Ifor Bach

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Ifor Bach , actually Ifor ap Meurig († before 1170) was a chief of the Welsh rule Senghenydd .

origin

Little is known about the ancestors of Ifor Bach, so its origin is unclear. Ifor's father Meurig probably managed to rise from a minor Welsh nobleman to a chieftain of a small territory in the Glamorgan mountains when the previous Welsh princely families in south-east Wales were ousted during the Norman conquest of Wales at the end of the 11th century. Ifor inherited this rule called Senghenydd, which was under the sovereignty of the Norman lords of Glamorgan, from his father. In the east the rule was bounded by the territories of the sons of Iestyn ap Gwrgan and in the west by the kingdom of King Morgan from Owain von Gwynllŵg .

Life

Ifor, who was referred to as the little one ( Parvus in Latin or Welsh brook ), was an important lord in the highlands of Glamorgan during the reign of King Stephen I of England . He may have received land holdings near Cardiff from Earl Robert of Gloucester to assist King Stephen during the Anarchy . In early 1158, Ifor came into conflict with King Morgan and his Norman ally Earl William of Gloucester , son and heir to Earl Robert. Ifor's later fame came from defeating both nobles the year they attacked his territory. First, he was able to kill Owain and his bard Gwrgant ap Rhys in a battle in the mountains of Glamorgan Morgan . Then, according to the Gerald of Wales report, he attacked the Cardiff region. In a night raid, he and his men overcame the walls of Cardiff Castle unnoticed and kidnapped Earl William, his wife Hawise and their son Robert, although the castle was guarded by a strong mercenary force. He kept them imprisoned in the mountains until the Normans stopped their attacks on Senghenydd and Earl William returned him several territories he had conquered. After this success he was able to form an alliance with the powerful Lord Rhys of Deheubarth , which was reinforced by a marriage of Ifor with Nest ferch Gruffudd , a sister of Lord Rhys.

Allegedly Ifor built the Castell Coch , which was expanded to historicize in the 19th century , but this tradition is neither documented nor archaeologically proven.

Descendants

Ifor probably died before 1170, or before 1175 at the latest. He left several sons. His son Gruffudd from Ifor took control of Senghenydd. His two sons Cadwallon and Maredudd (also Meriadoc ) were mercenaries in the service of the English kings Heinrich II. And Johann Ohneland . His daughter Gwenllian married Morgan ap Caradog , the Welsh lord of Afan .

Others

Founded in 1983, the Welsh-speaking Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff , one of the city's most famous nightclubs, is named after him.

Web links

  • Arthur John Richard: [1] Ifor Bach (fl. 1158) . In: Welsh Biography Online (html, english, accessed on November 28, 2013)
  • David Crouch: Ifor ap Meurig [called Ifor Bach] (fl. 1158). 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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: III - Part 1b: Medieval Secular Monuments the Later Castles from 1217 to the present , Her Maj. Stat. Office, London 2000, ISBN 978-1-871184-22-8 , p. 106
  2. ↑ Welsh Biography Online: Ifor Bach (fl. 1158). Retrieved April 2, 2018 .
  3. ^ David Crouch: Ifor ap Meurig [called Ifor Bach] (fl. 1158). 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
  4. ^ David Walker: Medieval Wales . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-31153-3 , p. 32
  5. ^ Welsh Biography Online: Morgan ap Caradog ap Iestyn. Retrieved December 16, 2013 .
  6. ^ Clwb Ifor Bach: History. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 2, 2012 ; Retrieved December 2, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.clwb.net
personal data
SURNAME Ifor Bach
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ifor ap Meurig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chief of Senghenydd (South Wales)
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH before 1170 or before 1175