 The original petition has not been preserved but the Pope's reply refers to the "detestable custom... in his land whereby the son of the handmaiden was equally heir with the son of the free woman and illegitimate sons obtained an inheritance as if they were legitimate".The Pope welcomed the fact that Llywelyn was abolishing this custom.In 1226, Llywelyn persuaded the Pope to declare his wife Joan, Dafydd's mother, to be a legitimate daughter of King John, again in order to strengthen Dafydd's position, and in 1229, the English crown accepted Dafydd's homage for the lands he would inherit from his father.