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To recap from previous posts, I have recently discovered that I have an ancestor named Margaret Puleston, wife of the Baron Lewis Owen of Dolgellau. She was a grandmother of Catrin, wife of my direct ancestor, Evan Morgan, supposed son of Bishop William Morgan, the Welsh translater of the bible.
In my first post on my ancestors I outlined my connection, through Margaret's Puleston ancestry, to the Warenne family, Earls of Surrey, a family originally from a place by the river Varenne in Upper Normandy. The first Earl had familial links with William the Conqueror, through his mother Emma. William fought with the Conqueror at Hastings and thus became amply rewarded by being given many lands in the shires of England. Indeed earlier, in 1054, Warenne had aided the Conqueror, then Duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Mortemer. The then King of France sent his brother Odo and Count Rainald to lead an army against the barons of various provinces in Normandy, led by Robert Count of Eu. Their defeat resulted in William de Warenne being given Roger de Mortemer's lands.
It appears that this William de Warenne married Gundrada, claimed by many to be a daughter of William the Conqueror. Others claim that she was a step-daughter of William's, a child of his wife's Matilda's first marriage. Others say that she was no relation, but what is certain is that both William and Gundrada founded the Priory at Lewes where they were interred. Their coffins were re-discovered in October 1845 through work on a railway line and created great interest in local papers. The archaeologist Mark Antony Lower appears to believe she was a daughter of the Conqueror. He was one of the archaeologists consulted at the time. He certainly was a favourite of William the Conqueror, or he wouldn't have been so richly rewarded, so it's not so strange that he would not be allowed to marry a member of the Conqueror's family. David Charles Douglas, a critic of this theory, suggests that Gundreda couldn't be the daughter of Matilda because she would have been too young. He cites that Baldwin V and his bride Adela, Matilda's parents, did not comsummate their marriage until 1031, and 1049 was the year that William the Conqueror declared his intent to marry Matilda. It was quite normal in thise times to have marriages between minors. As an extreme example Elizabeth de Vermandois, who I will write about later, married her first husband, Robert de Meulan, at the age of 9. With Robert being 35 years her senior, this was unusual to have such an age difference, but it wasn't unusual to start having children at 14. There was apparantly a dispute with Rome over the legality of the proposed marriage. Edward Freeman, notable writer of the history of the Normans, argued that this 'complication' with the marriage was due to the fact that Matilda was already married. In fact she also had at least 2 children, namely Gerbod, his father's namesake and an Earl of Chester, and Gundrada. Why did William pursue Matilda when it would surely be easier to marry another equally worthy princess? The main reason seems to be in Matilda's lineage. Through her father Baldwin V she was a descendant of Alfred the Great, and William wanted to strengthen his claims to his intention of being King of England. On the surface this seems quite calculating by William, but by all accounts he loved Matilda and apparantly remained faithful to her during their marriage, a rare occurance especially within royal marriages. So, he appears to be one of the lucky ones, to have love AND wealth AND success!
Returning to Gundrada, the reason why some believe that she was related to the Conqueror in some way is because of a reference on a deed to the foundation of the priory of Lewes in Sussex. There is also a charter, the Cottonian manuscript, which is in the British Museum, where he refers her as his daughter. There is also the issue of Gundreda not being mentioned by the well known historians of the time. It is a pattern excercised by early genealogists of failing, or not bothering to record daughters even with the highest families in the land. In support of this, another of the Conqueror's daughters, Agatha, who married Alphonso, King of Galicia, was also omitted from accounts of Norman historians.
If the evidence does indicate that Gundrada was Matilda's daughter, if not William the Conqueror's, then it opens up a line towards Alfred the Great, through Matilda's father Baldwin V (see below).
Baldwin V - Baldwin IV - Arnulf II - Baldwin III - Arnulf I - Baldwin II m. Aelfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great
Baldwin V married Adele of Flanders, a grandaughter of Hugh Capet, a great great great great great grandson of Charlemagne. It's really take your pick from the rulers of Medieval France from here, and there are too many individuals to mention here.
We are in the same ball park when we look at Elizabeth de Vermandois's lineage. She was the wife of the second Earl of Surrey and another ancestor, William de Warenne, who died in 1138. Her father was Hugh Magnus, of Vermandois, a crusader, who died from wounds sustained in a battle against the Turks at Tarsus. His parents were Henri I (1008-1060) and Anne of Kiev (died 1075) a Russian princess whose mother was Princess Ingegerd of Sweden. Again the possible connections to ancestors is numerous. A lot of them lead back to Charlemagne.
I hadn't intended in writing about the Whitney family line at this point in my family research but all week I have been fascinated by what I've found. My great whatever grandmother Eleanor Whitney married John Puleston, son of Madog Puleston, who was the son of Lowri sister to Owain Glyndwr. Her father was Robert Whitney, so I was intrigued by what I could find on his family. A family tree can be seen here from my website. Robert married twice, which has been firmly established, to a Constance Touchet and Elizabeth the daughter of Sir Thomas Vaughan of Hergest. In what order is still undetermined but research tends to lean towards Constance being the first. The most frustrating aspect of research into this particular Robert Whitney is the fact that it can't be assertained which of his children are attributed to the wives. Eleanor was definately Robert's daughter but who was her mother? It is such a shame because Constance's ancestry leads directly to King Edward III!
Apparently a crusading family (members of the family went on crusades that is), and the use of the name Baldwin as a christian name (no pun intended) is certainly a clue. A Sir Randolph de Whitney went with Richard I on a crusade and was attacked by Saladin's brother and 2 others. By some miricle he survived which he attributed to the virgin Mary, and when he got home he built a chapel dedicated to her at Whitney in Herefordshire. He probably wasn't a direct ancestor but a fellow called Thurstin the Fleming was. According to 'A Book of the Wye' he was involved in the Battle of Hastings and was given Wigmore and inherited Pencomb in Herefordshire by marrying Agnes, daughter of Alured of Merleburgh, as well as Whitney, which became the surname of Thurstin's decendants.
One of those decendants was a Sir Robert Whitney, born 1348 at Whitney who certainly led an eventful life. In 1368 he accompanied the Duke of Clarence, with an entourage of over 200, for his marriage to the daughter of the Duke of Milan. He was also sent to France to meet the King of Navarre In the political turmoil that engulfed England in the latter years of the 15th century, Sir Robert, a supporter of Richard II, decided to abandon him for Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV). This decision led to his death against the forces of Owain Glyndwr(a proponent of Richard) at the Battle of Bryn Glass (Pilleth) in June 1402, along with his brother and other relatives.
There was a Eustace de Whitney, born ?, who was married to Elizabeth de Freville, daughter of Sir Alexander de Freville, and researching her has opened up a lot of connections, and she can be regarded as a mini gateway ancestor. Elizabeth's mother was Joan de Cromwell (now there's an interesting name!) whose ancestry I haven't looked into yet, and her mother was a Margery de Marmion. She is often mentioned as Mazer. This connection opens up my ancestry to the Marmion family, descended from the Norman lords of Fontenay le Marmion. They were hereditary champions of the crown, which as far as I can make out is a role that is filled tb those who occupied the manor on Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire. It required the holder to challenge anyone who protests to the coronation of the new king. It is purely ceremonial and not been actually acted out as far as I know. The Marmion family carried it out in Normandy and they carried it on in England until 1377 when the male Marmion line died out. An earlier Marmion, Robert, had made an enemy of the earl of Chester, and whilst surveying the approaching earl's forces towards his castle fell and broke his thigh. Prostrate on the ground and obviously in pain, he was despatched by being beheaded by one of the earl's men.
They also gave away lands and became patrons of various abbeys, mainly because as atonement for the wrongs they committed. More than once I have read about monks being turfed out off of their land so that the new landlord can build his castle as a means of defending his new aquired land. Pretty much after they realise that what they've done isn't going to make God happy, so they quickly try to make up with the clergy and give them money to build monastries and abbeyies on the land that was theirs in the first place. Of course these buildings would occupy a small part of the land gained, most of it was still in the lord's possession. It's a con trick that still occurs today.
Having discovered that Margaret Puleston was my 'gateway ancestor', I carried on researching the numerous marriages along her ancestors' lineages. In my last post I described the discoveries of Margaret's Welsh connections. The research in all her Welsh forbears is incomplete because there are more lines to investigate. This post will concentrate on 2 lines that are generated from my Puleston line.
The son of the murdered Sir Roger de Pyvelisdon, sheriff of Anglesey, was Richard de Pyvelisdon, who was appointed successor to his father by Edward I. According to Robert Sewell's site, Richard had married an Angharad, a daughter of a Warren from Warren Hall, Salop. This 'Warren' has been cited as being either William or Griffith de Warren, and the existence of both Richard and his wife are quoted in Burke's Peerage. Many websites and public family trees state that Angharad was a daughter of William de Warenne, the son of John de Warenne, the 7th Earl of Surrey, which cannot be true. William only had 2 children, John and Alice (John being the future 8th earl and last of the line) and born several months after his father's death at a tournament in 1285. So where was the connection? It's also not certain if Angharad was her name. It could have been Agnes or Ankaret, and this last name I have seen frequently in my researches. It sounds like a variation of Angharad, so I would be more inclined to believe her name was Ankaret. However, the important thing is that she came from a Warren Hall, which there is now no trace. It took a couple of days of painstaking going through hundreds of PDF pages of books I downloaded from the internet, but I finally found a reference for a Warren Hall. It came from a book published in 1782, which is available for download on the Ancestry website, written by the Rev. John Watson, called "Memoirs of the Ancient Earls of Warren and Surrey and their Descendants to the present time". I quote from this book;
"Earl William (the 6th earl) had also a natural son, called Griffin de Warren...From what mother this Griffin came, is uncertain; but that he was the son of this earl, appears from Vincent's Cheshire in the Herald's office, where is a pedigree of him, and his descendants, with the arms of the families they matched with. He married Isabel sister of Robert de Pulford...By the said Isabel the said Griffin had John de Warren, who married Audela, the daughter and heiress of Griffin de Albo Monasterio (we now call Whitchurch, Shropshire ). This John was Lord of Ichtefeld, in right of his wife, whose father obtained it, by marrying Audela...In one of the Harleian Mss. No.2131, it is said, that in the county of Salop, two miles from Ichtefeld, was an ancient castle, situated on a terrible morass, by a river side, which in times past was inhabited by the earls of Warren and Surrey, and was called earl Warren's castle. Near the same, situated on a little hill, was an ancient house called Warren's Hall."
So, it appears that there was an off-shoot from the main Warren lineage which started with the illegitimate son of William de Warenne, the 6th Earl of Surrey and Warren, namely Griffin de Warenne. The Earls of Surrey had lands practically in all the counties in England, and Shropshire was one of them. This, of course, means that I have a direct line from the 6th earl back to the first one who was given the title from William the Conqueror. In the book there is a family tree which has Griffin de Warren at the top and a further 13 generations below him. The Warren that fits into my family is the grandson, also Griffin, who married Winifred daughter of William of Broxton. I have been unable to find anything substantial about William Broxton, only that he owned land. Broxton is near Chester, about 11 miles away to the south of that city and checking on Wikipedia there is a Broxton Hall, owned by the Egerton family in the 17th century. The Egertons derived their name from the de Malpas family, specifically David de Maplas or le Clerk as he was known. A daughter of David married another Puleston descendant of mine which will be explored later.
This Griffin was born around 1240, and Angharad is said to be born about 1264, so he is the likley candidate to be her father. Let's now look at the information I have found on the lineage from the 6th Earl of Surrey.
William de Warenne, 6th earl of Surrey was born in 1166. He was known as William Plantagenet because he was the son of Hamelin Plantagenet and Isabella de Warenne. Hamelin became the 5th Earl by marrying Isabella who was the daughter and heir of the 3rd Earl, also called William de Warenne. Incidently, Isabella's first husband was William of Blois, King Stephen of England's son. Most of the earls were called William so it gets confusing at times. Hamelin also took on the Warenne name so was called Hamelin de Warenne! Hamelin's father was Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Anjou, and an unknown woman, but is suspected to be Adelaide of Angers. Geoffrey is more known for being the father of King Henry II, through marrying his mother Matilda the daughter of King Henry I. Geoffrey's father was Fulk V of Anjou, who, after the death of his first wife, went to Jerusalem and became its king by marrying Melisende, daughter of Baldwin II of Jerusalem. According to Wikipedia, Geoffrey's lineage goes back throught he other Dukes of Anjou, including Geoffrey I known as Greymantle, but I'd like to check whether Wiki has got it right.
Going back to the Warenne's, the 3rd earl married Adela, or Ela, as she was known, whose ancestry include Robert of Belleme, the 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife Agnes of Ponthieu. The 2nd Earl of Surrey, also you've guessed it, William, died in 1138 and was married to Elizabeth de Vermandois, daughter to Hugh Magnus, duke of Vermandois, who was the son of Henri I of France. Sometimes Elizabeth is known as Isobel in some books, but there is no doubt that she is the same woman who married William. Now I regard Elizabeth as another gateway ancester because looking into her ancestry opens up a treasure chest of connections with various royal houses in Europe. For instance her paternal grandmother was Anne of Kiev, daughter of Yaroslav I (nicknamed The Wise) of Kiev, himself a son of Vladamir I (known as Volodymyr the Great). The story goes that Henri could not find a suitable wife from the eligible pool of royal daughters because of consanquinity issues (they were too close as kin to him). So the safest bet for him was to marry Anne. Her mother was Ingergerd, daughter of King Olof of Sweden. Wiki goes further but I'll stop there. I think Wiki has got it right with these connections because they were such well known personalities.
Going back to Henri I of France, his father was Robert II of France, son of Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine. Henri mother was Constance of Arles and her lieage goes back to Charlemagne, founding father of both the French and German royal houses. I'm pretty sure that given these links to various monarchs in Europe, there are other lines leading to Charlemagne, but I need to double check my research to make sure that the lines are in order. Hugh Capet's paternal grandmother, Beatrice of Vermandois also has a line to Charlemagne (her great grandfather was Bernard of Italy, a grandson of Charlemagne.
The 1st Earl of Warenne, William, married Gundred, a daughter of Matilda of Flanders. Matilda is best known as the wife of William the Conqueror, but it appears that she was married first to a Flemish gentleman named Gerbod. In some sources Gundred has been cited as the Conqueror's natural daughter, but it is likely that she was his step-daughter. There is no doubt that William was close to the Conqueror because he was given land near the battle of Hastings. Lewes Priory in Sussex was founded by the first Earl of Warenne. Also, de Warenne was associated with the family of Gerbod and inherited lands from that family. Matilda's father was Bladwin V, Count of Flanders and Adele, daughter of Robert II of France and Constance of Arles. Here we have another link to Charlemagne on Constance's ancestry. Also, Baldwin V's paternal grandmother was Rozala of Lombardy, who is also cited to be a descendant of Chalemagne! Is everyone related to Charlemagne? Seems so. Millions around the world are of course. Baldwin's gggg grandfather was Alfred the Great of Wessex or England, through Alfred's daughter Aelfthryth. Wiki has his line going back to the early 6th century, to Cerdic, King of Wessex. Again, I don't know how authentic Wikipedia's information is but this linege but must be easily available somewhere, and therefore well known. The information can actually be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which ws translated by the Rev. James Ingram and published in 1823.
There are other links stemming from my Puleston ancestry to investigate, and one in particular is of interest. Remember the Roger de Pyvelisdon from my last post who was hung by the Welsh for daring to collect taxes for Edward I's war with France? His wife was Agnes, daughter of David de Malpas, known as le clerc because he was an administrator for the earl of Chester, probably Ranulf, who inherited the earldom from his father Hugh Cyfeiliog. David's wife was Margaret daughter of Ralph ap Einion, whose wife is also said be related to the 4th earl of Chester Ranulph de Gernon. There were 2 David de Malpas so more research needs to be done to make sure that I have the right line. According to my research David's mother was Beatrix, an illegitimate daughter of Hugh, Earl of Chester. On the Peerage.com web site her name is unknown, but in Collins' Peerage Vol.5 her name is stated as Beatrix. Her husband, and father of David de Malpas, was William le Belward. William inherited the baronetcy of Malpas from his mother Lettice, daughter and heir of Robert, Baron of Malpas. So David was a grandson of Hugh, earl of Chester. I've read that Beatrix was illegitimate, but nevertheless a real catch anyway because illegitamacy wasn't so bad in them days. Hugh's father was Ranulf de Gernon, 4th earl of Chester, and his mother was Maud of Gloucester. Maud's father was Robert 1st Earl of Gloucester, one of many illegitamate sons of King Henry I, reputedly with Nest, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, another direct ancestor (see last post). More research is needed on my possible connections to Hugh. earl of Chester, to confirm yet another wonderful lineage, though the link from Agnes to her father David le Clerk to William le Belward and Beatrix to Hugh seems pretty solid.
That's it for now. More next week.
In the last 3 weeks I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to delve into my family history like I have never delved before. The information I have gathered is, in a word, amazing, and it seems unbelievable that ordinary me could be related to such notable figures in history. And not only Welsh history but European. My research has led me to the geat Welsh leader Rhodri Mawr, as well as French kings such as Henri I and Hugh Capet. As to the English monarchy I get as close as to a half brother to Henry II (Hamelin Plantagenet) and Henry Tudor. However, for this post I am going to write about my research on my Welsh anscestors and show how I got there.
It all started when I bought the book 'Bywyd ac Amserau Yr Esgob Morgan' by Charles Ashton, published in 1891, from Abebooks on the internet. This is the book that I had been after for many years because I needed it to confirm my family link to Bishop William Morgan, something that I knew but wanted proof. And there it was. A family tree, just after page 115, showing my great great great grandfather Owen Evans and his wife Jane Hughes, and his parents being Margaret Morgan and Owen Evan of Ty'n Ddol, Ffestiniog. Margaret's lineage was exactly as I thought it would be, her father being William Ellis Morgan. It was his brother, John, whose papers that Ashton was relying on, and the tree descended all the way to Bishop William Morgan. At last I can feel sure that I am truly a descendent of this great man's family, though others had known this but I wanted to see physical proof for myself. It was at this point that I noticed that Ashton had indicated on the tree that the bishop had a son, Evan Morgan, also a man of the cloth. Now this has been a contentious issue with genealogists as some claim that he was a nephew of William Morgan rather than his son, which to be fair Ashton points this out. I had always assumed up to now that Evan was his nephew because I hadn't seen any evidence that William had a son. He was married twice so the chance of producing at least 1 child must be high, you would think. Ashton's reasoning is based on the known appointments and places that William Morgan had been. For instance, it is known that he was at Cambridge University from 1564,and was there for, I think, 7 years. Considering that Evan's first appointment was at Llanrhaiadr-y-Mochnant in 1588 (taking over from William in fact), Ashton deduces that he was likely to have been born around 1564. If he was born after William came back from Cambridge, Evan would have been 16 taking up this first post, a highly unlikely scenario. However, his does not rule out the possibility that Evan was the son of one of William Morgan's brothers, but Ashton was basing his research from the famly papers held by John Ellis Morgan, a gggg grandson to William, so it seems more likely to be correct. If this is the case then William Morgan was married to Ellen Salesbury, who was related to that other famous translator, William Salesbury. Her family tree is also included in Ashton's book and he has managed to trace it back to Adam de Salzburg, a relative of a Duke in Bavaria. Because of the uncertainty of the parentage of Evan, I cannot for certain rely on my connection to Ellen's ancestors. However, the Salesbury (or Salusbury) connection re-emerges later in my research.
So, Evan Morgan seemed to be the logical choice to research, and I was lucky enough to use Ashton's research again. In his book he states that Evan was married to Catherine daughter of John ap Rhys Wynn of Caer Ddinen, and Mary, who was a daughter of Baron Lewis Owen (or Lewys ap Owen). This seemed an interesting path to follow so I started looking on the internet for these people.
I must point out here that there are literally thousands's of out of copywright books available for either download or to view, for free from Google books and www.archive.org, which have fantastic information for genealogical purposes. Well worth checking if you have relatively well-known people in your family history. There is, of course, a reliance that the information written in these books are correct, but they do seem to have based their research on primary sources (original manuscripts) so we must assume that they are.
I quickly found Lewis Owen. He wasn't hard to find because he was regarded as one of the most well known men in Merionethshire in the time of the Tudors. He was appointed deputy-chamberlain of North Wales and baron of the exchequer at Caernarfon. He was also sheriff of Merioneth in 1545-6 and 1554-5, and MP for Merioneth in 1547, 1553 and 1554. On October 11th or 12th, 1555 he was murdered by the 'Red bandits of Mawddwy' at a place still called 'Llidart y barwn, near Mallwyd in Merionethshire. Apparantly it was a revenge killing because Lewis had caught, tried and hung a few of the bandits just before. His wife was Margaret Puleston, daughter of Robert Puleston, rector of Gresford and Whitford (Burke's Peerages). From another source, she is said to be not only the daughter of Robert but also the niece of Sir John Puleston of Hafod y Wern, Bersham. The first Puleston from Hafod was a Madog Puleston (Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales, Thomas Nicholas,p. 455, vol.2) and his father was Robert Puleston who married Lowri, sister to Owain Glyndwr. As a proud Welshman, this connection gladdens my heart! To have Owain as a distant uncle is fantastic. I discovered more when I looked into the family of Owain's mother, Ellen. She was the daughter of Thomas ap Llewelyn, whose ancestry I will discuss later. Thomas had another daughter, Margaret, who married Tudur Fychan ap Goronwy of Plas Penmynydd, Anglesey. At this point I knew that there was going to be another important connection. Penmynydd is synomenous with the ancestry of Owain Tudor the grandfather of King Henry VII, and so he turns out to be my 4th cousin, 16x removed. There are a few more lines to investigate in this period, which I will no doubt look into in time.
Going back to Thomas ap Llewelyn (ggg grandfather to Henry Tudor), I followed his ancestry using the various Rootsweb family trees that are available on the net. Now, caution should be taken when relying on these trees because it is research carried out by others and who knows where they have got their information from. On at least 2 occasions I was led to believe that I was related to William the Conqueror because of mistakes made from these trees. There is an awful lot of copying on the genealogical net and a quick search on Rootsweb will reveal identical info on numerous trees. There is also a temptation for some to claim direct ancestry to noble and royal families because it would be difficult to DISPROVE those findings. Not many would bother to check to see they're right. The reason I've taken so long to write this post is because I've checked and re-checked my information, and I want to find the TRUTH about my ancestors, and not find out out later that it was not the case. I am reminded here of John Hurt's experience on the BBC programme 'Who do you think you are'. He always believed that he was descended from Irish ancestery, which he was very proud of, only to find that one of these ancestors had lied about his birth. He was understandably angry and upset because he had always thought that he had Irish blood, which will have had an effect on how he perceived his 'self'. The link between identity and ancestry can be very strong, and to John Hurt it must have felt that his very personality was based on a lie. Some of these submitters on Rootsweb may want to believe they are related to notable people, but I would rather find out who my real ancestors were, whether they were ordinary peasants or members of the aristocracy. They are all important and significant because they produced me and the family I love.
So, I rechecked these Rootsweb claims by reading up downloaded books on the internet and believe I have found the true lineages that I am now stating. By the way, one of the incorrect submissions on Rootsweb was a claim that Owain Glyndwr's great grandmother was a Catherine, a daughter of Llewelyn ap Gruffydd (Llewelyn the Last) who married Eleanor de Montford, whose maternal grandfather was King John I, and this line leads to William the Conqueror. Llewelyn, as far as I know, only had one daughter, Gwenllian, who was whisked away to a nunnery by the English while still a baby, never to know her true roots. Despite finding a couple of authors writing in the early 19th century who state the existence of this Catherine, I think it's not safe to pursue. If it was true then it would be a fantastic connection to not only King John but also the de Montforts, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the royal houses of France. I believe this to be false, but any direct links to Llewelyn is still possible because I haven't explored all the lineages.
Anyway, the lineage of Thomas ap Llewelyn leads to Gruffydd ap Rhys who married Matilda de Braose, whose family I will write in a future post, who was the son of Rhys ap Gruffydd, The Lord Rhys. He was Prince of Deheubarth (modern day south west Wales) and Henry II appointed him the protector of South Wales. He, unfortunately, died of plague in 1197 and is buried at St. David's Cathedral. His grandfather was Rhys ap Tewdwr, Prince of Deheubarth, and he was killed in the Battle of Brecon in 1093, probably fighting the English again. Protecting the borders of Wales then must have been as difficult as trying to save a sinking ship. When one area is patched up there is always another ready to leak through somewhere else. Rhys ap Tewdwr's ggg grandfather was Hywel Dda (Hywel the Good), born circa. 887 and despite this apparent virtuous tag was regarded as quite ruthless. He even ordered the death of his brother-in-law, Llywarch of Dyfed. However, a great reign doesn't get built by being soft. His most well known achievement was the creation of the Law of Wales which was the foundation of Welsh unity and identity. His grandfather was Rhodri Mawr (Rodri the Great)a famous warrior who defended Wales from especially the Danes, who had continuously raided Celtic coasts including Ireland and Brittany. He was killed, together with his son Gwriad, in a battle against the English in 877.
Archives that go further back before Rhodri's time are a mixture of tales of myths and legends. Rhodri was supposed to be a descendent of Coel Hen (Old King Cole himself) and beyond this to Maelgwn Gwynedd and Cunedda and you are really in fantasy land perhaps. There's one tree on Rootsweb that leads from Rhodri to a Roman called Padarn Beisrudd. It's entirely plausible but difficult to prove. I'm quite happy with what I've found to date, and there are more discoveries to follow. The beauty of finding an ancestor who married into a notable family is that there is an excellent chance of finding more well known personalities. Such families liked to marry off their offspring to other families of equal status or better, and that has been the case with my ancestor Margaret Puleston. Bless her! The Pulestons originated from Pilsdon in Shropshire, but very soon were regarded as a Welsh family settling at Emral Hall, Flintshire. An early Puleston ancestor, Sir Roger de Pyvelisdon, was reponsible for collecting a tax from the Welsh to fund Edward I's war with France. I can just imagine his face when the king told him what he had to do! It's a dirty job bur someone has to do it! Talk about walking into the lion's den. As many I suppose predicted he and his assistants were grabbed and hung on the spot at Caernarfon. His son Sir Richard de Pyvelisdon married a daughter of a Warren from Warren Hall in Shropshire. This line of enquiry provided me with a very challenging research task, and all the reading I did paid off in a big way and will be the subject of my next post.
To finish off some loose ends, some interesting indirect connections.
Through Owain Glyndwr's parents, I have a direct lineage to Gwenllian and Susanna, both daughters of Gruffydd ap Cynan, and sisters to Owain Gwynedd. He became King of Gwynedd after defeating Trahaearn ap Caradog at the battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081, and appears to have an alliance with my other ancestor, Rhys ap Tewdwr. Gruffydd was born in Dublin and his mother Ragnaillt was the daughter of the Norse king, Olaf Sigtryggsson (Olaf of Dublin). Through the wife of Gruffydd, Angharad ferch Owain ap Edwin, there is a link to the Earls of Mercia. Owain's ggrandmother was Godgifu, Lady Godiva. So, through these lineages I have links to the Vikings. I have discovered other Viking links through Normandy connections as well but that is for another post.
If we go back to Rhys ap Tewdwr, he had a daughter named Nest. Reputedly she was so beautiful that men could not resist her, which happened quite often. She was a mistress to Henry I and produced a son. She married Gerald of Windsor and had 5 children with him. Her cousin, Owain ap Cadwgan took one look at her and decided to kidnapped her and her children, with Gerald escaping with his life going down the toilet! Quite appropriate in regards to the way his life was going I think. While in captivity she had 2 more children with Owain, who in real Mills and Boon fashioned was killed by the vengeful husband not long after. She next married Stephen, constable of Cardigan and had Robert FitzStephen. One of her grandsons was Gerald of Wales the historian, better known by his Lain name Geraldus Cambrensis.
More soon.
