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Under the Auspices of The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion

BLEDDYN AP CYNFYN (died 1075), prince

He was the son of CYNFYN AP GWERSTAN, otherwise unknown, and ANGHARAD, widow of Llywelyn ap Seisyll (died 1023) (q.v.), and mother of the famous Gruffudd ap Llywelyn (died 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, Bleddyn 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 the battle 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 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 ammendments in the laws of Hywel the Good. To later generations he was the best known as the ancestor of all the 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.

"He was the most amiable and most merciful of all kings... he injured no one; he was gentle to his kinsmen, generous to the poor, and merciful towards pilgrims, orphans, and widows; he was the defence of the weak and the strength of the wise; the honour of churches, and the foundation and delight of the lands, generous towards everybody, terrible in war, amiable and gentle in peace, and a protector for everyone." - Brut y Tywysogion 1075 (Describing Bleddyn ap Cynfyn)

"From Cadwgan, the second son of the founder of the tribe, descend the Nanneys of Nannau." - Yorke

The founder referred to was Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powys from whom the Third Royal Tribe of Wales was descended.
The Dictionary of Welsh Biography (Down to 1940)

Under the Auspices of The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion

CADWGAN (died 1111), prince

He was the second son of BLEDDYN AP CYNFYN (q.v.). He is first heard of in 1088, when, with his brothers, MADOG and RHIRYD, he attacked Deheubarth and drove Rhys ap Tewdwr (q.v.) into exile. Later in the year, Rhys returned with a fleet from Ireland and met the men of Powys in a battle, in which Madog and Rhiryd fell, but from which Cadwgan escaped. The death of Rhys in 1093 seemed to offer an opportunity for renewing the foiled attempt upon the South, but a few weeks sufficed to show that it was the Normans who were to profit, and this on a grand scale, by the untorward event. It was about this time that Cadwgan, as a measure of defence, married the daughter of his Norman neighbor, PICOT DE SAI, whom Domesday shows as the lord of Clun and the surrounding area. He took an active part in the Welsh upheaval of the reign of William Rufus, defeating the Normans in 1094 at the battle of Coed Yspwys (its site is unknown) and joining Gruffudd ap Cynan (q.v.) in the defence of Anglesey and the flight to Ireland of 1098. When better conditions enabled the two to return to Wales in 1099, Cadwgan received from earl Robert of Shrewsbury in vassalage his share of Powys and, therewith, Ceredigion. He allowed himself to be drawn into the revolt of the Montgomery family against Henry I in 1102, but escaped the ruin which befell the earl in 1103 and retained his dominions.

The last years of his life were disturbed by the violence and family feuds of the line of powys. His son, OWAIN (q.v.) was an outstanding offender. The shameless abduction of Nest (flourished 1120) (q.v.) by Owain in 1109 imperilled the position of his father, who was at first left with nothing more than the vill he had received in frank marriage with his wife, but later received Ceredigion. This he lost in 1110, as the result of further misdeeds of Owain; Ceredigion was given to Gilbert Fitz Richard (see under Clare) and became a Norman lordship, while Cadwgan sank into a landless royal pensioner. Again there was a turn of fortune, when his brother IORWERTH was murdered in 1111 by his nephew, MADOG AP RHIRYD; the king restored him to southern Powys. But in the same year he also fell a victim to the same unnatural assailant; while planning to build a castle at Trallwng Llywelyn (Welshpool) he was treacherously attacked and, with little resistance, slain.

Cadwgan is described by the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' in 1097 as the 'worthiest' of the Welsh leaders in that year, and his record as a ruler is not discreditable. Besides the two sons, HENRY and GRUFFYDD, born to his Norman wife, he left OWAIN (died 1116), MADOG, EINION (died 1123), MORGAN (died 1128), and MAREDUDD (died 1124).

MADOG AP MAREDUDD AP BLEDDYN AP CYNFYN (died 1160), king of Powys

He was the last of his dynasty to rule as king of the whole of Powys, including, for a time, the Fitzalan lordship of Oswestry (see Owain Brogyntyn). Succeeding his father in 1132, his main pre-occupation, particularly between the years 1149-57, was the defence of Powys against the aggression of Owain Gwynedd (q.v.). Threatened by the building of the castle of Tomen-y-Rhodwydd at the southern end of the Vale of Clwyd, Madog, in alliance with Ranulf, earl of Chester, unsuccessfully challenged Owain's advance, losing, for a time, the control of his lands in Iāl. This loss was retrieved in 1157 when Henry II, with Madog's support, made a decisive assertion of authority in North Wales. When he died three years later he was still friendly with his powerful patron. His praises were sung by the leading poets of the day, and the impression created on the minds of contemporaries by the influence which he asserted in central Wales is enshrined in contemporary prose romances. He was buried in the mother-church of Powys - S. Tysilio at Meifod. He married Susanna, daughter of Owain Gwynedd (q.v.). His dominions were divided among a number of minor lords of Powys - his sons and nephews - and were never again to be reunited in the hands of a single ruler. (For his heirs see GRUFFYDD MAELOR I, OWAIN FYCHAN, OWAIN BROGYNTYN, and OWAIN CYFEILIOG).