Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd
Encyclopedia
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
poet and military leader. Hywel was the son of Owain Gwynedd
Owain Gwynedd
Owain Gwynedd ap Gruffydd , in English also known as Owen the Great, was King of Gwynedd from 1137 until his death in 1170. He is occasionally referred to as "Owain I of Gwynedd"; and as "Owain I of Wales" on account of his claim to be King of Wales. He is considered to be the most successful of...
, prince of Gwynedd
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
, and an Irishwoman named Pyfog. In recognition of this, he was also known as Hywel ap Gwyddeles (=Hywel son of the Irishwoman). Hywel was also known as the Poet Prince for his bardic skills.
Biography
Owain and his brother Cadwaladr came to blows in 1143 when Cadwaladr was implicated in the murder of Prince Anarawd ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth, Owain's ally and future son-in-law, on the eve of Anarawd's wedding to Owain's daughter. Owain followed a diplomatic policy of binding other Welsh rulers to Gwynedd through dynastic marriages, and Cadwaladr's border dispute and murder of Anarawd threatened Owain's efforts and credibility.As ruler of Gwynedd, Owain stripped Cadwaladr of his lands, and dispatched Hywel to Ceredigion where he burned Cadwaladr's castle at Aberystwyth. Cadwaladr fled to Ireland and hired a Norse fleet from Dublin, bringing the fleet to Abermenai to compel Owain to reinstate him. Taking advantage of the brotherly strife, and perhaps with the tacit understanding of Cadwaladr, the marcher lords mounted incursions into Wales. Realizing the wider ramifications of the war before him, Owain and Cadwaladr came to terms and reconciled, with Cadwaladr restored to his lands. Peace between the brothers held until 1147, when an unrecorded event occurred which led Owain's sons Hywel and Cynan
Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd
Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd was an illegitimate son of Owain Gwynedd, a Prince of the ancient Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. He held the title "Lord of Meirionnydd"...
to drive Cadwaladr out of Meirionydd and Ceredigion, with Cadwaladr retreating to Môn. Again an accord was reached, with Cadwaladr retaining Aberffraw until a more serious breach occurred in 1153, when he was forced into exile in England, where his wife was the sister of Gilbert de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford
Gilbert de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford
Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford was the eldest son of the Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare and Adeliza. He was created Earl of Hertford, possibly at the same time his uncle was created Earl of Pembroke. He died without issue and was succeeded by his brother Roger de Clare.-...
and the niece of Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester
Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester
Ranulf II was an Anglo-Norman potentate who inherited the honour of the palatine county of Chester upon the death of his father Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester...
.
In 1146 news reached Prince Owain ap Cynan of Gwynedd that his favoured eldest son and heir, the elding
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
, Rhun
Rhun ab Owain Gwynedd
Rhun ab Owain Gwynedd was the eldest child of Owain Gwynedd . His mother was an Irish woman Pyfog who was one of his father's many mistresses. Despite being illegitimate he was his father's favourite child and chosen successor...
, died. Owain was overcome with grief, falling into a deep melancholy from which none could console him, until news reached him that Mold castle
Mold, Flintshire
Mold is a town in Flintshire, North Wales, on the River Alyn. It is the administrative seat of Flintshire County Council, and was also the county town of Clwyd from 1974 to 1996...
in Tegeingl (Flintshire) had fallen to Gwynedd, "[reminding Owain] that he had still a country for which to live," wrote historian Sir John Edward Lloyd.
As the eldest surviving son and elding
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
, Hywel succeeded his father in 1170 as Prince of Gwynedd in accordance with Welsh law and custom. However, the new prince was immediately confronted by a coup instigated by his step-mother Cristin, Dowager Princess of Gwynedd
Queen Dowager
A queen dowager or dowager queen is a title or status generally held by the widow of a deceased king. In the case of the widow of a deceased emperor, the title of empress dowager is used...
. The dowager princess plotted to have her eldest son Dafydd
Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd
Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd was Prince of Gwynedd from 1170 to 1195. For a time he ruled jointly with his brothers Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd and Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd....
usurp the Throne of Gwynedd from Hywel, and with Gwynedd divided between Dafydd and her other sons Rhodri
Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd
Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd was prince of part of Gwynedd, one of the kingdoms of medieval Wales. He ruled from 1175 to 1195.On the death of Owain Gwynedd in 1170, fighting broke out among his nineteen sons over the division of his kingdom...
and Cynan
Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd
Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd was an illegitimate son of Owain Gwynedd, a Prince of the ancient Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. He held the title "Lord of Meirionnydd"...
. The speed with which Cristen and her sons acted suggest that the conspiracy may have had roots before Owain's death. Additionally, the complete surprise of the elder sons of Owain suggests that the scheme had been a well kept secret.
Within months of his succession Hywel was forced to flee to Ireland, returning later that year with a Hiberno-Norse army and landing on Môn, where he may have had Maelgwn
Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd
Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd was a prince of part of Gwynedd.Maelgwn was the son of Owain Gwynedd and Gwladus ferch Llywarch ap Trahaearn, and therefore full brother to Iorwerth Drwyndwn, the father of Llywelyn the Great...
's support. Dafydd himself landed his army on the island and caught Hywel off guard at Pentraeth
Pentraeth
Pentraeth is a village on the island of Anglesey , north Wales, at . The Royal Mail postcode begins LL75.Its Welsh name means at the end of a beach, and it is located near Traeth Coch . There is a small river, Afon Nodwydd which runs through it. The village's ancient name was Llanfair Betws Geraint...
, defeating his army and killing Hywel. Following Hywel's death and the defeat of the legitimist army, the surviving sons of Owain came to terms with Dafydd. Iorwerth
Iorwerth Drwyndwn
Iorwerth ab Owain Gwynedd , meaning "the broken-nosed", was the eldest legitimate son of Owain Gwynedd and his first wife Gwladys ferch Llywarch. He married Marared ferch Madog. His son Llywelyn the Great eventually united the realm and became known as Llywelyn Fawr and is one of Wales's most...
was apportioned the commotes of Arfon
Arfon
Arfon was one of five districts of Gwynedd, Wales, from 1974 to 1996.It was created by the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974 from part of the administrative county of Caernarfonshire, namely the municipal boroughs of Bangor and Caernarfon, the Bethesda urban district, the rural districts...
and Arllechwedd
Arllechwedd
The ancient Welsh cantref of Arllechwedd in north-west Wales was part of the kingdom of Gwynedd for much of its history until it was included in the new county of Caernarfonshire, together with Arfon and Llŷn under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.In the middle ages the Cantref...
, with his seat at Dolwyddelan
Dolwyddelan
Dolwyddelan, Welsh language : 'the meadow of Gwyddelan', is a village and community in Conwy county borough, north Wales, on the main A470 road between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed...
, with Maelgwn retaining Ynys Môn, and with Cynan receiving Meirionydd. However by 1174 Iorwerth and Cynan were both dead and Maelgwn and Rhodri were imprisoned by Dafydd, who was now master over the whole of Gwynedd.
The seven sons of Hywel's foster-father, Cadifor, were killed while defending him in this battle, and were commemorated in verse:
- The sons of Cadifor, a noble band of brothers
- In the hollow above Pentraeth
- Were full of daring and of high purpose
- They were cut down beside their foster-brother.
Hywel was an accomplished poet and eight of his poems have been preserved. The best known is probably Gorhoffedd Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd in which he praises his father's kingdom of Gwynedd, both its natural beauties and its beautiful women. Other poems include the earliest known love poetry in the Welsh language, and may show a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
influence. Hywel is known to have sired the following sons;
- Gruffudd ap Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd
- Caswallawn ap Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd
In fiction
Hywel appears in the historical mystery novel The Summer of the DanesThe Summer of the Danes
The Summer of the Danes is a medieval mystery novel by Ellis Peters. It is the eighteenth in the Brother Cadfael series, and was first published in 1991.-Plot summary:...
, one of the Cadfael Chronicles
Cadfael
Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters". The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England,...
by Ellis Peters.
Hywel ab Owain is also written about in Sharon Kay Penman
Sharon Kay Penman
Sharon Kay Penman is an American historical novelist, published in the UK as Sharon Penman. She is best known for the Welsh Princes trilogy and the Plantagenet series. In addition, she has written four medieval mysteries, the first of which, The Queen's Man, was a finalist in 1996 for the Best...
's novels "When Christ and His Saints Slept," and "Time and Chance."