Owain Goch Ap Gruffydd - Lineage

Lineage

Owain was the eldest son of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and the grandson of Llywelyn the Great. He was imprisoned together with his father in Criccieth Castle in 1239 by his uncle Dafydd ap Llywelyn, and accompanied his father to England two years later when Dafydd was forced to hand Gruffudd over to King Henry III of England. In 1244 Gruffudd was killed when a makeshift rope broke as he attempted to escape from the Tower of London.

This freed Dafydd ap Llywelyn's hand as King Henry could no longer use Gruffudd against him, and war broke out between him and King Henry in the spring of 1244. Owain meanwhile had been freed by Henry after his father's death in the hope that he would start a civil war in Gwynedd, but he remained at Chester, so that when Dafydd died unexpectedly in February 1246 without leaving an heir, his brother Llywelyn, who had supported his uncle against the king, had the advantage of being on the spot.