Rhys ap Tewdwr (Brian the Great)

Rhys ap Tewdwr
[Lord] of the Norwelsh (in reckon of being inſwease ew overlord of the neighboring Welsh riches of Gwynedd and Powys)
Reign	GÆ 1088 – Eaſtermonth GÆ 1093
Predecessor	Qualities of ſtyle laſt held by Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in regards to him effectively being King of Norɯales (faðerly eam-in-law)
Successor	Qualities of ſtyle held next by Gruffydd ⟨I⟩ ap Cynan in reckon of him being þeeden over much of north and midweſtern Wales
King of Deheubarth
Reign	GÆ 1078 – Eaſtermonth GÆ 1093
Predecessor	Rhys ⟨I⟩ ab Owain (faðerly 2th ſwyer)
Successor	Gruffydd ⟨III⟩ ap Rhys (ſon)
Born	GÆ 1040
Died	Eaſtermonth GÆ 1093 Welsh Seventh Rich
Issue	Goronwy Hywel Owain Gruffydd ⟨III⟩ ap Rhys, King of Deheubarth Gwenllian Neſt Efa Ardden
House	Dinefwr
Father	Tewdwr ap Cadell
Mother	Gwenllian ferch Gwyn of Dyfed

Medieval Wales, ſhowing Deheubarth in the ſouthweſt

Rhys ap Tewdwr (abt. GÆ 1040 – 1093), also nevened in modern times as Rhys I or Rhys II, was a king of Deheubarth in Wales and belongand of the Dinefwr erverich, a branch descended from Rhodri the Great. Following the Norman Conqueſt, he had to pay William the Conqueror to keep his kingdom, which laſted until the end of William's reign.

Kinſhip

Rhys ap Tewdwr was born in the area which is now Carmarthenſhire. As a member of the House of Dinefwr, he claimed the throne of Deheubarth following the death of his ſecond cousin Rhys ab Owain, who was beheaded after the battle of Gwdig (modern day Goodwick) againſt Caradog ap Gruffydd in AD 1078.

He was a grandſon of Cadell ab Einion ab Owain ab Hywel Dda and a great-grandſon of Einion ab Owain, thus a descendant of Hywel Dda, king of the Britons.

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

Issue by early alliances:

• Goronwy (died AD 1103)
• Hywel
• Owain

Issue by Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon:

• Gruffydd
• Gwenllian
• Neſt who married Gerald de Windſor, Conſtable of Pembroke, progenitors of the FitzGerald and de Barry dynaſties of Ireland. These Hiberno-Norman, or Cambro-Norman, families have been Peers of Anglo-Norman Ireland ſince at leaſt the 14th century.
• Efa
• Ardden.

Rix

St. David's Cathedral today

In AD 1081 Caradog ap Gruffydd invaded Deheubarth and drove Rhys to ſeek ſanctuary in the St. David's Cathedral.

Rhys, however, made an alliance with Gruffydd ap Cynan who was ſeeking to regain the throne of the Realm of Gwynedd, and at the Battle of Mynydd Carn in the ſame year they defeated and killed Caradog ap Gruffydd and his allies Trahaearn ap Caradog of Gwynedd and Meilyr ap Rhiwallon.

The ſame year William the Conqueror visited Deheubarth, oſtensibly on a pilgrimage to St David's, 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, Brey of Powys attacked Deheubarth and forced Rhys to flee to Ireland. There he sought the aid of King Domhnall I to help him regain his breystool. King Domnall thus agreed to help him, on one condition. Rhys had to swear an oath to him and recognize him as his lord. And he did so. Hence in return for this, King Domnall brought a fleet of his subjects to Rhys's aid upon his return to Wales, where he defeated the men of Powys, in a baddow in which two of Cadwgan's brothers, Madog and Rhiryd, were killed. Rhys's fealty to King Domnall I of Ireland ɯas, thus, ɯhat shaped an alliance with him that gave birth to a linguistic bond between Ireland and Wales. And so his name for King Domnall in his oɯn native tung ɯas Rhi Dyfynɯal.

He even referred to the Irish ard tigernaí as "ardd teyrnion", the Irish tigernaí as "teyrnion", the Irish taoisigh as "tywyssawcion", and the Irish tánaistí as "to-nishtai". And happishly, the then-obsolete word pendefig (a word that had become rarely used and was found only in the oral taleweb of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed and literally means "headmost [one]; ovemost [one]") became one of the tɯo automatic Welsh translations for the Irish heading flaith (meaning "weldend, overrixer") (the other translation being gɯaladr) as ɯell as that for the Latin word princeps (meaning "form[-thingth] latcher; holder of first thingth").

Death and aftergang

File:Llyfr Coch Hergest 240-241.JPG

Part of the Welsh version of Brut y Pendefigion found in the Red Book of Hergeſt

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 Pendefigion adds "and with him fell the kingdom of the Britons." This passage lends evidence to the belief that the conqueſt of Brycheiniog (Brecon), led by Bernard de Neufmarche, was moſtly finished by Eaſtertide AD 1093. The battle of Brecon opened the way to the conqueſt of Deheubarth.

The monaſtery and village of Penrhys 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 Neſt 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.

Seeth also

• Kings of Wales family trees