Prince of Glamorgan Iestyn ap Gwrgan

• General Notes
  • Iestyn ap Gwrgan ruled Glamorgan (Morgannwg) 1081-1091 when it was taken over by the Normans and put under the control of Robert Fitzhamon. Iestyn was deposed and died in a priory.
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    Iestin ab Gwrgant (fl 1093), prince of Gwent and Morganwg, is a shadowy hero of the legend of the conquest of Glamorgan, whose biography, as told in the 'Gwentian Brut y Tywysogion,' is fabulous and absurd. Married in 994, he failed to obtain the succession of Morganwg on his father's death in 1030, because the people preferred his great-uncle, Howel ab Morgan; but he became ruler on Howel's death in 1043. Nearly fifty years later he is said to have taken a prominent share in the history of the conquest of Glamorgan by the Normans. He was an enemy of Rhys ab Tewdwr, the king of Brecheiniog. Hard pressed by his enemy, he promised to marry his daughter to Einion ab Collwyn if the latter could procure him help from England against their common foe Rhys. Eineon obtained the help of Robert Fitzhamon, who speedily defeated and slew Rhys, king of Brecheiniog. We know from authentic history that Rhys died in 1093. Iestin paid the Normans liberally and they went their way. He now refused his daughter to Einion, saying that he would never give either land or daughter to a traitor. Einion in revenge persmacded Fitzhamon to return. The Normans soon became masters of Iestin's territory and drove Iestin away. Iestin fled to Glastonbury over the Channel; thence he went to Bath and finally back to Bwent, where he died at the monastery of Llangenys at an extraordinary old age. His sons, Caradog, Madog, and Howel, abandoned their father to his fate and were rewarded with a share of the conquered land, Caradog, the eldest, obtaining the lordship of Aberavon.
    
    The details of the story of the conquest of Glamorgan are mythical; the outline is not in itself unlikely. Iestin's historical existence is proved by the existance of his descendants. His grandsons, Morgan, Maredudd, Owain, and Cadwaladr, the four sons of Caradog were joint lords of Aberavon when Archbishop Baldwin and Giraldus Cambrensis made their crusading tour in Wales. Rhys, another son of Iestin, is also mentioned in a document of the reign of John. Some Glamorganshire families claim descent from Iestin. [Dictionary of National Biography I:412-413]
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    Iestyn ap Gwrgant (fl c. 1081-1093), last independent ruler of Glamorgan and son of Gwrgant ab Ithel. Little is known with certainty about him. Cardiff seems to have been his seat of government, but the extent of his territory is unknown. He cannot have become supreme in Glamorgan until 1081, when Caradog ap Gruffydd, who ruled Glamorgan from c 1075, was slain. In 1080, Iestyn was sufficiently insignificant to appear as a minor witness attesting a grant of land made of Llandaff by 'Caratocus rex morcannuc.' Yet before his death, he was important enought to violate the sanctity of Llandaff, an act for which Iestyn had to atone by a grant of land. He founded the fifth royal tribe of Wales, and most of the noble families of Glamorgan claimed descent from him.
    
    A famous story of Glamorgan, at least as old as the 15th cent., associated the Norman conquest of Glamorgan with Iestyn's name. It describes how Iestyn, through his kinsman Einion ap Collwyn, a fugitive in England, secured Robert Fitzhamon's assistance against Rhys ap Tewdwr, whom he slew at Penrhys. Iestyn paid the Normans but refused Einion's promised reward - his daughter in marriage. Einion recalled the departing Normans, who overthrew Iestyn, divided the lowlands amongst themselves, leaving only the hill country to the Welsh. Iestyn fled - to Keynsham Abbey, according to one version - where he d. Where this story touches known facts it is demonstrably wrong, e.g. Keynsham Abbey was not founded till 1169, while Rhys was slain near Brecon in Easter week 1093.
    
    G. T. Clark, Land of Morgan, 6, 30, 38, 77, 131, and Limbus Patrum, 23, 24, 124, 129; D.N.B.; Dwnn, ii, 20, 56-7; Hist. W., 402, 440; Leland, Itinerary in Wales, 38; Liber Landavensis, 271-3; Merrick, Morganiae Archaiographia, 3, 6-8, 12-23, 43, 50-1; L. D. Nichoil, The Normans in Glamorgan, xiii, 18, 36, 67, 180; Nicholas, County Families, 239, 488, 490; Trans. Cymm., 1899-1900, 145-8, 162; G. J. Williams, Traddadiad Llenyddol Morgannwg, 26, 34, 184-91, 203, 204, 209.
    [Dictionary of Welsh Biography 408]

Click here for details of Iestyn's family with Constance Wen ferch Cadwgon

¹ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=aet-t&id=I53007
² http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=clcaldwell&id=I046214&style=TABLE
Source/Citation http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=clcaldwell&id=I046189

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