A Chronological of Celtic Wales
(Some dates may be incorrect or a few years out)
1018
Llywelyn ap Seisyll seized the throne of Gwynedd after killing Aeddan ap Blegywryd in this year.
1020
Around this time Herewald was born in Llancarfan who became Bishop of Glamorgan from 1056-1104. He trained a number of learned men to serve the bishopric, among them were his sons, Lifris the author of “The life of St Cadog” and Stefan author of “The life of St Teilo”. More learned men came from the family of Sulien of Llanbadarn. Between 1030 and 1050, Sulien his thirst for knowledge by means of a saga of journeys. He became bishop of St David’s in 1073 and he raised his sons to serve the Church of David. One of his sons Rhygyfarch (Ricemarch) an accomplished Latin stylist and the author of “The life of St David) another was Ieuan a skilful calligrapher and the copyist of the works of Augustine of Hippo.
1023
Gruffudd son of Rhydderch ap Iestyn was king of Deheubarth from 1023-1033. Also Llywelyn ap Seisyll died this year.
1030
Gwrgan son of Ithel died, Iestyn the son of Gwrgan succeed his father but he was a very wicked cruel and merciless king incurring the hatred of countrymen and subjects. Great animosity arose between him and Rhys the son of Tewdwr king of Deheubarth and he entered into an unjust was against him.
1035
King Maredudd of Deheubarth died around this time and his buried Carew.
1039
Gruffudd ap Llywelyn son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll took possession of Gwynedd and Powys after he killed Iago ab Idwal, the great grandson of Idwal ab Anarawd. He then took possession of Deheubarth around 1055 and later seized Glamorgan by driving out Cadwgan ap Meurig of the line of Hywel ap Rhys thus from about 1057 until is death in 1063 the whole of Wales recognized the kingship of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. For those brief years Wales was on under one ruler a feat neither precedent nor successor.
1039
Gruffudd defeated the forces of Leofric earl of Mercia, at Rhyd-y-groes near Welshpool.
1042
Howel died, the son of Owen, Lord of Glamorgan who was a good king and disposed peace had he been allowed to follow his inclination by his relations.
1043
Iestyn son of Gwrgan however, succeeded to the government at Hywel's death, in 1043; and having a spoused called Denis, daughter of Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, Prince of Powys, he built a castle a few miles to the west of Cardiff, which he called, after her name, Denis Powys, and this designation is still preserved, under the modern name of Dinas-Powis, as that of one of the civil divisions of the shire.
1044
Gruffudd ap Llywelyn slew Hywel ab Edwin king of Deheubarth.
1045
Glamorgan had been without a bishop since the death of Joseph in Rome in 1045.
1055
Gruffudd allied with leofric’s son Aelfgar who had been exiled from England through the machinations of the sons of Godwine earl of Wessex, the allies burned Hereford and Gruffudd expelled a large proportion of the population of the borderland. Thus the Welsh reposed Whitford and Hope, Bangor Is-coed and Chirk, Presteigne and Radnor. Also in this year Gruffudd killed Gruffudd ap Rhyddech king of Deheubarth.
1056
Rhys, brother of Grufydd, led an army into Glamorgan and Gwent, and committed great devastations ; but the inhabitants, rising in their own defence, drove him towards the marches, and, having taken him prisoner, cut off his head, and sent it to the English monarch, Edward the Confessor, who was then at Gloucester.
1056
When Herwald was appointed bishop of Llandaff Cathedral, it was recorded that he had been elected by the clerics of Glamorgan under the patronage of the king of Glamorgan and his overload namely Gruffudd ap Llywelyn of Gwynedd who also swore to be a loyal sub-king Edward the Confessor.
1060
Owen the son of Griffith, the son of Rhydderch, the son of Iestyn died, whereupon Caradoc the son of Griffith, the son of Rhydderch, the son of Iestyn collected a considerable army of men of Gwent and Glamorgan, having solicited in addition the aid of Harold and his brother Tostig and with this allied force they went to South Wales and so ingratiated themselves with the men of Griffith, Prince of North Wales that they slew him. Having thus lost their prince the men of North Wales were easily overcome, this occurred in the year of Christ 1061.
1062
Harold, Godwin’s son made a sudden raid on Griffith’s palace at Rhuddlan, Griiffith escaped by sea.
1063
Harold, Godwin’s son and successor as earl of Wessex led forces of land and sea to defeat Gruffudd who was then perused from place to place and he was killed somewhere in Snowdonia on the 5th August 1063. It is rumoured that he was killed by his own men, some state that he was killed by Cynan ap Iago whose father Iago ab Idwal was put to death by Gruffudd in 1039 if this is son his death may be attributed to filial loyalty.
1066
Harold was crowned king of England and immediately married Griffith that he might escape the anger of her family.
1068
Gwrgan and Iestyn espoused the cause of Bleddyn the son of Cynfyn, against Meredith the son of Griffith the son Llewelyn and vanquished him so that Bleddyn was the entire principality of Venedotia (Gwynedd) and Powys. Iestyn son of the Lord Gwrgan was married to Denis the daughter of Bleddyn, the son of Cynfyn by his first wife who was Haer, the daughter of Cyhylan, from which circumstance, great friendship existed between them.
1070
Caradoc the son of Griffith, the son of Rhydderch, the son of Iestyn came with a host of auxiliary Normans, against Meredith the son of Owain, the son of Edwin, and king of South Wales and in support of Caradoc, came Iestyn son of Gwrgan, with an army of the men of Glamorgan. In this battle Meredith was slain on the banks of the river Rhymney as the place called Roath, near Cardiff Castle, but died soon after and his son Rhydderch ruled in succession his court being Boverton.
1071
Normans and the Black Pagans ravaged the lands of Cardigan and Dyfed.
1072
Caradoc the son of Griffith, the son of Rhydderch, sided with Gronwy and Llewelyn, the sons of Cadwgan, the son of Bleddyn, the son of Cynfyn, against Rhys the son of Owen, the son of Edwin, who had slain their grandfather and they were victorious.
1072
The French devastated Ceredigion.
1074
Rhydderch was slain through the treachery of his cousin Meirchion the son of Rhys, the son of Rhydderch. After Rhydderch death, Rhys the son of Owen, governed South Wales himself, where previously they had ruled conjointly, under as acknowledge agreement that the right of national inheritance should rest with the descendants of Rhydderch, the son of Caradoc, but shortly after Rhys the son of Owen, prince of South Wales and Howel ‘s brother were killed near Llantwit Major, where they had fled for refuge to the sanctuary of Iltutus’s church.
1075
Rhys ap Tewdwr took possession of Deheubarth on the death of his second cousin, Rhys ab Owain.
1077
Rhys ap Tewdwr from Brittany to lay claim to the principality at the rightful heir of Deheubarth due to his knowledge, wisdom and knowledge of Government. He came from Brittany to lay claim to the principality at the rightful heir of Deheubarth due to his knowledge, wisdom and knowledge of Government. In the same year William the Conqueror made a demonstration of power in South Wales, travelling the land as far as St David’s. It is reasonably certain that during the visit the two kings came to an agreement as to their future good relations, which lasted to the end of William’s reign. A few year later it is recorded that Rhys is paying the king £40.00 a year for Deheubarth, thereby becoming a vassal of the Norman Crown and establishing a precedent with lasting consequences on Anglo-Welsh relations. Henceforth with the exception of the closing tragedy of career, Rhys had only to contend with the jealousies of his fellow princes.
1078
The battle of “Pullgudic” in which Rhys ab Owain, Prince of Deheubarth, was defeated by Trehaearn, the usurper-king of North Wales, who thus established his authority over this part of the ancient kingdom of Dyfed, was fought, on Goodwick Moor, which lies between Fishguard and Goodwick, behind Goodwick Beach.
1078
Rhys ap Tewdwr became king of Deheubarth
1079
William the Conqueror went to St David’s Cathedral to prayer, also so the local chiefs could pay homage to him.
1080
Rhys ab Tewdwr, Prince of Dynevor invaded the territories of Iestyn ab Gwrgan of Glamorgan, and sacked his castles of Dinas-Powis, Llanilltyd, and Dindryvan ; but he had no sooner withdrawn his troops than Iestyn retaliated by ravaging Carmarthenshire and Brecknockshire, where he obtained valuable booty.
1081
He was dislodged by Caradog ap Gruffydd (q.v), but later in the year, with the help of Gruffydd ap Cynan, he was firmly reinstated after the historic battle of Mynydd Carn. King William started to build the town of Cardiff.
1087
At around this time the Norman Conquest of the South had gathered a new momentum after the death of King William 1st.
1088
He was attacked by the young rulers of Powys and was obliged to seek refuge in Ireland, he soon returned with strong forces and Danish help, decisively defeated his opponents (Madog, Rhiryd and Cadwgan ap Bleddyn) at Llychryd Bridge.
1088
Battle of Deganwy. In 1088 Robert of Ruddland and a castle there which is said to once belonged to Maelgwyn. Robert went away this year to a siege at Rochester, Griffith ab Cynan, with a Welsh and Irish force made a rapid descent on Robert’s lands and reaching Rheddlan killed my Franks there, and took others prisoners. On Robert’s return to Deganwy Griffith sailed into the Conway with his Irish allies, and began to repeat the Ruddlan’s doings in the view of the castle. Robert in a great rage sailed out calling his men to follow. With only one knight to back him, he was surrounded by the waterside, and fell amid a shower of arrows. His head was then stuck off and placed on the mast head of one of the ships, Griffith saw this and ordered it to be thrown into the sea, and he then sailed away again with his prisoners and much booty.
1089
Battle in the Cynon Valley.
1089
When Cadifor the son of Collwyn, Lord of Dimetia died and his sons, Llewelyn and Einion induced Griffith, the son of Meredith to fight against Rhys the son of Tewdwr their Lord and king.
1090
Iestyn ap Gwrgan was driven out of Glamorgan by Fitzhamon.
1091
Battle at St Dogmaels. He was opposed by a group of his own vassals in Dyfed, who sought to restore the kingship to the senior line of Hywel Dda in the person of Gruffydd ap Maredudd an Owain. Gruffydd and his brother Llundudoch (St Dogmaels) on the Teifi the rebels were defeated and Gruffydd killed.
1093 The area they were in was the old kingdom of Bryncheiniog. It was while he was resisting the Norman advance in this all-important approach to his own dominions that Rhys was killed with Bleddin ap Maenarch Prince of old Bryncheiniog (Brecon). Rhys ap Tewdwr was virtually the last of the ancient kings of Deheubarth, and it was in a different political setting that the power of the Dynasty was eventually revived by his grandson – Rhys ap Gruffydd. He was survived by two sons Gruffydd ap Rhys and Hywel, and by daughter Nest.
Gerald Cambrensis (Gerald the Welshman) was a descendant of Rhys ap Tewdwr through his daughter Nest. Nest was his grandmother.
1107
Llandaff first Norman Bishop Urban was appointed.
1120
Bishop Urban of Llandaff removed the body of St Dubricius from Bardsey to Llandaff Cathedral on the 10th June.
1136
Gruffudd ap Cynan of Gwynedd died in this year and Griffith son of Rhys who held south west Wales.