad (985) ap Gwaithfoed of Tegeingl (955) does present the oddity, in one family line, of three consecutive
doublets of "Maredudd ap Ednowain" before other male names were introduced.
NOTES:
[1] Pen 131, 56; Pen 177, 246; Pen 134, 120 and Pen 139(1), 102
[2] In his Index volumes, Bartrum lists an Iorwerth ap Maredudd ap Ednowain
Bendew which gives the same 4 sources listed in Note 1 above. However, he marked Pen 134, 120 as "corrupt" because it
names someone else as Maredudd's son. We think it says "Gruffudd Ddwn ap Maredudd ap Ednowain Bendew", but no such man
is included in the Bartrum indexes. Yet in the next generation, he lists 2 sources for a "Richard
ap Gruffudd Ddwn ap Maredudd" and one source for a "Richard ap Gruffudd Ddwn ap Iorwerth". We suggest this confirms
there was both a "Gruffudd Ddwn ap Maredudd" and a "Gruffudd Ddwn ap Iorwerth ap Maredudd"
[3] P.C. Bartrum, "Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1400", chart "Ednowain Bendew 8"
[4] See our paper "The Ednowain Bendew II of Medieval Pedigrees" at the
link below:
[5] See our discussion of the traitor charges levied against Owain ap Edwin,
at the link below:
[6] Harl 1969, 316 names the manors of the 3 sons of Gruffudd Ddwn ap Iorwerth
ap Maredudd, and their location in Whitford parish
[7] Ednowain Bendew ap Neiniad was one of the 15 Founders of Noble Tribes of
North Wales. See Philip Yorke, "Royal Tribes of Wales", 1887 edition, page 204
[8] Cardiff Ms 3.8, 85 cites the ancestry of Tangwystl ferch Iolyn ap Gruffudd,
and her marriage to Rhys ap Bleddyn ap Cynwrig, descended from Llywarch Hwlbwrch. Pen 287, 278 cites the marriage of
Gronwy ap Gwyn ap Gronwy Sais to Jenkin ap Dafydd ap Iorwerth descended from Madog ap "Ednowain Bendew II". Pen 131,
56 cites the ancestry of Gruffudd ap Gronwy Sais and his marriage to Alis ferch Ieuan ap Ithel Fychan descended from
Uchdryd ap Edwin of Tegeingl. These are the only marriages presented on Bartrum's chart "Ednowain Bendew 8"
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