Ednyfed Fychan

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Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynfrig (Welsh pronunciation: [ɛdˈnəvɛd ˈvəχan ap ˈkənvrig], died 1 October 1246) was a Welsh nobleman who became distain (roughly equivalent to the position of seneschal) of Gwynedd in north Wales. He served in this position under the princes of Gwynedd for almost thirty years. Ednyfed's tenure as distain appears to have coincided with the transformation of the office from one of domestic service to that of being the prince of Gwynedd's closest adviser and agent. He is recorded witnessing Llywelyn ab Iorwerth's charters, carrying out diplomatic missions, administering justice, and perhaps even leading military action on the prince's behalf. After Llywelyn's death in 1240, Ednyfed served in the same position under Llywelyn's son and successor Dafydd, and is repeatedly recorded leading diplomatic missions on Dafydd's behalf to his rebellious brother Gruffudd and Henry III. Ednyfed died some eight months after Dafydd, probably on 1 October 1246.

Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynfrig
Arms of Ednyfed Fychan, from Gruffudd Hiraethog's Cronicl byr
Distain or Seneschal/Justiciar of Gwynedd
In office
c. 1217–1246
Monarchs
Preceded byGwyn ab Ednywain
Succeeded by
After the Treaty of Woodstock:
  • Goronwy ab Ednyfed Fychan
    (for Owain Goch)
  • Gruffudd ab Ednyfed Fychan
    (for Llywelyn ap Gruffudd)
Personal details
Born
probably Abergele, Rhos
Died(1246-10-01)1 October 1246
Spouses
Tangwystl ferch Llywarch
​
​
(died)​
Gwenllian ferch Rhys
​
​
(died 1236)​
Childrenwith Tangwystl:
Tudur (died c. 1281)
and others:
  • Llywelyn
  • Hywel, bishop of St Asaph
  • Rhys
  • Cynwrig
  • Iorwerth y Gwahanglwyfus

with Gwenllian:
Goronwy (died 1268)
Gruffudd (died c. 1256)

and others:
  • Gwladus, married
      • Tegwared ap Cynwrig
  • Gwenllian, married
      • Tegwared ap Llywelyn
of uncertain mothers:
  • Angharad, married
      • Einion Fychan ab Einion
  • Gwenllian, married
      • Aron ap Rhys
      • Gwrwared ap Gwilym
  • Tudur Gwilltyn
Parents
  • Cynfrig ab Iorwerth (father)
  • Angharad ferch Hwfa (mother)
RelativesAncestor of the Tudors of Penmynydd and thus the House of Tudor

Ednyfed established a ministerial dynasty which would serve the princes of Gwynedd for over thirty years after his death until the Edwardian conquest. His preeminence allowed him to marry Gwenllian, a daughter of the Lord Rhys, prince of Deheubarth. Ednyfed's sons succeeded him as disteiniaid and his descendants held a monopoly on the position until the final campaign of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in December 1282, the turning point of Edward I's conquest of Wales. Even after the Conquest, Ednyfed's heirs and the heirs of his brothers, known as the Wyrion Eden 'descendants of Ednyfed', enjoyed special privileges in their tenure first granted by the Llywelyns. They held their lands free from all renders other than military service, which allowed them to become very wealthy and influential. Ednyfed's descendants spread across Wales, and many served in the new English administration. Ednyfed's grandson Tudur Hen ap Goronwy established the branch of the family known as the Tudors of Penmynydd in Anglesey, which produced leading ecclesiastical and administrative figures of the fourteenth century in Wales. Owen Tudor, grandfather of Henry VII, was a member of this family, thus making Ednyfed the first distinguished ancestor of the House of Tudor.

Early life

Little is known of Ednyfed's early life, but he was born into an established family related to the Second Dynasty of Gwynedd. Ednyfed was the eldest son of Cynfrig ab Iorwerth, whose grandfather Gwgon established Betws Gwyrion Gwgon in modern Denbighshire. Ednyfed's description as bychan ('small' or 'junior', Fychan when used attributively in his name as the result of a soft mutation) usually would suggest his father or grandfather was also named Ednyfed, but as this is not the case, it may instead refer to his size. Ednyfed's family home was the territory around Abergele in Rhos, a cantref of the Perfeddwlad. Ednyfed's mother was Angharad ferch Hwfa of Cyffylliog in Dyffryn Clwyd, whose mother in turn was Gwenllian, daughter of Owain Gwynedd, king of Gwynedd. Ednyfed's family was very influential in Rhos and claimed as its founder Marchudd ap Cynan of Is Dwlas [cy], whom Gruffudd Hiraethog says was Pro[te]ctor Deffender and Arglwydd Protector to the ninth-century king of Gwynedd Rhodri Mawr, and whom Robert Vaughan calls 'Lord of Abergeleu'. Like many other Welsh families, they ultimately claimed descent from a legendary figure of the Old North, in this case from one 'Cadrod Calchfynydd', son of Cynwyd Cynwydion, supposed ancestor of the royal dynasty of Strathclyde.

Henry VII, a direct descendant of Ednyfed, appointed a commission in about 1490 to examine the pedigree of his father Owen Tudor. The original report of this commission does not survive, but its text was printed in William Wynne's 1697 version of David Powel's 1584 Historie of Cambria. This commission recorded Ednyfed fought against King John during the reign of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth and slew three English lords one morning in battle. After showing the heads of these lords to Llywelyn, the prince thereafter allowed Ednyfed to bear three bloody heads as his arms in token of his victory, which were also borne by his descendants, including the Tudors of Penmynydd.

J. E. Lloyd identifies this event with the invasion of Gwynedd by Ranulf de Blondeville, Earl of Chester and Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, in 1210. The earl sought to take Perfeddwlad for himself and built castles in Holywell and Degannwy, while in the next year John himself invaded and ravaged Gwynedd, heading an army with most of the other Welsh princes under him. While this campaign was disastrous for Llywelyn, who only regained his position by 1213, this may have been when Ednyfed first caught the prince's eye and began his long career of service to the princes of Gwynedd. While the folk-memory of Ednyfed's actions may be plausible, the grant of arms "almost certainly significantly [occurred] after his death in 1246", according to David Stephenson.

Service to the princes of Gwynedd

Service under Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (c. 1217–1240)

Ednyfed Fychan is first recorded in Llywelyn ab Iorwerth's service in the role of a distain (roughly equivalent to the position of seneschal elsewhere in medieval Europe) in summer 1217, when he heads a witness list in a grant by the prince of Llandimôr, Gower, to Morgan Gam of Afan. Ednyfed was preceded in this role by a certain Gwyn ab Ednywain, who was probably first distain to Gruffudd ap Cynan, ruler of much of the divided kingdom of Gwynedd, in Meirionnydd and Gwynedd Uwch Conwy before Gruffudd was overthrown by Llywelyn in 1199. The terminus post quem for the beginning of Ednyfed's ascension to the position is Gwyn's last recorded action in the rôle, heading a list of witnesses confirming a donation of land by Llywelyn to Strata Marcella on 25 November 1209. While Ednyfed is only first recorded as distain in 1217, according to David Stephenson he was "almost certainly" Gwyn's immediate successor, though it is impossible to date the beginning of Ednyfed's tenure in the office.

In March 1218, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth signed three agreements with Henry III, known collectively as the Treaty of Worcester. These confirmed Llywelyn's occupation of Powys and the royal castles of Cardigan and Carmarthen which he had won in the campaigns of 1215–16. However, these agreements also asserted the king's overlordship over Llywelyn and other Welsh lords, who were required to do homage to him. In the third of these agreements, confirming Llywelyn's right to hold the king's court in the royal castles, Ednyfed appears as a negotiator and leads the list of the prince's officials and leading men of the principality who are bound to the terms of the treaty. These important supporters of the prince would "be absolved from homage and fealty to [Llywelyn] and may aid [Henry] and his heirs to ensure that full amends are made for breaches of the terms by Llywelyn" should the prince betray the terms of the agreement, and could "[not]... return to Llywelyn's homage and fealty without first making satisfaction to the king or his heirs concerning the aforesaid breaches".

Similarly, Ednyfed appears to have been a chief negotiator in the 1222 talks which led to the marriage of Llywelyn's daughter Helen to John of Scotland. The pair were married 'for the purpose of effecting a lasting peace' between Llywelyn and Ranulf de Blondeville, John's uncle, against whom Ednyfed had fought some twelve years earlier yet became the prince's closest ally in England. Perhaps in recognition of his services in upholding the treaty of Worcester, Henry III granted Ednyfed letters of protection in 1229 for some of his holdings: Llansadwrn in Ystrad Tywi and Cellan and Llanrhystud in Ceredigion.

Ednyfed was not only a diplomat, however. In 1223, per the terms of the Treaty of Worcester, he acted with the king's authority and as Llywelyn's chief representative, determining the limits of lands won by Maelgwn ap Rhys, Rhys Gryg, and Owain ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth in the campaign of 1215–16. The findings of an inquisition held on 28 October 1278 recorded Ednyfed, "justice of the prince", had arbitrated a land dispute between two lords of Mechain some decades before, which suggests he also held legal authority in Llywelyn's principality. This is further supported by an occasion in 1234 when Ednyfed arbitrated a dispute in the lordship of Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor between the monks of Valle Crucis and the freemen of Llangollen over a dispute about the ownership of a certain fishing weir on the Dee.

Over Easter 1230, Llywelyn found his wife Joan in compromising circumstances with marcher lord William de Braose, whom Llywelyn had hanged on 2 May that year. The execution of de Braose did not cause an incident with the English, but hostilities between prince and king broke out in April 1231, when Llywelyn attacked Radnor after his foe William Marshal died and management of Braose's patrimony was entrusted to the powerful justiciar Hubert de Burgh. The royal counter-campaign of 1231 headed by de Burgh stalled, and de Burgh was removed from his position in 1232. Ednyfed Fychan led a diplomatic mission to Henry III which saw a truce extended between Llywelyn and the king for a year on 30 November 1231. Ednyfed made two further visits in May and November 1232 together with Llywelyn's wife Joan to further negotiate with the king's representatives.

However, in 1233, Llywelyn threw in his lot with Richard Marshal's baronial rebellion. While Llywelyn was making gains in this short conflict, he sent Ednyfed and Dafydd ap Llywelyn, his son by Joan daughter of King John, to negotiate terms with the king at Worcester in June 1233. When Richard was murdered by his allies in Ireland in early 1234, Llywelyn sealed a lasting peace with the English Crown in June that year with the Pact of Myddle. Llywelyn appears to have negotiated the terms of this treaty in person, which enacted a peace between Henry and the prince from 25 July 1234, extending for two years, but which was renewed yearly until Llywelyn's death. No castles could be built or repaired in the Marches, and Llywelyn was confirmed in his possession of Buellt and Cardigan. Ednyfed was presumably with Llywelyn during these negotiations. Henry requested Ednyfed be present when extending the truce in 1237, and he appears at the list of the prince's ministers who swore to uphold the truce in 1238. According to Matthew Paris, Llywelyn suffered a massive paralytic stroke in late spring 1237. This led Dafydd to assume effective rulership of Gwynedd, and therefore Ednyfed’s service in this period was even more crucial to the governance of the principality.

Because there was peace between Llywelyn and the king after 1234, Ednyfed decided to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and received safe conduct through England from the king in June 1235. Whilst waiting to depart from London in the same month, the king ordered Ednyfed be given a silver cup worth five marks. However, this was later cancelled, 'because he did not have it'. This attests to Ednyfed's importance at the court of Llywelyn, as well as the esteem in which Ednyfed was held by Henry III.

Service under Dafydd ap Llywelyn (1240–1246)

Llywelyn ab Iorwerth died on 11 April 1240, and was succeeded as king of Gwynedd by his son Dafydd. Within the next month, Dafydd was humiliated by Henry III in the terms of the Treaty of Gloucester. Dafydd was not the eldest son of Llywelyn, this was Gruffudd, the product of an earlier union between the prince and Tangwystl ferch Llywarch, latter the wife of Ednyfed Fychan. Gruffudd resented his brother and plotted against him because of this insult, and was gaoled by Llywelyn from 1228 to 1234 and by Dafydd before their father's death. The Treaty of Gloucester, signed on 15 May 1240, saw Gruffudd released and Dafydd stripped of the homage done to his father by the barons of Wales. Ednyfed Fychan was an arbitrator in land disputes brought about by the terms of this treaty, and was one of four leading men who swore to ensure Dafydd's observance of the treaty.

While illegitimate in the eyes of the Church, Gruffudd could claim support from much of the nobility of Gwynedd because his birth by a pre-marital liaison was no obstacle to inheritance under Welsh law. Even though Ednyfed Fychan was Gruffudd's stepfather, as distain Ednyfed acted loyally towards Llywelyn's chosen heir, and even represented Dafydd in a plea between the prince and Gruffudd.

In August 1241, after a week-long campaign launched from Chester, Henry III humiliated Dafydd further, forcing him to sign the Treaty of Gwerneigron on 29 August 1241 and even more humiliating terms in London on 24 October that year. Dafydd was stripped of all the lands his father had won since 1215, Gruffudd and his son Owain Goch were taken into the Tower of London by the king, pending a partition of the remaining lands of Gwynedd between them. Ednyfed, together with his son Hywel, bishop of St Asaph, swore to ensure Dafydd would follow the terms of this treaty as well.

Gruffudd died in a botched attempt to escape from the Tower of London on St David's Day in 1244. Consequently, a revolt erupted throughout Wales against royal rule, and Dafydd acted as its leader. While enjoying some initial successes, Dafydd's alliance was defeated in late 1245. In his last recorded action on behalf of the princes of Gwynedd, Ednyfed led a group of envoys parlaying with Henry III at his court at Degannwy sometime in 1245. Dafydd died on 25 February 1246, the Chester annalist records Ednyfed's death in the same year: he was memorialised as justiciarius Wallie, further suggesting he held legal authority in Gwynedd.

Ednyfed's marwnad by Elidir Sais

Welsh Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Marwnad Ednyfed Fychan a Thegwared ab Iarddur

Together with a certain obscure nobleman named Tegwared ab Iarddur, Ednyfed was the recipient of a marwnad, or elegy, by the second poet known by the name of Elidir Sais. This poem is preserved in Liber B of the seventeenth-century priest and antiquarian John Davies of Mallwyd. The source of John Davies' copy of the poem is unclear. Elidir's poem does not survive in the Hendregadredd Manuscript, the most important text for early Welsh court poetry, or the Red Book of Hergest, though Nerys Ann Jones hypothesised that the poem was originally copied on now-lost folios in the third quire of the Hendregadredd Manuscript. There is not much biographical information related about Ednyfed in the elegy, though Ednyfed is compared to two of Arthur's warriors, Cai and Bedwyr, and praised for his generosity and skill in warfare, especially against the English. This may be a reference to the feat which won him his coat of arms, but it is also a standard topos in poetry of the period.

Elidir's elegy for Ednyfed and Tegwared is also curious because it is one poem which was sung to two different subjects who are not connected in any surviving genealogy. However, it may have been that they were somehow related, as joint elegies for relatives are known elsewhere in Middle Welsh court poetry. They may also have been joint recipients of an elegy because they died on the same day: Elidir says "Erwan ym galar galan Hyddfref — ddwyn" 'Bearing grief on the calends of October [is] torturous for me', which suggests Ednyfed and Tegwared may have died on 1 October 1246. Elidir Sais opens this elegy with a dramatic picture of himself standing above Ednyfed’s freshly dug grave. In the first three englyn, he praises Ednyfed and Tegwared individually, then jointly. He highlights their generosity and support for poets, but he also emphasises their ferocity in battle. The earth is portrayed as an actively destructive and malevolent force, while the grave closes inescapably around the dead, like honeysuckle around a branch. However, the hope of heaven becomes a certainty at the end. Ednyfed’s role as a distain is not explicitly mentioned, but his and Tegwared’s status as noblemen is apparent from the reference to their being glyw parchfawr am eu perchen 'warriors of great fame around their lord' at the end of the poem, though this may be a reference to God.

Ednyfed is also the first lay official in medieval Wales to whom there is surviving poetry. There are no surviving poems to court officials of the twelfth century. Ednyfed's successor Goronwy also was the recipient of two elegies, and Goronwy's son another. Because of this, David Stephenson suggestes "it would seem that the leading officials might have been beginning to rival the prince himself".

Ednyfed and the evolving role of the distain

Ednyfed's tenure as distain appears to have coincided with great changes in the role, though it should be remembered Ednyfed is the first distain about whom much is known. The role appears in the Welsh law-books as the third of the king's officers, "chief over all the officials". The name of the office comes from the Old English disċ-þeġn 'dish-thane', which is reflected in some of his duties as recorded in the laws: he was supposed to be in charge of the kitchens of the court, and it was his duty to hand round the 'supper-money' paid to the other officials. This arrangement was clearly obsolete by the thirteenth century, yet even the Latin translations of the laws do not translate distain as senescallus or justiciarius, as do other contemporary Latin sources, but instead as asselca 'follower, servant', a title more appropriate for one in a domestic role.

However, the evidence of Ednyfed's service in this role is markedly different from a chief domestic servant, suggesting the nature of the office changed drastically in the early thirteenth century. Numerous indications suggest he was the prince's closest regular adviser throughout the century, rather than simply being the chief manager of his household as depicted in the Laws. This is evident from his frequent presence working with the prince, witnessing his charters and other documents, and carrying out diplomatic missions on his behalf. In lists of witnesses to charters or diplomatic envoys, Ednyfed is almost always at the head of the list of the prince's ministers, with his name generally following those of ecclesiastical dignitaries and subject rulers. This involvement in judicial and military matters is particularly noteworthy, especially when compared to the functions granted to him in the laws. His apparent military functions came apparently at the expense of the penteulu, captain of the household troop, whom the laws state should have been a near relative of the ruler. It might have been safer for the prince to entrust its leadership to a trusted servant, rather than to a official whose lineage and position made him a possible subversive element in the kingdom.

Marriages and family

Ednyfed was twice married, firstly to Tangwystl, daughter of Llywarch ap Brân, brother-in-law and perhaps distain of Owain Gwynedd. Tangwystl was previously the mistress of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, and the mother of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, who was born sometime before his father's marriage in 1205 to Joan, daughter of King John. Tangwystl was the mother of Ednyfed's children Sir Tudur (died 1281), lord of Y Nant and Llangynhafal, Llywelyn, lord of Creuddyn, Hywel, Bishop of St Asaph (1240–47), Rhys, lord of Garthgarmon, Cynwrig, also lord of Creuddyn, and Iorwerth y Gwahanglwyfus ('the leprous').

At some point, he married Gwenllian (died 1236), daughter of the Lord Rhys of Deheubarth (died 1197). Gwenllian's first husband was apparently Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd (died 1195), though it has been suggested Rhys had two daughters named Gwenllian, just as he had two sons named Maredudd. Ednyfed's most prominent sons were the product of his marriage with Gwenllian, namely Goronwy, lord of Trecastell, and Gruffudd, lord of Henglawdd, both of whom followed him as disteiniaid in the kingdom of Gwynedd. Additionally, Gwenllian was mother to Ednyfed's daughters Gwladus, who married Tegwared ap Cynwrig, and Gwenllian, who married Tegwared y Baiswen, illegitimate son of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. Ednyfed also had two daughters by unknown mothers, Angharad and Gwenllian, as well as a son, Tudur Gwilltyn.

Two of Ednyfed's brothers also served as servants to Llywelyn ab Iorwerth and Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Goronwy ap Cynfrig appeared as an envoy to Henry III in 1232, while he was given as a hostage to the king by Dafydd in 1241, only to defect to English service in 1245 while in England. Heilyn ap Cynfrig is also recorded as having served in the government of Gwynedd in the years 1222–1241.

Ednyfed's service to Llywelyn was rewarded by not only grants of lands in his native Rhos, but also in Anglesey, Ceredigion, and Ystrad Tywi. Ednyfed enjoyed a unique tenure on this land which exempted him and his descendants from many services and renders owed to the prince except military service, which would be paid for at the prince's expense. This special tenure was extended to his descendants, known as the Wyrion Eden, though even Ednyfed's brothers and their descendants held land under the same privileges. Because his more distant relatives held land under this tenure in Rhufoniog and Rhos, it may have been intended to aid in the defence of important routes into Snowdonia. This arrangement lasted even after Edward I's conquest of Wales, and allowed members of the dynasty to become wealthier than other nobles owning similar amounts of land.

Legacy

Llys Euryn and St Trillo's chapel

Ednyfed Fychan appears to have had his seat at Bryn Euryn or Dinerth, overlooking the modern towns of Colwyn Bay and Rhos-on-Sea, though none of this construction survives. Ednyfed had a chapel erected adjoining an earlier twelfth-century church at Dinerth, now dedicated to Saint Trillo. However, much of the fabric of the modern church dates from the sixteenth century, with only two arches surviving at the west end of its north wall from the thirteenth century chapel. A sepulchral slab rests in the porch, which reads HIC IACET D'N'S EDNEVED QUO'DAM VICARIUS DE DYNEYRT C'S AN' PROPICIETUR DEUS AMEN 'Here lies lord Ednyfed, once vicar of Dinerth, on whose soul may God have mercy, Amen'. This slab was once thought to be connected to Ednyfed Fychan, but it instead commemorates another Ednyfed, as at least different two men of the name were parish priest there in the late thirteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The priest of the late thirteenth century is more likely to be the Ednyfed of this slab based on the Lombardic lettering of the inscription, which fell out of use in the mid-fourteenth century.

Ednyfed's successors as disteiniaid

Ednyfed appears to have left an expectation that his sons would follow him into the highest levels of service to the kings of Gwynedd. Ednyfed's eldest son Tudur served Dafydd ap Llywelyn together with his father. However, he was seized by the king during Dafydd's rebellion in late 1245, and kept in the Tower of London until his release in late 1246, when he swore fealty to the king and promised to not countenance the king's enemies, though his son Heilyn was kept in the Tower as surety until 1263. With their eldest brother in the Tower when Gwynedd Uwch Conwy was partitioned, Goronwy and Gruffudd ab Ednyfed became disteiniaid to Owain Goch and Llywelyn, respectively. Their early appearance in service of the sons of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn may suggest they were supporters of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn against his brother Dafydd even during the latter's reign and their father's tenure as distain.

In June 1255, Owain Goch and Dafydd ap Gruffudd marched against Llywelyn, though Llywelyn defeated their combined armies and captured his brothers at the Battle of Bryn Derwin, perhaps near Bwlch Dau Fynydd. As Owain was imprisoned in Dolbadarn Castle after the battle, Goronwy would have stopped being distain, but when Gruffudd died in about 1256, Goronwy became Llywelyn's distain in turn. Goronwy served in this position for over a decade and is recorded as the prince's senescallus in the Treaty of Montgomery, dying in 1268. Goronwy was succeeded by Ednyfed's eldest son Tudur, who was distain until his death in 1281. Even the last recorded distain of Gwynedd, Dafydd ab Einion Fychan, who died in Brycheiniog alongside Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in late 1282, was a grandson of Ednyfed, as his mother was Angharad ferch Ednyfed Fychan.

The Tudors of Penmynydd

Because of his great number of sons and holdings, Ednyfed Fychan had important descendants throughout Wales, including the most famous Welsh-language poet, Dafydd ap Gwilym. However, his most politically important descendants were the Tudors of Penmynydd. The Tudors of Penmynydd were descended from Ednyfed's son Goronwy, who was distain during the decade when Llywelyn consolidated his power over Powys and Deheubarth and secured the king's approval for his achievements. According to Glyn Roberts, professor of Welsh History at Bangor University, "[e]ven before the conquest of 1282... Ednyfed's immediate descendants formed a 'ministerial aristocracy' of considerable wealth, and their widespread possessions, combined with the favourable terms on which they were held, made them the forerunners of that class of Welsh squires whose emergence is characteristic of the post-conquest period."

Goronwy ab Ednyfed's son, Tudur Hen, was a major landowner and administrator in North Wales, as was his son Goronwy ap Tudur Hen, and Goronwy's sons Hywel and Tudur ap Goronwy, who were also important patrons of Gruffudd ap Maredudd ap Dafydd, the last of the gogynfeirdd 'rather early poets' a term used to describe the poets who composed in the style of the Poets of the Princes (c. 1100–1283). The Owen Tudor who married Catherine of Valois and was grandfather to the future Henry VII was a grandson of Tudur ap Goronwy, making Ednyfed Fychan the originator of the dynasty, without whose rewards for service to Llywelyn the family's success could not be possible. The junior members of this family continued to own land in Anglesey until the late seventeenth century.

Notes

  1. David Stephenson argued this grant should be dated to 1215, prefacing the division of Deheubarth between the descendants of the lord Rhys at the council of Aberdyfi in 1216. However, Huw Pryce notes this grant would not have been possible in 1215, since Llywelyn only seized Gower from Reginald de Braose in 1217.
  2. For a handlist of records of Ednyfed's actions as distain, see Stephenson 2014, pp. 207–9.
  3. [SH 460460]
  4. For a handlist of records of Gruffudd's actions as distain, see Stephenson 2014, pp. 214–15.
  5. For a handlist of records of Goronwy's actions as distain, see Stephenson 2014, p. 213.
  6. For a handlist of records of Tudur's actions as distain, see Stephenson 2014, pp. 218–221.

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Coflein entries

  • "Llys Euryn Remains (27463)", Coflein, RCAHMW, retrieved 7 September 2025
  • "St Trillo's Church, Llandrillo Yn Rhos (400532)", Coflein, RCAHMW, retrieved 7 September 2025
  • "Bryn Derwin, site of Battle (402322)", Coflein, RCAHMW, retrieved 7 September 2025


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