Rhys ap Tewdwr (c. 1040 – 1093) was a king of

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 ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and member of the Dinefwr dynasty, a branch descended from

Rhodri the Great Rhodri ap Merfyn ( 820 – 873/877/878), popularly known as Rhodri the Great ( cy, Rhodri Mawr), succeeded his father, Merfyn Frych, as King of Gwynedd in 844. Rhodri annexed Powys c. 856 and Seisyllwg c. 871. He is called " King of the Brito ...

. He was born in the area which is now

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

and died at the battle of

Brecon Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...

in April 1093.

Family

Rhys ap Tewdwr, a member of the

House of Dinefwr The Royal House of Dinefwr was a cadet branch of the Royal House of Gwynedd, founded by King Cadell ap Rhodri (reign 872–909), son of Rhodri the Great. Their ancestor, Cunedda Wledig, born in late Roman Britain, was a Sub-Roman warlord who ...

, claimed the throne of

following the death of his second cousin

Rhys ab Owain Rhys ab Owain (died 1078) was a king of Deheubarth in southern Wales. Rhys was the son of Owain ab Edwin of the line of Hywel Dda, and member of the Dinefwr dynasty. He followed his brother Maredudd as king of Deheubarth in 1072. Together with ...

, who was beheaded after the battle of Gwdig (modern day

Goodwick Goodwick (; cy, Wdig) is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, immediately west of its twin town of Fishguard. Fishguard and Goodwick form a community that wraps around Fishguard Bay. As well as the two towns, it consists of Dyffryn, Stop-and ...

) against

Caradog ap Gruffydd Caradog ap Gruffydd (died 1081) was a Prince of Gwent in south-east Wales in the time of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and the Norman conquest, who reunified his family's inheritance of Morgannwg and made repeated attempts to reunite southern Wales ...

in 1078. He was a grandson of Cadell ab Einion ab Owain ab

Hywel Dda Hywel Dda, sometimes anglicised as Howel the Good, or Hywel ap Cadell (died 949/950) was a king of Deheubarth who eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubarth ...

and a great-grandson of Einion ab Owain, thus a descendant of

king of the Britons The title King of the Britons ( cy, Brenin y Brythoniaid, la, Rex Britannorum) was used (often retrospectively) to refer to the most powerful ruler among the Celtic Britons, both before and after the period of Roman Britain up until the Norma ...

. He married more than once. His first wife was Catrin (or Gwladus) verch Iestyn (b. 1041 in Powys). The name of his last wife was Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon, daughter of

Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn () was an 11th-century Welsh King and co-ruler of the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys from 1063 to 1070.Pierce, T. J., (1959). RHIWALLON ap CYNFYN (died 1070), king of Powys. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 23 Aug 2020, ...

of the Mathrafal Dynasty of

Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...

. Issue by early alliances: * Goronwy (died 1103) * Hywel * Owain Issue by Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon: * Gruffydd * Gwellian *

Nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

who married

Gerald de Windsor Gerald de Windsor (1075 – 1135), ''alias'' Gerald FitzWalter, was an Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman lord who was the first Castellan of Pembroke Castle in Pembrokeshire (formerly part of the Kingdom of Deheubarth). Son of the first Constable of Wi ...

Constable of Pembroke A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

progenitor In genealogy, the progenitor (rarer: primogenitor; german: Stammvater or ''Ahnherr'') is the – sometimes legendary – founder of a family, line of descent, clan or tribe, noble house, or ethnic group.. Ebenda''Ahnherr:''"Stammvater eines G ...

s of the

FitzGerald The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

and

de Barry The de Barry family is a noble family of Cambro-Norman origins which held extensive land holdings in Wales and Ireland. The founder of the family was a Norman Knight, Odo, who assisted in the Norman Conquest of England during the 11th century. ...

dynasties of

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 ...

. These

Hiberno-Norman From the 12th century onwards, a group of Normans invaded and settled in Gaelic Ireland. These settlers later became known as Norman Irish or Hiberno-Normans. They originated mainly among Cambro-Norman families in Wales and Anglo-Normans from ...

, or

Cambro-Norman Cambro-Normans ( la, Cambria; "Wales", cy, Normaniaid Cymreig; nrf, Nouormands Galles) were Normans who settled in South Wales, southern Wales, and the Welsh Marches, after the Norman invasion of Wales, allied with their counterpart families ...

, families have been Peers of Ireland since at least the 14th century. * Efa * Ardden.

Rule

In 1081

invaded

and drove Rhys to seek sanctuary in the St David's Cathedral. Rhys, however, made an alliance with

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 ...

who was seeking to regain the throne of 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 ...

, and at the

Battle of Mynydd Carn The Battle of Mynydd Carn took place in 1081, as part of a dynastic struggle for control of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd and Deheubarth. The result of the battle had a radical effect on the history of Wales. The battle is recorded in the near ...

in the same year they defeated and killed

and his allies

Trahaearn ap Caradog Trahaearn ap Caradog (1044 – 1081) was a King of Gwynedd. Trahaearn was a son of Caradog ap Gwyn, ruler of Arwystli (in the south of present-day Montgomeryshire, Wales), a small state, on the south-western border between Gwynedd and Powys. H ...

of Gwynedd and Meilyr ap Rhiwallon. The same year

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

visited

, ostensibly on a pilgrimage to

St David's St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, Wa ...

, but with a major show of power as well, traversing the width of southern Wales, and it seems likely he came to an arrangement with Rhys, whereby Rhys paid him homage and was confirmed in possession of Deheubarth. Rhys paid William £40 a year for his kingdom, ensuring good future relations with William that lasted until the end of William's lifetime. Rhys was content with the arrangement as it meant that he had to deal only with the jealousy of his fellow Welsh princes. In 1088

Cadwgan ap Bleddyn Cadwgan ap Bleddyn (1051–1111) was a prince of the Kingdom of Powys ( cy, Teyrnas Powys) in north eastern Wales. Cadwgan (possibly born 1060) was the second son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn who was king of both Kingdom of Powys and Gwynedd. The Anglo ...

attacked Deheubarth and forced Rhys to flee to

. However, Rhys returned later the same year with a fleet from

and defeated the men of Powys, in a battle in which two of Cadwgan's brothers, Madog and Rhiryd, were killed. The

Chronicle of the Princes ''Brut y Tywysogion'' ( en, Chronicle of the Princes) is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. ''Bru ...

claims that Cedifor ap Gollwyn, a man who traced his ancestry to the original kings of

Dyfed Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed was also the name of the area's county council and the name remains in use f ...

(since the start of the previous century, the usual rulers of Deheubarth had descended from an invader,

Cadell ap Rhodri Cadell ap Rhodri (854–909) was King of Seisyllwg, a minor kingdom in southwestern Wales, from about 872 until his death. Life Cadell was the second son of King Rhodri the Great of Gwynedd and Angharad, a princess from Seisyllwg. In 872 Anghar ...

)), commanded substantial authority in Dyfed. When Cedifor died in 1091, his sons demanded that Rhys surrender the throne to Gruffudd ap Maredudd, the son of a former king of Deheubarth (and the nephew of Rhys' predecessor).Dr. K. L. Maund, ''Ireland, Wales, and England in the Eleventh Century'', 1991, page 149 This triggered a revolt, but Rhys was able to defeat the rebels in a battle at St. Dogmaels, killing Gruffudd.

Death and succession

Rhys was unable to withstand the increasing Norman pressure. The Welsh ''Bruts'' (chronicles) state that "Rhys ap Tewdwr, king of Deheubarth, was slain by the Frenchmen who were inhabiting Brycheiniog." The ''

Brut y Tywysogion ''Brut y Tywysogion'' ( en, Chronicle of the Princes) is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. ''Bru ...

'' adds "and with him fell the kingdom of the Britons." This passage lends evidence to the belief that the conquest of Brycheiniog (

), led by

Bernard de Neufmarche Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

, was mostly finished by Eastertide 1093. The battle of Brecon opened the way to the conquest of Deheubarth. The monastery and village of

Penrhys Penrhys is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated on a hillside overlooking both valleys of Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach. It is situated around 1,100 ft above sea level and is a district of Tylorstown. Until th ...

in Rhondda Cynon Taff is said to be named for Rhys, as he was beheaded at the site by Norman forces. The village was originally named, ''Pen-Rhys ap Tewdwr'' (English: Rhys ap Tewdwr's Head). Upon Rhys's death, the Normans seized much of south Wales, and there was fighting over the spoils with the chieftains of Powys and Gwynedd. Eventually, Rhys's eldest son, Gruffydd, was allowed to inherit a small portion of his father's kingdom. Rhys's daughter

was briefly one of the numerous concubines of Henry I, to whom she bore a son, and thereafter the wife of Gerald FitzWalter of Pembroke; their sons and grandsons, the FitzGerald conquerors of Ireland, were known collectively as the "sons of Nest". Through his son Gruffydd, Rhys was an ancestor of the Tudor dynasty.

Ancestry

Footnotes

References

*The Welsh Academy

Encyclopaedia of Wales The ''Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales'', published in January 2008, is a single-volume-publication encyclopaedia about Wales. The Welsh-language edition, entitled ''Gwyddoniadur Cymru'' is regarded as the most ambitious encyclopaedic work ...