Bleddyn ap Cynfyn
Encyclopedia
Bleddyn ap Cynfyn was a Prince of the Welsh Kingdoms of Gwynedd
and of Powys.
ferch Maredudd
(of the Dinefwr
dynasty of Deheubarth) with her second husband Cynfyn ap Gwerstan
, a Powys
Lord, about whom little is now known. He may have been son of an English Saxon - the name has been postulated as being derived from Werestan.
His mother Angharad was previously widow of Llywelyn ap Seisyll
and also mother of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn.
(d. 1111).
was killed by his own men after being defeated by the Saxon
Harold Godwinson
in 1063, his realm was divided among several Welsh Princes. Bleddyn and his brother Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn
, as half brothers to Gruffydd, succeeded to his lands but first as vassals and allies of the Saxon King of England, Edward the Confessor
and then submitted to Harold and from him received Gwynedd and Powys.
In 1067 Bleddyn and Rhiwallon joined with the Mercia
n Eadric the Wild
in an attack on the Normans
at Hereford
, ravaged the lands as far as the River Lugg
then in 1068 allied with Earl Edwin of Mercia and Earl Morcar of Northumbria
in another attack on the Normans.
, but defeated them at the battle of Mechain
in 1070, one being killed and the other dying of exposure after the battle. Bleddyn's brother Rhiwallon was also killed in this battle, Bleddyn emerging as the only one of the four to survive the bloody encounter and he ruled Gwynedd and Powys alone until his death.
In 1073 Robert of Rhuddlan
stealthily established his forces on the banks of the River Clwyd
and attempted to ambush and capture Bleddyn, narrowly failing but seizing valuable booty from the raids further south.
of Deheubarth and the nobility of Ystrad Tywi in South Wales, a killing which caused much shock throughout Wales.
When Rhys ab Owain was defeated in arms at the Battle of Goodwick and forced to become a fugitive by Bleddyn's cousin and successor as King of Gwynedd, Trahaearn ap Caradog
in 1078 and killed by Caradog ap Gruffydd
of Gwent shortly afterwards, this was hailed as "vengeance for the blood of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn".
Bleddyn is said in the Brut y Tywysogion
to have been a benevolent ruler:
and
in the version used in Gwynedd. After his death Gwynedd was seized by Trahaearn ap Caradog
and later recovered for the line of Rhodri the Great
by Gruffydd ap Cynan
, but in Powys Bleddyn was the founder of a dynasty which lasted until the end of the 13th century.
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
and of Powys.
Lineage
Bleddyn was the son of Princess AngharadAngharad
Angharad is a popular Welsh name, having a long association with Welsh royalty, history and myth. It translates to .-Mythology:Angharad, also sometimes known as Angharad Golden-Hand, is the lover of Peredur in the Welsh myth cycle The Mabinogion. In some versions of the story, Peredur meets her...
ferch Maredudd
Maredudd ab Owain
Maredudd ab Owain was a King of Deheubarth, and through conquest also of Gwynedd and Powys, kingdoms in medieval Wales.Maredudd was the son of Owain ap Hywel and the grandson of Hywel Dda. His father was king of Deheubarth before him. As Owain grew too old to lead in battle his son Maredudd took...
(of the Dinefwr
Dinefwr
Dinefwr was a local government district of Dyfed, Wales from 1974 to 1996. It was named after Dinefwr Castle which was the royal capital of the Principality of Deheubarth and one of the three principal royal courts of Wales....
dynasty of Deheubarth) with her second husband Cynfyn ap Gwerstan
Cynfyn ap Gwerstan
Cynfyn ap Gwerstan , also known as Cynfyn of Powys, was a royal figure in the Kingdom of Powys.He married Angharad, daughter of Maredudd ab Owain.He was the father of Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn and Bleddyn ap Cynfyn.-References:...
, a Powys
Powys
Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
Lord, about whom little is now known. He may have been son of an English Saxon - the name has been postulated as being derived from Werestan.
His mother Angharad was previously widow of Llywelyn ap Seisyll
Llywelyn ap Seisyll
Llywelyn ap Seisyll was a King of Gwynedd and of Deheubarth in north-west and south-west Wales, also called King of the Britons by the Annals of Ulster. Also called Llywelyn ap Seisyllt- Lineage :...
and also mother of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn.
Marriage
Bleddyn married Haer, daughter of "Cillin ap Yplaidd" Rohaid, Lord of Gest in Eifionydd. Their children included Iorwerth ap BleddynIorwerth ap Bleddyn
Iorwerth ap Bleddyn was a prince of Powys in eastern Wales.Iorwerth was the son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn who was king of both Powys and Gwynedd. When Bleddyn was killed in 1075, Powys was divided between his three of his sons, Iorwerth, Cadwgan and Maredudd.Iorwerth, Cadwgan and Maredudd held their...
(d. 1111).
Submission to Harold Godwinson and reward
When Gruffydd ap LlywelynGruffydd ap Llywelyn
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, the only Welsh monarch able to make this boast...
was killed by his own men after being defeated by the Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...
in 1063, his realm was divided among several Welsh Princes. Bleddyn and his brother Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn
Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn
Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn was a Welsh prince, the son of Cynfyn ap Gwerstan. On the downfall of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1063 he received North Wales on condition of faithfully serving Edward the Confessor ‘everywhere by water and by land.’ As the son of Angharad, daughter of Maredudd ab Owain ap Hywel...
, as half brothers to Gruffydd, succeeded to his lands but first as vassals and allies of the Saxon King of England, Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
and then submitted to Harold and from him received Gwynedd and Powys.
Anti-Norman Welsh and Saxon alliance
They continued Gruffudd's policy of allying to the Mercian Saxons to resist the threat from William the Conqueror.In 1067 Bleddyn and Rhiwallon joined with the Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
n Eadric the Wild
Eadric the Wild
Eadric the Wild , also known as Eadric Cild, was an Anglo-Saxon magnate of the West Midlands who led English resistance to the Norman Conquest, active in 1068-70.-Background:...
in an attack on the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
at Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
, ravaged the lands as far as the River Lugg
River Lugg
The River Lugg , rises near Llangynllo, Powys. It flows through the border town of Presteigne, Wales then through Herefordshire, England, including the town of Leominster, south of which it is met by a tributary, the River Arrow, then to a confluence with the River Wye, which it joins at Mordiford,...
then in 1068 allied with Earl Edwin of Mercia and Earl Morcar of Northumbria
Morcar of Northumbria
Morcar was the son of Ælfgār and brother of Ēadwine. He was himself the earl of Northumbria from 1065 to 1066, when he was replaced by William the Conqueror with Copsi....
in another attack on the Normans.
Challenges at home
Bleddyn was challenged by the two sons of Gruffydd ap LlywelynGruffydd ap Llywelyn
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, the only Welsh monarch able to make this boast...
, but defeated them at the battle of Mechain
Battle of Mechain
The Battle of Mechain was fought in 1069 in Powys, Wales, for rule of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys.After the murder of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, Harold Godwinson married his widow Ealdgyth and divided Gruffydd's realm into the traditional kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, the rule of which were...
in 1070, one being killed and the other dying of exposure after the battle. Bleddyn's brother Rhiwallon was also killed in this battle, Bleddyn emerging as the only one of the four to survive the bloody encounter and he ruled Gwynedd and Powys alone until his death.
In 1073 Robert of Rhuddlan
Robert of Rhuddlan
Robert of Rhuddlan was a Norman adventurer who became lord of much of north-east Wales and for a period lord of all North Wales....
stealthily established his forces on the banks of the River Clwyd
River Clwyd
The River Clwyd is a river in North Wales which rises in the Clocaenog Forest northwest of Corwen.It flows due south until at Melin-y-Wig it veers northeastwards, tracking the A494 to Ruthin. Here it leaves the relatively narrow valley and enters a broad agricultural vale, the Vale of Clwyd...
and attempted to ambush and capture Bleddyn, narrowly failing but seizing valuable booty from the raids further south.
Death
He was killed in 1075 by Rhys ab OwainRhys ab Owain
Rhys ab Owain 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...
of Deheubarth and the nobility of Ystrad Tywi in South Wales, a killing which caused much shock throughout Wales.
When Rhys ab Owain was defeated in arms at the Battle of Goodwick and forced to become a fugitive by Bleddyn's cousin and successor as King of Gwynedd, Trahaearn ap Caradog
Trahaearn ap Caradog
- Accession:On the death of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in 1075, it appears that none of his sons were old enough to claim the throne, and Bleddyn's cousin Trahaearn ap Caradog, seized power...
in 1078 and killed by Caradog ap Gruffydd
Caradog ap Gruffydd
Caradog ap Gruffydd was a Prince of Gwent in south-east Wales who made repeated attempts to gain power over all of southern Wales by seizing the Kingdom of Deheubarth.- Lineage :...
of Gwent shortly afterwards, this was hailed as "vengeance for the blood of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn".
Bleddyn is said in the Brut y Tywysogion
Brut y Tywysogion
Brut y Tywysogion 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. Brut y Tywysogion has survived as several Welsh translations of an original Latin version, which has...
to have been a benevolent ruler:
- "the most lovable and the most merciful of all kings ... he was civil to his relatives, generous to the poor, merciful to pilgrims and orphans and widows and a defender of the weak ...".
and
- "the mildest and most clement of kings" and he "did injury to none, save when insulted.... openhanded to all, terrible in war, but in peace beloved."
Legacy
He was responsible for a revision of Welsh lawWelsh law
Welsh law was the system of law practised in Wales before the 16th century. According to tradition it was first codified by Hywel Dda during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales; as such it is usually called Cyfraith Hywel, the Law of Hywel, in Welsh...
in the version used in Gwynedd. After his death Gwynedd was seized by Trahaearn ap Caradog
Trahaearn ap Caradog
- Accession:On the death of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in 1075, it appears that none of his sons were old enough to claim the throne, and Bleddyn's cousin Trahaearn ap Caradog, seized power...
and later recovered for the line of Rhodri the Great
Rhodri the Great
Rhodri the Great was King of Gwynedd from 844 until his death. He was the first Welsh ruler to be called 'Great', and the first to rule most of present-day Wales...
by Gruffydd ap Cynan
Gruffydd ap Cynan
Gruffydd ap Cynan was a King of Gwynedd. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembered as King of all Wales...
, but in Powys Bleddyn was the founder of a dynasty which lasted until the end of the 13th century.