Nest ferch Rhys
Nest ferch Rhys (* around 1085, † after 1136), called Helen of Wales , German: Nest, daughter of Rhys , in more recent sources also Nesta , was a Welsh princess of Deheubarth known for her beauty .
Life
She was the daughter of Prince Rhys ap Tewdwr (or Rhys ap Tudor Mawr ) and Gwladus ferch Rhiwallon; thus she belonged to House Gwynedd .
After the death of her father in 1093, Deheubarth was conquered by the Normans under King Heinrich I , who made himself their protector and began a relationship with her. The two had at least one son, Henry FitzRoy , who was killed in an attack on the northern Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd in 1157. The Compendium of Irish Biography further states that Nest was also the mother of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester , who later married Mabel, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert FitzAymon, who conquered the Welsh Glamorgan (or Morgannwg) and played an important part in English anarchy . Other sources speak of a noblewoman from Oxfordshire as Robert's mother, which makes Nest out of the question.
In about 1095 Heinrich decided to marry her to one of his knights, Gerald , Castellan of Windsor , whom he appointed Constable of Pembroke .
Nest and Gerald had five children:
- William FitzGerald († 1173), father of Raymond FitzGerald
- Maurice FitzGerald , Lord of Llansteffan († September 1, 1176).
- David FitzGerald , Archdeacon of Cardigan and Bishop of St Davids .
- Angharad de Windsor, who married William de Barry.
- A daughter (possibly Gwladus), the mother of Milo de Cogan.
At Christmas 1109 Nest and Gerald were visited by their cousin, Owain ap Cadwgan , son of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn , Lord of Powys . Owain was so taken with Nest's beauty that he and fifteen of his companions attacked Cenarth Bychan (presumably Cilgerran Castle , perhaps Carew Castle ) and kidnapped Nest and her children. The children were later sent back to Gerald. She owes her nickname "Helen of Wales" to this kidnapping and the subsequent military conflict.
Nest gave birth to Owain's two sons, Llywelyn and Einion, before she was brought back to her husband. After Gerald's death, her son William married her to Stephen, the constable of Cardigan Castle , from whom she had another son, Robert FitzStephen , who was also involved in the fighting in which his eldest brother Henry lost his life. He died in 1182.
literature
- Frederick Lewis Weis: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 .
- Giraldus Cambrensis (Nests Grandsons).
- William Hunt : Nest . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 40: Myllar - Nicholls. MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1894, pp 230 - 231 (English).
- David Crouch: Nest (b. Before 1092, dc1130). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004 (not viewed).
- Peter C. Bartrum: Welsh Genealogies: 300-1400 .
Fiction
- Sabrina Qunaj : the daughter of the last king . Goldmann Verlag, June 2014, ISBN 978-3-442-47988-7 .
- Sabrina Qunaj : The blood of the rebel . Goldmann Verlag, April 2015, ISBN 978-3-442-47989-4 .
Web links
- Nesta, Princess of Deheubarth on thepeerage.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Carew Castle: Ghost Stories. Retrieved September 5, 2013 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nest ferch Rhys |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Helen of Wales; Nest, daughter of Rhys |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Welsh Princess of Deheubarth |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 11th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1136 |