Rhys Ieuanc

Rhys Ieuanc ( Rhys the Younger , actually Rhys ap Gruffydd ) († August 1222 in Strata Florida Abbey ) was a lord of the Welsh Principality of Deheubarth .

Rhys Ieuanc came from the Dinefwr dynasty . He was the son of Gruffydd ap Rhys and his wife Matilda de Braose, a daughter of the Anglo-Norman baron William de Braose . Together with his brother Owain ap Gruffydd , after the death of his father in 1201, he inherited the territories and claims to the inheritance of their grandfather Rhys ap Gruffydd , which, however , were challenged by their uncle Maelgwn ap Rhys . In 1202 Rhys captured Llandovery Castle . After Maelgwn had seized Ystrad Tywi in 1203 , he was evicted the following year by Rhys Ieuanc, Owain ap Gruffydd and their uncle Rhys Gryg . For the next several years, Rhys Ieuanc and his brother Owain always seemed to be on the wrong side of the Deheubarth power struggle. In 1211 Rhys Ieuanc and Owain fought against their now allied uncles Maelgwn and Rhys Gryg when they supported Prince Llywelyn from Iorwerth of Gwynedd in the fight against the English King John Ohneland . After the defeat of Llywelyn and his submission, they too had to submit to the royal general Falkes de Bréauté , who was supported by Maelgwn and Rhys Gryg. They had to give up their possessions in Ystrad Tywi and Bréauté sent them to England, where they had to pay homage to the king personally. To control their territory in the north of Ceredigions, Bréauté renewed Aberystwyth Castle . In view of the growing power of the king, Maelgwn ap Rhys and Rhys Gryg switched sides and allied themselves with Llywelyn from Iorwerth. Falkes de Bréauté defeated Rhys Gryg at Llandeilo in January 1213 , and Rhys Ieuanc was able to capture Dinefwr Castle from Rhys Gryg in a fierce battle . Only after the collapse of royal rule in Wales Rhys Ieuanc and his brother Owain rejoined Llywelyn from Iorwerth in the spring of 1215 and allied with Maelgwn against the English king. On behalf of Llywelyn, they waged a campaign through South Wales and captured Carmarthen and Kidwelly Castle . After Rhys Ieuanc had the crew of the captured Talybont Castle killed, Loughor , Oystermouth and finally Swansea Castle on the Gower Peninsula also surrendered within four days . In the Aberdyfi Agreement , in which Deheubarth was divided up in 1216, Rhys Ieuanc received parts of Ceredigion with Cardigan Castle , but had to recognize the supremacy of Llywelyn from Iorwerth. From then on he gave arms to the Prince of Gwynedd and attacked Builth Castle in 1217 in a fight against the Anglo-Norman Baron Reginald de Braose , his mother's brother . At the instigation of Llywelyn he expelled Rhys Gryg from Gower in 1219.

Given the brutal succession battles within her family, Rhys' longstanding alliance with his brother Owain is remarkable. Their close working relationships may have been encouraged by their origins, since as children of an Anglo-Norman mother they were considered outsiders within the family. Rhys appeared to be the more energetic and warlike of the two brothers. Seriously ill, he entered the Cistercian monastery in Strata Florida in 1222, where he died in August 1222. He died without male descendants, his brother Owain did not manage to take over his territory completely, but had to share it with Maelgwn ap Rhys.

Web links

• Thomas Jones Pierce: Owain ap Gruffydd (d. 1236) ', Dictionary of Welsh Biography, National Library of Wales

Individual evidence

1. ^ John Edward Lloyd: A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest . Vol. II. Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1912, p. 640
2. ^ Paul R. Davis: Castles of the Welsh Princes . Y Lolfa, Talybont 2007. ISBN 978-0-86243-970-5 , p. 70
3. ↑ David Rees: A Gower anthology . Davies, Swansea 1977. ISBN 0-7154-0407-5 , p. 161
4. ^ David Walker: Medieval Wales . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 0-521-31153-5 , p. 99
5. ^ David Walker: Medieval Wales . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 0-521-31153-5 , p. 100