Iestyn ap Gwrgant (c. 1045–1093) was the last ruler of the Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 kingdom of Morgannwg, which encompassed the counties of Glamorgan

Glamorgan

Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...

 and Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...

 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=48293.

Lineage

Iestyn ap Gwrgant was the last ruler of the royal

Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

 house of Morgannwg, which had a lineage stretching back over five centuries to Tewdrig

Tewdrig

Tewdrig or Tewdrig ap Teithfallt was a king of the post-Roman Kingdom of Glywysing. He abdicated in favour of his son Meurig and retired to live a hermitical life, but was recalled to lead his son's army against an intruding Saxon force...

 (c. 550-584). The members of this royal house had links to the other royal houses of Wales through marriage, and were descendants of the celebrated Rhodri Mawr. Iestyn ap Gwrgant's base is believed to have been at Dinas Powis, south of Cardiff.

Iestyn probably ruled Morgannwg for a little less than a decade (c. 1081-1090). The popular version of historical events is that Iestyn, following a dispute with his rival Einion ap Collwyn, invited Robert Fitzhamon and his twelve knights into the region to settle the matter. Naturally, once invited in, they refused to leave.

Norman invasion

He was deposed c. 1090 by Norman

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...

 ruler Robert Fitzhamon

Robert Fitzhamon

Robert Fitzhamon , or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales...

, lord of Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

, who established a lordship based in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

 and subsequently conquered the lowlands of Glamorgan (the Vale of Glamorgan

Vale of Glamorgan

The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...

), which was parcelled out to his followers. The mountainous parts of Glamorgan were left in Welsh control.

Succession

Caradog ap Iestyn, the eldest son of Iestyn ap Gwrgant, was the only Welsh lord to retain lands in the Glamorgan lowlands after Fitzhamon had conquered them. He retained the land between the River Neath

River Neath

River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr...

 and the River Afan

River Afan

The River Afan is a river in southwest Wales whose river valley formed the territory of the medieval Lords of Afan. The town of Aberavon grew up on the banks of the river, and was later subsumed by the larger centre of population known as Port Talbot...

, and he and his descendants were known as the "lords of Afan." His descendants are thought to include the Williams family of Aberpergwm

Aberpergwm

Aberpergwm is the site of a colliery in the Vale of Neath near Glynneath in south Wales.The drift mine was reopened in 1996 after being closed by British Coal in 1985. It is owned and worked by Energybuild, a private company now wholly owned by Walter Energy of the USA...

Modern interpretation

Iestyn ap Gwrgant's arms can be seen today in a modern context within the Crest of Pontypridd Rugby Football Club

Pontypridd RFC

Pontypridd Rugby Football Club, known as Ponty, are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, currently playing in the British and Irish Cup, Principality Premiership, and are the current SWALEC Cup champions....

, a Rugby Union team from Pontypridd within the ancient boundaries of Morgannwg.

Footnotes

There are many people living in South Wales with the Surname of Williams who also claim to be descended from Iestyn ap Gwrgan. This may be possible owing to the fact that Iestyn ap Gwrgan had a large family. It might be worth mentioning that many of the old farmsteads and the people who own them also share the surname of Williams and are properly related to one another. These families have lived on their farms for longer than anybody can remember. The occurrence of the surname in the surrounding area of Aberpergwm, such as Cwmgwrach, Bleangwrach, Rigos and Aberdare is very high as is the belief they are descended from Iestyn ap Gwrgan.

Other people who may have been descended from Iestyn ap Gwrgan:
The Tudor/Stewart Monarchs of England
Oliver Cromwell who's real surname was Williams and also being of Welsh descent
The Dukes of Marlborough
Winston Churchill
Diana Spencer Princess of Wales
and many Presidents of The United States of America

External links

• National Library of Wales Dictionary of Welsh Biography