Rhys Gryg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The keep of Dinefwr Castle, believed to have been built under Rhys Gryg

Rhys Gryg ( Welsh Rhys the Husky), actually Rhys ap Rhys, also called Rhys Fychan († 1234 ), was a Welsh Lord of Deheubarth 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.

Origin and youth

He was the fourth son of Rhys ap Gruffydd, Lord Rhys and his wife Gwenllian, daughter of Madog ap Maredudd of Powys . In 1195 he and his brother Maredudd rebelled against his father and seized Dinefwr and Llandovery Castle . However, the two brothers were defeated by their father and imprisoned in Ystrad Meurig Castle .

Life

Rhys Gryg is only mentioned again in 1204 when he supported his sons Rhys Ieuanc and Owain against his brother Maelgwn after the death of his father and brother Gruffydd and drove them out of Ystrad Tywi. As a reward he received the Cantref Mawr. In September 1211, however, with the help of English troops, he captured Llandovery Castle from Rhys Ieuanc and Owain, who supported Llywelyn from Iorwerth of Gwynedd . Then he conquered together with his brother Maelgwn and Falkes de Bréauté , a mercenary leader in the service of King John Ceredigion , where his nephews have to surrender. However, when the king had numerous new castles built to safeguard his power, Rhys Gryg and Maelgwn switched to Llywelyn from Iorwerth and besieged, captured and destroyed the new castle of Aberystwyth . In 1212 Rhys Gryg attacked and destroyed the city of Swansea . In January 1213, however, he was defeated by Falkes de Bréauté at Llandeilo and had to flee to Maelgwn in Ceredigion. There he was seized by English troops towards the end of the year and imprisoned in Carmarthen Castle . When Llywelyn successfully took action against the English in the spring of 1215, Rhys Gryg was released in the hope that he would take action against the Prince of Gwynedd. However, he now recognized its sovereignty and conquered and destroyed Kidwelly Castle on his behalf . In the Aberdyfi Agreement , which ended the family feuds of the Dinefwr dynasty, he received rule over the greater part of Cantref Mawr and Cantref Bychan. In 1217 Llywelyn gave him the rule of Gower after his son-in-law Reginald de Braose had broken faith in July 1217 and had reached an agreement with the English king. Rhys Gryg destroyed all English castles in Gower such as Swansea , Oystermouth and Penrice Castle and drove out the English settlers. Shortly thereafter, Llywelyn made peace with the English. Llywelyn transferred the rule of Gower to John de Braose another of his sons-in-law, but he had to force Rhys Gryg in 1220 to give up the rule of Gower.

In the years that followed, Rhys Gryg was reasonably loyal to Llywelyn. He expanded his castle Dinefwr and built Dryslwyn Castle 8 km west , presumably in order to be able to bequeath a castle to each of his two sons. When the fighting with the English king broke out again in 1231, he supported his nephew Maelgwn Fychan , son of Maelgwn ap Rhys, in the siege and conquest of Cardigan Castle . During the rebellion of Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke against the king, he was one of the Welsh princes who supported Marshal in 1234 in the several months-long but unsuccessful siege of Carmarthen Castle . Rhys Gryg was fatally wounded in the fighting for the castle and died in Llandeilo-fawr . He was buried in St David's Cathedral.

Rhys Gryg was an unpredictable man who rebelled against his father, played his brothers off against each other, and even played King John against Llywelyn from Iorwerth. He was undoubtedly brave personally, but his rule was fickle and changeable. Apart from his military actions, little is known about his life, including sponsoring the doctor Rhiwallon Feddyg in the village of Myddfai near Llandovery . Rhiwallon founded a dynasty of medical professionals that did not die out until 1739 with the doctor John Jones. Parts of the Hergest Red Book are said to have come from Rhiwallon Feddyg .

Funerary monument to Rhys Gryg in St David's Cathedral

Family and offspring

In 1219 he married Maud de Clare , a daughter of Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford , widow of William de Braose , who died in 1210 in the dungeon of King John .

He had two sons who shared his lands among themselves:

  1. Rhys Mechyll ap Rhys Gryg, Lord of Dinefwr, † 1244 ⚭ Mathilda de Braose, daughter of Reginald de Braose
  2. Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg , Lord of Dryslwyn, † 1271

Web links

  • Robert Thomas Jenkins: Rhys Gryg ('Rhys the Hoarse' d. 1234) , Welsh Biography Online, National Library of Wales [1] , accessed June 25, 2014

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan, Volume 3: Later Castles. Aberystwyth, Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales, 2000, ISBN 1-871184-22-3 , p. 11
  2. ^ Welsh Biography Online: Rhys Gryg. Retrieved August 26, 2013 .
  3. ↑ John Launer: The medics of Myddfai. In: Oxford Journals Medicine (OJM), 2005, Issue 1, pp. 73f, available online
  4. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 31
  5. ^ Barons de Braose: William de Braose (d 1210). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 23, 2012 ; Retrieved August 26, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Rhys Gryg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rhys ap Rhys; Rhys Fychan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of Deheubarth in South Wales
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH 1234
Place of death Llandeilo