// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Rhydderch ab Iestyn say to his poet? "Rhyme with me.
Rhydderch ab Iestyn (died 1033) was king of Deheubarth and controlled the Kingdom of Powys in Wales during the early part of the eleventh century.
Comparatively little has been recorded about Rhydderch ab Iestyn in the annals. When Llywelyn ap Seisyll, king of Gwynedd and Deheubarth, died unexpectedly in 1023,[1] Rhydderch was able to seize Deheubarth, apparently by force of arms, disinheriting Llewellyn's young son Gruffudd. In 1033 Rhydderch is recorded by Brut y Tywysogion as having been slain by the Irish, but with no explanation of the circumstances.[2]
The kingdom of Deheubarth returned to the original dynasty in the form of Hywel ab Edwin and his brother Maredudd. A battle between Hywel and his brother and the sons of Rhydderch is recorded the following year. In 1045 Rhydderch's son Gruffudd ap Rhydderch was able to seize Deheubarth from Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, (later King of Wales between 1055–1063) and he held it for ten years until Gruffudd regained it.
Rhydderch had at least recorded three sons. Gruffudd ap Rhydderch (died 1055) was King of Morgannwg and Deheubarth, and was killed in battle against Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll. Caradog ap Rhydderch (died 1035) was killed by the "Saxons". Rhys ap Rhydderch (died 5 January 1053) was put to death at Bulendun (possibly Bullen's Bank near Clyro, Radnorshire), by order of King Edward the Confessor as punishment for his raiding into England. Rhys's head was brought to King Edward on 5 January 1053 at the royal court in Gloucester.[3]
References
[edit]- ↑ "LLYWELYN ap SEISYLL (died 1023), king of Deheubarth and Gwynedd | Dictionary of Welsh Biography". biography.wales. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
- ↑ Thomas Jones, ed. Brut y Tywysogion: Peniarth MS. 20 version (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1952)
- ↑ Breeze, Andrew (2001). "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1053 and the killing of Rhys ap Rhydderch". Radnorshire Society Transactions. 71: 168–169.
Sources
[edit]- Peter Bartrum A Welsh Classical Dictionary, People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000 (Aberystwyth NLW 2009 Ed) p. 647
- John Edward Lloyd A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest (Longmans, Green & Co.)