Medieval Welsh Genealogy

Date: [unknown] to 1500
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Wales Project Medieval pre-1500

Contents 1 Background[1] 2 Knowledge of deep ancestry[1] 3 The Welsh poets and Bards 4 Sources

Background^[1]

From the twelfth century onwards, external observers occasionally commented that the Welsh had a greater predilection for genealogical knowledge than others.

Writing around 1194, Gerald of Wales, in a chapter of his Descriptio Kambriae entitled ‘De generositatis amore, et genealogia longe retenta’ (‘Concerning love of high birth, and long-remembered genealogy’), described the Welsh as follows:

Generositatem vero, et generis nobilitatem, prae rebus omnibus magis appetunt. Unde et gen-erosa coniugia plus longe cupiunt, quam sumptuosa vel opima. Genealogiam quoque generis sui etiam de populo quilibet observat; et non solum avos, atavos, et tritavos, sed usque ad sextam vel septimam, et ultra procul generationem, memoriter et prompte genus enarrat in hunc modum; Resus filius Griphini, Griphinus filius Resi, Resus filius Theodori; et sic dein-ceps, ut supra de generatione principum.

"They truly desire high birth and nobility of kin [generis nobilitatem] above all other things. For this reason, they covet marriages into high-born families more greatly than marriages into wealthy or rich families. Indeed, every person preserves the genealogy of his kin [Genealogiam [...] generis], and recites the descent unhesitatingly from memory not only to grandfathers, great-grandfathers and great-great-grandfathers, but even as far as the sixth or seventh generation and far beyond, in this manner: Rhys son of Gruffudd, Gruffudd son of Rhys, Rhys son of Tewdwr; and so on, as with the genealogy of the princes above."

Knowledge of deep ancestry^[1]

Gerald's surprise at the generational ancestral knowledge needs a bit of background. Not everyone knew this information, but being able to show your ancestry went back to nobility or even royalty was a sign of status.

Much has been made of how things were split after someone's death. The land was split between sons. There was no differentiation between those born inside or outside marriage. One might think that this was a nightmare after even only a couple of generations. However, the division of the original landholder’s land was not made permanent until after the generation of his great-grandsons.

It was therefore imperative to know the agnatic line so that landholder’s sons, grandsons and great-grandsons could reshare the land between themselves if, for whatever reason, the division had become imbalanced.

Many people thought that this "partibilty" was the same for succession of Royalty. This not so. The "King" could nominate his successor(s). A potential heir was termed an eddling (a term borrowed from the Old English æthling), and sometimes an single eddling would be nominated as a successor.

There were also complicated rules for compensation following a homicide. The perpetrator would be judged to have to pay recompense (Galanas in Welsh). Depending on the amount, the ability to pay, his siblings, cousins, second cousins, third, fourth cousins and even more could be called upon to contribute. It was important, therefore, to have considerable ancestral knowledge.

In Llyfr Iorwerth, the law-book associated with thirteenth-century Gwynedd,

O deruyd na bo y’r llourud dym a talho, yaun yu rody ydau keynnyauc palader eg kymorth. Ac esef e telyr ydau, o’r seythuet dyn allan; ac esef yu e seyth dyn henne, braut a keuenderu a keuerderu a keyuyn a gorcheyuen a gorchau a ney uab gorchau. A chany ellyr ryuau kerennyd o henne allan, talent ydau keynnyauc palader.

"If it happens that the homicide has nothing which he can pay, it is proper to give him a spear penny^[2] in assistance; and thus it will be paid to him — from the seventh person on [i.e. to more distant relations], and these are those seven persons: brother and first cousin and second cousin and third cousin and fourth cousin and fifth cousin and nephew son of a fifth cousin [i.e. fifth cousin, once removed]; and since kinship cannot be counted from there on, let them pay him a spear penny."

The Welsh poets and Bards

It is difficult to understate the importance of the bards and poets. Their poems, to use a generalised term, included genealogies. There was also some "fancifying" in order to meet the needs of their sponsor, often the head of the local Llys (court). Thus if the boss required his line to go back to Rhodri Mawr in order to give legality to some appropriation of lands, for instance, a little bit of massaging of the facts might take place. Thus we come across different lineages for the same person.

It is also important to know that very little Welsh was written down. It was largely a spoken language These poems and tales were learnt by rote from generation to generation. When we see them written down it often a sort "gallic latin". As these were copied and recopied one has to wonder whether the written word was more or less accurate than the spoken one.

In the introduction to Brut Y Tywysgion

Showing the Wars, the grounds of Occurrences, Revenges, and Relearkable Events; taken from the old Records and arranged under each year by Caradog of Llancarvan^[3][4]. This was copied from the book belonging George Williams, Esq. of Aber Pergwm by me, Thomas Richards, curate of Llangrallo^[5], in the year 1764. And I, Edward, son of Edward William, Copied it from his book in 1790; and transcribed it for Owain Myvyr^[6][7] in the autumn of the year 1800

As Caradog was writing in the mid twelfth century he was writing about things that had happened 500 years previously.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} https://online.vitalsource.com/reader/books/9781787448988/pageid/23 Medieval Welsh Genealogy, page 23 et seq.
2. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spear_penny
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caradoc_of_Llancarfan
4. ↑ https://biography.wales/article/s-CARA-DOG-1135
5. ↑ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Coychurch%2C_Glamorgan
6. ↑ WikiTree contributors, "Owain Jones (1741-1814)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jones-137667 : accessed 14 July 2023).
7. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Jones_(antiquary)