Dafydd Gam

Dafydd Gam , also David Gam , actually Dafydd ap Llywelyn , († October 25, 1415 at Azincourt ) was a Welsh nobleman and soldier. His nickname Gam suggests that he was cross-eyed or one-eyed. He was a direct descendant of the Welsh kings of Brycheiniog .

Already his ancestor Einion Sais served Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford , who was also Lord of Brecon , in the middle of the 13th century . Einion Sai's descendants held prominent positions among the Lords of Brecon, such as the office of sheriff or constable , and also served reliably and faithfully in critical times such as 1297 or during the rebellion of 1322. In return they received lands, pensions and gifts and were clearly the noblest and richest Welsh family in Brecknockshire . When the Bohuns in the male line died out in 1373, Brecknockshire finally fell to Henry Bolingbroke , who had married Mary de Bohun , one of the two daughters and heiresses of the last Humphrey de Bohun . Dafydd Gam joined Bolingbroke in the 1380s. In 1399 he was already receiving an annual pension of 40 marks , and when Bolingbroke became King of England in September 1399, further services and greater rewards were in prospect. Dafydd's brother Gwilym and his son Morgan served the new king as squires. For the next twelve years, however, the Welsh rebellion dominated Owain Glynd Dar Dafydd's life. He became one of Owain Glyndŵr's fiercest opponents and probably played a significant role in the English victory at the Battle of Pwll Melyn at Usk on May 5, 1405. He and his family received estates confiscated from rebels in Cardiganshire and Brecknockshire, but for their support of the English They also had to pay dearly for rule. Dafydd's father, Llywelyn ap Hwyel , received an annual right of £ 20 in 1403 for his services, but also as compensation for the damage the rebels had caused to his property. Even after the rebellion ended, the Dafydds family was persecuted by the hostility of other Welsh people. At the end of the rebellion, Dafydd experienced the greatest humiliation when he was captured by the rebels in 1412 and was only released for an alleged ransom of 700 marks. In order to buy his way out, the king had to support him financially.

In 1415 he took part in the campaign of Henry V in northern France with a contingent of three archers and fell at the Battle of Azincourt . Several legends emerged about his death in battle, but their truthfulness has not been proven, allegedly the king himself knighted the dying Dafydd.

Family and offspring

He married in 1374 or 1376 Gwladys, a daughter of Gwilym ap Hywel Crach, a bailiff of Pencilli in Breconshire. His male descendants anglicized his nickname to games . His daughter Gwladys first married Roger Vaughan of Tretower, after his death at Azincourt in second marriage to William ap Thomas . Her son was William Black Will Herbert .

Web links

• TF Tout, Rees R. Davies: Dafydd [David] Gam (d. 1415) , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004; Online edition, January 2008 [1] , accessed June 29, 2014
• John Edward Lloyd: Dafydd Gam (d. 1415) , Welsh Biography Online, National Library of Wales [2] , accessed June 29, 2014

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rees R. Davies: The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford 1991. ISBN 0-19-820198-2 , p. 453