Maelgwn ap Rhys

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Maelgwn ap Rhys (* around 1170 , † 1230 ) was a Welsh lord of Ceredigion from the Dinefwr dynasty . He was one of the leading figures in the fratricidal war over his father's legacy, Lord Rhys , which led to the end of the Deheubarth empire .

He was a son of Lord Rhys and his wife Gwenllian, a daughter of Prince Madog ap Maredudd of Powys . It is first mentioned in 1187 during the conquest of Tenby . A small statue, quick-tempered and aggressive, he caused his father a lot of trouble as a teenager. At the end of the 1180s he claimed ownership of Ystrad Tywi , while his father provided his son Gruffydd as the main heir. Because of this reset, Maelgwn was deeply enemies with Gruffydd and therefore had to be captured by his father in 1189. His brother Gruffydd delivered Maelgwn to his father-in-law, the Marcher Lord William de Braose, without her father's knowledge . Maelgwn remained in Braose's captivity until 1192, when he was released on his father's initiative. Maelgwn took part in the siege of Swansea Castle in 1192, but his hostility to Gruffydd is said to have contributed to the failure of the siege.

In revenge, he and his brother Hywel Sais captured his father in 1194 and kept him imprisoned in Nevern Castle . However, Hywel soon released Lord Rhys, so Maelgwn had to flee and live in exile until his father's death in 1197. He then returned to claim his share of the inheritance. He fought bitterly his brother Gruffydd, from whom he was able to conquer Ceredigion in 1199 through an alliance with Prince Gwenwynwyn of Powys and King John . When Gruffydd counterattacked Ceredigion, Maelgwn gave Cardigan Castle , his father's former residence, to the English before Gruffydd could capture it. After Gruffyd's death in 1201 he continued the fight against his sons Rhys Ieuanc and Owain and in 1201 captured Cilgerran Castle . In 1203 he was able to conquer Ystrad Tywi with the castles of Dinefwr , Llandovery and Llangadock with the help of Gwenwynwyns , but he was expelled the following year by his brother Rhys Gryg and his nephews Rhys and Owain. In the same year William Marshal conquered Cilgerran Castle and its lands in Dyfed , which limited his rule to Ceredigion.

In 1207 he lost some of the northern commotes of Ceredigion to Prince Llywelyn from Iorwerth of Gwynedd . After the English king defeated Llywelyn with his help in 1211 , he regained these areas. In the 1216 agreement of Aberdyfi , with which Llywelyn ended the fratricidal wars of Deheubarth, Maelgwn had to cede his territories north of the River Aeron again to Rhys Ieuanc and Owain ap Gruffydd and recognize the supremacy of Llywelyn from Iorwerth.

In the following years he remained a loyal vassal of his overlord. After the death of his nephew Rhys Ieuanc in 1222, he received a smaller part of his land in northern Ceredigion. He died in Llannerch Aeron in late 1230 and was buried in Strata Abbey, Florida . His heir was his son Maelgwn Fychan .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Acient Welsh Studies: The Children of Lord Rhys. Retrieved August 29, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Maelgwn ap Rhys
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh Lord of Ceredigion from the Dinefwr dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH around 1170
DATE OF DEATH 1230
Place of death Llannerch Aeron