Owain ab Edwin of Tegeingl or Owain the Traitor (Welsh : Owain Fradwr), (died 1105) [1] was lord of the cantref of Tegeingl in north-east Wales at the end of the 11th century. He was the son of Edwin ap Gronw of Tegeingl, a great-great-grandson of Hywel Dda. He sided with the Normans in their failed invasion of North Wales, and in the 1090s attempted to become ruler of Gwynedd.
His arms were gules three men's legs conjoined at the thighs in triangle argent. [2]
Little is known of Owain's father, Edwin of Tegeingl. [3] [4] However, most medieval pedigrees identify Owain's paternal grandfather as Gronwy, a descendant of Hywel Dda. [3] Owain may have been a great-great-great-grandson of Hywel Dda [4] although this is disputed. [3] His paternal grandmother is believed to have been Ethelfleda or Aldgyth, daughter of Eadwine of Mercia. [3] His mother was Iwerydd, sister of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Gwynedd and Powys (1063–1075). [1]
Owain was Lord or Prince of the cantref of Tegeingl. [1] The cantref formed the eastern part of Perfeddwlad (or Y Berfeddwlad) on the northern coast of Wales between the River Clwyd and Deeside. The territory, originally forming part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd, had been under the control of the Anglo-Saxons for several centuries and then changed hands several times between the two. [5] Owain's father, Edwin, appears to have been raised to the lordship of Tegeingl by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, [3] ruler of most of Wales between 1055 and 1063. Edwin died in 1073 [4] and Owain succeeded him as lord.
It appears that Owain made a challenge for the kingship of Gwynedd and may have succeeded in holding it for a time in the 1090s. [6] Links to previous rulers through the female line were very important in establishing a claim, and Owain's relationship with Bleddyn ap Cynfyn through his mother would have been relevant. [6]
In the 1080s and the 1090s, the Normans led by Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester made several attempts to invade and gain control of North Wales. [7] Owain ap Edwin transferred his allegiance to the Normans following the defeat of his ally Trahaearn ap Caradog, prince of Gwynedd (1075–1081), at the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081, a move which earned him the epithet Fradwr, traitor, among the Welsh. [3] In 1098, Owain participated in a massive invasion of North Wales by Hugh d’Avranches, with Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, [8] forcing Gruffydd ap Cynan, prince of Gwynedd (1081–1137), to retreat to Anglesey. As a result of the intervention of a Norwegian army under Magnus Barelegs, the Normans suffered a defeat and withdrew most of their forces to England. [8] Following the Norman withdrawal, Owain was left in command of a token force to control upper Gwynedd. [3] [7] Over the next three years, Gruffydd ap Cynan reasserted his control over Gwynedd and agreed terms with the Normans. [7] In the meantime, Owain deserted the Normans and led a rebellion himself. [9] He died shortly afterwards in 1105, apparently of consumption. [2] [9]
Owain Fradwr married Morfudd, daughter of Goronwy, son of Ednowain Bendew. [2]
Owain's daughter, Angharad, married Gruffudd ap Cynan, Prince of Gwynedd, [1] by whom she had three sons: Cadwallon, Owain Gwynedd (the first Welsh prince to take the title Princeps Wallensium, [10] Prince of the Welsh) and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd.
His sons were Goronwy, Meilir, Llywelyn, Aldud, and Rhirid. [2] Goronwy was the father of the Cristin who was the second wife of Owain Gwynedd. [1] However, in 1125 a son of Gruffudd ap Cynan killed all Owain's male heirs bringing the direct line of the family to an end. [3]
Owain ap Gruffudd was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great and the first to be styled "Prince of Wales", and the "Prince of the Welsh". He is considered to be the most successful of all the North Welsh princes prior to his grandson, Llywelyn the Great. He became known as Owain Gwynedd to distinguish him from the contemporary king of Powys Wenwynwyn, Owain ap Gruffydd ap Maredudd, who became known as Owain Cyfeiliog.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was King of Gwynedd and Powys from 1039 and, after asserting his control over the entire country, claimed the title King of Wales from 1055 until his death in 1063. He was the son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll king of Gwynedd and Angharad daughter of Maredudd ab Owain, king of Deheubarth, and the great-great-grandson of Hywel Dda. Gruffydd was the first and only Welsh king to unite all of Wales albeit for a brief period. After his death, Wales was again divided into separate kingdoms.
Gruffudd ap Cynan, sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule.
Deheubarth was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd. It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of Dinefwr, but that Deheubarth itself was not considered a proper kingdom on the model of Gwynedd, Powys, or Dyfed is shown by its rendering in Latin as dextralis pars or as Britonnes dexterales and not as a named land. In the oldest British writers, Deheubarth was used for all of modern Wales to distinguish it from Hen Ogledd, the northern lands whence Cunedda originated.
The Kingdom of Gwynedd was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Powys and part of today's English West Midlands. More precisely, and based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries originally extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region of England in the east. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, and this region is referred to in later Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys".
Rhys ap Tewdwr was a king of Deheubarth in Wales and member of the Dinefwr dynasty, a branch descended from Rhodri the Great. Following the Norman Conquest, he had to pay William the Conqueror to keep his kingdom, which lasted until the end of William's reign.
Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd in 1170, was a Welsh poet and military leader. Hywel was the son of Owain Gwynedd, prince of Gwynedd, and an Irishwoman named Pyfog. In recognition of this, he was also known as Hywel ap Gwyddeles. Hywel is also known as the Poet Prince for his bardic skills.
Trahaearn ap Caradog was a King of Gwynedd. Trahaearn was a son of Caradog ap Gwyn, ruler of Arwystli, a small state, on the south-western border between Gwynedd and Powys. He was born in 1044 in Arwystli, and died in 1081 in Mynydd Carn in Pembrokeshire, at the Battle of Mynydd Carn.
Rhys ab Owain was a king of Deheubarth in southern Wales.
Caradog ap Gruffydd was a Prince of Gwent in south-east Wales in the time of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and the Norman conquest, who reunified his family's inheritance of Morgannwg and made repeated attempts to reunite southern Wales by claiming the inheritance of the Kingdom of Deheubarth.
Maredudd ap Bleddyn was a prince and later King of Powys in eastern Wales. He was involved in the rebellions against Henry I of England, son of William the Conqueror, who launched the Norman invasion of Wales. He was featured in the Brut y Tywysogion, and was succeeded by his son, Prince Madog ap Maredudd.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1101–1200 to Wales and its people.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1001–1100 to Wales and its people.
Wales in the High Middle Ages covers the 11th to 13th centuries in Welsh history. Beginning shortly before the Norman invasion of the 1060s and ending with the Conquest of Wales by Edward I between 1278 and 1283, it was a period of significant political, cultural and social change for the country.
Wales in the Middle Ages covers the history of the country that is now called Wales, from the departure of the Romans in the early fifth century to the annexation of Wales into the Kingdom of England in the early sixteenth century. This period of about 1,000 years saw the development of regional Welsh kingdoms, Celtic conflict with the Anglo-Saxons, reducing Celtic territories, and conflict between the Welsh and the Anglo-Normans from the 11th century.
The history of Gwynedd in the High Middle Ages is a period in the History of Wales spanning the 11th through the 13th centuries. Gwynedd, located in the north of Wales, eventually became the most dominant of Welsh polities during this period. Contact with continental courts allowed for Gwynedd to transition from a petty kingdom into an increasingly sophisticated principality of seasoned courtiers capable of high level deplomacy and representation; not only with the Angevine kings, but also the king of France and the Papal See. Distinctive achievements in Gwynedd include further development of Medieval Welsh literature, particularly poets known as the Beirdd y Tywysogion associated with the court of Gwynedd; the reformation of bardic schools; and the continued development of Cyfraith Hywel. All three of these further contributed to the development of a Welsh national identity in the face of Anglo-Norman encroachment of Wales.
Edwin of Tegeingl was a prince or lord of the cantref of Tegeingl in north-east Wales.