250px, Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn viewed from the north.
Creuddyn was a medieval
commote
A commote (Welsh ''cwmwd'', sometimes spelt in older documents as ''cymwd'', plural ''cymydau'', less frequently ''cymydoedd'')''Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales ...
(Welsh: ''cwmwd'') and, later, a
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...
ship in
Ceredigion
Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It was located between the rivers
Ystwyth and
Rheidol,
[''The Vaughans of Trawsgoed'', p. 22] and was one of the three commotes of
Cantref Penweddig.
[''Archaeologia Cambrensis''] The name, of
Old Welsh
Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...
origin, probably refers to the
Pen Dinas
Pen Dinas is the name of a large hill within the boundary of the village of Penparcau, on the coast of Ceredigion, Wales, (just south of Aberystwyth) upon which an extensive Iron Age, Celtic hillfort of international significance is situated. T ...
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
, anciently known as Dinas Maelor.
[A History of Wales from the Earliest Times][Ceredigion, A Wealth of History] The natural centre of the commote was
Llanfihangel y Creuddyn
Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn () is an ancient parish in the upper division of the hundred of Ilar, Ceredigion, West Wales, 7 miles south east from Aberystwyth, on the road to Rhayader, comprising the chapelry of Eglwys Newydd, or Llanfihangel y Creud ...
where five roads meet at the village. The name survives in the name of a rural community and church of the same name; however the modern community is much smaller than the medieval commote.
History
Several princes of
Deheubarth
Deheubarth (; lit. "Right-hand Part", thus "the South") was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of ...
ruled in medieval
Kingdom of Ceredigion
The Kingdom of Ceredigion was one of several Welsh kingdoms that emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain. Cardigan Bay to the west and the surrounding hilly geography made it difficult for foreign invaders to conquer. Its area corresponded r ...
, including Creuddyn.
Rhys ap Gruffydd
Rhys ap Gruffydd, commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh ''Yr Arglwydd Rhys'' (c. 1132 – 28 April 1197) was the ruler of the Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales from 1155 to 1197 and native Prince of Wales.
It was believed that he ...
's grandson Maelgwn Fychan (died 1257) battled for control of the area; Gwenllian (died 1254) died at Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn. Either Maelgwn or his grandsons Llywelyn or Rhys may have been responsible for building the large 13th-century church which still stands today.
[''Ymddiriedolaeth Archaeolegol Dyfed'']
Footnotes
References
*Morgan, Gerald, "A Welsh House & Its Family, The Vaughans of Trawsgoed," Gomer Press, Ceredigion 1997
*Morgan, Gerald, "Ceredigion, A Wealth of History" Gomer Press, Ceredigion, 2005
*
*Lloyd, John Edward, "A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest" Volume 1, Longmans, Green, and co., 1912
*Pickering, W.
Archaeologia Cambrensis
Series 4, Volume 6, 1875
Commotes
History of Ceredigion
Former subdivisions of Wales
{{Ceredigion-geo-stub
