Family of Bleddyn + ap CYNFYN and Haer + verch CILLIN

Husband:	Bleddyn + ap CYNFYN (1025-1075)
Wife:	Haer + verch CILLIN (1018-1056)
Children:	Maredudd + ap BLEDDYN (1047-1132)
	Madog ap BLEDDYN (1050-1088)
	Cadwgan ap BLEDDYN (1051-1111)
	Rhirid ap BLEDDYN (1052-1088)
	Iornwerth ap BLEDDYN (c. 1055-1111)
Marriage	1044	Wales

Husband: Bleddyn + ap CYNFYN

Wife: Haer + verch CILLIN

Child 1: Maredudd + ap BLEDDYN

Name:	Maredudd + ap BLEDDYN
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Hunydd + verch EINUDD (1063- )
Birth	1047	Montgomeryshire, Wales
Occupation		Prince of Powys
Title	frm 1116 to 1132 (age 68-85)	Prince of Powys
Death	9 Feb 1132 (age 84-85)

Child 2: Madog ap BLEDDYN

Name:	Madog ap BLEDDYN
Sex:	Male
Birth	1050	Montgomeryshire, Wales
Death	1088 (age 37-38)	Llangolien, Powys, Wales

Child 3: Cadwgan ap BLEDDYN

Child 4: Rhirid ap BLEDDYN

Name:	Rhirid ap BLEDDYN
Sex:	Male
Birth	1052	Montgomeryshire, Wales
Death	1088 (age 35-36)	LLechryd, Wales

Child 5: Iornwerth ap BLEDDYN

Name:	Iornwerth ap BLEDDYN
Sex:	Male
Birth	1055 (est)
Death	1111 (age 55-56)

Note on Husband: Bleddyn + ap CYNFYN

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn (died 1075) was a Prince of the Welsh Kingdoms of Gwynedd and of Powys

Bleddyn was the son of Princess Angharad ferch Maredudd (of the Dinefwr dynasty of Deheubarth) with her second husband Cynfyn ap Gwerstan, a Powys Lord, about whom little is now known. He may have been son of an English Saxon - the name has been postulated as being derived from Werestan.

 

His mother Angharad was previously widow of Llywelyn ap Seisyll and also mother of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn.

 

Bleddyn married Haer, daughter of "Cillin ap Yplaidd" Rohaid, Lord of Gest in Eifionydd.[1] Their children included Iorwerth ap Bleddyn (d. 1111).

 

When Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was killed by his own men after being defeated by the Saxon Harold Godwinson in 1063, his realm was divided among several Welsh Princes. Bleddyn and his brother Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn, as half brothers to Gruffydd, succeeded to his lands but first as vassals and allies of the Saxon King of England, Edward the Confessor and then submitted to Harold and from him received Gwynedd and Powys.[2]

They continued Gruffudd's policy of allying to the Mercian Saxons to resist the threat from William the Conqueror.

 

In 1067 Bleddyn and Rhiwallon joined with the Mercian Eadric the Wild in an attack on the Normans at Hereford, ravaged the lands as far as the River Lugg then in 1068 allied with Earl Edwin of Mercia and Earl Morcar of Northumbria in another attack on the Normans.

 

Bleddyn was challenged by the two sons of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, but defeated them at the battle of Mechain in 1070, one being killed and the other dying of exposure after the battle. Bleddyn's brother Rhiwallon was also killed in this battle, Bleddyn emerging as the only one of the four to survive the bloody encounter and he ruled Gwynedd and Powys alone until his death.

 

In 1073 Robert of Rhuddlan stealthily established his forces on the banks of the River Clwyd and attempted to ambush and capture Bleddyn, narrowly failing but seizing valuable booty from the raids further south.

 

He was killed in 1075 by Rhys ab Owain of Deheubarth and the nobility of Ystrad Tywi in South Wales, a killing which caused much shock throughout Wales.

 

When Rhys ab Owain was defeated in arms at the Battle of Goodwick and forced to become a fugitive by Bleddyn's cousin and successor as King of Gwynedd, Trahaearn ap Caradog in 1078 and killed by Caradog ap Gruffydd of Gwent shortly afterwards, this was hailed as "vengeance for the blood of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn".

 

Bleddyn is said in the Brut y Tywysogion to have been a benevolent ruler:

 

"the most lovable and the most merciful of all kings ... he was civil to his relatives, generous to the poor, merciful to pilgrims and orphans and widows and a defender of the weak ...".

and

 

"the mildest and most clement of kings" and he "did injury to none, save when insulted.... openhanded to all, terrible in war, but in peace beloved."

[edit] LegacyHe was responsible for a revision of Welsh law in the version used in Gwynedd. After his death Gwynedd was seized by Trahaearn ap Caradog and later recovered for the line of Rhodri the Great by Gruffydd ap Cynan, but in Powys Bleddyn was the founder of a dynasty which lasted until the end of the 13th century.

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BLEDDYN ap CYNFYN (d. 1075 ), prince , was the son of Cynfyn ap Gwerstan , otherwise unknown, and Angharad , widow of Llywelyn ap Seisyll (d. 1023 ) (q.v.) , and mother of the famous Gruffudd ap Llywelyn (d. 1063 ) (q.v.) . Late authorities supply Gwerstan with a distinguished pedigree, but the name has the air of being a derivative of the English Werestan. As half-brothers of Gruffudd , Ble ddyn and his brother Rhiwallon succeeded to his domains, but no longer in independence, but as vassals and allies of Edward the Confessor . They continued Gruffudd 's policy of alliance with Mercia and aided the Mercians in their struggle with William the Conqueror , supporting Edric the Wild in 1067 , when they ravaged Herefordshire as far as the Lugg , and Edwin and Morcar in 1068 . In 1070 they had to meet a threat nearer home; two sons of Gruffudd challenged their power in thebattle of Mechain , an encounter in which Bleddyn proved victor and the only survivor of the four. He was now threatened by the advance of the Normans into North Wales ; in 1073 , Robert of Rhuddlan established himself on the banks of the Clwyd and shortly afterwards surprised Bleddyn in a stealthy attack, in which the Welsh leader lost much booty and narrowly escaped capture. His career was cut short in 1075 , when Rhys ab Owain (q.v.)and the nobles of Ystrad Tywi contrived his death. The tragedy was much deplored in Mid Wales , and when his cousin, Trahaearn ap Caradog (q.v.) , defeated Rhys ( 1078 ) in the battle of Goodwick and drove him into headlong flight, it was held to have been signally avenged..

 

 

High praise is bestowed upon Bleddyn by the chronicle which was now kept at Llanbadarn . His virtues were those of the ideal prince — clemency, kindness, affability, liberality to the weak and defenceless, respect for the rights of the Church . Some colour is given to this eulogy by the fact that Bleddyn is one of the few princes who appear as having made amendments in the laws of Hywel the Good . To later generations he was best known as the ancestor of all later princes of Powys , for, within a few years after his death, his sons had established themselves as rulers throughout the whole of this province..^1,2

Sources

1	"http://wbo.llgc.org.uk/en/s-BLED-APC-1025.html.".

2	John Edward Llyod, "A History of Wales: from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest" (Longmans, Green and Co, 1911).