Gower was an ancient

marcher lordship A Marcher lord () was a noble appointed by the king of England to guard the border (known as the Welsh Marches) between England and Wales. A Marcher lord was the English equivalent of a margrave (in the Holy Roman Empire) or a marquis (in Fran ...

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 ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

Creation of Lordship

Prior to the

Norman invasion The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

, the district was the

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 ...

of Gŵyr, a part of

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 ...

Eginawc, within the realm of

. Over the preceding century, Deheubarth had been contested between the heirs of

Maredudd ab Owain Maredudd ab Owain (died ) was a 10th-century king in Wales of the High Middle Ages. A member of the House of Dinefwr, his patrimony was the kingdom of Deheubarth comprising the southern realms of Dyfed, Ceredigion, and Brycheiniog. Upon the d ...

's brother Einion (such as

Rhys ap Tewdwr Rhys ap Tewdwr (c. 1040 – 1093) was a king of Deheubarth in Wales and member of the Dinefwr dynasty, a branch descended from Rhodri the Great. He was born in the area which is now Carmarthenshire and died at the battle of Brecon in April 10 ...

), those of his daughter Angharad (such as

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Gruffydd ap Llywelyn ( 5 August 1063) was King of Wales from 1055 to 1063. He had previously been King of Gwynedd and Powys in 1039. He was the son of King Llywelyn ap Seisyll and Angharad daughter of Maredudd ab Owain, and the great-gre ...

), and the rulers of

Morgannwg Morgannwg was a medieval Welsh kingdom formed via the merger of the kingdoms of the Kingdom of Glywysing and the Kingdom of Gwent. Formation of Morgannwg First under King Morgan the Generous (fl. ) until the end of the reign of his descendant I ...

. Gruffydd was the only person to ever have been

King of Wales King of Wales was a rarely used title, because Wales, much like Ireland, rarely achieved a degree of political unity like that of England or Scotland during the Middle Ages. While many different leaders in Wales claimed the title of "King of Wale ...

. In 1088, the sons of

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn Bleddyn ap Cynfyn ( owl, Bledẏnt uab Kẏnỽẏn; AD 1075), sometimes spelled Blethyn, was an 11th-century list of rulers of Wales, Welsh king. Harold Godwinson and Tostig Godwinson installed him and his brother, Rhiwallon ap Cynf ...

, Gruffydd's half-brother, attacked Deheubarth, which was then ruled by Rhys ap Tewdwr. Though Rhys eventually recovered his position, with Irish assistance, he later overstretched himself attacking Gruffydd's son-in-law's son-in-law,

Bernard de Neufmarché Bernard de Neufmarché (), also Bernard of Newmarket or Bernard of Newmarch was the first of the Norman conquerors of Wales. He was a minor Norman lord who rose to power in the Welsh Marches before successfully undertaking the invasion and con ...

, who had now established himself as Lord of Brecknock; Rhys was killed in the battle. Following the death of

William Rufus William II ( xno, Williame; – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third so ...

, in 1100, the throne was contested between King Henry I (based in England), and his elder brother

Robert Curthose Robert Curthose, or Robert II of Normandy ( 1051 – 3 February 1134, french: Robert Courteheuse / Robert II de Normandie), was the eldest son of William the Conqueror and succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 1087, reigning until 1106. ...

(based in Normandy). In 1102,

Robert of Bellême The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

launched an invasion against Henry, in support of Curthose; the surviving sons of Bleddyn provided support to Bellême's invasion. Henry, however, persuaded Bleddyn's son Iorwerth to change sides, by gifts, and the insinuation that Iorwerth would be given Norman backing to rule Eginawc; this is one of the reasons the invasion failed. However, King Henry I instead granted Eginawc to , a leading member of the army of Iorwerth's brother,

Cadwgan Cadwgan is a Welsh people, Welsh given name, meaning "battle glory" (from ''cad'' "battle" and ''gwogawn'' "glory"). The name occurs in the Mabinogion as the son of Iddon. The name Cadogan (disambiguation), Cadogan is derived from it. Bearers of t ...

. Though Hywel originated in

Maelienydd Maelienydd, sometimes spelt Maeliennydd, was a cantref and lordship in east central Wales covering the area from the River Teme to Radnor Forest and the area around Llandrindod Wells. The area, which is mainly upland, is now in Powys. During the M ...

as a descendant of

Elystan Glodrydd Elystan Glodrydd (or, occasionally, Elstan Glodrydd; died 1010), also known as "Æthelstan the Famous" and "The Renowned," was, according to Welsh genealogical tracts, the founder of the fifth Royal Tribe of Wales. He was the Prince of Buellt, ...

, (supposedly his great-grandson Jesus College Manuscript 20), he also had the highly advantageous quality that he was the grandson of Angharad, the maternal granddaughter of Maredudd ab Owain (as well as, supposedly, being a descendant of Tudwal the Lame). In 1106, following Hywel's murder, King Henry I split Eginawc, granting the lordship of Gower to

Henry de Beaumont Henry de Beaumont (before 1280 – 10 March 1340), ''jure uxoris'' 4th Earl of Buchan and ''suo jure'' 1st Baron Beaumont, was a key figure in the Anglo-Scots wars of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, known as the Wars of Scottish Inde ...

, the man who had persuaded the barons to accept Henry (rather than Robert Curthose) as successor to

; the Lordship of

Kidwelly Kidwelly ( cy, Cydweli) is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, southwest Wales, approximately northwest of the most populous town in the county, Llanelli. In the 2001 census the community of Kidwelly returned a population of 3,289, inc ...

was given to Bishop

Roger of Salisbury Roger of Salisbury (died 1139), was a Norman medieval bishop of Salisbury and the seventh Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of England. Life Roger was originally priest of a small chapel near Caen in Normandy. He was called "Roger, priest of the ch ...

, at that time a deeply trusted ally. Henry de Beaumont built

Swansea Castle Swansea Castle (Welsh: ''Castell Abertawe'') is located in the city centre of Swansea, Wales, UK. It was founded by Henry de Beaumont in 1107''Medieval Secular Monuments – The Early Castles from the Norman Conquest to 1217'', page 29. as the '' ...

, to serve as the base of the Lordship. Soon afterwards, the southern part of the Gower peninsula was colonised by English speakers, and was formally divided into Welsh Gower and English Gower.

Physical description

The Lordship consisted of the country bounded by the rivers

Loughor Loughor () ( cy, Casllwchwr) is a Welsh town in the City and County of Swansea, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Loughor. The town has a community (Wales), ...

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

, Twrch and

Tawe The River Tawe (; cy, Afon Tawe ) is a long river in South Wales. Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Moel Feity in the Black Mountains, the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National ...

. Its ''

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