Owain ap Dafydd ( – ), potential claimant to the title Prince of Gwynedd, was the younger son of

Dafydd ap Gruffydd Dafydd ap Gruffydd (11 July 1238 – 3 October 1283) was Prince of Wales from 11 December 1282 until his execution on 3 October 1283 on the orders of King Edward I of England. He was the last native Prince of Wales before the conquest of Wa ...

, the last free ruler of Gwynedd and the self-proclaimed

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

. Nothing is known of his early life, though it is thought likely he accompanied his father during periods of exile in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 1270s. His mother was Elizabeth Ferrers. After the death of his uncle

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1223 – 11 December 1282), sometimes written as Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, also known as Llywelyn the Last ( cy, Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf, lit=Llywelyn, Our Last Leader), was the native Prince of Wales ( la, Princeps Wall ...

in late 1282, the governance of Gwynedd was assumed by his father Dafydd ap Gruffudd. He and his father were captured together, after a brief struggle, close to Bera Mawr, above Bethesda on 21 or 22 June 1283. Shortly after this, Dafydd was brought to Shrewsbury where he was executed for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

in October. Following the arrest of his elder brother Llywelyn on 29 June, they were both escorted under guard out of Gwynedd via Acton Burnell to

Bristol Castle Bristol Castle was a Norman castle built for the defence of Bristol. Remains can be seen today in Castle Park near the Broadmead Shopping Centre, including the sally port. Built during the reign of William the Conqueror, and later owned by Ro ...

. Llywelyn died in 1287 while Owain was last reported to be alive in 1325 when he would have been in his fifties. During much of his captivity at Bristol – and it must be assumed he received the same treatment, or worse, as his brother – he was kept in a cage at night to ensure there was no means of escape. An order from King Edward I to the Constable of Bristol Castle, datedOctober 1305, states:

As the King wills that Owain son of Dafydd ap Gruffudd, who is in the Constable’s custody in the castle, should be kept more securely than he has been previously, he orders the Constable to cause a strong house within the castle to be repaired as soon as possible, and to make a wooden cage bound with iron in that house in which Owain might be enclosed at night.

The exact date and circumstances of his death are not known.

References

* J. Beverley Smith, ''Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales'' (Cardiff, 1998) * Accounts of Bristol Castle, xxx, xxxii–iii, 17, 26–7, 46, 66, 90, 91 House of Cunedda 1265 births 1325 deaths Welsh royalty Welsh people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention {{Wales-bio-stub