Lord of Upper Powys
Events
Date of Birth: about 1216.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Morgan (p. 34) gives the estimated date. Pierce states that Gruffudd was an infant in 1216.
Date of Death: between 27 February and Trinity, 1286.
Place of Death: unknown.
The date is given by Morgan (p. 5).
Relationships
Father: Gwenwynwyn ab Owain Cyfeiliog ap Gruffudd.
This relationship is shown by Bartrum (Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 29), and given by Pierce, by Stephenson, and by Tout/Carr.
Mother: Margaret, daughter of Robert Corbet of Cause.
This relationship is shown by Bartrum (Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 29), and given by Pierce, by Stephenson, and by Tout/Carr.
Spouse: Hawise le Strange. Married before February 1242.
This relationship is shown by Bartrum (Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 30), and given by Stephenson, by Morgan (p. 10), and by Pierce.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Most information below comes from Bartrum and Stephenson.)
John (died 1303).
Owain de la Pole (died 1293) married Joan, daughter of Robert Corbet of Moreton.
William de la Pole.
Dafydd (died by 1308) married Elen ferch Hywel.
Mabli (Margaret) (1251-1315) married Fulk FitzWarin V.
Llywelyn (died 1294) married Margred ferch Maredudd Gôch; married Sibyl, widow of Grimbold Pauncefot.
Gruffudd (died 1332)
Gwilym (illegitimate).
Evidence
from the Close Rolls:
Pro Griffino.--H. Dei gratia rex Anglie etc dilecte sibi in Christo M. que fuit uxor Wenunwen, salutem. Sciatis quod concessimus dilecto nostro Griffino filio vestro ad se sustentandum in servicio nostro, quamdiu nobis placuerit, firmam quam nobis reddere consuevistis ad Scaccarium nostrum pro manerio nostro de Assesford'. Et ideo vobis mandamus quod de firma illa ipsi filio vestro intendentes sitis et respondentes, sicut predictum est. Teste ut supra.
Rex baronibus suis de Scaccario salutem. Sciatis quod concessimus Griffino filio Wenionwen ad se sustentandum in servicio nostro, quamdiu nobis placuerit, firmam quam Margareta mater ipsius Griffini consuevit reddere ad Scaccarium nostrum pro manerio nostro de Assesford’. Et ideo vobis mandamus quod ita inrotulari et fieri faciatis. Teste ut supra.
from the Fine Rolls:
[No date]. The fine of Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn has made fine with the king by 300 m. for having seisin of all lands formerly of the aforesaid Gwenwynwyn, saving the right of any person, and the king has taken his homage for this. Gruffydd has also promised that he and his heirs will faithfully serve the king and his heirs from this point on and that on no account will they withdraw from their fealty and service. Gruffydd has further granted, for himself and his heirs, that if it happens that he or his heirs withdraw from their fealty and service to the king and his heirs in any way, all of his lands, for himself and his heirs, are to be forfeited to the king and his heirs, and he has given the king hostages for this.
For Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. The king has granted to Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn that, of the 300 m. by which he made fine with him for having seisin of all lands formerly of the aforesaid Gwenwynwyn, he may render £50 at the Exchequer, namely £25 at Easter in the twenty-sixth year and £25 at Michaelmas in the same year, and thus from year to year etc. Order to the barons of the Exchequer to cause this to be done and enrolled thus.
14 May. Reading. For Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. Order to the barons of the Exchequer to cause it to be inquired by an inspection of the rolls of the Exchequer by what cause they cause £10 to be exacted from Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn by summons of the Exchequer, for which, as he says, he is distrained by reason of two tallages assessed upon his manor of Ashford , and if in the time of the aforesaid Gwenwynwyn any tallage shall ever have been assessed upon the aforesaid manor , they are to certify this to king, and whether they shall have made the aforesaid demand from him for tallage or for another reason, and they are place that demand in respite until the quindene of Michaelmas in the twenty-eighth year.
8 June. St. Albans. For Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. The king has given respite, until Martinmas in the twenty-ninth year, to Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn from the £25 which are exacted from him by summons of the Exchequer. Order to the barons of the Exchequer to cause him to have that respite.
Gruffudd is mentioned in Brut y Tywysogion s.a. 1244, s.a. 1256, s.a. 1257, s.a. 1263, s.a. 1274, s.a. 1276, and s.a. 1277.
Pryce (nos. 582 - 608) gives documents made by Gruffudd.
References
Bartrum, Peter C., “Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 30” in An Electronic Version of Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1500.
[The sources that Bartrum cites for Gruffudd are: Brut y Tywysogion; “Rhandiroedd Powys” (12), a MS written by 1493; Peniarth 129 (44, 49), copied about 1500 from a 1497 MS by Gutun Owain; and Peniarth 127 (32, 98), written by Syr Thomas ap Ieuan ap Deicws between about 1510 and 1523.]
Bartrum, Peter C. “Rhandiroedd Powys” in National Library of Wales journal, Volume 18, pp. 231-237 (1973). [Bartrum notes that it contains definite errors, but seems to have been regarded as authoritative by genealogists of the sixteenth century.]
Guy, Ben. Medieval Welsh Genealogy. (The Boydell Press, 2020).
From Guy’s critical edition of the Gutun Owain recension of the Llywelyn ab Iorwerth genealogies, which were based on an archetype created no later than the first half of the fourteenth century from an original compilation dating to the early thirteenth century, partly based on earlier written sources (Note that Guy is striving for textual rather than genealogical accuracy):
G77.1 Brenhinllwyth Powys Wenwynwyn:
Plant Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn ap Ywain Kyveilioc ap Gruffudd ap Mredudd ap Bleddyn ap Kynvyn ap Gwerystan: nid amgen Ywain ap Gruffudd, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Iohon ap Gruffudd, Wiliam ap Gruffudd, Gruffydd Vychan ap Gruffudd, Davydd ap Gruffudd. Yw mam oedd verch [GAP].
G77.1.1 Mam Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn oedd Vargred verch yr arglwydd Rys ap Gruffudd ap Rys ap Tewdwr.
Henry III Fine Rolls Project. The National Archives and King’s College London (accessed 18 February 2023).
Morgan, R. “The Barony of Powys, 1275-1360” in The Welsh History Review 10 (1980).
Pierce, Thomas Jones. “Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn” in Welsh Biography Online.
Pryce, Huw. The Acts of the Welsh Rulers 1120 - 1283 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2005)
Stephenson, David. Medieval Powys: Kingdom, Principality and Lordships, 1132-1293. (The Boydell Press, 2016), especially chapter 7, "Survival: The Case of Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn".
Tout, T.F. (A.D. Carr, rev.) “Gwenwynwyn” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).
Williams ab Ithel, John. Brut y Tywysogion; or, The Chronicle of the Princes (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts; 1860).