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Birth:          ABT 1011 of Rhuddlan, Flintshire, Wales
Death:          5 Aug 1063 Snowdonia, Wales
Cause of Death: killed

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibyl_de_Neufmarch%C3%A9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ealdgyth,_daughter_of_Earl_%C3%86lfgar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruffydd_ap_Llywelyn
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (died 5 August 1063) was the King of Wales from 1055 to 1063. 
He was the son of King Llywelyn ap Seisyll. Although the true lineage of his 
grandfather Seisyll is obscure, he claimed to be the great-great-grandson of Hywel 
Dda.[1] 
Genealogy and early life[edit]

Gruffydd was the son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, who had been able to rule both Gwynedd 
and Powys. On Llywelyn's death in 1023, a member of the Aberffraw dynasty, Iago ab 
Idwal ap Meurig, became ruler of Gwynedd and began his rise to power in Powys.

King of Gwynedd and Powys (1039–1055)[edit]

 In 1039, King Iago of Gwynedd was killed (supposedly by his own men) and his son 
Cynan, who may have been as young as four, was forced into exile in Dublin. 
Gruffydd, who had already recovered Powys, expanded into the vacuum. Soon after 
gaining power, he surprised a Mercian army at Rhyd y Groes near Welshpool and 
totally defeated it, killing Edwin, brother of the Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He then 
attacked Dyfed, which his father had ruled but was now under Hywel ab Edwin. 
Gruffydd defeated Hywel in the Battle of Pencader (1041) and carried off Hywel's wife. 
Gruffydd seems to have been able to drive Hywel out of the south, for in 1044 Hywel 
is recorded returning to the mouth of the River Tywi with a Danish fleet to try to 
reclaim his kingdom. Gruffydd, however, defeated and killed him in a closely fought 
engagement.[dubious – discuss]

Gruffydd ap Rhydderch of Gwent was able to expel Gruffydd ap Llywelyn from 
Deheubarth in 1047 and became king of Deheubarth himself after the nobles of Ystrad 
Tywi had attacked and killed 140 of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's household guard. He was 
able to resist several attacks by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in the following years. Gruffydd 
ap Llywelyn was active on the Welsh border in 1052, when he attacked Herefordshire 
and defeated a mixed force of Normans and English in the Battle of Leominster.

King of Wales 1055–1063[edit]

In 1055 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn killed his rival Gruffydd ap Rhydderch in battle and 
recaptured Deheubarth. Gruffydd allied himself with Ælfgar, son of Leofric, Earl of 
Mercia, who had been deprived of his earldom of East Anglia by Harold Godwinson 
and his brothers. They marched on Hereford and were opposed by a force led by the 
Earl of Hereford, Ralph the Timid. This force was mounted and armed in the Norman 
fashion, but on 24 October Gruffydd defeated it. He then sacked the city and 
destroyed its motte-and-bailey castle. Earl Harold was given the task of counter-
attacking, and seems to have built a fortification at Longtown in Herefordshire before 
refortifying Hereford. Shortly afterwards Ælfgar was restored to his earldom and a 
peace treaty concluded.

Around this time Gruffydd was also able to seize Morgannwg and Gwent, along with 
extensive territories along the border with England. In 1056, he won another victory 
over an English army near Glasbury. Now recognized as King of Wales, he claimed 
sovereignty over the whole of the country – a claim which was recognised by the 
English.[citation needed] Historian John Davies stated that Gruffydd was "the only 
Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... Thus, from about 1057 
until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship of Gruffudd ap 
Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with 
neither precedent nor successor."[2]

Death and aftermath[edit]

Gruffydd reached an agreement with Edward the Confessor, but the death of his ally 
Ælfgar in 1062 left him more vulnerable. In late 1062 Harold Godwinson obtained the 
king's approval for a surprise attack on Gruffydd's court at Rhuddlan. Gruffydd was 
nearly captured, but was warned in time to escape out to sea in one of his ships, 
though his other ships were destroyed. In the spring of 1063 Harold's brother Tostig 
led an army into north Wales while Harold led the fleet first to south Wales and then 
north to meet with his brother's army. Gruffydd was forced to take refuge in Snowdonia 
where he met his death. Gruffydd's head and the figurehead of his ship were sent to 
Harold. The Ulster Chronicle states that he was killed by Cynan in 1064, whose father 
Iago had been put to death by Gruffydd in 1039.[3] Gruffydd had probably made 
enemies in the course of uniting Wales under his rule. According to Walter Map, 
Gruffydd said of this:
Speak not of killing; I but blunt the horns of the offspring of Wales lest they should 
injure their dam.
Following Gruffydd's death, Harold married his widow Ealdgyth, though she was to be 
widowed again three years later. Gruffydd's realm was divided again into the 
traditional kingdoms. Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon came to an 
agreement with Harold and were given the rule of Gwynedd and Powys. Thus when 
Harold was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Normans 
reaching the borders of Wales were confronted by the traditional kingdoms rather than 
a single king. Gruffydd left two sons who in 1069 challenged Bleddyn and Rhiwallon at 
the battle of Mechain in an attempt to win back part of their father's kingdom. 
However they were defeated, one being killed and the other dying of exposure after 
the battle.

Family[edit]

Gruffydd married Ealdgyth, daughter of Earl Ælfgar. Gruffydd had at least three 
children, two sons called Maredudd and Idwal who both died at the Battle of Mechain 
in 1069, and a daughter called Agnes or Nest who married Osbern FitzRichard of 
Richard's Castle. Their daughter Nest married Bernard de Neufmarché. Nest also was 
married to Trahaearn ap Caradog before Osbern. They had seven children.

Parents
AP SEISYLLT Llywelyn (ABT  980 - 1023)
VERCH MAREDYDD Angharad (ABT  982 - )

Siblings
AP LLEWELYN Gruffydd (ABT 1011 - 5 Aug 1063)

Marriage To OF DEHEUBARTH Guerta (ABT 1008 - )
    m.  

Notes


Children by OF DEHEUBARTH Guerta ABT 1008 - 
VERCH GRUFFYD Nesta (Mary) (ABT 1028 - )

Marriage To OF MERCIA Ealdgyth (Aldgyth) (Edith) (ABT 1041 - AFT 1086)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
____ Alfgar III (ABT 1025 - ABT 1060)
OF THE SEVEN BOROUGHS Aelfgifu (ABT 1014 - )

Children by OF MERCIA Ealdgyth (Aldgyth) (Edith) ABT 1041 - AFT 1086
VERCH GRUFFYDD Nest (ABT 1057 - )

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