Llywelyn
Fawr, or as he is known in English:
Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Wales, ( Llewelyn ) was born in
1172 AD, reputedly in Dolwyddelan Castle in the Lledr Valley, North Wales.
Although Llywelyn's father, Iorwerth, was heir to Owain Gwynedd, the ruler
of North Wales, and could trace his ancestry through Rhodri Fawr to King
Maelgwyn ( Maelgwn ) of Gwynedd none of this guaranteed the young Llywelyn
a position of power in those troubled times. Indeed the internecine struggles
of the age were more likely to guarantee him a violent death than a crown.
His chief protagonist in his early years would prove to be his uncle Dafydd.
Dafydd would not hesitate to kill in his quest
for power, and by the time Llywelyn was 22 years old Dafydd had already
killed his own brother and had seized the lands of his kith and kin while
taking control of Gwynedd
in North West Wales. But he seems to have antagonised one too many and in
1194 Llywelyn led a successful coup against Dafydd and defeated him in battle
at Aberconwy.
In victory the young Llywelyn showed a wisdom beyond his age and in 1197
Llywelyn, having captured and imprisoned Dafydd, banished him to retirement
over the border in Ellesmere, and, showing early signs of his diplomatic
skills, shared the ruling of Gwynedd with his cousins Gruffudd and Maredudd,
his cousins ruling the lands to the west of the Conwy River and Llywelyn
ruling Dafydd's lands to the east of the Conwy.
In the year 1200 Gruffudd died at Aberconwy and Llywelyn felt he now had
the power to move against Maredudd, expelling him from Llyn, and at the
same time staking his claim to being overlord of the whole of North Wales
by capturing the castle at Mold. This action was a real threat to the powerful
Marcher Lords of England and indeed the English King. But Llywelyn was undeterred
and opened up yet another front by invading Southern Powys the territory
of Gwenwynwyn another Welsh adversary.
By 1205 even the English King John had to recognise the power of Llywelyn
and offered him the hand of his daughter Joan in marriage. The alliance
with King John played into Llywelyn's hands, and in 1207 the King arrested
Gwenwynwyn at Shrewsbury
enabling Llywelyn to annexe Genwynwyn's lands. Llywelyn took southern Powys,
northern Ceredigion and rebuilt
Aberystwyth Castle.
King John belatedly realised he had gone too far in his support of Llywelyn
..... and the Earl of Chester, one of the powerful Marcher Lords rebuilt
Deganwy Castle ...... an English Castle in the heart of Llywelyn's domain
........but by 1210 things were moving rapidly in Llywelyn's favour. Llywelyn
brazenly attacked the lands of the Earl of Chester and King John was left
with no option other than war with Llywelyn.
King John's English army,
supported by Gwenwynwyn, (and other Welsh overlords worried about Llywelyn's
rise to power) headed for Deganwy.
But Llywelyn's army had disappeared, and more importantly so had the food.
The Welsh had used the classic guerilla tactics of retreating to the hills,
and taking the supplies with them. This was a costly mistake for King John
as he had made no provision for supplying Deganwy (Degannwy) Castle by sea,
and he was left with no options other than of returning to England or starvation
in Wales.
But King John did not give up and he was back in Wales within three months
with an even greater army. This time he was fully provisioned and instead
of heading to Deganwy he decided to cross the Conwy River higher up the
Valley. Taking the old Roman Road he cut through to Aber Garth Celyn,
(Abergwyngregyn) on
the Menai Strait and occupied the Welsh royal palace Garth
Celyn (Pen-y-Bryn) for a brief period; his troops went on to burn
Bangor ........ the English Army had cut right into the heart
of Gwynedd.
Llywelyn
now had no option other than to send his wife Joan, King John's daughter,
to sue for peace on any terms.
The terms of the peace were a serious set back for Llywelyn and he lost
the right to lands east of the Conwy River. He was also made to forfeit
20,000 cattle and 40 horses to the English. King John was rightly jubilant
but he then proceeded to meddle too much in Welsh affairs and he ordered
Foulke, viscount of Cardiff and warden of the Marches, to take the Castle
at Aberystwyth and
garrison the castle with English troops. This act demonstrated to the previously
divided Welsh (some of whom had thought that John would leave them in peace
and return to England) his true intention of annexing Wales. The Welsh united
under Llywelyn to rid themselves of the English. They captured all the English
Forts and, eventually, the Castles of Deganwy and Rhuddlan fell into Welsh
hands.
By 1214 the wheel had turned full circle and it was King John of England
who was now in serious trouble. The English Barons were plotting against
him and surprisingly he turned to the Welsh for support, unsurprisingly
they did not give him support and indeed they sided with his enemies. Llywelyn
attacked and captured Shrewsbury and then proceeded into South Wales. By
1215 he had taken South Wales and turned north to Mid Wales capturing Cardigan
and Cilgerran.
In 1216 Llywelyn consolidated his gains by making an alliance with one of
the powerful Anglo Norman Marcher families by marrying one of his daughters
to Reginald de Breos. This was probably helped by the fact that King John
had been in dispute with the Breos family and indeed had cruelly murdered
the wife and son of William de Breos some years previously. This alliance
of the Welsh and Anglo Normans ensured peace on the borderlands for some
time, and when King John died in 1216 Prince Llywelyn was able to make another
treaty with the new King Henry 111 of England.
Llywelyn Fawr was now 44 years old and the undisputed ruler of Wales. He
had learnt through his troubled life of the necessity of diplomacy and he
used all his skills to create a system of government that enabled peace
to flourish albeit for a short period. Instead of the internecine troubles
of the past Llywelyn called a Parliament at Aberdovey and shared the districts
of Wales among the several Princes and overlords who had supported him in
his battles. Keeping for himself the position of Overlord of All.
Life for Llywelyn was never easy however and he was in dispute with the
Earl of Pembroke for many of his later years. In 1223 Pembroke brought an
army over from Ireland and captured Cardigan and Carmarthen, Llywelyn dispatched
an army under the command of his son Gruffudd in an attempt to reverse the
misfortune. Gruffudd however was unsuccessful and the dispute rolled on
for many years until the death of the Earl of Pembroke in 1231.
Never slow to seize an opportunity of diplomacy Llywelyn formed an alliance
with the new Earl of Pembroke
in 1234 which committed the two of them to an alliance against the English
King. Luckily Henry 111 had need to be conciliatory and a truce was arranged,
the terms of which were renewable each two years enabling Llywelyn to have
a relatively peaceful last few years till his death at the age of 68 in
1240.
Prince Llywelyn died at the abbey of Aberconwy, which he had founded, and
he was buried there. (The original abbey church is now St Mary's the parish
church of Conwy, still
to be found within the ancient walled town and though much rebuilt over
the centuries some parts of the original church remain)
But Llywelyn, Wales' greatest leader, was not allowed to rest in peace.
Forty three years later in 1283 King Edward 1 and his English army completed
another expedition to suppress the Welsh. Edward set about building an iron
ring of fortresses, one of which, Conwy
Castle, was to be built on the site of the abbey of Aberconwy, the spiritual
heart of Gwynedd and the burial place of Llywelyn the Great,
The
Abbey was destroyed and removed with Llywelyn's remains to Maenan some 8
miles away. The monks continued to care for the coffin but Maenan Abbey
too was destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries and for a time
the tomb of Llywelyn was lost. It was later recovered and is now preserved
in the Wynn Chapel at Llanrwst
Church. Although the "splendid sarcophagus of Llewelyn now lies on
display within the harmonious sanctuary of these holy walls" the whereabouts
of Llywelyn's bones remain a mystery.
To book accommodation online >
|