Angharad ferch Llewelyn (918 - aft. 987)

Born 0918 in Wales

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 0987 after age 69 in Wales

Angharad ferch Llewelyn is managed by the Wales Project. Join: Wales Project Discuss: wales_project

Note: Cawley^[1] and others say that Owain's wife is not known. Support for her being "Angharad ferch Llywelyn ap Merfyn ap Rhodri" is weak (see Owain's profile), but has some adherents.^[2][3]

Biography

Angharad ferch Llywelyn ap Merfyn ap Rhodri Mawr^[2][3][4] married Owain ap Hywel Dda ap Cadell ap Rhodri Mawr.^[2][4]

Her husband was "King of Deheubarth from 950."^[5] He was still living when he "turned over active rule of his kingdom to a son, Einion, about 975.... Another son, Cadwallon ap Owain had died young in 966, while younger brothers of Einion ap Owain were Maredudd and Llywarch." Einion was killed in battle in 984.^[6]

Owain ap Hywel Dda died in 988 and his son Maredudd succeeded him as King of Deheubarth.^[6]

Research Notes

This profile fills the position of Owain's wife and mother of his children in WikiTree. There was a woman in real life who filled that role - whether or not it was the woman represented by this profile. In WikiTree, both Owain and Angharad are connected as great-grands of Rhodri Mawr, and sources agree that Owain is his descendant, so having this profile for Angharad in place as his wife does not create any false pedigrees (except for between her children and Rhodri).

Estimated Dates: One of the challenges of early Welsh genealogy is that the sources rarely have dates. This profile, as of 10 October 2023, has the following unsourced BDM dates:

• birth - 918 in datafield. No clue what it's based on. Bartrum has c900,^[2] but WikiTree has 910 for Owain, so c915 (or 918) would make more sense.
• death - 1002 in text. No clue where it came from.
• marriage - 932 in datafield; 930 in text. If born in 918, her first marriage would have been when she was about 15 (c933), so the 932 date is close.

Birth

Angharad was born about 918 in Llandilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales.^{[citation needed]} Note - Removed "Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire" from birth place datafield for lack of support. ~ 10 October 2023

Father

As noted at the top of this profile, Cawley^[1] and others say that Owain's wife is not known. See his profile for details. The following text provides information from sources that identify him as Llywelyn.

Angharad was the daughter of Llywelyn ap Merfyn, who in turn was the third son of Rhodri Mawr.^[7]

Angharad was Llywelyn's daughter and heir.^[3]

Angharad, daughter of Llywelyn ap Merfyn, married Owain, son of Hywel Dda and Elen ferch Llywarch. Hywel Dda died in 950 and his wife Elen died in 929.^[2]

Wolcott suggests that Angharad's father Llewelyn was the son-in-law of Merfyn, not his son.^[8]

Mother

Documentation of Llewelyn's marriage or marriages has not been found. Some internet genealogies show Llewelyn married to

• Mallt ferch Llwarch
• Gruoch (unknown) of Ossory

Wolcott suggests that Llewelyn's wife was the daughter of Merfyn and Llewelyn was his son-in-law, not his son.^[8]

Marriage to Owain ap Hywel

Wolcott references a source for the marriage of Angharad and Owain ap Hywel Dda: Peniarth Ms 135, 331^[8][9]

Angharad ferch Llewelyn married Owen, King of South Wales^[10] - Owain ap Hywel Dda ap Cadell ap Rhodri Mawr^[3] - in 930 in Llandilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales.^{[citation needed]}

One source calls Angharad the "Queen of Powys" and her husband the "King of South Wales and of Powys".^[3] Name fields for Owain's WikiTree profile (as of 10 October 2023) show him a "King of Deheubarth" aka King of South Wales.

Bartrum notes that Owain's grandfather Cadell (d 910) was Prince of Deheubarth.^[2] Maredudd, their son, succeeded Owain as King of Deheubarth.^[6]

The Genealogics entry for Owain, grandson of Cadell, calls him King of Deheubarth (see details below).^[11]

Children

The following are said by one source or another (including WikiTree) to be children of Owain. Bartrum includes a second wife for him - Efa ferch Cynwrig ap Padric (possibly a son of Padriarc),^[12] but does indicate that any of the children were hers.^[2]

• Meirchion ab Owain
• Einion ab Owain (died 983)^[3] - born c940, died 984^[2] - died 984, in battle^[13] - killed in battle Pencoed Colwynn, Gorwennydd [983/84]^[1] - 982^[14]
• Idwallon ab Owain - died 975^[1]
• Iestyn ab Owain^[13] - father of Rhydderch ap Iestyn^[2]
• Cadwallon ab Owain - died 961/966^[1] - died 966^[2]
• Maredudd ab Owain - "Meredith ap Angharad", ob. 998 in one source;^[3] in Cawley: Maredudd, King of Gwenedd (succeeded in 986), son of Owain ap Hywel, died 998^[1] - birth estimates are c930 (died 999)^[2] and 950^[6] - born c950, died 999^[13] - died [994/1000]^[1][15][1]
• Llywarch^[6] (-after 986)^[1] - living 987^[2]
• Rhys^[2]
• Grono ab Owain^[3][16][17]

Death

Angharad died in 1002 in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales.^{[citation needed]} Note - Removed "Llandilo, Carmarthenshire" from death place datafield for lack of support. ~ 10 October 2023

Location Notes

This profile for Angharad had her birth/death in Carmartenshire in the datafields but without support in the text. However, it is possible she was born there - see the Genealogics biography, below, to get a feel for the range of Owain and his father Hywel Dda & the following maps:

• Medieval Wales (wikimedia)
• Deheubarth (Wikipedia)
• Carmarthenshire (WikiTree's Wales Project)

Cawley

Research by Charles Cawley, from his Medieval Lands database: The Gwentian Chronicle records that "Cadell son of Rhodri subjugated his brother Mervyn and took Powys from him, and then ruled over all Wales" in 877.^[18]

Cawley's entry for Owain ap Hywel "(-[987/88])", grandson of Cadell: The Gwentian Chronicle records that "his [Hywel's] son Owain took the rule of Ceredigion" after the death of "Hywel the Good, son of Cadell king of all Wales" in 948.... The fuller entry for Owain ap Hywel "Dda (the Black)" notes that the name of Owen's wife is not known and lists five children for them.^[1]

Cawley's entry for Owain ap Hywel (died [987/88]) but referred to as Hywel the Good, says that his wife's name is not known. It lists five children; four match children attached to this profile:^[1]

Wolcott says of Cadell that he "was probably the second-eldest son who survived Rhodri Mawr. He apparently married a lady who was the sister of Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, King of Dyfed, and likely relocated to south Wales after the death of his father. [7]
- [7] Nothing at all about Cadell, save his obit, is cited in ancient manuscripts. His relocation to south Wales is merely inferred due to what is known of his son, Hywel Dda, and the fact that his mother had been a sister of the King of Ceredigion.^[4]

Wolcott

From Darrell Wolcott's article "The Children of Rhodri Mawr":^[4]

A "non-cited" daughter of Merfyn ap Rhodri Mawr married (after Merfyn's death) "a man named Llewelyn". Their daughter Angharad "married Owain ap Hywel Dda. Pen 135, 331 cites that marriage, and calls Llewelyn a son of Merfyn rather than a son-in-law."^[8]

Bartrum's chart also shows Llywelyn as Merfyn's son,^[2] not his son-in-law.

The date of death of Merfyn is not clear. Bartrum has 904.^[2] From Wolcott's article: "An obit notice in 904 says Merfyn ap Rhodri was slain, but one version of the Brut says the slain man was 'the son of Merfyn'."^[4] Cawley has that Merfyn was "killed [892/903]... The Annales Cambriæ record the death in 903 of 'Merwyn filius Rodri'.... The Gwentian Chronicle records that 'Mervyn king of Powys was slain by his own men' in 892".^[18]

A footnote about the wife of Merfyn's half-brother Tudwal Gloff in the Wolcott article notes that "John Burke, History of the Commoners (vol iv, page 381), claims that Tudwal Gloff married 'Helen daughter of Aleth, King of Dyfed'. Such a marriage into the line of the kings of Dyfed fits both chronologically and geographically with what is known about Tudwal and his family. His nephew, Hywel Dda, certainly married into that family, and we think Tudwal's half-brother Cadell did the same. The male name 'Aleth' occurs frequently in early families descended from Tudwal, but is not seen in any other Welsh families."^[4]

Genealogics

The following biography was posted in the Genealogics entry for Owain:^[11]

Owain ap Hywel was the son of Hywel Dda 'the Good', originally king of Deheubarth but by the end of his life king of most of Wales. On Hywel's death in 950 Deheubarth was shared between Owain and his two brothers, Rhodri and Edwin. The sons of Hywel were not able to keep hold of Gwynedd, which was reclaimed for the traditional dynasty of Aberffraw by Iago ap Idwal and Ieuaf ap Idwal, the sons of Idwal 'Voel'.

In 952 Iago and Ieuaf invaded the south, penetrating as far as Dyfed. The sons of Hywel retaliated by invading the north in 954, reaching as far north as the Conwy valley before being defeated in a battle at Llanrwst and being obliged to retreat to Ceredigion.

Rhodri [ap Hywel Dda] died in 953 and Edwin in 954, leaving Owain to rule Deheubarth alone. Owain did not try to reclaim Gwynedd, but instead he and his son Einon turned eastwards to attack the kingdom of Morgannwg (modern Glamorgan) in 960, 970 and 977. Owain was now aging, and it appears that Einon took over the rule of the kingdom on behalf of his father. On a further raid on the east in 984, Einon was killed by the noblemen of Gwent.

Following Einon's death, Owain's second son Mardedudd took over the leadership in war, and in 986 did what his father had failed to do by seizing the throne of Gwynedd, ousting Ieuaf's son Cadwallon ab Ieuaf. In 988 Owain died and Maredudd became king of Deheubarth as well as Gwynedd.

Disambiguation

Jack Day added a Disambiguation section, suggesting that the profile of this Angharad and the profile for Ankaret Powys may represent the same person. I set them in a rejected match, as they are in different generations with different children:

• Ankaret Powys-100, b. 950
  • daughter of Llewelyn Powys-101, b. 925
  • wife of Ynyr of Gwent
  • mother of Meyric of Gwent - Meyric of Gwent I (0975-)^[19]
• Angharad ferch Llewelyn-5, b. 918
  • daughter of Llewelyn ap Merfyn-21, b. 890
  • wife of Owain ap Hywel
  • mother of [several] ab Owain children

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} Charles Cawley, entry in "Medieval Lands" database for Owain ap Hywel (see also his son's entries), accessed 10 October 2023.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14} Bartrum Chart: Early Table, page 42, Rhodri Mawr.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7} George Grazebrook, Abridged Pedigree of Owen of Llunllo and Bettws, Co. Montgomery, Tedsmore, Woodhouse, Condover and Whiteley (now Kynaston of Harwdwick), Co. Salop, Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica (Publisher: Hamilton, Adams, and Company, 1888. Original from: Princeton University. Digitized: Oct 13, 2009). pp. 365-366, added 2014-07-04, amb. See the attached WikiTree image.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Darrell Wolcott, "The Children of Rhodri Mawr" (accessed 10 October 2023).
5. ↑ Carl Boyer 3rd. Medieval Welsh Ancestry of Certain Americans. (By the author: Santa Clarita, California, 2004.) Owain ap Hywel is #11 on page 285.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4} Darrell Wolcott, "Maredudd ap Owain, King of Deheubarth" (accessed 10 October 2023).
7. ↑ Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval Welsh Ancestors of Certain Amerians (pub. by the author: Santa Clarita, California, 2004). Rhodri Mawr is #2 on page 282.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3} Footnote 10 from Darrell Wolcott's article, "The Children of Rhodri Mawr": "We think the only family who descended from Merfyn was through a non-cited daughter, who married (after Merfyn's death), a man named Llewelyn. They had a daughter, Angharad, who married Owain ap Hywel Dda. Pen [Peniarth Ms] 135, 331 cites that marriage, and calls Llewelyn a son of Merfyn rather than a son-in-law."
9. ↑ "Source: Reference Abbreviations", Ancient Wales Studies (accessed 10 October 2023).
10. ↑ Peter Western. Pedigree of Hughes of Gwerclas. Based on Burkes Royal Families of England Scotland and Wales, 1851. Table 1 of 4. Accessed 15 December 2020 jhd
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Genealogics: Entry for Owain ap Hywel Dda ap Cadell ap Rhodri Mawr, King of Deheubarth (920-988), accessed 10 October 2023, citing
    • Burke's Guide to the Royal Family, London, 1973.
    • Annales Cambriae. (which the biography for Owain notes "were compiled at Owain's instigation")
    • Griffith, John Edwards, Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire 1914 [from FamilySearch]. 301
    • Bartrum, Dr. Peter Clement, Welsh Genealogies 300-1400 8 vols and 1400-1500 18 vols. Early 42
    • Wikipedia Website.
12. ↑ Bartrum Chart: Padriarc 1.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2} WikiTree database wikidata "Hints" (8 October 2023) for "Possible Mother on WikiData → Wikidata: Item Q110153005 (two hints, for Iestyn and Einion), with a single source that lists Angharad's children with "Owain ap Hywel Dda ap Cadell ap Rhodri Mawr, King of Deheubarth, b. Est 920 d. 988" as Einion (d 984), Iestyn, and "Maredudd ab Owain ap Hywel Dda, King of Deheubarth and Gwynedd, b. Est 950 d. 999":
    • Genealogics: Angharad ferch Llyweln ap Merfyn ap Rhodri Mawr (no dates), citing Bartrum's "Early 42" (Early Table, page 42).
14. ↑ From Cawley: The Gwentian Chronicle records that "the government devolved on 'Meredydd son of Owain son of Hywel the Good' after 'Einion son of Owain" was killed in 982'".
15. ↑ From Cawley: Maredudd's daughter Angharad married (1) (994) Llywelyn [when he was 14] son of Seisyll King of Gwynedd & his wife Praust of Gwynedd ([after 980]-[1021/23]). m secondly (1023) Cynfyn ap Gwerstan King of Powys, son of Gwerstan & his wife ---. ... children included Bleddyn & Rhiwalolon (sons of Cynfyn), Gruffudd (son of Llywelyn).
16. ↑ Bartrum shows Gronwy (b c980) as son of Einion & father of Edwin (b c1010) ~ Early Table, page 42.
17. ↑ Cawley also has Gronw a son of Einion, but says "The primary source which confirms the existence of Gronw has not been identified."
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1} Charles Cawley, entry in "Medieval Lands" database for Rhodri ap Merfyn, King of Gwenedd, killed 878.
19. ↑ His profile - Meyric of Gwent I (0975-) - was detached as father of Ynyr ap Ynyr (abt.1030-) on 9 October 2023. From Ynyr's profile 10 October:
    • Ynyr Gwent was born, say, 1000 [1]
      [1] Carl Boyer 3rd. Medieval Welsh Ancestors of Certain Americans. Generally follows Bartrum. Santa Clarita, California: By the author, 2004. Ynyr Gwent is #1 on page 367.
    • Wolcott estimates Ynyr's birth as 1030, Meurig as 1065, Ynyr Fychan as 1095, and Caradog as 1125. [2]
      [2] Darrell Wolcott, Ancient Wales Studies, The Herbert Family Pedigree. Accessed 9 April 2021 jhd.

• The Bartrum Project, digitization of "Welsh Genealogies AD 300- 1500" by Peter C. Bartrum (mirrored from the defunct Cadair site by Geni: Bartrum Genealogical Project - free login required to access the charts). See additional information about Cadair in G2G.
• Cawley, Charles. "Medieval Lands": A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families © by Charles Cawley, hosted by Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG). See also WikiTree's source page for MedLands.

See also:

• Bartrum Chart: Early Table, page 12 for Rhodri Mawr's ancestry.
• Jacob Youde William Lloyd, The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, p. 65, Volume 1, retrieved 2014-06-21, amb (copied in from one of her son's profiles)
• Albert F Schmuhl, The Royal Line (Orig. pub. March, 1929 NYC, NY - Rev. March 1980). Note: This source is not well regarded.