Llywelyn ap Seisyll

Llywelyn ap Seisyll (died 1023) was an 11th-century King 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 o ...

. Llywelyn was the son of Seisyll, a man of whom little is known. Llewelyn first appears on record in 1018, the year he defeated and killed

Aeddan ap Blegywryd Aeddan ap Blegywryd (died 1018) was a King of Gwynedd in medieval Wales. He became ruler in 1005 but the circumstances of his accession are unclear as he does not seem to have been closely related to his predecessor, Cynan ap Hywel. Aeddan ap Ble ...

, along with four of his sons and obtained Gwynedd and Powys. In 1022, a man named

Rhain the Irishman Rhain was an 11th-century king of Dyfed. It is unclear when his reign began. He claimed to be the son of Maredudd ab Owain and was apparently accepted as such by the people of Dyfed and the anonymous author of the C text of the ''Annals of Wales' ...

was made king of Deheubarth; he claimed to be a son 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 ...

, whose daughter Angharad had married Llywelyn. Llywelyn made war against Rhain, they fought a battle at

Abergwili Abergwili () is a village and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, near the confluence of the rivers Towy and Gwili, close to the town of Carmarthen. It is also an electoral ward. The community includes the settlements of Peniel, Llanfihangel- ...

in 1022, and, after a “slaughter on both sides”, Rhain was killed, allowing Llywelyn to take control of Deheubarth. Llywelyn, after his success against Rhain, died in 1023. 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 ...

'' portrays Llywelyn's reign as one of prosperity saying “complete in abundance of wealth and inhabitants; so that it was supposed there was neither poor nor destitute in all his territories, nor an empty hamlet, nor any deficiency.” Llywelyn was called "King of the Britons" by the

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...

. Llywelyn's son, Gruffydd;, did not succeed his father, possibly because he was too young to do so. Gruffydd went on to become the first and only true

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 ...

(the only one to rule over all the territory), however, he was killed by his own men in 1063. Gruffydd's own sons Maredudd and Idwal died in 1069, fighting at the

Battle of Mechain The Battle of Mechain was fought in Powys, Wales, in 1070, for rule of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys. A written account is included in the ''Brut y Tywysogion'', the medieval Welsh chronicle of the princes. It is also referred to in ...

. As Llewelyn's grandfather is not known some scholars have said it was a man named Ednowain or Owain, others Rhodri. although a Seisyll son of Llywelyn of Buellt is mentioned in a tract of the Jesus College Ms.20 as a son of Ellelw daughter of a man named Elidir ap Llywarch of which Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and Llywelyn ap Seisyll are named in the latter part possibly implying Seisyll's father was a man named Llywelyn from Buellt and due to the connection of the family of Tegonwy ap Teon to said area e.g. the Iorwerthion it is plausible this Llywelyn is Llywelyn O'r Trallwng.

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