Gwladus ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn

Events

Date of Birth: about 1030.

This estimated date is given by Bartrum (EVWG [47]). It is obviously inconsistent with the estimated birth date for Gwladus's son, Gruffudd. (It is the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, not Bartrum, that makes Gwladus the mother of Gruffudd.)

Date of Death: unknown.

Relationships

Father: Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn ap Gwerystan.

This relationship is shown by Bartrum (EVWG [47]) and given by Roderick (p. 4). It is recorded in Brut y Twysogsion (s.a. 1106).

Mother: unknown.

Spouse: Rhys ap Tewdwr ap Cadell.

This relationship is shown by Bartrum (Rhys ap Tewdwr 1), Pryce (ODNB “Bleddyn ap Cynfyn”), and Lloyd/Thornton (ODNB “Rhys ap Tewdwr”). Brut y Tywysogion (s.a. 1106) refers to Gwladus, daughter of Rhiwallon, as being the mother of Nest, who is also, in the same passage, called the daughter of Rhys, son of Tewdwr.

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Some doubt exists surrounding some of the facts for some of the children. Most of the information below comes from Lloyd/Thornton and Bartrum. Lloyd/Thornton give Gwladus as the mother of Gruffudd, Hywel, and Nest, and do not mention Catrin as Rhys’s other wife. Bartrum gives Catrin as the mother of Margred, but does not specify the mother of the other children.)

Gruffudd (about 1090 - 1137) married (1) unknown; married (2) Gwenllian ferch Gruffudd ap Cynan; married (3) unknown.

Hywel (living 1115).

Nest married (1) Gerald de Windsor; married (2) Stephen, Constable of Cardigan; was the mistress of Owain ap Cadwgon.

References

Bartrum, Peter C (ed.) Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts. (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1968).

The sources Bartrum gives for Gwladus are:

Achau Brenhinoedd a Thywysogion Cymru:

10. “Rrys ap Gruffudd ap Rrys ap Tewdwr [pa Cadell] ap Eynon ap Ewein ap Howel dda ap Kadell ap Rhodri. I vam oedd Wenllian verch Gruffudd ap Kynan ap Iago. Gwladus merch Riwallon ap Kynvyn oedd wraic Rys ap Tewdwr.”

Brut y Tywysogion (55).

Bartrum, Peter C., “Rhys ap Tewdwr 1” and “Tewdwr Mawr” in An Electronic Version of Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1500.

The sources Bartrum cites for Gwladys are Brut y Tywysogion and his own Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts.

Guy, Ben. Medieval Welsh Genealogy. (The Boydell Press, 2020).

From Guy’s critical edition 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):

30.1.2. Merch Riwallawn ap Kynfyn oed wraig Rys ap Tewdwr, mam Gruffud ap Rys.

Lloyd, J.E. rev. David E. Thornton. “Rhys ap Tewdwr” in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Oman, Sandra. “Gwladus ferch Rhiwallon” in Tree: Wales. Welsh Medieval Database Primarily of Nobility and Gentry.

Pierce, Thomas Jones. “Rhys ap Tewdwr” in Welsh Biography Online.

Pryce, Huw. “Bleddyn ap Cynfyn” in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Roderick, A.J. "Marriage and Politics in Wales, 1066-1282" in Welsh History Review Vol. 4, no. 1 (June 1968) pp. 3-20.

Williams ab Ithel, John (ed.). Brut y Tywysogion; or, The Chronicle of the Princes (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts; 1860).