Nest (ferch Rhys) Fitzwalter (abt. 1085 - aft. 1136)

Born about 1085 in Dinefwr Castle, Carmarthenshire, Wales [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 1136 after about age 51 in Caernarfonshire, Wales [uncertain]

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Biography

Nest (Sometimes Nesta) ferch Rhys ap Tewdwr of Wales, was born about 1085; the only legitimate daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr King of Deheubarth, and Gwladus Powys. ^{[1] [2]}

Following her father's death in the battle of Brecon in 1093, Nest’s family was broken up, her eldest brother Gruffydd safely escaped to Ireland, her stepbrothers were killed and Nest herself became a hostage of King Henry I to whom she bore a son, Henry FitzRoy.

About 1100, Nest was married to Gerald of Windsor; Governor (Constable) of Pembroke castle in Wales. They had at least four children: sons - William, Maurice FitzGerald, and David FitzGerald and a daughter, Angharad who married William Barry of Manorbier. The politically strategic marriage of the Welsh Nesta and Norman Gerald might have been intended to smooth the Norman occupation of Wales but Gerald faced continual military opposition from the Welsh.

She brought him as her dower Carew (Near Milford Haven), and lands in Emlyn.^[3]

Following Gerald's death, Nesta was married to Stephen de Marisco (Also Montmorency) , constable of Cardigan castle. ^[4][5]

The story of her kidnapping by Owain ap Cadwgan is the stuff of legend. ^{[6] [7]}

Nesta in Popular Fiction

Nesta (Princess of Deheubarth) was known as the most beautiful woman in Wales. She had many lovers.

In 1090 Nesta was sent to the court of Henry I as a hostage for the good conduct of her people. Henry I, attracted by her good looks, she had a male child Henry ‘ filius regis’ from him, and thus started the FitzHenry line. After years of peace she was returned to Geraldus and her people.

Nest returned home to find the kingdom of Dyfed under Norman tutelage. The Norman's were colonizing the former kingdom of Dyfed and establishing a colony of Flemish soldiers intermixed with English settlers in what is now Pembroke.

On Christmas 1108 Owain ap Cadwgan of Cardigan a cousin, came to visit Gerald and Nesta. He so lusted after her that he, that night, attacked the castle. According to the Brut y Tywysogion, Owain and his men infiltrated the couple's home (assumed by historians to be either Cilgerran Castle or Little Cenarch) and set fire to the buildings. When Gerald was woken by the noise, Nest advised him to escape by climbing out through the privy hole. Owain then seized Nest and her children. However, some sources suggest that she went with him willingly. After the "abduction", Owain ap Cadwgan carried her off and she had a male child from him Robert FitzStephen , thus starting the FitzStephens line.

This upset Henry I so much that the incident started a war. Gerald's influence was such that Owain and his father soon lost much of their territory of Powys as a result of Owain's actions. Owain himself was obliged to go into exile in Ireland. When he returned, in 1116, Gerald hunted him down and killed him. The "Annals of Cambria" record 1116 as the date of Owain's death.

The date of her death is unknown, but she lived until well after 1136

novelist Tracy Warr has a trilogy planned, telling the story of Nest and Gerald -

Conquest l - Daughter of the Last King by Tracey Warr Impress 2016

Conquest ll - The Drowned Court by Tracey Warr Impress 2017

Conquest lll - in preparation

Research Notes

Children of Nest^[8]

Children by Gerald Fitzwalter

William Fitzgerald

Maurice FitzGerald

David FitzGerald

Angharad de Windsor

Gwladys de Windsor. Not in all sources. Married Cogan.

Children by Stephen de Marisco

Robert FitzStephen (abt.1135-abt.1183)

(Steven previously had several daughters married to the lords de Barry, de Carew, de Cogan, and others). ^{[citation needed]}

Children by Henry I

Probable

Henry FitzRoy (1105-1157) See notes on his profile

Disputed

Robert (FitzRoy) de Caen (1090-1147) See notes on his profile

In recent years, Nest has been given two plausible but likely wrong children by her abductor Owain ie Llywelyn and Einion.

She had potentially fourteen children, with no reliable dates of their births or their deaths. Four of her children by Gerald are variously documented. She had a son by William Hait, (the Constable of Pembroke), William Lord of St. Clears. She also had a son, Robert Fitz Stephen, by Stephen, the Constable of Cardigan, whom she had married after Gerald’s death. While their birth dates may not be reliably documented, they feature prominently in history. There were four further children by fathers unknown, plus the possibility that Nest also had two sons by Owain.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ "Rhys ap Tewdwr was a direct descendant of Hywel Dda, and he assumed his birthright as in 1079. About 1080, he married Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn,[1] a niece of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and first-cousin of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn."
2. ↑ #Wolcott
3. ↑ Old Pembroke families in the ancient county palatine of Pembroke by Owen, Henry, 1846-1919 Publication date 1902 Page 12
4. ↑ Library Ireland : A Compendium of Irish Biography - Robert FitzStephen by Alfred Web pub: 1878
5. ↑ Debrett's peerage of England, Scotland and Ireland.by John Debrett Publication date 1800 [https://archive.org/details/debrettspeerage04debrgoog/page/894/mode/2up Page 894
6. ↑ Wikipedia : Owain ap Cadwgan
7. ↑ The Guardian : This progenitor of Britishness has been denied her place in the pantheon by Simon Jenkins
8. ↑ A compendium of Irish biography: comprising sketches of distinguished Irishmen, and of eminent persons connected with Ireland by office or by their writings by Webb, Alfred, 1834-1908 Publication date 1878 Page 359 Nesta
9. ↑ University of Notre Dame ‘The Helen of Wales’: Nest Ferch Rhys ap Tewdwr, a Shaper of History (Part 1), Part 2

See also

• Nesta ferch Rhys ap Tewdwr in Cawley, C. (2006). Medieval Lands. fmg.ac. UNTITLED ENGLISH NOBILITY
• Wikipedia : Nest ferch Rhys
• Dictionary of Welsh Biography (DWB): Nest, article by Professor Thomas Jones Pierce, M.A., F.S.A., (1905-1964), Aberystwyth
• The Bartrum Project - (digitization of "Welsh Genealogies AD 300- 1500" by Peter C. Bartrum) - Rhys ap Tewdwr
• Nest ferch Rhys, Rootsweb entry from the database for Celtic Royal Genealogy; the Turner-Thomas site "which is a definitive, well researched site" (according to Prof. Myron Wyn Evans, in his book O Hudd Ei Ddoe (2012).
• Darrell Wolcott, "Owain ap Cadwgan and Nest ferch Rhys - An Historic Fiction?"
• Medieval Lands Mistress of King Henry of Normandie
• Carew, Rivers. Footprints in the Sand: The Story of the Carews of Devon 1086-1945. United Kingdom: DuBois Publishing, 2018.
• Wikipedia contributors, "Nest ferch Rhys," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nest_ferch_Rhys&oldid=1163847344 (accessed August 7, 2023).
• Historic UK Princess Nest by Ben Johnson