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THE
MEN OF PENNANT MELANGELL IN MOCHNANT
By Darrell Wolcott
This civil parish was a subdivision of the commote Uwch Rhaeadr in the cantref of Mochnant. Located immediately south
of the later kingdom of Powys Fadog, Mochnant was the northern-most Welsh territory once held by the descendants of Cassanauth
Wledig. [1] In the early 10th century, this parish was the home of the man called Araudr who stands atop the paternal
pedigree of Rhiryd Flaidd. [2]
ARAUDR ap ?:
The earliest pedigree which mentions Araudr was found in the now-lost Hengwrt Ms 33. At least 10 men copied parts or all of
that manuscript, but only 5 included the Araudr pedigree. 3 of these copies end the pedigree with him and add nothing
which might identify him. [3] A 4th copy [4] confused him with Iarddur ap Mor ap Tegerin of Anglesey, a man born c.
1040. But based on what is known of his later descendants, this Araudr must have been born c. 890. The 5th copy gave
him no ancestry, but described him as "son of a nobleman of Pennant Melangell in Powys". [5] For further reference,
we will call this land "Mochnant Tract 1".
We would date the Pennant Melangell men in this pedigree as Gwrgeneu (1125) ap Collwyn (1095) ap Moriddig (1060) ap Rhys (1025)
ap Gwerystan (990) ap Llywarch (955) ap Rhiwallon (925) ap Araudr (890). [6]
Our search for Araudr's ancestry included all of the known family lines which descended from the c. 735 Tegonwy ap Teon, who
is cited as a descendant of Casannauth Wledig and ancestor of men called the Second Powys Royal Dynasty. An old pedigree
book of unknown authorship was found among the papers of Deputy Herald Lewis Dwnn. One of its pedigrees [7] purports
to be that of Hywel Gadair of Penllyn, which omits many generations but traces him back to Bledri ap Cynog Mawr, a great-great
grandson of Tegonwy ap Teon. This Hywel y Gadair [8] is a known descendant of Gwrgeneu ap Collwyn ap Moriddig.
There are also 3 earlier pedigrees [9] which derive Gwrgeneu ap Collwyn of Pennant Melangell from that same Bledri, but they
also omit many intervening generations. We believe the following construction of the paternal pedigree of this family is a reasonable
portrayal:
EDNOWAIN ap ITHEL of
BRYN:
At some point prior to the start of the 11th century, a large tract in Pennant Melangell had fallen into the hands of the
Powys king, either by escheat or by seizure due to treason by its holder. We shall call this "Mochnant Tract 2". During
the reign of King Gruffudd ap Llewelyn (1039-1063), that tract was granted to Ithel of Bryn for his services to the king.
[10] After the death of Ithel, his son, Ednowain, probably relocated to this Pennant Melangell land. That family had been
active at, and lived near, the court of King Gruffudd at Rhuddlan, but in 1063 the new king brought the royal court of Powys
back to Mathrafel in Caereinion where it had been located until 1010. We suggest that Ednowain ap Ithel was an active member
of the court of King Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn, and a residence in Mochnant would be only 10/12 miles from Mathrafel
GWRGENEU ap EDNOWAIN
and COLLWYN ap MORIDDIG:
Ednowain's son, Gwrgeneu, resided on that land (Mochnant Tract 2) in the early 12th century while also owning his paternal
lands at Bryn. This man was a neighbor of Collwyn ap Moriddig, the paternal descendant of Araudr and owner of Mochnant Tract
1. About the year 1124, a daughter (Aneiwrodd) of Gwrgeneu ap Ednowain married Collwyn. [11] That lady, and a
sister named Genelles, were the only heirs of Gwrgeneu. It appears that Aneiwrodd inherited the Bryn lands while Genelles
received Mochnant Tract 2, which she took to her husband, Gwalchmai ap Meilyr, and their son, Einion. [12]
GWRGENEU ap COLLWYN:
Collwyn and Aneiwrodd had a single child, born c. 1125 and named Gwrgeneu after her father. By a first unnamed wife,
that Gwrgeneu had a son, Gwrgeneu Fychan, to whom he left his lands of Bryn. [13] He had a second son, Rhiryd, by another
wife, to whom he left his Mochnant Tract 1 lands. We shall revisit that son in a later paper. [14]
GWRGENEU FYCHAN ap
GWRGENEU:
Gwrgeneu Fychan had two children. His daughter, Gwerful born c. 1185, married Iorwerth (1170) ap Heilyn (1135) ap Eunydd
(1105) ap Heilyn (1075) ap Eunydd (1045) ap Morien (1015) and his wife, Gwenllian (1025) ferch Rhys (985) ap Marchen
(950). [15] The elder Eunydd was usually called "Eunydd ap Gwenllian". The son of Gwrgeneu Fychan, and his sole heir,
was Gwrgeneu Llwyd, born c. 1190. That man, cited as Lord of y Bryn , had an only daughter, Mabli born c. 1235. She
married Gruffudd (1235) ap Madog (1200) ap Cadwgan (1170) ap Madog (1140) ap Cadwgan of Nannau (1110). [16] Since
Gwrgeneu Llwyd had no sons, one must assume the lands of y Bryn descended to the sons of Mabli.
The following chart depicts the two families found in Pennant Melangell at the start of the 12th century:
Bartrum charts a possible Hywel Goch as a brother of Gwrgeneu Llwyd ap Gwrgeneu Fychan. See our discussion of him in
the Appendix below. We believe the only continuation of this family was by a second marriage of Gwrgeneu ap Collwyn
which we previously mentioned.
NOTES:
[1]
Mochnant abuts the lands called Penllyn to the northwest and Chirk to the north east.
[2]
HLG 13a
[3
] Pen 131, 91; Pen 129, 40; and Pen 132, 75
[4]
Pen 128, 65
[5]
Pen 127, 5
[6]
see Note 2
[7]
Dwnn ii, 22
[8]
Pen 128, 159a cites Hywel y Gadair ap Gruffudd ap Madog; Pen 128, 640b extends this back to Rhiryd Flaidd
[9]
Pen 131, 127 & 287; Pen 128, 70
[10]
See the paper "Ithel of Bryn in Powys" at the following link:
[11]
Harl 1977, 245 as Aneiwrodd, possibly a corruption of Arianrodd. The marriage is also cited in Pen 139(1), 34 where
the lady is unnamed.
[12]
HLG 2b; since Gwrgeneu ap Ednowain held two different tracts of land and was survived by only two daughters, it is a fair
assumption that each received one of his properties. Since men descended from Aneiwrodd are cited as Lords of Bryn,
it must have been the Pennant Melangell tract that Genelles inherited.
[13]
Pen 176, 301 describes Gwrgeneu Llwyd, son of this Gwrgeneu Fychan, as "arglwydd y Bryn"
[14]
See the paper "Rhiryd Flaidd, Lord of Penllyn" at the link below:
[15]
Pen 139(2), 155; Her father is cited only as "Gwrgeneu ap Gwrgeneu" and Peter Bartrum incorrectly charts her as "ferch Gwrgeneu
Llwyd ap Gwrgeneu Fychan" since he has misdated the lady
[16]
Pen 176, 100
APPENDIX:
HYWEL GOCH AP GWRGENEU
FYCHAN
Bartrum attaches a Hywel Goch as the brother of Gwrgeneu Llwyd ap Gwrgeneu Fychan on his chart "Rhiryd Flaidd
10" by using a ? to express doubt, since his timeline is not consistent with such charting. While he estimates the birth
date of his Hywel Goch as c. 1230, he actually conflates two men born c. 1260 and c. 1315, respectively.
The earlier man is actually Hywel Goch (1260) ap Gwrgeneu Fychan (1225) ap Gwrgeneu (1190) ap Llewelyn (1155)
ap Gwrgeneu Fychan (1120) ap Gwrgeneu (1090) ap Llewelyn (1055) ap Cadwgan (1020) ap Elystan Glodrydd (990). Cited by
Pen 176, 240 as Hywel Goch and by Pen 138, 552 as Hywel.
1260 Hywel Goch Celynin 1270
l
l
1295 Dafydd Llwyd Einion 1300
Madog Cyffin 1300
l
l
l
1325 Dafydd Gethin Ednyfed 1335
Ieuan Gethin 1335
l
l
l
1360 Gruffudd Owain
1365 Gruffudd 1365
l
l
l
1390 Iolyn======Gwenhwyfar (a) 1400
Dafydd 1400
l
l
1420 Gruffudd==================Marged (b)
1430
(a), (b) Both marriages cited in Pen 176, 240
The c. 1315 man is Hywel Goch (1315) ap Gwrgeneu Fychan (1280) ap Gwrgeneu (1250) ap Madog (1220)
ap Rhiryd Fychan (1190) ap Rhiryd Flaidd (1155).
1315 Hywel Goch
l
1345 Dafydd Llwyd
l
1375 Dafydd Gethin Madog Fychan (a)
1355
l
l
1405 Gruffudd
Iolyn 1385
l
l
1435 Llewelyn
Maredudd 1415
l
l
1465 Alis (b)========Dafydd Goch 1450
(a) son of Ieuan II (1325) ap Iorwerth II (1295) ap Ieuaf II (1265) ap Cyfnerth II (1235) ap Iddon II (1205) ap Trahaearn II (1175)
ap Iorwerth II (1145) ap Mael II (1115) ap Pasgen II (1080) ap Gwyn II (1050) of the First Powys Dynasty
(b)
Marriage cited in Llyfr Silin 1, 223
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