Rhys ap Gruffydd († 1256)

Rhys ap Gruffydd (also Rhys ap Gruffudd ; † 1256 ) was a Welsh lord of Senghenydd .

origin

Rhys was a son of Gruffudd ab Ifor , the Welsh lord of Senghenydd, a Welsh rule under English rule in the highlands of Glamorgan . After the death of his father in 1210 he took over the rule in Senghenydd. His younger brother, Gruffudd Bychan, inherited their father's holdings in the hills west of Cardiff , the center of which was Beganston near Leckwith . But Rhys retained the supremacy of his brother's possessions. Gruffudd Bychan married a daughter of the Anglo-Norman knight Roger Sturmi , who brought possessions in Stormy Down near Kenfig into the marriage as dowry . Through this marriage, Gruffudd Bychan became a nobleman of the Glamorgan coastal area. He died in 1234, leaving eight sons who continued to recognize their uncle Rhys ap Gruffudd as their overlord.

Role in Richard Marshal's Rebellion

During the reign of Gilbert de Clare , Lord of Glamorgan and Earl of Gloucester, Rhys was largely loyal to his overlords. However, after Gilbert de Clare died in 1230 and his heir Richard de Clare was still a minor, Glamorgan first fell under the minority administration of Hubert de Burgh and in September 1232 to Peter de Rivallis . Thus Rhys looked like the neighboring Lords Hywel ap Maredudd of Meisgyn and Morgan ap Hywel of making to his fiduciary relationship as terminated. In 1233 he supported Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, in his futile rebellion against the English King Henry III. With the support of the Welsh lords, Marshal was able to occupy Glamorgan, which led to the unusual situation that Rhys ap Gruffydd and the other Welsh lords of Glamorgan became allies of the Anglo-Norman Richard Marshal. Marshal promised the Welsh parts of Glamorgan as a reward. When the rebellion failed in 1234, Richard Siward , the new administrator of Glamorgan, reclaimed these areas. Like the other Welsh people, Rhys ap Gruffydd initially refused to return these areas until Llywelyn ab Iorwerth , the powerful Welsh prince of Gwynedd , himself asked Rhys ap Gruffydd to return the areas.

Conflict with Gilbert de Turberville and later life

In the next few years from Iorwerth, Llywelyn expanded its influence further to south-east Wales. Contrary to the express prohibition of the king, Rhys ap Gruffydd was believed to be one of the Welsh princes sworn allegiance to Llywelyn's son and heir-designate Dafydd in 1238 at Strata Florida Abbey . In 1242 Rhys supported his neighbor and relative Hywel ap Maredudd von Meisgyn in the fight against the Anglo-Norman nobleman Gilbert III de Turberville . Richard de Clare, who in the meantime had taken control of Glamorgan, managed to broker an armistice in 1242, after which the dispute with Turberville was decided in court in Cardiff. After Clare had driven Hywel ap Maredudd out and occupied his land by 1246, Rhys ap Gruffydd remained a loyal follower of Clare until his death. He was succeeded by his son Gruffydd ap Rhys .

Web links

• David Crouch: Rhys ap Gruffudd (d.1256). 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. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 63
2. ↑ RF Walker: The supporters of Richard Marshal, earl of Pembroke, in the rebellion of 1233-1234 in: Welsh History Review / Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru , 17 (1994-95), p. 63
3. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 66
4. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 279
5. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 57