• General Notes

  [charlemegne.FTW]
  
  Owain I Gwynedd, b. ca. 1100, d. 1170, Prince of North Wales; m . (1) Gladys; m. (2) Christina (his Cousin), dau. Gronw ap Owe n ap Edwin.
  
  Owain GWYNEDD, also called OWAIN AP GRUFFYDD, Gruffydd also spel led GRUFFUDD (d. 1170), last  great king of North Wales (Gwynedd ) who helped advance Welsh independence against Norman and Engli sh dominance. Together with his brother Cadwaladr, Owain led thr ee expeditions (1136-37) against the English stronghold of Cered igion to the south. The brothers ravaged the region and establis hed themselves there. Upon his father's death in 1137, Owain too k the throne of North Wales. During the reign of the English kin g Stephen, Owain extended the boundaries of northern Wales almos t to the city of Chester.  Henry II, who succeeded to the Englis h throne in 1154, challenged Owain in 1157. Both sides fared bad ly, and an agreement was reached whereby Owain withdrew to Rhudd lan and the River Clwyd and rendered homage. He kept the terms o f the agreement until 1165, when he combined forces with Rhys a p Gruffydd, his nephew and the prince of South Wales, and with O wain Cyfeiliog (of the Powys region) against Henry. Thwarted b y bad weather and unequal knowledge of the region, Henry was for ced to turn back and yield the region to the Welsh. Owain once m ore regained the castles of Basingwerk and Rhuddlan and pushed t he borders of Gwynedd to the estuary of the River Dee. He mainta ined northern Welsh independence throughout his lifetime, but su cceeding generations were unequal to the task, and Gwynedd offic ially fell to the English in 1283.

Details of Owain I's family with Gladys