Thomas ap Llywelyn ab Owain
Events
Date of Birth: about 1299.
The date is given by Bartrum (Rhys ap Tewdwr 7). Thomas’s age is given as 10 in his father’s Inquisition post mortem, dated 3 May, 2 Edw. II (CIPM Volume 5, Edward II, no. 91) and as 28 at inquisition into his grandfather’s land holdings dated the Saturday after St. Michael, 2 Edward III (CIPM Volume 7, Edward III, no. 149).
Date of Death: before 14 August 1343.
The date, given by Bridgeman (p. 247), is when Thomas’s son, Owen, was in possession of his lands.
Relationships
Father: Llywelyn ab Owain ap Maredudd (about 1274 - 1309).
This relationship is shown by Bartrum (Rhys ap Tewdwr 7), and given by Bridgeman (pp. 239-247), by Smith, and by Dwnn (2:54). Thomas is given as Llewelyn ap Owayn’s younger son in Llewelyn’s Inquisition post mortem (CIPM Volume 5, Edward II, no. 91), and in a 1328 inquisition into Owen ap Mereduth’s land holdings (CIPM Volume 7, Edward III, no. 149). Bridgeman (pp. 242-243) cites a third inquisition (now known as Miscellanea 10, no. 33 (2)), taken 22 March 1335, which also gives the same relationship. Bridgeman (p. 141) also cites a 1309 writ supporting this relationship.
Mother: uncertain.
Bartrum (Rhys ap Tewdwr 7) expresses uncertainty as to whether Thomas’s mother was Gwanas ferch Thomas ap Robinod or a daughter of Sir Robert de Valle. J.E. Lloyd (p. 140) gives Robert de Valle.
Spouse: uncertain.
Bartrum (Rhys ap Tewdwr 7) notes that there is much disagreement in the genealogies about the ancestry of Thomas’s wife. Some sources make her Elinor ferch Maredudd, whose mother was Thomas’s sister. Other sources (for example, Glover) make her Elinor, a daughter of Philip ab Ifor, Lord of Iscoed and his wife, a daughter of Llywelyn the last. Bollard (p. 429) notes that it is very unlikely that Thomas’s spouse was a granddaughter of Llywelyn the Last, as this was not mentioned in contemporary sources on the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion, and it is hard to believe that it would not have been, given the importance of Owain Glyndŵr’s descent from the rulers of the traditional three kingdoms Wales to his claim to princeship. As well, Bollard notes that Philip ab Ifor was in fact married to the daughter of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great), not Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (Llywelyn the Last).
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
Elen married Gruffudd Fychan ap Gruffudd o’r Rhuddallt.
Margred married (1) Wilcock ap Gruffudd; married (2) Tudur ap Gronwy. Margred and Tudur were ancestors of the Tudor kings of England.
Maredudd married Elen ferch Llywelyn. Pronounced illegitimate.
Owain (died about 1360).
References
Bartrum, Peter C., “Rhys ap Tewdwr 7”, and “Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 5” in An Electronic Version of Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1500. [The sources Bartrum cites for Thomas are: Rhandiroedd Powys (9) -- a MS written by 1493; Peniarth 131 (126) -- a MS written about 1480 by Gutun Owain; Peniarth 131 (257, 292) -- a MS written about 1500 by Ieuan Brechfa; Peniarth 129 (60) -- a copy made about 1500 of a MS written about 1497 by Gutun Owain; Peniarth 137 (31) -- a MS written in the early 1500s by ‘Syr’ Thomas ap Ieuan ap Deiews.]
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.]
Bollard, John K. “Owain Glyndŵr, Princeps Wallie”” in Owain Glyndŵr: A Casebook (Michael Livingston and John K. Bollard eds.) (Liverpool University Press, 2013).
Bridgeman, George T.O. History of the Princes of South Wales (Wigan: Thomas Birch, 1876).
Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. Volume 5, Edward II. (London, 1908).
Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. Volume 7, Edward III. (London, 1909).
Davies, R.R. The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dŵr. (Oxford U.P., 1995).
Dwnn, Lewys, and Samuel Rush Meyrick. Heraldic visitations of Wales and part of the marches between the years 1586 and 1613 by Lewys Dwnn. (Llandovery: William Rees, 1846).
Glover, Robert. “Stemma Aliciae,” adapted and translated by John K. Bollard in Owain Glyndŵr: A Casebook (Michael Livingston and John K. Bollard eds.) (Liverpool University Press, 2013). [This pedigree was drawn up in the 1570s, but based on earlier sources, possibly from the 1430s.]
Lloyd, Jacob Youde William. The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fodog and the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen and Meirionydd. (London: T. Richards, 1881-1887).
Lloyd, J.E. "Owain Glyn Dŵr: His Family and Early History" in Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodion (1918-19) pp. 128-145.
Oman, Sandra. “Thomas ap Llywelyn” in Tree: Wales. Welsh Medieval Database Primarily of Nobility and Gentry.
Smith, J. Beverley. “Dower in Thirteenth-Century Wales: a Grant of the Commote of Anhuniog, 1273” in The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 30 (ii) (University of Wales Press, 1982-3) pp. 348-355.
Abstracts and Transcriptions
An abstract of an inquisition into the lands of Owen ap Mereduth taken in 1328 (CIPM Volume 7, Edward III, no. 149).
Writ to Roger de Mortuo Mari, justice of Wales, 4 August, 2 Edward III.
[Cardigan.] Inq. taken at Kermerdyn on Saturday after St. Michael, 2 Edward III.
Hanunyauk [Anhuniauk or Anhunauk]. The whole commote, held of the king in chief by Welsh law.
Gwynneonyth Uchkerdyn. A Moiety of the commote.
Kerwedros [or Cayrwedros]. The whole commote, except a “westua” called Drefreyr [or Drefdeyr]; and after the death of the said Oweyn, Lewelin ap Oweyn, his son, exchanged the said commote of Kerwedros with Gruffin ap Mereduth, his uncle, for the commote of Iscoyt Uchirwern; which Gruffin afterwards forfeited the said commote of Cayrwedros by war waged against the king, by which it remains until now in the hand of the king of England.
Oweyn ap Lewelin [ap Oweyn] and Thomas ap Lewelin, both aged 28 years and more, are his next heirs.
The said commote of Hanunyauk came into the hand of Edward, sometime King of England, grandfather of the present king, and has until now been in the hand of the kings of England, viz. -- for fifty-two years; and this was in the time of Payn de Cadurciis, then justice of South Wales, who took the said commote into the king’s hand, and so it remains until now.
[Cardigan.] Inq. Satruday after St. Michael, 2 Edward III.
Anhuniauk. The commote &c., to the same effect as above, with the variations there noted within square brackets.
Heirs as above.
C. Edw. III. File 11. (18.)