WELSH CLAIMS TO CERI AFTER 1179
By Darrell Wolcott
After the
death of Cadwallon ap Madog (ap Idnerth ap Cadwgan ap Elystan Glodrydd) in 1179, his lands of Malienydd and Elfael were taken
by his old nemesis, Roger Mortimer of Wigmore. The sons of Cadwallon were the rightful heirs, but appear to have
only had the commote of Ceri under their control. Extant pedigrees claim these sons were Maelgwn and Hywel, but the chronology
clearly demonstrates a generation is missing both between Hywel and Cadwallon and between Maelgwn and his descendant Maredudd. At
least one historian[1] names the sons of Cadwallon ap Madog as Maelgwn and Cadwallon II and our own research agrees with that
conclusion. But even that writer incorrectly identifies Maredudd ap Maelgwn as a son of Maelgwn ap Cadwallon ap Madog.
We turn to contemporary records to date these men.
In 1211, King John
of England invaded Wales to dispossess Llewelyn ap Iorwerth of Gwynedd and "destroy him utterly". Llewelyn summoned
all his princes and uchelwyrs to join him and most did, including Hywel ap Cadwallon and Madog ap Maelgwn of Ceri. Falling
into the King's hands, those men were executed in 1212 and their lands declared forfeit. If that Hywel were a son of
Cadwallon ap Madog, he would have been over 70 years old when executed. We feel confident in making him a grandson near
40 years old and contemporary with Madog ap Maelgwn; we believe the men were first-cousins. Ceri remained a crown possession
for a generation. Then in 1241, the "rightful" owners of Ceri obtained a safe conduct pass[2] to meet with and
pledge their fealty to King Henry III. These men were Owain,
Maredudd and Cadwaladr, sons of Hywel ap Cadwallon; Hywel ap Cadwallon; and Maredudd ap Maelgwn. To suppose that
Maredudd was a son of Maelgwn ap Cadwallon would make him a full generation older than the other named men and past 70 years
of age in 1241. Their corrected relationships and claims are shown by this chart:
1113
Cadwallon ap Madog ob 1179
________________________l_____
l
l
1145 Cadwallon II ob 119?
1142 Maelgwn ob 1197
l __________________l_______
l l
l l
1175 Hywel* 1175 Madog* 1172 Maelgwn
II Cadwallon 1173
______l_____________
l
l ob 1234
l
l l 1200
l l
Owain Maredudd Cadwaladr** Maredudd
Hywel 1205
(claimed the moiety of Ceri
(claimed the moiety of Ceri
held by their grandfather,
held by their grandfather,
Cadwallon II ap Cadwallon) Maelgwn
ap Cadwallon)
*Men
hanged for sedition by King John in 1212
** The sources conflict
as to whether this brother was named Cadwaladr or Cadwallon; being English records, they were notorious for misspelling Welsh
names
Three years later,
in 1244, Dafydd ap Llewelyn broke fealty with King Henry III and warred against Gruffudd ap Gwynwynwyn, a loyal subject of
the king. It is unclear if the men of Ceri participated in this revolt; some say they did but the fact they were
restored to their lands a few short years later should raise doubts.
In 1249, the cousins Maredudd
ap Maelgwn II and Hywel ap Cadwallon made a formal petition to be restored to one-half of Ceri. This
time they were not joined by the sons of the man hanged for treason. The only record we find of that petition is the
recommendation issued to the king by his advisors:
"Howel son of Cadwathlan and
Meredith son of Mailgun, who claim half of Kerry, broke the king's peace at the beginning of the last war[3] and rebelled
against him, and so did their fathers and ancestors. In the time of King John, their fathers were hanged at Bridgenorth
for felony, as seditious persons and enemies. If any disturbance or war were to occur in those parts, these men would
be the first to rebel."[4]
Now clearly it was not their
fathers who were hanged but their uncle. Hywel's father didn't die until 1234 after living a full life. Perhaps
King Henry III perceived that his advisors unfairly attacked the character of these petitioners since subsequent events show
the lands were restored to them. In 1278, Madog ap Maredudd ap Maelgwn and his nephew, Hywel ap Llewelyn ap Maredudd,
were confirmed in their possession of the quarter-share of Ceri held during his lifetime by Maredudd ap Maelgwn.[5] (One assumes
Llewelyn ap Maredudd was deceased and represented by his son Hywel.)
We mentioned earlier that
the descendants entitled to the half of Ceri held by the hanged Hywel ap Cadwallon did not join in the 1249 petition when
the other half was restored to its rightful heirs. This is because in 1248, Owain ap Hywel, alone and without his brothers
Maredudd and Cadwaladr[6] paid the king 50 pounds sterling as a fine and was granted "half the land of Kerry which belongs
to him by right of inheritance". A year later, Owain's brother Maredudd was granted the right "following the laws
and customs of Wales, to join with Owen his brother in taking those lands which lately were Hoel's, which same lands Owen
now holds".[7] Nothing was said of the third brother, Cadwaladr; perhaps he was no longer alive. Maredudd was
also required to reimburse Owain for his half of the fine he had paid.
Thus by the year 1250, Ceri
was 100% held by descendants of Cadwallon ap Madog, with the following shares:
1. Owain ap Hywel ap Cadwallon ap Cadwallon
- 25%
2. Maredudd ap Hywel ap Cadwallon ap Cadwallon -
25%
3. Hywel ap Cadwallon ap Maelgwn ap Cadwallon
-25%
4. Maredudd ap Maelgwyn ap Maelgwn ap Cadwallon -25%
A generation later, Maredudd
ap Maelgwn's quarter share was divided between his son Madog and his grandson, Hywel ap Llewelyn. Presumably, the same
divisions occurred as each of the other heirs died. But in 1281, Ceri was declared forfeit by Edward I and granted to
Roger Mortimer.
Although land ownership is often
of minor interest to students of history or genealogists, the records disclosing the names of the men deemed legal heirs of
Ceri and the part each was found entitled to receive is more persuasive than a dozen written pedigrees. The abundance
of men named Cadwallon and Maelgwn in this family have resulted in a plethora of chronologically deficient pedigrees.
And even an author who accessed all the records cited herein offered a version of the family chart which ignores chronology
and miscasts the same-named men.[8]
In Appendix I, we chart additional
descendants of Maredudd as shown in the pedigree material[9] as confirmation of the timeline we constructed for this family.
