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Rhodri ap Gruffudd (or Prince Rhodri or Roderick Fitz Griffin) (c. 1230 – c. 1315) was the third or fourth son of
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr Gruffudd or Gruffydd ( or , in either case) is a Welsh name, originating in Old Welsh as a given name and today used as both a given and surname. It is the origin of the Anglicised name '' Griffith[s]'', and was historically sometimes trea ...
. He was the younger brother of both
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 ...
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 ...
,
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 ...
) and of
Owain Goch ap Gruffydd Owain ap Gruffudd (also known as ''Owain Goch'' wain the Red (died 1282) was brother to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Dafydd ap Gruffudd and, for a brief period in the late 1240s and early 1250s, ruler of part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd (in modern-day n ...
. He was probably the younger brother 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 ...
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 ...
but may have been the older as there are no accurate records of their birth dates.


History

Rhodri was born in the early 1230s. His father was Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, the illegitimate but eldest son of
Llywelyn the Great Llywelyn the Great ( cy, Llywelyn Fawr, ; full name Llywelyn mab Iorwerth; c. 117311 April 1240) was a King of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually " Prince of the Welsh" (in 1228) and "Prince of Wales" (in 1240). By a combination of war and d ...
, and his mother was Senena ferch Caradog. Little is known about his early life except that on his grandfather's death in 1240 his uncle
Dafydd ap Llywelyn Dafydd ap Llywelyn (''c.'' March 1212 – 25 February 1246) was Prince of Gwynedd from 1240 to 1246. He was the first ruler in Wales to claim the title Prince of Wales. Birth and descent Though birth years of 1208, 1206, and 1215 have ...
(his father's younger, but legitimate, half brother) inherited the throne and immediately imprisoned his father, thus disinheriting him. Gruffudd was subsequently relinquished by Dafydd under the terms of the
Treaty of Gwerneigron The Treaty of Gwerneigron was a peace treaty signed by Henry III, king of England and Dafydd ap Llywelyn, prince of Wales of the House of Gwynedd, on 29 August 1241. The treaty brought to an end Henry's invasion of Wales begun earlier that month. ...
following Henry III's invasion of 1241, and taken to London as a hostage where he died in 1244 during a failed attempt to escape from the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
. Also in 1241, Rhodri along with his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd were sent as hostages to King Henry. Dafydd ap Llywelyn seized the opportunity to wage war against Henry, defeating him in battle in the summer of 1245 during Henry's second invasion of Wales. In February 1246 Dafydd died without legitimate male heirs, and the throne was inherited under
Welsh Law Welsh law ( cy, Cyfraith Cymru) is an autonomous part of the English law system composed of legislation made by the Senedd.Law Society of England and Wales (2019)England and Wales: A World Jurisdiction of Choice eport(Link accessed: 16 March 2022 ...
by the four sons of the now dead Gruffudd. A massive struggle ensued between them all but by the 1250s Rhodri's elder brother Llywelyn had consolidated his position as prince and successfully excluded the other siblings from power. Rhodri alone appears to have avoided getting involved in the fighting and by 1272 had agreed to sell his inheritance rights to Llywelyn. It is possible that to enforce this sale that he became Llywelyn's Penteulu, which under Welsh law would mean that he took himself out of the line of succession. By 1282 (and possibly even earlier) Rhodri had come into the possession of the manor of Bidfield in Gloucestershire. He married into a noble Cheshire family and acquired property there through his wife, Beatrice de Malpas. Some sources claim that on her death he married one Catherine and by ''c.'' 1309 had acquired the manor of Tatsfield in Surrey. Rhodri died ''c.'' 1315. As the only surviving brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd after 1283 he would have been regarded by many as a legitimate claimant to the throne of Gwynedd, and therefore also to the title Prince of Wales. He is reputed to have had at least one son, Thomas ap Rhodri (by Catherine), who was the father to
Owain Lawgoch Owain Lawgoch ( en, Owain of the Red Hand, french: Yvain de Galles), full name Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri (July 1378), was a Welsh soldier who served in Lombardy, France, Alsace, and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French agai ...
and a daughter, Katherine, who married into the
De La Pole The surname Pole usually derives from "Pool", a person associated with a body of water. The Welsh ''de la Pole''s descended from Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn take their name from the previous association with the place Welshpool. The link between the kn ...
family.


Tatsfield Manor

Academic research by Professor Anthony Carr indicated that the manor of
Tatsfield Tatsfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is located 3.3 miles north west of Westerham and 3.9 miles north east of Oxted, and is adjacent to the Surrey border with both Greater London and Kent. Geog ...
in
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
was in the possession of Rhodri ap Gruffudd and his descendants during the 14th century. Rhodri’s son, Thomas ap Rhodri, and his grandson, Owain ap Thomas (
Owain Lawgoch Owain Lawgoch ( en, Owain of the Red Hand, french: Yvain de Galles), full name Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri (July 1378), was a Welsh soldier who served in Lombardy, France, Alsace, and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French agai ...
), may have been born in Tatsfield. Owain Lawgoch eventually became one of France’s leading mercenary captains fighting against the English during the 1360s and 1370s and was eventually assassinated in 1378 under the orders of the English Crown because of the threat he presented to the political stability of Wales after he declared himself Prince of Wales. Documentary sources suggested Tatsfield manor house was demolished in 1801. However, the investigations revealed that Thomas had borrowed money to build a new house during the 1320s and that his house and associated complex had been systematically dismantled at the end of the 14th century, most probably under the orders of the English Crown and in a very similar fashion to the way such ''llys'' or palace complexes were removed by
Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
in Wales.


References


Bibliography

*''"The end of The House of Gwynedd: Excavation of a Medieval Welsh Manor Complex in Tatsfield, Surrey"'' by Spencer Smith {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodri Ap Gruffudd Welsh royalty 1230s births 1310s deaths