Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, (1007-63) was King of all Wales from 1055 to 1063, and he was the only Welsh ruler to unite the ancient kingdoms of the whole of Wales. Gwynfor Evans points out that though for five centuries the people of Wales had shared a common language, culture, history, religion and for the most part a common law, it was only under Gruffudd ap Llywelyn that it had a single sovereign, and thus a measure of political unity.