Rhys ap Gruffydd FitzUrien
Rhys ap Gruffydd (1508 - December 4, 1531 ) was a Welsh nobleman. He was the son of Gruffydd ap Rhys († 1521) and his wife Catherine St John. His mother had married Piers Edgcumbe for the second time after the early death of his father around 1525 . After the death of his grandfather Rhys ap Thomas , Rhys inherited his extensive estates in Wales in 1525, but not his offices because of his youth.
Around 1521 he married Katherine Howard , a daughter of the Dukes of Norfolk . Around 1529 he added the nickname FitzUrien to his name . In doing so, he related his origins to the mythical Celtic King Urien , which his great-great-grandfather Gruffudd ap Nicolas tried to establish in the middle of the 15th century.
In June 1529 a violent feud began between Rhys and Walter Devereux, who had taken over from his grandfather. Because of various quarrels, Rhys and a 40-strong entourage broke into the rooms of Devereux in Carmarthen Castle . When he was arrested by Devereux in the castle, his wife incited a large crowd who demanded his release and finally stormed the castle. In the following period there were repeated armed and fatal incidents between followers of Devereux and Rhys supporters, which is why he and Devereux had to answer in October 1531 in court in London. In court he was eventually accused of plotting with the King of Scotland to overthrow Henry VIII . The evidence for his betrayal was very scanty, one proof was his name suffix FitzUrien, which was used as evidence that he wanted to become Prince of Wales. Rhys was found guilty of treason and beheaded in December 1531. Due to his fall, his extensive possessions fell to the crown, and his mother was allowed to live in Weobley Castle as a widow's residence until her death . In addition to the feud with Devereux, the reasons for his conviction probably also lay in his Catholicism and his negative attitude towards the divorce of the king from Catherine of Aragón .
His son Griffith Rice got back smaller areas of his family's lands under Maria and Elisabeth I. Rhy's widow was second married to Henry Daubeney, 1st Earl of Bridgewater .
literature
- Ralph A. Griffiths: Rhys ap Thomas and his Family. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1993, ISBN 0-7083-1218-7
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Llandeilo through the ages: The Aquisition of lands. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 30, 2013 ; Retrieved August 13, 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.
- ^ Gareth Elwyn Jones: Modern Wales - a concise History. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-46945-6 , p. 62
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rhys ap Gruffydd FitzUrien |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rhys ap Gruffydd |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | welsh nobleman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1508 |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 4, 1531 |