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Ancestors and Children of the Lord Rhys

 
                          THE CARADOG of GWYNEDD WITH 3 FATHERS
                                           By Darrell Wolcott
 
          On his chart "Gruffudd ap Cynan 13" headed by a man named Caradog, Peter Bartrum identifies him as (a) Caradog ap Thomas ap Rhodri ap Owain Gwynedd[1]; (b) Caradog ap Caswallon ap Cynan ap Owain Gwynedd[2]; and (c) Caradog ap Membyr Ddu ap Gruffudd ap Cynan[3].  He gives no source for the latter; the only Membyr Ddu in his indexes is found under "Caradog ap Membyr Ddu ap Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd ap Cynan"[4].
 
          If we assume he meant that man as his third Caradog, then he was born c. 1175/80 while the first two Caradogs were born near 1200:
 
                                   1070  Gruffudd ap Cynan
                           ________________l___________
                           l                                                l
        1100  Owain Gwynedd                   1105  Cadwaladr
              ________l__________                            l
              l                                l                            l
 1127  Cynan             1145  Rhodri       1140  Membyr Ddu
              l                                l                           l
1165  Caswallon          1170  Thomas       1175  Caradog
              l                                l
 1195  Caradog          1200  Caradog
 
 
          Caradog's wife is claimed to be Efa ferch Gwyn ap Gruffudd[5] of Powys.  This lady was born c. 1185 and was too old to marry either of the first 2 men named Caradog.  Although she fits chronologically with the 3rd Caradog, her husband is cited as Caradog ap Thomas.  We have matched her with a Powys man named Caradog ap Thomas born c. 1170 because that Thomas was also a Powys, not a Gwynedd man[6]. Thus, no spouse is known for any of the Caradogs in the chart.
 
          Children for Bartrum's single Caradog are charted as Gruffudd, Einion and Senana; he places them in his Generation 7 = 1230, perhaps because 2 of his 3 Caradogs were born near 1200.  But Senana is the lady who married Gruffudd ap Llewelyn Fawr[7], he born c. 1195, and who was the mother of Llewelyn the Last.  That Llewelyn ap Gruffudd was certainly born in the early-to-mid 1220's and must have had a mother born no later than c. 1209/10.  The only Caradog in the above chart who could have been her father was the man born c. 1175. 
 
           The Gruffudd ap Caradog in Bartrum's chart was born c. 1230 and is cited as Gruffudd ap Caradog ap Thomas[8]...the 2nd Caradog in our chart.  However, the wife matched with Gruffudd was born c. 1215 and actually belongs to Gruffudd ap Caradog ap Thomas of Powys born c. 1200, as does the son Dafydd.  Bartrum calls him "Dafydd of Nonconwy" but he actually resided at Llanrwst on the Rhos border with Nant Conwy.  That manor was received by his mother in exchange for her manor near Denbigh in Ceinmerch when Henry Gray began building his castle following the 1282 conquest[9].
 
         The Gruffudd ap Caradog ap Thomas, spouse unknown, who was born c. 1230 did not have a son named Dafydd, but may have had a son named Rhodri who lived in England.  That Rhodri, born c. 1265, has been confused by historians with Rhodri ap Gruffudd ap Llewelyn Fawr[10], a man born no later than c. 1235. 
 
         Einion ap Caradog does fit as a brother of Senana, perhaps born c. 1215, and both appear to have resided in the Llyn/Eifionydd area.
Senana's husband, Gruffudd ap Llewelyn Fawr, had held lands in nearby Ardudwy[11] before they married.  Our dating of Einion is based on a petition[12] presented to Prince Edward in 1305.  In that petition, the brothers Llewelyn and Gruffudd sons of Owain ap Llewelyn assert:
       
         a.  Their uncle, Tudor ap Einion ap Caradog, held 3 manors in Llyn and Eifionydd at the time of the conquest, and which were confirmed to him by King Edward I.
 
         b.  Tudor continued in possession of those manors for one year thereafter, when agents for Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I, seized them for her own benefit.
 
        c.  Tudor subsequently died without issue and his legal heir was his sister, Gwerfyl ferch Einion ap Caradog.  By right, his lands should have been settled upon her.
 
        d.  Gwerfyl is (was?) the mother of the petitioners and they are her only heirs, and are entitled to the lands she should have inherited from her brother their uncle.
 
        Eleanor had died in 1290 and the lands in question were, in 1305, in the hands of Prince Edward's father the king. Like many legal claims, this one was still unresolved in 1328 when the claimants sent another petition to Parliament[13] seeking the same lands.
 
        A chart of all the parties mentioned in the petitions appears as (all birthdate estimates based solely in the data given below):
 
                                  1180  Caradog
                                                l
                                   1215  Einion(a)
                      ______________l___________       Llewelyn(b)
                      l                                  (d)      l            l
          1245  Tudor(c)                   1250  Gwerfyl==Owain  1240
                                               ______________l______
                                               l                                    l
                               1270  Llewelyn(e)           1275  Gruffudd(e)
 
       (a)  He was an ally of Llewelyn ap Gruffudd and witnessed charters for him between 1261 and 1277[14]
         (b)  We identify him as Llewelyn ap Dafydd ap Cadwgan ap Genillin ap Meirion Goch of Llyn, but no citations extend beyond Owain ap Llewelyn[15]
        (c)  His manors in Llyn and Eifionydd were seized in c. 1284 and he died without issue prior to 1305
        (d)  Sister and heir of Tudor, who may or may not have been still living in 1305
        (e)  Petitioned for Tudor's lands in 1305 and 1328
 
          It is our conclusion that the Caradog in this chart was a man closely related to the royal family of Gwynedd, but that he could not be either Caradog ap Caswallon or Caradog ap Thomas...men born near 1200.  He could, however, be Caradog ap Membyr Ddu; if so, perhaps that man should be dated c. 1180 rather than c. 1175. 
 
        Based on the foregoing analysis, Caradog ap Membyr Ddu ap Cadwaladr was probably the father of Senana and Einion, while Caradog ap Thomas was the father of a Gruffudd, but not the Gruffudd who had the wife and son shown in Bartrum's chart.  No family at all was found which descended from Caradog ap Caswallon.
       
           Since Membyr Ddu does not appear among the sons of Cadwaladr listed in the 13th century manuscript Achau Brenhinoedd a Thywysogion Cymru, it is at least possible that was not his birth name but a corrupt spelling of his nickname or perhaps his position at court. (The king's cup-bearer was called the 'menestr')  One good possibility is that his birth name was Richard, one of the 4 sons Cadwaladr fathered by Alice deClaire[16].  This Richard's only daughter[17], Gwenllian, married Einion ap Gwalchmai[18], chief bard at the court of Llewelyn Fawr.  His closeness to the king's court suggests Richard was himself a career court member and perhaps the king's cup-bearer.
 

NOTES:
[1] Pen. 131, 68; Pen. 127, 22; Pen. 128, 137b; Pen. 176, 145
[2] Pen. 128, 95; Pen. 127, 120
[3] A Membyr Ddu ap Gruffudd ap Cynan is mentioned by many modern internet pedigrees, but without any credible source to support it
[4] B.M. Add 14919, 135 v written c. 1493 and Mostyn Ms 113, 153 & 157 written c. 1514
[5] Dwnn ii, 69 cites this marriage; the full ancestry of this Gwyn ap Gruffudd (of whom there were 4) can be found in our papers on the early Powys royal family, at the link below:
[6] For a full discussion of the Powys Caradog ap Thomas, see "Henry, Forgotton Son of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn" at the link below:
[7] Sir John Wynn, "History of the Gwydir Family", Gomer Press, 1990, p 10 where she is anachronistically made to descend from Caradog ap Thomas ap Rhodri
[8] Pen. 131, 68
[9] ibid Note 6
[10] See "Thomas ap Rhodri, Father of Owain Lawgoch" at the link below:
[11] ByT 1221
[12] Op cit Sir John Wynn, p 14 shows the text of this petition
[13] "Calendar of Ancient Petitions Relating to Wales", 1975, #10040 on page 339
[14] David Stephenson, "The Governance of Gwynedd", 1984, pp 209/10 list various charters, etc. which mention Einion ap Caradog as a participant or witness
[15] Pen. 134, 456 cites Llewelyn ap Dafydd of this Llyn family, who would have been born c. 1200; the petition mentioned in Note 12 above merely calls the husband of Gwladys "Owain ap Llewelyn" without further identification
[16] ABT 3c
[17] 4 other daughters of a Richard ap Cadwaladr were born c. 1215/1220 and belong to a later man by this name; 3 more ladies cited as daughters of a Richard ap Cadwaladr were born c. 1280/1285 and belong to yet a third man of this name.
[18] This marriage is cited in Pen. 131, 120 and Pen. 129, 74, but only Pen. 127, 164 mentions her birth name as Gwenllian