Rhys Ap Gruffydd - Children

Children

Rhys had at least nine sons and eight daughters. Confusingly, three of the sons were named Maredudd and two of the daughters were named Gwenllian.

  • Gruffydd ap Rhys II (died 1201) was the eldest legitimate son and was nominated by Rhys as his successor. He married Matilda de Braose, the daughter of Maud de Braose.
  • Maelgwn ap Rhys (died 1231), who was the eldest son but illegitimate, refused to accept Gruffydd as his father's successor. A bitter feud developed between the two, with several of Rhys's other sons becoming involved.
  • Rhys Gryg (died 1233) married a daughter of the Earl of Clare. Rhys eventually became the main power in Deheubarth, but never ruled more than a portion of his father's realm and was a client prince of Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd.
  • Hywel ap Rhys (died 1231) spent many years as a hostage at the court of Henry II and on his return became known as Hywel Sais (Hywel the Saxon, i.e. Englishman).
  • Maredudd ap Rhys (died 1239) was also given as a hostage, but was less fortunate than Hywel. He was blinded by King Henry after the failure of the invasion of Wales in 1165, and became known as Maredudd Ddall (Maredudd the Blind). He ended his days as a monk at Whitland Abbey.
  • Another Maredudd (died 1227) became Archdeacon of Cardigan.
  • Rhys's daughter Gwenllian ferch Rhys married Rhodri ab Owain, prince of the western part of Gwynedd.
  • Another Gwenllian (circa 1178 - 1236) married Ednyfed Fychan, seneschal of Gwynedd under Llywelyn the Great, and through her Rhys became an ancestor of the Tudor dynasty. Through the Tudors inter-marrying with the House of Stuart Rhys is an ancestor to the current ruling house of the United Kingdom and also an ancestor of several ruling houses in Europe. When Henry Tudor landed in Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1485 to make a bid for the throne, his descent from Rhys was one of the factors which enabled him to attract Welsh support (Henry flew a (Welsh) dragon banner at the battle of Bosworth Field).
  • Angharad ferch Rhys married William FitzMartin, lord of Cemais.
  • Other daughters married the Welsh rulers of Gwrtheyrnion and Elfael.
16. Cadell ab Einion ab Owain ap Hywel
8. Tewdwr ap Cadell
4. Rhys ap Tewdwr
2. Gruffydd ap Rhys
20. Cynfyn ap Gwerstan
10. Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn
21. Angharad ferch Maredudd ab Owain
5. Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon
1. Rhys ap Gruffydd
24. Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig
12. Cynan ab Iago
6. Gruffudd ap Cynan
3. Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd
28. Edwin ab Einion ab Owain ap Hywel
14. Owain ab Edwin
7. Angharad ferch Owain

Read more about this topic:  Rhys Ap Gruffydd

Famous quotes containing the word children:

    “Play for young children is not recreation activity,... It is not leisure-time activity nor escape activity.... Play is thinking time for young children. It is language time. Problem-solving time. It is memory time, planning time, investigating time. It is organization-of-ideas time, when the young child uses his mind and body and his social skills and all his powers in response to the stimuli he has met.”
    —James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)

    “There are few places outside his own play where a child can contribute to the world in which he finds himself. His world: dominated by adults who tell him what to do and when to do it—benevolent tyrants who dispense gifts to their “good” subjects and punishment to their “bad” ones, who are amused at the “cleverness” of children and annoyed by their “stupidities.””
    —Viola Spolin (b. 1911)

    “In time of war you know much more what children feel than in time of peace, not that children feel more but you have to know more about what they feel. In time of peace what children feel concerns the lives of children as children but in time of war there is a mingling there is not children’s lives and grown up lives there is just lives and so quite naturally you have to know what children feel.”
    —Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)