Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd
Encyclopedia
Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd was prince of part 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...

, one of the kingdoms of medieval Wales
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...

. He ruled from 1175 to 1195.

On the death 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...

 in 1170, fighting broke out among his nineteen sons over the division of his kingdom. Rhodri and his brother Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd
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....

, Owain's legitimate sons by his wife Cristina, defeated and killed their half brother Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd
Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd
Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd Wales Prince of Gwynedd in 1170, a Welsh poet and military leader. Hywel was the son of Owain Gwynedd, prince of Gwynedd, and an Irishwoman named Pyfog. In recognition of this, he was also known as Hywel ap Gwyddeles...

 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...

 that year. The other sons were largely killed or exiled between 1170 and 1174. Rhodri acquired part of Gwynedd, but soon afterwards came under pressure from his brother Dafydd who captured and imprisoned him.

In 1175 Rhodri escaped from captivity and was able to gain enough support to drive Dafydd out of the part of Gwynedd situated west of the River Conwy
River Conwy
The River Conwy is a river in north Wales. From its source to its discharge in Conwy Bay it is a little over long. "Conwy" is sometimes Anglicized as "Conway."...

. Dafydd and Rhodri then agreed to the partition of Gwynedd between them, with Dafydd retaining only Gwynedd east of the Conwy and the island of Anglesey. Rhodri and his family are mentioned in Descriptio Cambriae by Gerald of Wales which was written in c.1188 and recounts his journey around Wales raising support for the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...

. In this work Gerald appears to suggest that Rhodri had made his royal home on the island - probably at Aberffraw
Aberffraw
Aberffraw is a small village and community on the south west coast of the Isle of Anglesey , in Wales, by the west bank of the River Ffraw, at . The UK postcode begins LL63. Access by road is by way of the A4080 and the nearest rail station is Bodorgan. In the early Middle Ages Aberffraw was the...

 - and gives some illuminating details about Rhodri and his young family:

"Many chosen youths of the family of Roderic (Rhodri) were seated on an opposite rock, and not one of them could be prevailed upon to take the cross, although the archbishop and others most earnestly exhorted them, but in vain, by an address particularly directed to them. It came to pass within three days, as if by divine vengeance, that these young men, with many others, pursued some robbers of that country. Being discomfited and put to flight, some were slain, others mortally wounded, and the survivors voluntarily assumed that cross they had before despised. Roderic, also, who a short time before had incestuously married the daughter of Rhys, related to him by blood in the third degree, in order, by the assistance of that prince, to be better able to defend himself against the sons of his brothers, whom he had disinherited, not paying attention to the wholesome admonitions of the archbishop on this subject, was a little while afterwards dispossessed of all his lands by their means; thus deservedly meeting with disappointment from the very source from which he expected support."
The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis; The Itinerary of Wales and the Description of Wales
Translated by Sir Richard Colt-Hoare (1894), p.445


By this time the young nephew of Rhodri and Dafydd, Llywelyn the Great
Llywelyn the Great
Llywelyn the Great , full name Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, was a Prince of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually de facto ruler over most of Wales...

 had begun to put pressure on his uncles. Rhodri also came under pressure from his nephews Gruffydd and Maredydd ap Cynan, who drove him from Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

 in 1190. Rhodri made an alliance with Ragnald, King of Mann and the Isles, and possibly married Ragnald's daughter. In 1193, with the help of a Manx contingent, he briefly regained Anglesey, but was ejected again the same year by Gruffydd and Maredudd. Rhodri had three known sons;
  • Tomas
    Thomas ap Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd
    Tomas ap Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd was the only known son of Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd ruler of half Gwynedd from 1170–1195. In the 17th century, Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet of Gwydir claimed and later proved his ancestor was Tomas ap Rhodri, however the Wynn family expired in the male line by the...

    , Lord of Rhiw Llwyd
    Rhiw Llwyd
    Rhiw Llwyd is the name of an early medieval Wales lordship which was created in the Kingdom of Gwynedd in the 12th century for Tomas ap Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd and his successors. The location of this lordship is not certain but it seems likely it refers to a hill of the same name between...

  • Gruffudd
  • Einion


The descendants of Prince Tomas were claimed by Sir John Wynn
John Wynn
John Wynn may refer to:*John "Wynn" ap Maredudd, Head of the House of Cunedda, 1525–1559*Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet , his descendant, Welsh baronet, Member of Parliament for Carnarvonshire, 1586*Sir John Wynn, 5th Baronet...

 as his ancestors (a claim he would later have proven in court) and by the Anwyl of Tywyn Family
Anwyl of Tywyn Family
Anwyl of Tywyn are a Welsh family who trace their descent to Owain Gwynedd. They claim direct patrilinear descent from Owain, who was King of Gwynedd from 1137 - 1170 and a scion of the royal House of Aberffraw...

. Rhodri died in 1195.

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