Make Love Not War -- A Medieval Romance
Location: Wales
Contents |
The Generic Romance
A medieval King sets forth to conquer the neighboring lands and encounters vigorous and skillful opposition from the two noble princes who rule those lands. Realizing that he has no sons to leave his lands to, only two beautiful daughters, the king offers them in marriage to the sons of the two valiant princes. The princes accept, the lands are joined in family harmony, and both royal family and populace live happily ever after.
Such a romance would be popular with troubadors entertaining noble courts in their Great Rooms on cold winter evenings!
The Gwent Version: Drew de Baladon and the Princes of Gwent
The Account
Darrell Wolcott writes that "about the year 1100, Sir Drew de Baladon (or Balun) invaded upper Gwent as a retainer of the Marcher Lord Roger fitz William fitz Osbern. Confronted by both Ynyr and Gwaithfoed, it apppears bloodshed was averted by both Welshmen agreeing to provide their sons as spouses for de Baladon's daughters. Wolcott adds that Ynyr Ddu ap Ynyr married Jois de Baladon while Sir Gwyn ap Gwaithfoed married Emma de Baladon[1]
Wolcott reports that The pedigree of the de Baladon family appears in Bradney's History of Monmouthshire, vol 1, part 1, page 4 where the husband of Joyce is called Ynyr, King of Gwent. In the same work, vol 1, part 2b, page 335, a pedigree of Ynyr Gwent appears in which Ynyr Ddu is incorrectly charted as a brother of Ynyr, and assigned the wives belonging to both; one a lady born c. 1045 and the other a lady born c. 1080. [1] Wolcott states in a footnote that the History of Monmouthshire, vol 1, part 2a, page 242 cites Dryw as the son of Sir Gwyn and Emma de Baladon.
With respect to Gwaithfoed, Wolcott adds that "this marriage is cited in the de Baladon family pedigree referenced in the next above note." [1]
Romance and Reality
Wolcott dates his narrative as taking place "about the year 1100. The names of the various characters in the story are not given, but we may assume that the beuatiful daughters were in their late teens, born 1080, the sons of the princes were at most 25, born, say, 1075, and the older generation, the Norman king and Welsh princes, were old enough to be their parents, say born 1050.
- Sir Drew de Baladon who invaded upper Gwent in 1100 in the romantic version equates to Dru de Ballon whose birth is estimated as 1035 and would have been an elderly 65 in 1100. Little or nothing is known about Dru; his profile is most important as a placeholder for the father of Hamelin and Winebald de Ballon, who were actually sent to war with the Welsh on behalf of the Norman Marcher Lords of the time. Round referred to Dru "in the time of King Edward the Confessor an error from the Abergavenny monks.[2]
- It is actually Hamelin de Ballon son of Dru, who is the father of two daughters, one named Emmeline and other whose name is unknown. Hamelin's birth is estimated at 1060.
- The names of Hamelin's daughters were Emmeline and Unknown, not Emma and Jois.
- In the romance, Emma de Baladon married Sir Gwyn ap Gwaithfoed. Wolcott states that this marriage is cited in the de Baladon family pedigree in the 'History of Monmouthshire, vol 1, part 2a, page 242 which cites Dryw as the son of Sir Gwyn and Emma de Baladon [1]
- In the romance, Jois de Baladon married Ynyr Ddu ap Ynyr. [1] No record of any Jois has been found apart from the once source in the History of Monmouthshire. The un-named daugfhter of Hamelin married a different person.
In a querie to the Genealogist, 1870, John Carne illustrates how fact and fiction can become conflated with the following line of descent:
- 1. Ynyr ap Meuric ap Arthrael, Prince of Gwent, married Gwenllian, daugfhter of Jestyn ap Wrgran, last Prince of Glamorgan. His son,
- 2. Meuric ap Ynyr, married Eleanor daughter of Ednyfed ap Jorwrth Trevor. His son
- 3 Ynyr Vychan, married, first Gwladys, daughter of Rhys Goch; issuye, a daughter. Secondly, Joyce, daughterof Drogo de Baladun; issue, two sons. His second son was
- 4 Ithel ap Ynyr Vychan, Prince of Gwent, whose second son founded the family of Carne. [3]
History of the Gwent Romance
Wolcott
Wolcott cites Joshua Bradney's History of Monmouthshire as his source: "the pedigree of the de Baladon family appears in Bradney's 'History of Monmouthshire', vol 1, part 1, page 4 where the husband of Joyce is called Ynyr, King of Gwent. In the same work, vol 1, part 2b, page 335, a pedigree of Ynyr Gwent appears in which Ynyr Ddu is incorrectly charted as a brother of Ynyr, and assigned the wives belonging to both; one a lady born c. 1045 and the other a lady born c. 1080." [1]
Bradney: History of Monmouth
Wolcott writes that "The pedigree of the de Baladon family appears in Bradford's "History of Monmouthshire, vol 1, part 1, page 4, where the husband of Joyce is called Ynyr, King of Gwent. In the same work, vol 1, part 2b, page 335, a pedigree of Ynyr Gwent appears in which Ynyr Ddu is incorrectly charted as a brother of Ynyr, and assigned the wives belonging to both, one a lady born c. 1045 and the othr a lady bornb c. 1080. [1]
Monks of the Priory of Abergavenny
Charles Cawley states that "The Historia fundationis cum fundatoris genealogia of the priory of Abergavenny names “Emmam, Luciam et Beatriciam” as the three daughters of “Dru dominus de Baladun” but that the parentage of Emmeline, wife of Arnoul de Hesdin, has not been identified with certainty. However, Cawley writes, two sources indicate that she was closely related to the Ballon family. If that is correct, the chronology suggests that she was the daughter of Dreux de Baladon. [4]
Complications -- Arnold Fraud
According to a pedigree recorded in the College of Arms, the Arnold Family trace from Ynir, king of Gwentland, who flourished about the middle of the twelfth century and who was descended from Ynir, the second son of Cadwaladr, king of the Britons. This Cadwaladr built Abergavenny in county Monmouth, and its castle, afterwards rebuilt by Hamlet ap Hamlet, ap Sir Druce of Balladon, in France, and portions of the walls still remain....[5]
- 1 Ynir, King of Gwentland, married Nesta, daughter of Jestin ap Gurgan, king of Glamorgan
- 2 Meilic succeeded his father and married Eleanor, daughter of Ednived ap Jerworth of the house of Trevor.
- 3 Ynir Vichan was also king of Gwent and married Gladice, daughter of Rhys Goch oap Nacnerch, Lord of Ystradyw, in Brecknockshire.
- 4 Carador ap Ynir Vichan, Lord of Gwent, married Nesta, daughter and heir of Sir Roderick le Gros, Knight.
- 5 Dyfnwall ap Carador, Lord of Gwent, married Joyce daughter of Hamlet ap Sir Druce, Duke of Balladon, in France. Her brother Hamlet rebuilt the castle of Abergavenny, above mewntioned. [5]
- 6 Systyl ap Dyfnwall, Lord of Upper Gwent, married Annest, daughter and heir of Sir Peter Russell, Knight, Lord of Kentchurch, county Hereford.
(More generations at this source. '
To complicate things further, however, the Arnold genealogy has been contaminatged by fraud.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Darrell Wolcott. Ancient Wales Studies. Sorting out the Gwaithfoeds Accessed 28 September 2022 jhd
- ↑ J. Horace Round, The Family of Ballon, Studies in Peerage and Family History New York: Longmans Green, 1901, p. 189
- ↑ John Carne, Penzance, 27 December 1867, contributor. Notes and Queries" in John Gough Nichols, editor and publisher, The Herald and Genealogist. Volume 5, Page 96 1870. Rretrieved 2014-06-30, amb
- ↑ Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A Prosopography of Medieval European Noble and Royal Families, Online at Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Website. Entry for Arnoul de Hesdin Accessed 9 March 2022.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 William Richard Cutter, Genealogical and Family History of Northern New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 1 (Google eBook). Lewis historical publishing Company, 1910 - New York
- Chart "Bowen Memorial" p. 578 Nicho las "Annals and Antiquities of Wales II"
- History of Monmouthshire, Monm. 1, v. 1, pt 2, p. 335
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