Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd ( – 1203) was
Prince of Gwynedd
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
from 1170 to 1195. For a time he ruled jointly with his brothers
Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd
Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd was a prince of part of Gwynedd. Little is known about him, but he was the son of Owain Gwynedd and Gwladus ferch Llywarch ap Trahaearn, and therefore full brother to Iorwerth Drwyndwn, the father of Llywelyn the Grea ...
and
Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd
Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd ( 1147 – 1195) 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 hi ...
.
Dafydd was the son of
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 ...
by
Cristin ferch Goronwy ab Owain
Cristin verch Goronwy or Christian verch Goronwy or Christiana ferch Goronwy was the second wife of Owain Gwynedd.
Childhood history
She was born around 1105 AD in Tegaingl, Flint, Clwyd, Cymrumap. She was the daughter of Gronwy (ap Owain) Owa ...
(married ). Since Owain and Cristin were first cousins, the marriage was not accepted by the church, which regarded Dafydd as illegitimate. Dafydd first appears on the scene in 1157 when King
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
invaded Gwynedd. Dafydd was involved in the skirmish near
Basingwerk
Basingwerk Abbey ( cy, Abaty Dinas Basing) is a Grade I listed ruined abbey near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales. The abbey, which was founded in the 12th century, belonged to the Order of Cistercians. It maintained significant lands in the English ...
in which King Henry was nearly killed. In 1165, he was recorded as having settled in the
Vale of Clwyd
The Vale of Clwyd ( cy, Dyffryn Clwyd) is a tract of low-lying ground in the county of Denbighshire in north-east Wales. The Vale extends south-southwestwards from the coast of the Irish Sea for some 20 miles (about 30 km) forming a triangl ...
and as having attacked
Tegeingl
Tegeingl, in English Englefield, was a cantref in north-east Wales during the mediaeval period. It was incorporated into Flintshire following Edward I of England's conquest of northern Wales in the 13th century.
Etymology
The region's name was ...
, gaining much plunder.
Upon the death of
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 ...
in 1170, his sons fell into dispute over lordship of
Gwynedd
Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...
. Together, Dafydd and
Rhodri Rhodri is a male first name of Welsh origin. It is derived from the elements ''rhod'' "wheel" and ''rhi'' "king".
It may refer to the following people:
*Rhodri Molwynog ap Idwal (690–754), Welsh king of Gwynedd (720—754)
* Rhodri Mawr ap ...
attacked and killed their brother
Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd
Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd (circa 11201170), Prince of Gwynedd in 1170, was 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 ''Hy ...
that same year. Dafydd drove out Maelgwn in 1173, sending him fleeing to
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. Other brothers,
Iorwerth Drwyndwn
Iorwerth mab Owain Gwynedd (or Iorwerth Drwyndwn meaning "the flat-nosed"), (c. 1130–1174), was the eldest legitimate son of Owain Gwynedd (the king of Gwynedd) and his first wife Gwladys (Gladys) ferch Llywarch. He married Marared ferch Madog. ...
and
Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd
Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd (died 1174) was an illegitimate son of Owain Gwynedd, a Prince of the ancient Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. He held the title "Lord of Meirionnydd".
In the battle for the throne of Gwynedd after the death of his father, he wa ...
, were killed in 1174, removing two more contenders for the throne. The same year Dafydd captured and imprisoned his brothers Maelgwn (who had returned from Ireland) and Rhodri. He was now sole ruler of Gwynedd, and that same year he married
Emma (or Emme) of Anjou, the half-sister of King
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
, in summer 1174. Emme was an illegitimate daughter of
Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou
Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Handsome, the Fair (french: link=no, le Bel) or Plantagenet, was the count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also Duke of Normandy by conquest from 1144. His ...
. They had four children:
*
Owain Owain () is a name of Welsh origin, variously written in Old Welsh as Ougein, Eugein, Euguen, Iguein, Ou(u)ein, Eug(u)ein, Yuein, and in Middle Welsh as Ewein, Owein, and Ywein. Other variants of the name Owain include Ewein, Iguein, Owein, Ouein, Y ...
*
Einion
* Gwenllian
* Gwenhwyfar
In 1175, Rhodri escaped and attacked his brother, seizing all Gwynedd west of the
River Conwy
, name_etymology =
, image = Boats in River Conwy.jpg
, image_size = 300
, image_caption = Boats in the river estuary at Conwy
, map =
, map_size =
, map_caption =
, push ...
. Dafydd was able to keep the eastern part, and in 1177, King Henry gave him the manors of
Ellesmere and
Hales
Hales is a small village in Norfolk, England. It covers an area of and had a population of 479 in 192 households as of the 2001 census, which had reduced to 469 at the 2011 census.
History
The villages name means 'Nooks of land'.
The manor ...
in England. He had a castle at
Rhuddlan
Rhuddlan () is a town, community, and electoral ward in the county of Denbighshire, Wales, in the historic county of Flintshire. Its associated urban zone is mainly on the right bank of the Clwyd; it is directly south of seafront town Rhyl. I ...
where
Gerald of Wales
Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and English historians in the Middle Ages, historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and w ...
spent a night in 1188 on his journey round Wales with
Archbishop Baldwin.
"Having crossed the river Conwy, or rather an arm of the sea, under Deganwy
Deganwy (Middle Welsh ''Degannwy'', Brythonic *''Decantouion'') is a town and electoral ward in Conwy County Borough in Wales with a population of 3,936 (2011). It lies in the Creuddyn Peninsula alongside Llandudno (to the north) and Rhos-on-Se ...
, leaving the Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
monastery of Conwy on the western bank of the river to our right hand, we arrived at Ruthlan, a noble castle on the river Cloyd, belonging to David, the eldest son of Owen, where, at the earnest invitation of David himself, we were handsomely entertained that night."
In 1194, Dafydd faced a new threat from his nephew,
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth
Llywelyn, Llewelyn or Llewellyn is a name of Welsh language origins. See Llywelyn (name) for the name's etymology, history and other details.
As a surname Arts
*Carmen Llywelyn, American actress and photographer
*Chris Llewellyn (poet), American p ...
, who defeated him at the
battle of Aberconwy
The Battle of Aberconwy or the Battle of the Conwy Estuary was fought in 1194 between the forces of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth and his uncle Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd for control of the Kingdom of Gwynedd.
Llywelyn's victory allowed him to claim the ti ...
with the aid of his cousins, the sons of
Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd
Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd (died 1174) was an illegitimate son of Owain Gwynedd, a Prince of the ancient Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. He held the title "Lord of Meirionnydd".
In the battle for the throne of Gwynedd after the death of his father, he wa ...
, drove him from most of his possessions and imprisoned him in 1197. He was released a year later thanks to the efforts of
Hubert Walter
Hubert Walter ( – 13 July 1205) was an influential royal adviser in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in the positions of Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor. As chancellor, Walter b ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
. Dafydd retired to the
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On 1 ...
, where he died in May 1203. Emme died in or after 1214, when she disappears from the
Pipe Rolls.
References
Sources
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dafydd Ab Owain Gwynedd
12th-century births
1203 deaths
Monarchs of Gwynedd
12th-century Welsh monarchs
Welsh people of Irish descent