Rhys ap Tewdwr

Rhys ap Tewdwr or Rhys ap Tewdwr Mawr (Eng. Rhys of Tudor the Great , German Rhys of Tudor, called the Great ; † 1093 at Brecon ) was a prince of Deheubarth in South Wales .

Life

Rhys was the son of Tewdwr ap Cadell and thus a grandson of Cadell from Einion, who had been King of Deheubarth until 1018. After King Rhys ab Owain , a distant cousin of his, fell in 1078 in the fight against Trahern ap Caradog , Rhys fought against Caradog ap Gruffydd of Gwent to rule Deheubarth and became king in 1079. In 1081 he was briefly expelled by Caradog and allegedly had to seek refuge in the cathedral of St David's . With the help of Gruffydd ap Cynan , who had landed at Porthclais from Ireland and wanted to recapture the throne of Gwynedd , Rhys Caradog and his allies Trahern ap Caradog and Meilyr ap Rhiwallon was able to defeat at the battle of Mynydd Carn in southern Ceredigion . Both Caradog and Trahern fell in the battle. However, the two winners could not agree on the division of the conquered land and Gruffydd ap Cynan sacked parts of Rhy's realm. In the same year Wilhelm the Conqueror came to Deheubarth, demonstratively on a pilgrimage to St Davids . Rhys paid homage to him and henceforth paid him tribute. In return, he was confirmed in possession of Deheubarth and was able to consolidate his position.

Unlike his father, William the Conqueror, his son and successor, Wilhelm Rufus , tolerated attacks by the Norman barons on Welsh territories. In 1088 Rhys was driven from his kingdom by the young princes of Powys , Madog, Rhiryd and Cadwgan and had to flee to Ireland. However, he returned in the same year with the support of the Irish Vikings and was able to defeat his opponents in the Battle of Llech-y-crau, with Madog and Rhiryd falling. In 1091 a group of his vassals rebelled in Dyfed to raise Gruffydd, the son of Maredudd from Owain, who was living in exile in England, to be King of Deheubarth. Rhys managed to beat the rebels in a battle at St Dogmaels on the Teifi and kill Gruffydd. Both attacks, both that of the Princes of Powys and that of Gruffydd from Maredudd, were supported by the Normans. While these attacks were unsuccessful, however, the Norman baron Bernard de Neufmarché was able to gradually conquer the Welsh kingdom of Brycheiniog from 1088 and thus threatened neighboring Deheubarth. Rhys ap Tewdrwr allied with the King of Brycheiniog, Bleddyn ap Maenarch. In April 1093 there was a battle between the Welsh and Anglo-Normans at Brecon, in which both Rhys and Bleddyn fell. As a result, the Normans were able to conquer all of Brycheiniog and occupy large parts of Deheubarth.

Family and offspring

Rhys was married to Gwladus, a daughter of Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn , with whom he had two sons, Gruffydd and Hywel, and a daughter, Nest . While young Gruffydd was brought to safety by relatives in Ireland in 1093 and was able to recapture part of his father's realm after 1116, Hywel and Nest were captured. Hywel remained a prisoner of Arnulf de Montgomery for several years . Nest became a lover of the future King Henry I and later married the Anglo-Norman nobleman Gerald of Windsor .

Web links

• JE Lloyd, David E. Thornton : Rhys ap Tewdwr . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press , 2004, archived from the original January 4, 2013 ; accessed on October 12, 2018 (English, original website no longer available). 
• Thomas Jones Pierce : Rhys ap Tewdwr . In: Welsh Biography Online . Archived from the original on October 5, 2013 ; accessed on October 12, 2018 (English, original website no longer available). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Nelson, Lynn H. The Normans in South Wales, 1070-1171 . University of Texas Press: Austin, 1966, p. 82