obtained the sovereignty of all Wales in 1032, by defeating Hywel ab Edwyn, Prince of Morganwg and South Wales, who fled for protection to Iago ab Idwal, King of Gwynedd. In 1038, Hywel, having succeeded in raising a large force of his own countrymen and of Englishmen, endeavoured to recover his principality, but was totally defeated by Gruffudd, at Pencadair. In 1038 the battle of Llanbadarn was fought between Gruffudd ab Llywelyn and Hywel ab Edwyn, in which Hywel was defeated, and Gruffudd took his wife a prisoner and took her away to Gwynedd; and in 1040 another battle was fought at Pwll Dyfach, between Gruffudd and Hywel, as the latter had a third time attempted, with a large army of Saxons and Danes, to recover his principality. In this battle Hywel was again totally defeated. 1042 Gruffudd was, by stratagem, taken prisoner by Cynan ab Iago ab Idwal, Prince of Gwynedd, who had crossed over from Ireland at the head of a considerable force, but the Irish were defeated and expelled by the Welsh, who recovered their Prince. In this battle Cynan was slain. Among the many stirring incidents of his reign may be noticed the escape of Fleance, the son of Banquo, from Scotland, who found a most hospitable asylum at the court of Gruffudd, which was requited by the most disgraceful conduct on the part of Fleance, for which he was deservedly put to death. In 1043, Hywel ab Edwyn was slain by Gruffudd ab Llywelyn, at the battle of Abertywi, after severe fighting.

In

In 1050, Gruffudd ab Llywelyn invaded England with a large army of Welsh and Irish, and totally defeated the English in a plain near Hereford, and returned with great spoil. In 1057 he again defeated the English under the command of Algar, Earl of Caer Lleon Gawr, and Ranwlph, a Prince of Mercia, near Hereford, and captured the city, not leaving a horse or man alive in it, and took a great spoil, and all their chiefs prisoners.

After many battles, in which he defeated the English and their allies, Gruffudd was treacherously slain by his own subjects in 1064, at the instigation of Harold, and

70

HISTORY OF POWYS FADOG.

Caradawg ab Rhydderch ab Iestyn, lord of Iestyn, son of Owain ab Hywel Dda. It is recorded that Gruffudd was betrayed by Madog Min,' bishop of Bangor, for three hundred head of cattle, which were promised him for his treachery by Harold, King of England. After succeeding in his treachery Harold refused to pay the cattle, upon which "Madog went in a ship towards the town of Dublin, in Ireland, but the ship sank without the loss of any life, except that of Madog Min, and thus the vengeance of God fell on him for his treachery. Gruffudd was succeeded in the Principality of South Wales by Maredudd ab Owain ab Edwyn ab Einion ab Owain ab Hywel Dda, who was slain in 1069 by Caradawg ab Rhydderch ab Iestyn ab Owain ab Hywel Dda, at the battle of Llanfedwy, on the river Elerch, in Morganwg.3 Gruffudd ab Llywelyn ab Seisyllt, left issue two sons, Maredudd and Ithael, and an only daughter and eventual heiress, Angharad, who married Trahaiarn ab Caradawg, lord of Arwystli.

1 Madog Min was the son of Cywryd ab Ednowain Bendew. 2 Williams's Eminent Welshmen.

3 Brut y Tywysogion.

istanu 01 Mun, airu“

f Merwydd ab Collw
, and Gwgawn, and
him with the utmost
1, and joining their f
e English Barons w
ew of Hugh Lupus
and was a nep'
r troops fro
gainst

Or, a lidempant, gules.

CHAPTER III.

IN 1064, Bleddyn ab Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallawn ab Cynfyn, half-brothers of King Gruffudd ab Llywelyn, took the Principality of Powys from the Princes Maredudd and Ithael, the right heirs of Brochwel Ysgythrog, King of Powys, which was contrary to right.' However, in 1068, Maredudd and Ithael led an army against Bleddyn and Rhiwallawn, to regain Gwynedd, which was held from them by the Saxons, through violence; and Bleddyn and Rhiwallawn met them at Mechain, accompanied by a great host of Saxons, for the Saxons inhabited Powys in equal numbers with the Cymru, under their protection, whither they had fled from the intrusion of the Normans; on which account, as the men of Gwynedd with Maredudd and Ithael were not so numerous as the host of Bleddyn and Rhiwallawn, nothing but bravery could support them against double their number. But through deceit and treachery they lost the field; Rhiwallawn was slain on one side, and Ithael ab Gruffydd on the other, and Maredudd was obliged to fly, and Bleddyn pursued after him so closely that he was obliged to fly to the most desert moun

1 Brut y Tywysogion.

tains in Wales, where he perished from hunger and cold.1

2

Bleddyn ab Clog Min,' bishop of I sole monarch of Powys and Gwycattle, which were pro ab Owain ab Edwyn ab Einioold, King of England.Dinefor or South Wales. In 1072ery Harold refused Owain3 ab Edwyn ab Einion, came flog went in a ship, thaw, where he had been concealed, an, but the ship sauk host of the men of Ystrad-Tywi and Bt of Madog Miought a battle with Bleddyn ab Cynfyn, him for his

On the death of BlePrincipaliynfyn in 1072, he was succeeded by his nephew Edwyarn ab Caradawg, Lord of Arwystli. Trahaiarn was the son of Caradoc ab Gwyn ab Collwyn ab Ednowain ab Bleddyn ab Bledrws, Lord of Arwystli, who bore sable, three fleurs de lys argent, son of Ceidio ab Corf ab Cacnog Gawr ab Iorwerth Hirvlawdd. He married, as previously stated, Angharad, the only daughter and eventual heiress (after the deaths of her two brothers, the young Princes Maredudd and Ithael) of Gruffudd ab Llywelyn ab Seisyllt, King of Wales. It appears, however, from the book of the life of Gruffudd ab Cynan, that he shared the principalities of Gwynedd and Powys with Cynwrig ab Rhiwallawn ab Dingad ab Tudor-Trevor, Lord of Maelor Gymraeg, Yr Hôb, and Ystrad Alun, ermine, a lion rampant sable, armed and langued gules.

66

In 1074 Gruffudd ab Cynan ab Iago, the rightful heir of Gwynedd, set sail from Ireland, where he had been brought up, to try to recover the throne of his ancestors, and when the expected time arrived, he, with his friends, set sail for Cambria, and landed in the harbour of Aber Menai, and in that part of Cambria which is called Venedotia (Gwynedd), the government of which country was unjustly and tyrannically carried on by Trahaiarn ab Caradawg, and Cynwrig ab Rhiwallawn, Prince of Powys (Regulus Powisia), which they divided between them.'

1 Brut y Tywysogion.

3 Lewys Dunn, vol. ii, p. 99.

2 Ibid.

4Life of Gruffydd ab Cynan.

From this place Gruffudd sent messengers to the inhabitants of the island of Mon, and to those of Arvon, and the sons of Merwydd ab Collwyn of Lleyn, viz., Asser, Meiriawn, and Gwgawn, and other chiefs, that they should join him with the utmost speed. This summons they obeyed, and joining their forces with those of Robert, one of the English Barons who held Rhuddlan Castle (and a nephew of Hugh Lupus,' who became Earl of Chester in 1070, and was a nephew of William the Conqueror), and other troops from Mon, they suddenly marched into Lleyn against Cynwrig ab Rhiwallawn, who was then staying there, and coming upon him unawares they attacked and slew him, and the greatest part of his friends. This occurred in 1074.

A

Having gained this victory, Gruffudd marched a large army into the Cantref of Meirionydd, where Trahaiarn ab Caradawg, the other Prince, was then staying. battle ensued at a place called, in consequence of the sanguinary nature of the conflict, "Y Gwaed Erw", or the Bloody Acre, in which Trahaiarn was defeated with great loss, and a thousand of his men slain. After this, Gruffudd attacked the combined forces, cavalry and infantry, of the Normans at Rhuddlan Castle, and totally defeated the Baron Robert, the Castellan, and took a great spoil. Soon after this the three sons of Merwydd ab Collwyn2 ab Tangno, and all the men of Lleyn, re

1 Hugh Lupus, bore azure, a wolf's head, erased argent. His son, Richard, who became Earl of Chester in 1103, bore gules, crusilly, or, a wolf's head erased argent.

2 Collwyn ab Tangno ab Cadfael, was Lord of Eivionydd, Ardudwy in the Cantref of Dunodig and part of Lleyn, and chief of one of the Noble Tribes. He lived for some time at Bronwen's Tower, at Harddlech, whence it was called Caer Collwyn, and bore sable, a chevron inter three fleurs-de-lys argent. From him descended the families of Ellis of Bron y Foel Ystyn llyn; John Wynn of Gwyn Vryn in Llanystundwy, whose daughter and heiress, Mary, married David Ellis of Bod Ychan, Esq., now represented by Owen Jones Ellis Nanney of Cefn Deuddwr and Gwyn Vryn, Esquire; Gruffudd ab John Wynn of Pen y Berth in Lleyn; Wynn of Pennarth in Llanarmon in Eivionydd; Bodvel of Bodvel in Lleyn; Thomas Madryn of Madryn, in Lleyn, Esq., whose daughter and co-heir Margaret,