Cantref of Penfro
The Cantref of Penfro was one of the seven cantrefi of the Kingdom of Dyfed. It subsequently became part of Deheubarth in around 950, it consisted of the long peninsular part of Dyfed south of the Eastern Cleddau and the Daugleddau estuary, bordered on its landward side by Cantref Gwarthaf. The name, meaning "land's end", derives from Pen and "fro", its area was 140 square miles. It was divided into two commotes: Cwmwd Penfro in the southwest and Cwmwd Coedrath in the northeast, as shown in the map; the eastern part of Cwmwd Penfro was sometimes called Cwmwd Maenorbier, the northern part of Cwmwd Coedrath was sometimes called Cwmwd Arberth, but both these were post-Norman lordships, were not genuine commotes. Its civil headquarters were at Pembroke: Rhoscrowther or Penally might have been its ecclesiastical centre; the cantref was made part of the Norman March in the 12th century, many castles were built, including those of Carew, Narberth and Tenby. The area became English-speaking, as it continues today, except in the northern part of Narberth parish.
At the time of the 1535 Acts of Union, the cantref was split between two newly formed hundreds, when Cwmwd Penfro became Castlemartin Hundred, Cwmwd Coedrath was merged into Narberth Hundred
Rhwng Gwy a Hafren
Rhwng Gwy a Hafren was a region of medieval Wales, located in the Welsh Marches between Powys to the north and Brycheiniog to the south. It was bounded by the rivers Severn, it covered about the same territory as Radnorshire, now part of the county of Powys. The region first came into its own in the 9th or 10th centuries, when it was ruled by leaders who operated independently of the surrounding kingdoms. After the Norman invasion, it comprised the central part of the Welsh Marches and was the site of frequent struggles between Welsh and Norman forces; the name Rhwng Gwy a Hafren appears in various medieval lists of cantrefs and commotes, is rendered in Latin in the works of Gerald of Wales. The name means "between the Wye and the Severn", those two rivers were its most important boundaries. However, the territories associated with it are not always consistent: the lists include the cantrefs of Elfael and Maelienydd and the commote of Gwrtheyrnion; the cantref of Buellt is often associated with the region, despite being located across the Wye, there is some conjecture that may tie in Arwystli as well.
The small commotes of Ceri in Maelienydd and Cwmwd Deuddwr north of Buellt were located in this area and appear in some sources, but are not included in the lists of divisions. In the Iron Age and the Roman era, Rhwng Gwy a Hafren made up part of the territory of the Ordovices. During the Early Middle Ages the region was evidently associated with the Kingdom of Powys, although in centuries the monarchs of Powys exercised no control over it. After the 9th or 10th centuries, the region was ruled by families tracing their descent from the shadowy figures of Iorwerth Hirflawdd and his descendant Elystan Glodrydd. Although these families had lineal ties to Powys, they operated independently of the Powys monarchy. In the early 9th century another dynasty arose which formed Buellt and Gwerthrynion into an independent minor kingdom; the rulers of this kingdom did not trace their descent from the royal line of Powys, but from Pascent or Pasgen, a reputed son of the early king Vortigern. However the Powys connection was never forgotten.
Welsh topographical lore remembered the traditional borders of Powys as extending to the Wye, while in 1176, Bishop Adam Parvipontanus tried to claim Ceri as part of his Diocese of St Asaph based on the old territorial claims of Powys over Rhwng Gwy a Hafren. In 1093 much of the territory was divided up between the Marcher Lords, including Roger de Montgomerie, Ralph de Mortimer, Philip de Braose. Norman authority suffered a serious reverse within fifty years with the emergence of Cadwallon ap Madog and his younger brother Einion Clud as Princes of Elfael and Maelienydd. In 1165 Cadwallon and Einion Clud combined forces and marched with the rest of independent Wales to join the massed Welsh army under the leadership of Owain Gwynedd at Corwen, which humbled the army of Henry II of England. In 1175 these two brothers travelled to Gloucester with many of their compatriots from south Wales, as allies of the Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth. Throughout the 13th century the territory as described was reoccupied by the English Marcher Lords: castle after castle were lost.
Descendants of Cadwallon and Einion Clud are recorded as holding client fortresses in the area until the 1240s, when they changed allegiance to support Llywelyn the Great and his grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. The territory was annexed by the latter in 1267 under the Treaty of Montgomery. However, following the defeat of the last native Prince of Wales at the hands of Edward I of England in 1282, most remaining native landowners in the area were dispossessed; the county of Radnorshire was formed out of the area under the various Tudor Laws in Wales Acts in the 16th century. Welsh language speakers formed the majority of the population until the end of the 19th century; some part of Rhwng Gwy a Hafren may have been known as Cynllibiwg during the Early Middle Ages. The Red Book of the Exchequer, a 13th century English compilation of landholdings, mentions a region of seven cantrefs "between Severn and Wye", known as Kenthlebiac during the time of Rhys ab Owain of Deheubarth; this name is evidently attested in the 9th century Historia Brittonum, which describes a marvellous spring in the regione of Cinlipiuc brimming with fish despite not being fed by a stream.
Domesday Book refers to a place called Calcebuef. The extent of Cynllibiwg is unknown. Hubert Hall suggests that the number of cantrefs given in the Red Book of the Exchequer be amended from seven to three Arwystli and Elfael; the Red Book mentions that these cantrefs were part of Powys in the time of "Meic Menbis", but were no longer such in the 13th century. Cynllibiwg has been postulated as an early kingdom, but is not mentioned by the great majority of historians. Thorn, Frank. Domesday Book. Phillimore. ISBN 0-85033-470-5. Hall, Hubert. "Red Book of Exchequer". Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores. HMSO. 99. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list Davies, Sean. Welsh Military Institutions, 633-1283. University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1836-3. Lloyd, John Edward. A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest. Longmans, Co. Retrieved November 6, 2009. Morris, John. Nennius: British History, The Welsh Annals. Phillimore. Owen, George. Henry Owen, ed; the Description of Penbrokshire. C. K. Clark.
Retrieved November 4, 2009. Remfry, Paul. "Disc
Wales
Wales is a country, part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Bristol Channel to the south, it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit; the country has a changeable, maritime climate. Welsh national identity emerged among the Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century; the whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party.
Welsh national feeling grew over the century. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, development of the mining and metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural society into an industrial nation. Two-thirds of the population live in South Wales, including Cardiff, Swansea and the nearby valleys. Now that the country's traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales' economy depends on the public sector and service industries and tourism. Although Wales shares its political and social history with the rest of Great Britain, a majority of the population in most areas speaks English as a first language, the country has retained a distinct cultural identity and is bilingual. Over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west.
From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", in part due to the eisteddfod tradition. At many international sporting events, such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, Wales has its own national teams, though at the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete as part of a Great Britain team. Rugby union is seen as an expression of national consciousness; the English words "Wales" and "Welsh" derive from the same Germanic root, itself derived from the name of the Gaulish people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer indiscriminately to all non-Germanic peoples. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Britons in particular, Wēalas when referring to their lands; the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. In Britain, the words were not restricted to modern Wales or to the Welsh but were used to refer to anything that the Anglo-Saxons associated with the Britons, including other non-Germanic territories in Britain and places in Anglo-Saxon territory associated with Britons, as well as items associated with non-Germanic Europeans, such as the walnut.
The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales. These words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning "fellow-countrymen"; the use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, different from other peoples. In particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage and language to the Welsh; the word came into use as a self-description before the 7th century. It is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. In Welsh literature, the word Cymry was used throughout the Middle Ages to describe the Welsh, though the older, more generic term Brythoniaid continued to be used to describe any of the Britonnic peoples and was the more common literary term until c. 1200. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh.
Until c. 1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of these names, Cambrian and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales and the Welsh people. Examples include the Cambrian Mountains, the newspaper Cambrian News, the organisations Cambrian Airways, Cambrian Railways, Cambrian Archaeological Association and the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. Outside Wales, a related form survives as the name Cumbria in North West England, once a part of Yr Hen Ogledd; the Cumbric language, thought to
Cantref Gwarthaf (Dyfed)
Cantref Gwarthaf was the largest of the seven cantrefi of Dyfed in southwest Wales. It subsequently became part of Deheubarth in around 950, it consisted of the southeastern part of Dyfed containing most of the basin of the River Tâf, parts of modern-day Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. The name means "upper-most zone", its area was about 631 km2. Unlike the other Dyfed cantrefi which were divided into two commotes, Cantref Gwarthaf was divided into eight commotes: Amgoed, Efelfre, Penrhyn, Peuliniog and Ystlwys, its civil headquarters were at Carmarthen. Its ecclesiastical centre was also Carmarthen, although the churches at Llanddowror and Meidrim were important; the cantref was made part of the Norman March in the 12th century. Marcher Boroughs were established at Carmarthen, Laugharne and St Clears, many other castles were built; the commotes of Talacharn and Penrhyn became English-speaking at the time, but was subsequently re-cymricised. The rest of the cantref remained Welsh-speaking. At the time of the Acts of Union, the cantref was split between the newly formed counties, when Efelfre became part of Narberth hundred and the rest became part of Carmarthenshire: Amgoed, Peuliniog, Talacharn and part of Derllys became Derllys hundred, while Elfed and the rest of Derllys were combined with Emlyn Uwch Cuch and Gwidigada commote of Cantref Mawr to form Elfed hundred
Mochnant
Mochnant, a name translating as "the rapid stream", was a medieval cantref in the Kingdom of Powys. In the 12th century it was divided into the commotes of Mochnant Is Rhaeadr and Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr, its north-west border was with the cantref of Penllyn in Powys but which became annexed to the Kingdom of Gwynedd during the time of Owain Brogyntyn. It bordered the cantrefi of Caereinion and Mechain to the south, Maelor to the north-east; the administrative centre was Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in Mochnant Is Rhaeadr. After the death of Madog ap Maredudd and his eldest son and heir in 1160, the kingdom was divided up between his surviving sons Gruffydd Maelor, Owain Fychan and Owain Brogyntyn, his nephew Owain Cyfeiliog and his half-brother Iorwerth Goch. Mochnant was given to Iorwerth Goch, but in 1166 he was ejected by Owain Cyfeiliog and Owain Fychan, who took control of Mochnant Uwch Rhaedr and Mochnant Is Rhaedr respectively: Iorwerth established himself in the Ceiriog Valley, becoming the castellan of Chirk.
The northern part of Powys, including Mochnant Is Rhaeadr became Powys Fadog. Following Edward I's conquest of Wales, Mochnant Is Rhaeadr become part of the Marcher Lordship of Chirk, but Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr remained under Welsh rule. Mochnant Is Rhaeadr was in Denbighshire, while Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr was in Montgomeryshire; the name survives in the placename Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, this village had the ancient commote's ecclesiastical centre at the church of St Dogfan.
Emlyn
Emlyn was one of the seven cantrefi of Dyfed, an ancient district of Wales, which became part of Deheubarth in around 950. It consisted of the northern part of Dyfed bordering on the River Teifi, its southern boundary followed the ridge of the line of hills separating the Teifi valley from the valleys of the Tâf and Tywi. The name derives from am and glyn, the valley in question being the Cuch; the Cuch valley is the most prominent valley among the low foothills which lie between the Preseli Hills and Cambrian Mountains, Emlyn is the region north of, within, the gap between these landforms. As such, it was the first part of Dyfed to face invaders from Ceredigion, its area was about 84 square miles. It was divided by the River Cuch into the commotes of Emlyn Uwch Cuch to the east, its civil headquarters were divided between Cilgerran in the lower commote and Newcastle Emlyn in the upper. Its ecclesiastical centre was the church of St Llawddog at Cenarth. Following the Norman Conquest of England, the ruler of Deheubarth, Rhys ap Tewdwr, accepted the suzerainty of the English king, William the Conqueror, but when William died, taking the view that his vassalage was for William's life only, attacked Worcester.
Rhys was subsequently killed in battle at Brecon, in 1093, his land was immediately seized by various Norman magnates. Sweeping south from Ceredigion, Arnulf de Montgomery took the lands between the Preseli Hills and Cambrian Mountains - Emlyn - and, passing south through them, conquered western Dyfed beyond it, establishing the Marcher Lordship of Pembroke in its place. With lands elsewhere, Arnulf appointed Gerald of Windsor as castellan; that same year, the king—William Rufus—died. The following year, Arnulf took part in an unsuccessful rebellion against William's successor, Henry I, in aid of Robert Curthose's claim to the throne; as a rebel against Henry's suzerainty, his lands were forfeit. The king kept the lands for himself, but unlike other areas of the Lordhip of Pembroke, there was never a large scale settlement of Flemings in Emlyn; when The Anarchy broke out upon Henry's death, one of the rival claimants to the throne—Stephen—in need of allies, gave the Marcher Lordship to Gilbert de Clare, to it attached the title Earl of Pembroke.
The Anarchy provided an opportunity for Rhys ap Tewdwr's son and his sons to raise an army and begin to reconstruct Deheubarth. Though Stephen's successor, Henry II launched a successful counter-attack, the situation was reversed by an uprising a few years later. By now, Gilbert de Clare's son, had inherited the Lordship of Pembroke, now reduced to just Roose and Penfro, he had inherited the Kingdom of Laigin. However, when Rhys died, a violent succession dispute broke out between his eldest son and his eldest legitimate son, leading to the former attacking Cilgerran, capturing it from the latter; the dispute fractured their authority, Richard de Clare's son-in-law, William Marshal was able to recover the Lordship of Pembroke his power reaching Cilgerran in 1204. Meanwhile, Llywelyn Fawr, prince of Gwynedd took the opportunity to establish his hegemony over the Welsh princes. King Henry III was not in a position to resist this, owing to troubles with his barons, his own young age, until a stroke paralysed Llywelyn in 1237, the birth of Henry's son Edward two years put the King in a much stronger political position with the nobility.
In 1240, Henry managed to get Welsh princes to agree to the Treaty of Gloucester, Llywelyn Fawr died shortly thereafter. That same year, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty, the princes of Deheubarth surrendered the lands they held, were re-granted them as honours. King Henry ordered Gilbert, William Marshal's son and successor, to hand over "a reasonable portion" of his lands to the king so that one of Rhys's grandsons, Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg, could be enfeoffed with it. To satisfy the king's demand, Gilbert gave Maredudd the section of Emlyn east of the Cuch - Emlyn Uwch Cych. Early the following year, in a marriage, pre-arranged, Maredudd married Isobel, the illegitimate daughter of Gilbert's elder brother, William. Maredudd built a castle to control his part of Emlyn - Newcastle Emlyn. In 1282, the Statute of Rhuddlan converted the king's lands into counties, with those enfeoffed to Maredudd becoming the main part of Carmarthenshire. Carmarthenshire was administratively subdivided into a number of hundreds, with Emlyn Uwch Cych falling within Elvet Hundred.
Maredudd's son, Rhys ap Maredudd had by now inherited Maredudd's baronies, which continued to
Powys Fadog
Powys Fadog was the northern portion of the former princely realm of Powys, which split in two following the death of Madog ap Maredudd in 1160. The realm was divided under Welsh law, with Madog's nephew Owain Cyfeiliog inheriting the south and his son Gruffydd Maelor I, who inherited the north. Gruffydd received the cantref of Maelor and the commote of Iâl as his portion and added Nanheudwy, Cynllaith and Mochnant Is Rhaeadr; this northern realm became known as Powys Fadog after the accession of his son Madog ap Gruffudd in 1191 who reigned until 1236, after whom it may be named. During his reign, Madog adopted a neutral position between Gwynedd and England but by 1215 had settled on an alliance with Llywelyn ab Iorwerth of Gwynedd; this policy of alliance with Gwynedd continued under his successor Gruffudd II over his thirty-three year reign. This alliance was formalised when Powys Fadog became vassal of Llywelyn the Great in his role as Prince of Wales under the terms of the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267.
When Gruffydd II died in 1269, his eldest son Madog II succeeded to the throne but the small portion of the realm awarded to his younger brothers caused rebellion in which England became malevolently engaged. By 1276 Powys Fadog was in disorder with brother fighting brother, this conflagration soon became a small part in the campaign being waged by the English Crown against the fragile Welsh confederation. In early 1277 an army led by the Earl of Warwick with support from the treacherous brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, marched from Chester into Powys Fadog. Madog II was compelled to submit and under the terms of his surrender the realm would be divided between himself and his younger brother Llywelyn; the royal centre at Castell Dinas Brân considered the strongest native castle in all Wales, was to be had by neither and dismantled. It appears that Madog II remained at Dinas Brân for some time after this accord because the Earl of Lincoln commanded an English force to take the castle on 10 May 1277.
Before they could complete their encirclement of the royal centre they learnt that the small garrison inside had abandoned the cause and burnt the castle. Madog II was forced to flee to the protection of Gwynedd, he was killed in battle while campaigning alongside Llywelyn ap Gruffudd that same year. The castle of Dinas Brân would be reduced, the dramatic ruins of, his surviving brothers Llywelyn Fychan and Gruffudd Fychan I accepted the overlordship of England and the realm was divided between them. Special provision was made for the two sons of Madog II. However, in 1282, during the final campaign of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, all of the rulers of Powys Fadog would once again turn against England in a final conflict during which Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Llywelyn Fychan and the two sons of Madog II would die. Under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 all of the remaining former princely titles and territories in Wales were abolished. Gruffydd Fychan was reduced in status to that of a minor local noble or uchelwyr.
His direct descendant, Owain Glyndŵr, would become the leader of a Welsh rebellion in 1400. The territory of Powys Fadog was broken up into a series of lordships based on the former cantrefi. Under the Laws of Wales Acts these marcher lordships were merged with other adjacent lands part of Gwynedd and incorporated into new administrative counties; this situation was maintained until the re-organisation of local government in Wales in 1974. 1160–1191 Gruffydd Maelor 1191–1236 Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor 1236–1269 Gruffydd II ap Madog, Lord of Dinas Brân 1269–1277 Madog II ap Gruffydd, Lord of Dinas Brân 1277–1289 Gruffydd Fychan I ap Gruffydd 1289–1304 Madog Crypl, Lord of Glyndyfrdwy and Lord of Cynllaith Owain 1304–c.1343 Gruffydd of Rhuddalt, Lord of Glyndyfrdwy and Lord of Cynllaith Owain c.1343–1369 Gruffydd Fychan II, Lord of Glyndyfrdwy and Lord of Cynllaith Owain 1369–c.1416 Owain ap Gruffydd, Lord of Glyndyfrdwy and Lord of Cynllaith OwainOwain ap Gruffydd rose in revolt against the English crown in 1400 and proclaimed himself Prince of Wales.
He became more known as Owain Glyndŵr. After his death at least one of his sons survived him, along with a younger brother styled the Lord of Gwyddelwern. 1416–c.1421? Maredudd ab Owain Glyndŵr Direct patrilineal descendants of Owain Brogyntyn the youngest son of Madog ap Maredudd were the hereditary lords of Edeirnion who during the 12th and 13th-centuries ruled as subjects of the prince of Gwynedd, whose homage was bought by the princes of Powys Fadog; this cadet branch of the House of Mathrafal survived the purges which eradicated most of the Welsh royalty in the 13th and 15th centuries. Proven descendants of his were listed in Burke's Peerage & Gentry in the late 19th century as hereditary barons of Cymmer yn Edeirnion and Jones of Faerdref Uchaf have survived into the modern era. Jacob Youde William Lloyd, The history of the princes, the lords marcher, the ancient nobility of Powys Fadog, the ancient lords of Arwystli and Meirionydd J. Beverley-Smith, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales http://www.sewellgenealogy.com/p70.htm#i5288 https://web.archive.org/web/20080709045952/http://freespace.virgin.net/owston.tj/walesprinces.htm http://www.maximiliangenealogy.co.uk/burke1/Royal%20Descents/hughesofgwerclas_1.htm
