Seisyll ap Dyfnwall (abt. 1130 - abt. 1175)

Born about 1130 in Gwent, Wales

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1175 at about age 45 in Abergavenny, Wales [uncertain]

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Biography

This person is part of a false pedigree of William Arnold, the immigrant to New England, created by Horatio G. Somerby in 1870. Individual parts of the pedigree may be correct, but many of the parts are incorrect and false.

Birth and Parents

Seisyll was the son of Dyfnwal ap Caradog ab Ynyr Fychan. ^[1]

Birth year estimation

Boyer estimates Seisyll's father's birth as say 1095, therefore estimate Seisyll's birth as 1130. ^[1]

Marriages

Seisyll married:

1. Dyddgu ferech Owain Wan ap Caradog ^[1]
2. Annes Russell, daugher of Sir Peter Russell of Kentchurch ^[1]
3. Gwladus ferch Gruffudd ap Rhys ap Tewdwr Mawr ^[1]

1175 Death

Seisyll was slain treacherously at the orders of William de Braiose at Abergavenny along with his son Jeffrey and many chieftains of Gwent. Then the Normans went to Seisyll's castle, seized his wife Gladus and son Cadwaladr, and killed many of the people of Gwent. ^[1]

Seisyll ap Dyfnwal was a 12th-century Welsh Lord of Gwent Uwchcoed (Upper Gwent). Seisyll was the son of Dyfnwal ap Caradog ap Ynyr Fychan and his wife, said to have been Joyce daughter of Hamelin de Balun. He was a brother-in-law of Rhys ap Gruffydd, the Lord Rhys, King of Deheubarth. He held lands in present day Monmouthshire, part of the old Welsh Kingdom of Gwent, and his main base was at Castell Arnallt, a motte and bailey style fortified site situated near the River Usk a few miles south of Abergavenny, near modern day Llanover. It is today just a mound in a riverside field. Seisyll ap Dyfnwal is best known for being an unwitting victim of the BaronNorman, William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, who had him murdered in cold blood on or very near Christmas Day 1175 at Abergavenny Castle. Seisyll, along with all the other Welsh princes and leaders from the area, was invited to Abergavenny Castle at Christmas by William De Braose on the understanding that they could voice grievances, overcome differences and plan a period of relative peace following a period of conflict. Some Welsh leaders stayed away, mistrusting de Braose. Seisyll attended along with his eldest son Geoffrey. Most other leaders followed suit and attended, assured of peaceful intent at the castle and surrendering their arms. Once inside the walls they were cut down without mercy by armed men. De Braose and his men then mounted horses and galloped the few miles to Seisill's home where they caught and murdered his younger son, Cadwalladr a boy of seven years of age and captured his wife, whose exact fate is uncertain. De Braose's act was to avenge his own uncle's death. His uncle Henry FitzMiles, had been a victim of the Welsh earlier in the year. His exact killer was probably unknown but Seisyll was apparently suspected. De Braose's strategy was to eliminate all those who could have done it and effectively remove the experienced leadership of the Welsh forces in the area, destabilising the region and seize the opportunity to gain the upper hand. The effect was to drive a massive wedge into Anglo-Welsh relations for generations to come. The de Braose family name was a byword for dishonourable dealing and de Braose descendants face hatred, fear and enmity from this point on. De Braose himself earned the nickname the 'Ogre of Abergavenny' for his conduct and his follow-up retribution on his enemy's families. Seisyll's death was avenged in 1182 by Hywel ap Iorwerth, the Welsh lord of Caerleon, in a campaign in which the sheriff of Hereford was killed and Abergavenny castle stormed. De Braose later fell from royal favor, dying in exile, and his wife and son were starved to death in the Tower of London.^[2]

Issue

1. Morgan, by first wife^[1]
2. Jeffrey, by second wife, died 1175^[1]
3. Cadwaladr, by second wife, died 1175^[1]
4. Gwladus, mother not given, married Cynfyn ap Genillin^[1]
5. Arthen by third wife, married Jane ferch Llywelyn ap Moriddig Warwyn.^[1]

Research Notes

Biography by Somerby

Systyl ap Dyfnwall, Lord of Upper Gwent, married Annest. She was the daughter and heir of Sir Peter Russell, Knight, Lord of Kentchurch in the couty of Hereford^[3][4]

Son: Arthur ap Syssylth^[3][4]

Rejection of the Somerby Biography

From Wikipedia:
In 1870, genealogist Horatio G. Somerby compiled a pedigree^[5] of the Arnold family. This pedigree, showed William Arnold as son of a Thomas Arnold and a descendant of a 12th-century King of Gwentland (in modern day Wales) whose name was Ynir. In 1915, Edson S. Jones on checking Somerby's information with his sources, discovered discrepancies in dates and places, mixed up generations and unrelated people. "This fabricated research was not an isolated incident; Mr. Somerby had also been implicated in other fraudulent research and was out to please his clients regardless of the veracity of his work"^[6]

From Anderson's Great Migration:
In 1915 Edson Salisbury Jones published a brief account^[7] of his research into the ancestry of immigrant William Arnold (NEHGR 69:64-69), which showed the problems of the supposed pedigree done by Somerby, which did not have the correct father or location of William Arnold the immigrant. Anderson states unequivocally, "The pedigree prepared by Somerby is completely erroneous, and William Arnold came from Ilchester, Somerset"^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} Carl Boyer 3rd. Medieval Welsh Ancestors of Certain Americans. Generally follows Bartrum. Santa Clarita, California: By the author, 2004. Seisyll ap Dyfnwal is #8 on page 368.
2. ↑ Andrew Miller <dreamping @ gmail.com>
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Arnold" hosted by rootsweb
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Drowne, Henry T. (communicator). "Mr. Somerby's Genealogy of the Arnold Family" New England Hist. and Gen. Register. 33:432. 1879.
5. ↑ ”Mr. Somerby’s Genealogy of the Arnold Family. New England Historical and Genealogical Register 33:432 Link at Google Books
6. ↑ 'The false pedigree of the Arnold family' in the Wikipedia article "William Arnold (settler)"
7. ↑ Jones, Edson Salisbury. "The Parentage of William Arnold and Thomas Arnold of Providence, R. I." New England Historical and Genealogical Register 69:64 Link at Archive.org
8. ↑ Great Migration 1634-1635, A-B. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume 1, A-B, by Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999. William Arnold article p. 84; comments p.89 American Ancestors (pay site)