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                          LLEWELYN AP HOEDLIW, LORD OF IS CERDIN
                                          By Darrell Wolcott
 
          Although this seemed to be a somewhat obscure man living in far south Ceredigion, we were intrigued by the fact that his pedigree is both of very late date and traces to men otherwise unknown to the main body of Welsh pedigree material. 
 
          Three 18th century manuscripts citing pedigrees of the gentry of Carmarthenshire, Cardigianshire and Pembrokeshire appear to be based on a common but unknown source.  The Dale Castle Ms (c. 1709), the Mabus Ms (c. 1720) and Peniarth Ms 156 (c. 1740) are almost identical in verbiage and arrangement, although each contains material not in the others, likely added by the individual owners of each manuscript.  One authority expressed the opinion that Pen. 156 was written by the same hand as the Golden Grove book.  The British Genealogist of c. 1693 reproduced in Peniarth Ms. 120 also has a pedigree of Llewelyn ap Hoedliw and might have been the source for the later copyist.
 
          The relevant pedigree reads "Llewelyn, Lord of Iscerdin ap Hoedliw ap Llawr ap Assur ap Dyfnfarch ap Morydd, king of Cardigan Anno Domini 830, ab Llywarch Llwyd ab Carwed ab Gwgan ab Meirchion gul ab Gorwst ledlwm ab Ceneu ab Coel godebog".
 
          The families descended from Llewelyn ap Hoedliw point to a birthdate for him c. 1170 and he could not have been fifth from a king who was living in AD 830, nor could a man living on that date be fourth from Meirchion Gul of c. 445.  Our first emendment would delete those names which follow "Gwgan ap Meirchion" on the probable grounds that the author of the pedigree mistook a much later man named Meirchion for the well-known 5th century Man of the North.  Secondly, we shall assume the family was descended from some king of Ceredigion living in AD 830, but not the one described in that manner in this pedigree.
 
           Our next emendation comes from the observation that the names chronologically preceeding Hoedliw in the pedigree are names found often among the southwest Wales descendants of Tudwal Gloff, and the lands of Iscerdin lie adjacent to both Dyfed and Cantref Mawr. Thus we suggest the "Morydd" in the pedigree was actually "Morfydd", a daughter of Llywarch Llwyd who married into a family descended from Tudwal. 
 
           When we examine the family which ruled Cardigan from the 5th to the 9th centuries (men directly descended from Ceredig ap Cunedda), we find the following chart:
 
                             600  Arthfoddw ap Bodgu
                            __________l______________
                            l                                          l
               630  Arthglwys                     630  Eiddon Ddu
                            l                                         l
                 665  Clydog                        665  Seisyllt
                            l                                         l
                 700  Seisyllt                      695  Llowarch
                            l                                        l
                735  Arthgen                  730  Cloddien Frych
                            l                                        l
                765  Dyfnwal                      760  Caradog
                            l                                       l
                 800  Meurig                       790  Meurig
                            l                                      l
                 830  Gwgan(a)                 825  Einion(b)
                                             ____________l
                                             l
                                  860  Owain  
                           ___________l_____________
                           l                                           l  
              890  Teithwalch                            Meirchion  895 
                           l                                           l
                920  Odwin                                 Gwgan  925    
                           l                                           l
               950  Morfydd(c)                              Carwed  960
                                                                      l
                                                           Llywarch Llwyd  995
                                                                      l
                                                               Morfydd(d)  1030
 
      (a)  King of Ceredigion who drowned in 872, leaving no children
       (b)  We suggest this man from a cousin line was chosen as the new king of Ceredigion in 872, NOT the husband of the sister of Gwgan ap Meurig as early conjecture claims.  Owain ap Einion was succeeded by an eldest son whose line ended after one more generation; Owain's line was continued by his two younger sons: Teithwalch in the north and Meirchion in the south
       (c)  This heiress lived in far north Ceredigion and married a man from Meirionydd, Eunydd ap Pyll, who was the ancestor of many families who acquired land in Ceredigion from this marriage; these include Peredur Beisgwyn and Gwaithfoed of Ceredigion
       (d)  We posit that this heiress, who lived in far south Ceredigion, married a man from Dyfed after which the ruling male line descended from Ceredig ap Cunedda became extinct; overall rule in Ceredigion had been usurped by Hywel Dda early in the 10th century
 
         Our choice for the husband of Morfydd ferch Llywarch Llwyd is Uchdryd ap Aleth ap Llawr ap Aelan ap Alser ap Tudwal Gloff, a man born c. 1020 and ancestor to Einion ap Celynin and other families.  We suggest the following chart for the combined family:
 
                                   865  Tudwal Gloff ap Rhodri Mawr
                                                   l
                                         895  Alser
                                                   l
                                        930  Aelan
                    _________________l________
                    l                                             l
          965  Alser                              960  Llawr
                    l                                             l
          995  Aelan                             990  Aleth
                    l                                             l
     1030  Eunydd                         1020  Uchdryd==Morydd f.
                    l                                             l         Llywarch Llwyd
     1060  Dyfnwal                         1050  Dyfnfarch*
                    l                                             l
    1090  Blegoryd                           1080  Alser (Assur)
                    l                                             l
    1120  Moriddig                            1110  Llawr
                   l                                              l
  1150  Moriddig Fychan                  1140  Hoedliw
                   l                                              l
      1185  Gwenllian=============Llewelyn[1]  1170
 
      *Other sons of Uchdryd ap Aleth (the one born c. 1020) were Aleth and Gwrgeneu.  Aleth was the father of Uchdryd ap Aleth of c. 1080.  Gwrgeneu was the grandfather of the Uchdryd ap Aleth of c. 1115 who was the ancestor of Einion ap Celynin of c. 1300.  There were several other men called Uchdryd ap Aleth among Tudwal's descendants
 
           Llewelyn and Gwenllian had at least 3 sons: Richard[2], Llewelyn II[3] and Rhys[4].  Richard, born c. 1200, had only the daughters, Lleuci and Arddun, who married the brothers Llewelyn Fychan and Rhys Gam ap Llewelyn Fawr.  Those brothers were the father and uncle of Rhys Chwith[5].   We suggest that Llewelyn ap Hoedliw also had a son named Adda who was likely his eldest child, and this Adda had a son named Adda Fawr of Genau'r Glyn, Ceredigion. All citations which give the ancestry of Adda Fawr are chronologically impossible; our assignment of him to the family of Llewelyn ap Hoedliw is based solely on our own analysis of his ensuing family.
 
         Llewelyn ap Llewelyn ap Hoedliw, born c. 1205, was the great-grandfather of Lleuci ferch Richard ap Rhys who married a son of  Rhys Chwith[6].  Lleuci was born about 1300; her husband Llewelyn was born c. 1285.
 
         Rhys ap Llewelyn ap Hoedliw had a great-great granddaughter, Gwerfyl ferch Gruffudd Gethin ap Maredudd ap Gruffudd, born c. 1340.  She married Gwilym Llwyd ap Gwilym ap Gruffudd Goch ap Gwilym ap Rhys ap Rhydderch ap Cadifor ap Dyfnwal[7].  Cadifor ap Dyfnwal represents one of the best-known lines to descend from Tudwal Gloff; he was born c. 1140 and battled against the Normans in south Wales under the leadership of Lord Rhys, king of Deheubarth.
 
        The Lordship of Is Cerdin was a civil parish in the commote of Gwinionydd in far south Ceredigion, abutting both Dyfed and Ystrad Tywy.  One would expect those lands had been the inheritance of Dyfnfarch from his mother Morfydd ferch Llywarch Llwyd.
   
NOTES:
[1] Bodleian Add. C-177, 41 cites this marriage
[2] Pen. 177, 352
[3] Pen. 131, 258, 273 and 308
[4] Protheroe IV, 193
[5] Refer to the discussion of Rhys Chwith who is #5 in the series of papers discussing Bartrum's Pedogrees of the Welsh Tribal Patriarchs at the link below:
[6] This marriage is cited in Pen. 131, 258
[7] Dwnn i, 52, 227;  Gwillym Llwyd was born c. 1340 and Gwerfyl was not his first wife