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Ancestors and Children of the Lord Rhys

                       THE "MAEL MAELIENYDD" IN MEDIEVAL PEDIGREES
                                            By Darrell Wolcott
 
          If there ever was an historical man who was the eponym for the Welsh cantref of Maelienydd, it was probably a late fifth century figure from the era when the territorial name Powys denoted lands east of the Wye and Dyfi rivers and south of the upper Severn.[1]  Some modern scholars identify him as the "Millo map Camuir map Brydw" cited as the great-grandson of Cadell Ddyrnllwg in Harleian Ms 3859. [2] That man would have been born c. 475 and it is entirely possible he was the "Lord of Maelienydd" during his lifetime.  But chronologically, he could not be the Mael to whom the medieval genealogists have appended the descriptive by-name "Maelienydd".
 
          Several sixteenth-century books of pedigrees[3] trace some Powys families to a "Mael Maelienydd ap Cadfael ap Clydog ap Cadell ap Rhodri Mawr".  If such a Mael ever lived, it was not in Maelienydd; that family was seated in Deheubarth.  Clydog ap Cadell was slain by his brother Meurig in 920.  A rough idea of his age can be seen by this chart:
 
                                   820  Rhodri Mawr
                                               l
                                   855   Cadell
                                               l
                              885/890  Clydog  ob 920  
 
          If Clydog had any sons at all, they were yet toddlers when he was killed.  A Brut entry for 938 says that Hyfaidd ap Clydog died; either he was a young man who contracted an illness or the son of a different Clydog.  The same entry says Meurig also died that year, with the Red Book of Hergest version making him a brother of Hyfaidd.  Neither the notice in Annales Cambriae nor the Peniarth Ms 20 version of the Brut make the men brothers, but do make it clear both "died" as opposed to having been slain.  We remain unconvinced either man was definitely a son of Clydog ap Cadell.  Often the Brut, when it records men who died prematurely, heaps praise on them and laments their early passing.  Men simply noted as having died usually lived out a full life and there was nothing unremarkable about such a death.  In any event, no son of Clydog ap Cadell named Cadfael occurs until the 16th century when he is used to link "Mael Maelienydd" to the clan of Rhodri Mawr. 
 
        One 17th century manuscript[4] claims Mael was living in 978. Such a date would be consistent with a grandson of Clydog, but one must suspect the author did no more than quote an oral tradition believed by current families who claim him as their ancestor.  In a pedigree of the Evans family of Shrewsbury submitted at the 1623 Visitation of Shropshire, that family is traced to a "Madock Moloynock" who is cited as "de Melyenith" and said to occur in 978. But any man named Mael who was alive in 978 and living in Maelienydd is wholly unrelated to the families cited in the 16th and 17th century pedigrees; the Mael who heads those families was not born until after c. 1015. 
 
          An alternate ancestry for Mael occurs on other pages in two of the five manuscripts cited in Note 2 and is also the only one cited by Griffith Hiraethog[5].  In those citations, Mael Maelienydd is made the son of "Pasgen ap Gwyn ap Gruffudd ap Beli and Selyf ap Brochwel ap Aeddan".  In all cases, he is given a son called Iorwerth Hilfawr of Halchdyn in Deuddwr.  The families which follow are all men of Powys who marry mostly ladies of Powys.  We strongly doubt the Mael found in these pedigrees lived in Maelienydd, a land then held by Elystan Glodrydd and his clan.  Rather, we think the "Maelienydd" was added to his name by the same medieval genealogists who tended to call any early Cadell of Powys "Ddyrnllwg" and any Brochwel "Ysgithrog".
 
         Chronologically, the pedigree Mael fits with the Powys family but not with the "clan of Rhodri Mawr" citations.  We would ascribe the latter attribution to the medieval belief that one had to descend from Rhodri Mawr to be of any importance or hold any real power.[6] We further find these families engaged in the same repeating-string naming habits previously found in the dynastic royal family of Powys. We have elsewhere[7] shown there were four different branches of that family with men named Pasgen ap Gwyn ap Gruffudd ap Beli ap Selyf ap Brochwel ap Aeddan.  Those Pasgens occur c. 980, 1080, 1180 and 1280.
 
         Our analysis of the Mael pedigrees indicates both the Pasgen of c. 980 and the Pasgen of c. 1080 named a son Mael.  But neither Mael was Lord of Maelienydd or even lived there.  Each of those men named a son Iorwerth, the earliest of those (born c. 1045) appears to be the one correctly described as "of Halchdyn in Deuddwr". He had sons named Trahaearn and Madog, while the later Iorwerth ap Mael had sons named Trahaearn and Cadwgan.  Pedigrees of both lines, although 100 years apart, are thoroughly confounded in the medieval manuscripts but consistently insert a "Tynhaearn" between each Trahaearn and his father Iorwerth.  Apparently the earliest of the men named Trahaearn was known as Trahaearn Tynhaearn "the iron man" and this nick-name was turned into his father by inserting an "ap".  A consistent timeline can be established for both families so long as the extra generation called Tynhaearn is omitted.
 
           The Trahaearn ap Iorwerth of c. 1075 had a son named Iddon Galed, while his namesake of c. 1175 had two sons, Iddon and Einion.  Both men called Iddon ap Trahaearn named a son Cyfnerth.  The Cyfnerth of c. 1135 named his sons Heilyn and Ieuaf, while the Cynferth of c. 1235 called his sons Ieuaf and Einion.  Each of the men called Ieuaf ap Cyfnerth named one son Iorwerth and each Iorwerth named a son Ieuan.  It is only when we examine the cited marriages in each line that it becomes clear the two name strings "Ieuan ap Iorwerth ap Ieuaf ap Cynferth" actually occur 100 years apart.  Our charts for these men begin with their common ancestor, Selyf ap Brochwel ap Aeddan ap Cyngen ap Brochwel ap Eliseg:
 
                        850  Selyf I
                 __________l________________
                 l                                               l
     880  Aeddan II                             885  Beli I
                 l                                               l
     910  Brochwel II                       915  Gruffudd I
                 l                                               l
      945  Selyf II                              950  Gwyn I
                 l                                               l
        980  Beli II                             980  Pasgen I
                 l                                               l
   1015  Gruffudd II                         1010  Mael I
                 l                                               l
     1050  Gwyn* II                        1040  Iorwerth I
                 l                                               l
    1080  Pasgen II                      1075  Trahaearn I
                 l                                               l
      1115  Mael II                           1105  Iddon I
                 l                                               l
    1145  Iorwerth II                      1135  Cyfnerth I
                 l                                  _______l_________
                 l                                  l                             l
   1175  Trahaearn II                  Ieuaf I  1165          Heilyn  1170
                 l                                  l
    1205  Iddon II                     Iorwerth I  1195
                 l                                  l
    1235  Cynferth II                   Ieuan I  1230
        _____l_____________               
        l                                l
    Einion  1265               Ieuaf II  1265
                                         l
                                  Iorwerth II  1295
                                         l
                                   Ieuan II  1325
 
           *This is the Gwyn ap Gruffudd cited in HLG 2(f) on page 113 of Bartrum's Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts and the one whose obit is recorded in the Brut in 1101
    
 
 
             In Bartrum's Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1400, a family line without ancestry is shown on his chart Mael Maelienydd - 1, ending with a daughter who married a man descended from Mael.  We believe the unattributed family is another cadet of the Powys family and would chart it as:
 
                 980  Pasgen I (ancestor of Mael I)
                            l
             1008  Trahaearn 
                            l
               1045  Hywel*
                            l
               1075   Rhiryd*
                            l
               1110  Morgan
                            l
           1145  Morgan Fychan               Cyfnerth  1135
                            l                                  l
         1175  Ednyfed Chwith                   Heilyn  1170
                            l                                  l
             1210  Gruffudd                        Griffri  1200
                            l                                  l
            1245  Tangwystl=========Iorwerth  1235
 
          *These two names are reversed in Pen Ms 129 & 131 but each of the later men called Pasgen ap Gwyn also had sons named Trahaearn, and each of those men named a son Hywel who named a son Rhiryd.  We suspect each of those families followed the pattern set by the first Trahaearn ap Pasgen, the one in this chart.
   
            Our final observation on these families concerns a final string of identical names found later in both families, more difficult to separate as they occur only one generation apart:
 
                               1295  Iorwerth II ap Ieuaf II  (a)
                            ___________l___________
                            l                                       l
        1330  Madog Fychan                 1325  Ieuan
                            l                                       l
               1360  Iolyn                  1355  Madog Fychan
                            l                                       l
           1390  Maredudd                     1385  Iolyn  (b)
                           l                                        l
           1420  Llewelyn (c)               1415  Maredudd  (d)
                           l                                        l
               1450  Maud (e)               1445  Llewelyn (f)
 
    (a)  Many citations call these men Iorwerth Foel and Ieuaf  Sais, nicknames also often attached to the earlier same-named men descended from Mael I 
     (b)  He married Sian (1400) ferch Gruffudd (1370) ap Maredudd (1340) ap Llewelyn (1310) ap Dafydd Llwch (1275) descended from Mael II [8]   
     (c)  Sometimes called Llwelyn Deuddwr, he married Gwenhwyfar (1430) ferch Maredudd (1400) ap Gruffudd (1370) ap Dafydd Ddu of Aber (1340). [9]  Llewelyn had a sister, Gwerfyl (1425), who married Owain (1410) ap Madog (1375) ap Ieuan (1345) ap Maredudd (1315) ap Llewelyn (1285) ap Gruffudd Llwyd (1255) ap Llewelyn Foelgrwn (1225) [10]
    (d)  He married Gwenhwyfar (1430) ferch Madog (1395) ap Maredudd (1365) ap Adda Fychan (1335) descended from Edwin of Tegeingl [11]
    (e)  Mawd (1450) married Mathew (1445) ap Dafydd (1415) ap Hywel Fychan (1375) descended from Idnerth Benfras of Maesbrook. [12] She also had a sister, Marged (1450) who married Cadwaladr (1440) ap Ieuan (1410) ap Llewelyn (1380) ap Tudor (1350) ap Tudor (1320) ap Gruffudd (1290) ap Tudor (1260) ap Madog (1230)  descended from Sir Robert of Brompton [13]
    (f)  Also sometimes cited as Llewelyn Deuddwr, he married Rose (1450) ferch Dafydd (1415) ap Hywel (1385) ap Philip (1350) descended from the c. 1115 Uchdryd ap Aleth. [14]  This Llewelyn had a brother, Dafydd Goch (1450) and two sisters called Gwerfyl, both born c. 1445
 
    
 
 
       
                   
            

NOTES:
[1] The lands of the Cornovii Tribe of Celts. Immediately to the north lay the old kingdom of Ddyrnllwg; at some point in the fifth century, the name Powys was applied to both.
[2] David Nash Ford's "Early British Kingdoms" website makes this identification but errs in making this Brydw the son of Vortigern.  Harleian Ms 3859 makes this Brydw "ap Cadeyrn ap Cadell" while Jesus Coll Ms 20 reverses that as "Brydw ap Cadell ap Cadeyrn". 
[3] Peniarth Ms 127, 128, 129, 131 and 141
[4] Harleian Ms 1973 by Jacob Chaloner, c. 1625
[5] Peniarth Ms 129 & 131 offer both versions of his ancestry; Peniarth Ms 177 cites only the Powys connection
[6] Other examples of this false attribution to the family of Rhodri Mawr include Edwin of Tegeingl, Rhydderch ap Iestyn of Gwent, and Gruffudd ap Llewelyn of Powys
[7]  See our paper "Powys Dynastic Family 945-1385" at the link below:
[8] B.M. Add 9865, 2
[9] Pen 176, 338
[10] Pen 139(2), 102
[11] Pen 139(1), 221
[12] Pen 134, 125: Pen 176,338
[13] Dwnn I, 329
[14] Pen 287, 1334; Vis. Shropshire, 86