Cadwallon ap Gruffydd (c. 1097 – 1132) () was the eldest son of

Gruffudd ap Cynan Gruffudd ap Cynan ( 1137), sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembe ...

king of Gwynedd Prior to the Conquest of Wales by Edward I, Conquest of Wales, completed in 1282, Wales consisted of a number of independent monarchy, kingdoms, the most important being Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd, Kingdom of Powys, Powys, Deheubarth (originally ...

Early life

Cadwallon was born in the village of Walesey in the county of

Caernarvonshire , HQ= County Hall, Caernarfon , Map= , Image= Flag , Motto= Cadernid Gwynedd (The strength of Gwynedd) , year_start= , Arms= ''Coat of arms of Caerna ...

in Wales. His mother was

Angharad ferch Owain Angharad ferch Owain (1065–1162) was the wife of Gruffudd ap Cynan, a king of Gwynedd. Biography Angharad was born in the region of Tegeingl in Flintshire county, Wales. Her father was Owain ab Edwin (1044–1105). Her mother was Morwyl ...

, the daughter of Owain ab Edwin. Cadwallon's siblings were Hywel ap Gruffydd, Rhanullt verch Gruffydd, Tudwal ap Gruffydd, Gwenllian verch Gruffydd, Elen verch Gruffydd, Merinedd verch Gruffydd, Susanna verch Gruffydd,

Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd (c. 1100 – 1172) was the third son of Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd, and brother of Owain Gwynedd. Appearance in history Cadwaladr first appears in the historical record in 1136, when following the killing of the lo ...

, Gwenllian II ap Rhys (born verch Gruffydd),

Owain Gwynedd Owain ap Gruffudd ( 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great ( cy, Owain Fawr) and the first to be ...

, Idwal ap Gruffydd, Duling ap Gruffydd, Membyr "Ddu" ap Gruffydd, Rhael verch Gruffudd, Annes verch Gruffydd, Margred ap Gruffydd, and Gwladys Rhanullt verch Gruffydd. Cadwallon sisters Gwenllian married

Gruffydd ap Rhys Gruffydd ap Rhys (c. 1090 – 1137) was Prince of Deheubarth, in Wales. His sister was the Princess Nest ferch Rhys. He was the father of Rhys ap Gruffydd, known as 'The Lord Rhys', who was one of the most successful rulers of Deheubarth duri ...

and Susanna married

Madog ap Maredudd Madog ap Maredudd ( wlm, Madawg mab Maredud, ; died 1160) was the last prince of the entire Kingdom of Powys, Wales and for a time held the Fitzalan Lordship of Oswestry. Madog was the son of King Maredudd ap Bleddyn and grandson of King Bleddy ...

. Cadwallon was half brother of Margred verch Gruffydd; and Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd.

Mid life

Cadwallon appears first in history records as conspiring with his brother

to take the district of

Meirionydd Meirionnydd is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a kingdom, a cantref, a district and, as Merionethshire, a county. Kingdom Meirionnydd (Meirion, with -''ydd'' as a Welsh suffix of land, literally ''Land adjoined to Meirio ...

within the medieval

kingdom of Powys The Kingdom of Powys ( cy, Teyrnas Powys; la, Regnum Poysiae) was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern ...

in 1123. In 1125 he killed the three rulers of the district

Dyffryn Clwyd Dyffryn Clwyd was a cantref of Medieval Wales and from 1282 a marcher lordship. In 1536, it became part of the new county of Denbighshire. The name means Vale of Clwyd in English and is still the name for that region of north Wales in modern Welsh ...

, being Meilyr ab Owain, Rhiryd ab Owain, and Gronw ab Owainhis maternal uncles, ''i.e.'', his mother's brothers. The district

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divided into ''cantrefi'', which were ...

of Dyffryn Clwyd was then

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

into the

kingdom of Gwynedd The Kingdom of Gwynedd (Medieval Latin: ; Middle Welsh: ) was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. Based in northwest Wales, th ...

. Cadwallon is notoriously remembered by historians for murdering his uncles, as this ended the reign of the house of

Edwin of Tegeingl Edwin of Tegeingl (born about 1020 and died 1073) was a prince or lord of the cantref of Tegeingl in north-east Wales. Biography Later pedigrees provide Edwin and his descendants with a Welsh pedigree, making him son of Gronwy and great-great-g ...

as a regime. Cadwallon then is found a few years later in the valley of Dee at

Mold, Flintshire Mold ( cy, Yr Wyddgrug) is a town and community in Flintshire, Wales, on the River Alyn. It is the county town and administrative seat of Flintshire County Council, as it was of Clwyd from 1974 to 1996. According to the 2011 UK Census, it had ...

, Wales. With his older brother

(c.1100–70) they worked together to restore the power of Gwynedd for their ageing father. They were military leaders and directed their father's armies which added the land regions of Meirionydd, Rhos, Rhufoniog, and Dyffryn Clwyd to the kingdom of Gwynedd.

Later life and death

In 1132 Cadwallon forged eastward to conquer more land for the kingdom of Gwynedd but was stopped in the area of

Nanheudwy Nanheudwy was a medieval commote of Wales considered part of the ancient Kingdom of Powys in the cantref of Swydd y Waun. It was traditionally defined as the region between the valleys of the rivers Dee and Ceiriog with a mountain ridge running ...

in 1133, near the town of

Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...

. An army from the kingdom of Powys then defeated and killed him. His uncle Einion ab Owain ab Edwin was one of the instigators, to avenge his brothers' deaths. Cadwallon's cousin Cadwgan ap Grown ab Owain also played a part in his slaying. Other cousins were also involved in Cadwallon's murder.

Family

Cadwallon married Gwenllian from an unknown family line. They had a son named Cunedda ap Cadwallon ap Gruffydd ap Cynan. Genealogy records indicate he also had another wife by the name of Alice of an unknown family line and had two sons. He is not to be confused with the other four "Cadwallon"s (and nearly a dozen closely related named personages

homonyms In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones (equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition, ...

homographs A homograph (from the el, ὁμός, ''homós'', "same" and γράφω, ''gráphō'', "write") is a word that shares the same written form as another word but has a different meaning. However, some dictionaries insist that the words must also ...

and

homophones A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...

) who are historically significant in Welsh history.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

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External links

Cadwallon ap Gruffydd ancestor line
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cadwallon ap Gruffydd Welsh princes History of Wales Year of birth uncertain 1090s births 1132 deaths House of Aberffraw People of The Anarchy 12th-century Welsh people Welsh people of Irish descent