Gruffydd AP LLEWELYN King of Wales [7065] ¹⁶⁶⁷

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Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (c. 1010 \endash 5 August 1063) was the King of Gwynedd, the King of Powys, and finally the King of Wales. He was the son of King Llywelyn ap Seisyll and Angharad, daughter of Maredudd ab Owain. He was the great-great-grandson of Hywel Dda, King of Deheubarth.

Genealogy and early life
Gruffydd was the son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, King of Gwynedd, Powys and Deheubarth, and Angharad ferch Maredudd. Gruffydd was barely a teenage in 1023 when his father died, too young to succeed him, as rulers were expected to be warriors.
Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig became ruler of Gwynedd. Gruffydd's mother, Angharad ferch Maredudd, married Cynfyn ap Gwerystan, who became Gruffyd's stepfather and also served as interim King of Powys, until Gruffydd became king in 1039.

King of Gwynedd and Powys (1039\endash 1055)
In 1039, King Iago of Gwynedd was killed (supposedly by his own men) and his son Cynan, who may have been as young as four, was forced into exile in Dublin. Gruffydd, who had already recovered Powys, expanded into the vacuum. Soon after gaining power, he surprised a Mercian army at Rhyd y Groes near Welshpool and totally defeated it, killing Edwin, brother of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He then attacked Dyfed, which his father had ruled but was now under Hywel ab Edwin (a distant cousin).

Gruffydd defeated Hywel in the Battle of Pencader (1041) and carried off Hywel's wife. Gruffydd drove Hywel out of the kingdom of Deheubarth, and the south Wales. In 1044 Hywel is recorded as returning to the mouth of the River Tywi with an Irish fleet to try to reclaim his kingdom. Gruffydd, however, defeated and killed him in a closely fought engagement.

Gruffydd ap Rhydderch of Gwent was able to expel Gruffydd ap Llywelyn from Deheubarth in 1047 and became king of Deheubarth himself after the nobles of Ystrad Tywi had attacked and killed 140 of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's household guard. He was able to resist several attacks by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in the following years. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was active on the Welsh border in 1052, when he attacked Herefordshire and defeated a mixed force of Normans and English in the Battle of Leominster.

King of Wales (1055\endash 1063)

In 1055 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn killed his rival Gruffydd ap Rhydderch in battle and recaptured Deheubarth. Gruffydd allied himself with Ælfgar, son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who had been deprived of his earldom of East Anglia by Harold Godwinson and his brothers. They marched on Hereford and were opposed by a force led by the Earl of Hereford, Ralph the Timid. This force was mounted and armed in the Norman fashion, but on 24 October Gruffydd defeated it. He then sacked the city and destroyed its motte-and-bailey castle. Earl Harold was given the task of counterattacking and seems to have built a fortification at Longtown in Herefordshire before refortifying Hereford. Shortly afterwards Ælfgar was restored to his earldom and a peace treaty concluded.

Around this time Gruffydd was also able to seize Morgannwg and Gwent, along with extensive territories along the border with England. In 1056, he won another victory over an English army near Glasbury. Now recognized as King of Wales, he claimed sovereignty over the whole of the country \endash a claim which was recognized by the English.

Historian John Davies stated that Gruffydd was "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... Thus, from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognized the kingship of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor." During this time, between 1053 and 1063, Wales lacked any internal strife and was at peace.

Death and aftermath
Gruffydd reached an agreement with Edward the Confessor, but the death of his ally Ælfgar in 1062 left him more vulnerable. In late 1062 Harold Godwinson obtained the king's approval for a surprise attack on Gruffydd's court at Rhuddlan. Gruffydd was nearly captured, but was warned in time to escape out to sea in one of his ships, though his other ships were destroyed. In the spring of 1063 Harold's brother Tostig led an army into north Wales while Harold led the fleet first to south Wales and then north to meet with his brother's army. Gruffydd was forced to take refuge in Snowdonia where he met his death. Gruffydd's head and the figurehead of his ship were sent to Harold. The Ulster Chronicle states that he was killed by Cynan in 1064, whose father Iago had been put to death by Gruffydd in 1039. Gruffydd had probably made enemies in the course of uniting Wales under his rule. According to Walter Map, Gruffydd said of this:
"Speak not of killing; I but blunt the horns of the offspring of Wales lest they should injure their dam."

Following Gruffydd's death, Harold married his widow Ealdgyth, though she was to be widowed again three years later. Gruffydd's realm was divided again into the traditional kingdoms. Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon came to an agreement with Harold and were given the rule of Gwynedd and Powys. Thus when Harold was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Normans reaching the borders of Wales were confronted by the traditional kingdoms rather than a single king. Gruffydd left two sons who in 1069 challenged Bleddyn and Rhiwallon at the battle of Mechain in an attempt to win back part of their father's kingdom. However they were defeated, one being killed and the other dying of exposure after the battle.

Family

In 1041 at the Battle of Pencader, Gruffydd defeated Hywel ab Edwin, king of Deheubarth and carried off Hywel's wife, taking her for his own. This wife of Hywel ab Edwin, whose name is not known, became Gruffydd's first wife, and is likely the mother of most of his children.

- Owain ap Gruffydd, d. 1057.
- ? ferch Gruffydd, a daughter whose name is not known, who became the 2nd wife of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia in 1058.

- Maredudd ap Gruffydd, died of exposure after the Battle of Mechain in 1068.
- Idwal ap Gruffydd, killed in the Battle of Mechain in 1068.

*Maredudd and Idwal are often recorded as 'mother uncertain' however as they both fought in the Battle of Mechain in 1068 it is likely they were born before Gruffydd's marriage to Ealdgyth in 1057 as boys of 11 years and younger did not normally go into battle as warriors.

In 1057 Gruffydd married Ealdgyth, daughter of Earl Ælfgar of Mercia. Gruffydd and Ealdgyth's only confirmed child was:

- Nest ferch Gruffydd (Nesta), married as her 1st husband, Trahaearn ap Caradog. They had seven children. Married secondly Osbern fitzRichard of Richard's Castle. They had 2 or 3 children including Nest ferch Osbern (aka Nesta of Hereford).

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There are differences among scholars regarding the mothers of Gruffydd's children. Carl Boyer [3]asserts that all or most of the children are children of Gruffydd and Eadgyth, which would give them later birth years. Darrell Wolcott, on the other hand, claims that all but one of the children were born to Gruffudd's first wife Nest, the daughter of Olaf/Amlaib, son of Sitric Silkbeard, [1] and the youngest child was by Eadgyth. The listings here follow Wolcott.

Cynyn, born about 1029, an unacknowledged and base-born child, would apparently be Gruffudd's first. An early source says that while Cynfryd (born about 1015) ferch Rhirid Mawr (born about 980) was a hostage, she had a son by Gruffudd before later marrying Trahaearn ap Maelog Dda (born about 995). Cynyn is attributed to Gruffudd by Cynfryd (b c1015) ferch Rhirid Mawr:[1] Rhiryd Mawr of Caerwedros had been required to give his daughter as a hostage to Llewelyn ap Seisyll about 1022 and that lady was still being held by interim king Cynfyn ap Gwerystan (at whose manor Gruffudd lived after his father died[4]). Wolcott believes that a teenaged Gruffudd seduced the young lady who likely took the resulting child with her when she was later released to marry Trahaearn. The child was never acknowledged by Gruffudd as his legitimate son. [1] Following her marriage to Trahearn, Cynfyn then had a child Brochwel, born about 1030, by Trahaearn.
Owain, was born about 1039[1] since the Brut recorded the death of Owain ap Gruffudd ten years before 1049. Owain would have been the first born to Gruffudd and his wife Nest. No such man (who could have died in 1059) is found among Peter Bartrum's charts or indexes, nor is such a man identified by any of the standard histories of Wales. But Kari Maund (the brilliant Welsh historian who quit academia to become the noted writer Kari Sperring) makes Owain another brother of Ithel and Maredudd. [5] Wolcott agrees with her identification; this Owain was clearly a man of importance since the Brut does not cite obituaries for ordinary men. We further think he was the eldest son of Gruffudd ap Llewelyn whose early death around age 20 was mentioned by the Brut author since he had been the favored heir to the powerful king. We would thus date his birth near 1039.
Ithel was born about 1041 to Gruffudd and Nest. Ithel and Maredudd died in 1069 at the hands of Rhiwallon and Bleddyn ap Cynfyn. [6] Boyer shows Ithel as achild of Gruffudd and Edith. [3]
Maredudd was born about 1043, also a child of Gruffudd and Nest, and died in 1069 after fleeing the battlefield. [6] Boyer states is child of Gruffudd and Edith. [3]
Nest [I], was born about 1050. Gruffudd also had a daughter, Nest, who married Trahaearn ap Caradog. [7]
This man, in 1075, succeeded Bleddyn ap Cynfyn as king of Powys, and probably also king of Gwynedd. [8] Born c. 1035, Trahaearn had sons Owain and Llywarch (among others) who were born c. 1065/1070. These dates point to c. 1050 as the birthdate of Nest, with the marriage taking place shortly after Gruffudd's death in 1063.
Nest [II] ferch Gruffydd, was born about 1056 (Wolcott) [1] or in Rhuddlan 1059 (Boyer). [3]
[9] Nest [II] married about 1070 (possib

Gruffydd married Ealdgyth Edith OF MERCIA [7066] [MRIN: 5548], daughter of Ælfgar Earl of Mercia [7076] and Ælfgifu of York [7077], about 1055.¹⁶⁶⁹ (Ealdgyth Edith OF MERCIA [7066] was born in 1040 in Mercia, England,¹⁶⁶⁷ died on 5 August 1086 in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England ¹⁶⁶⁷ and was buried after 5 August 1086 in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England ¹⁶⁶⁷.)