The royal tribes of Wales
Yorke, Philip, 1743-1804. nr 93043445
* ■; ■ ' -~ + '■ r-" ■*'* .- $|mJ|1^ l||te -• v;'a. ; f •*•" - -'V-' y • ~ +-■■ . - .V Jpv . ■ .- ."■:^y, •■■;,' ^^'■■. ■•- • \ o. .:'•■•< .M-rs-v- : •* - • • . v -v SJSfc ’■ Tir5- A- •«> > L.rf :-. +* '•f.- 4\-* >i»T >r l - V / *■ *. i¥*fc* • , j •”' .' i ^r •* •' • • s." .;-/ t.t *v v ’■ . •.■ ■ * -Ai •'•• ‘ ■ xj ■*!■ ,?■ * 3U2® ' ;V/ - £^vv:?V- r :<y- ■•■ •' »••'•> &$& . </ -vrfc- ■■ ^ ■ «:• V „ ' i , ;,u ; •;- KiBratE&v v- • $ Sffiv^laV *« ‘Jc'-v *•*.«£• *. ■A'-fcV^. * - 3&Ul9Hgfofe'41 l z rfltKvSy, War. au; '•■ i/jfr fr^h •'fvC Sfc .'v. <V ' * I % ♦ % - * " ► # THE ROYAL TRIBES OF WALES. * .3 a j ' \ : §7 THE OYAL T WALES. BY PHILIP YORKE, ESQ. OF ERTHIG. et nos aliquod nomenque decusque. Gessimus. Virg. printed 3Iofjn painter. *799- OXFORD ARCHITECTURAL and historical society. r / PREFACE. Na T 10 NS when first possessed ofi the art ofi writing, had their events entered on the plain page ofi domestic history, independent ofi foreign wars , and distant occurrences. Their most eminent citizens were recorded as fiounders ofi their fiamilies, and their descendants respected as links ofi the same chain , however un- worthy they may have been ofi their progenitors. The Patrician fiamilies ofi ancient Rome, had their origin fir om men fiamous in their generations. The twelve Tribes ofi Israel are arranged, with great accuracy, and the Phoenicians, their neighbours , were probably not more remiss in this branch ofi history. They traded to the mines ofi the Cassiterides, and planted colonies in this IV island. They might have brought the tracing of pedigrees into Britain; and the Welsh are acknowledged to have assiduously continued the practice, thus supposed to have been primarily in- troduced. It may be asked what certainty we have of the authen- ticity of our early genealogies ? The same as of every other species of history in other nations ; the credit of ancient writers, professed genealogists ; men appointed and patronized by the princes of the country, who were prohibited from following any other profes- sion ; whose records are still extant , and bear no stamp of fiction , which our poets even would not allow . What credit is to be given to the line of kings, said to have reigned in this island prior io Caesar s invasion, or from what source Tysilio drew his brut, is not within the limits of this paper. Our most ancient exist- ing manuscripts are the Triades, and the works of the bards of the sixth century, who celebrate in epic strains the deeds of our heroes, who fought and fell in the cause of their country. The Gododin of Aneuryn at that period, is a noble poem , and a curious piece of British antiquity : its plaintive numbers in sad sounds, echo the sense of the sorrowful retreat of the vanquished few, from the field of blood, of whom the bard himself was one. During the earlier centuries, the registering of genealogies was V the province of the Arwyddfeirdd, and the Ofyddion, during their three years of probation, which preceded their initiation into the higher orders of bardism. It was then optional whether they continued to register the descents of their chiefs, but in ge- neral they did ; and a bard, and a genealogist became synonymous terms. From the ninth to the twelfth century, the genealogist, sanctioned, by royal authority, classed the first families into twenty tribes; five termed royal, and fifteen called common. Other founders of families are recorded, but not included in the tribes, although of greater merit than some who were honoured with that distinction. Why Jestyn ab Gwrgant, a petty Lord of Glamorgan, and a character in everlasting disgrace, should be thus dignified, while he was the founder only of ignominy and loss of dominion to himself, of slaughter and slavery to his coun- try, is difficult to adjust; and that Brochwel Ysgithrog, a prince of Powys in its highest splendor, having Shrewsbury for his capital, and a chief of great power and martial character , should have his name omitted even in the fifteen tribes, is alike inscrutable. Our bards continued their genealogical pursuits, to the reign of Elizabeth ; from which time bardism, in all its branches, for want of the customary encouragement, suffered an b VI irrecoverable decline. Copies of ancient manuscript pedigree books , falling among persons who had a value for the subject , were carefully preserved , and the descents of families continued to the present century. However numerous these may have been, two pedigree books only have appeared in print; the first by Mr. Davies, of Llansilin, in 171 6, containing little more than an enumeration of the families descended from each particular tribe. The second by Mr. John Reynolds, of Oswestry, in 1739; more copious, but less correct than the former, and both alike con- fused and uninteresting. From the short materials thus before him, the Author hopes allowances will be made for this imper- fect attempt. He is sensible to its defects ; at the same time he is free to say, that he has spared no assiduities, nor left a corner untried, whence any probable information was likely to arise. He regrets that a nation, possessing so many curious documents of ancient history, as the Welsh, should have so long neglected bringing them to the light and public investi- gation. The Triades, Tysilio, and the rest of our historic manuscripts have yet no other dress than their British gafb * Geoffrey of Monmouth’s British History must not be considered as a translation of Tysilio. - . - - Vll and ike Latin zuorks of Nennius , Giraldus , Paris , Poly dor e9 Virunnius, Pryce, Llwyd, Powel, and Caius, relative to Wales , remain yet without translations, to the disadvantage oj English literature, and general information. Before he concludes, the Author ( or historical collector rather ) of the following sheets returns his thanks to those gentlemen who have assisted him with their communications : To John Kynaston Powel, Esq . of Hard- wick ; to the Rev. Samuel Strong, of Marchwiel; the Rev. Edward Edwards, of Wrexham ; the Rev. Edward Davies, of Llanarmon , Dyffryn Ceiriog ; the Rev. John Williams, of Llanrdst ; and the Rev. Walter Davies, of Meifod, an able Welsh antiquary , who will throw more light on this subject. The Author hopes that the portrait engravings which have been collected from the best pictures of the several persons that could be obtained, will make some amends for other defciencies. ’ . • * r* . ’ . ' ■ \ * V: . .SJiflto, • ' . ' . ./ ■ ■ • ''>t .V,\ : • Ijj •* . ... « lMk: Hp ^WvIHk; »■ . ' > ■ ’ , .. ■ REFERENCE TO THE ENGRAVINGS. PAGE. Lord Chancellor Ellesmere 6 Sir Thomas Myddelton 8 Sir John Wynn iz Humphrey Duke of Buckingham 80 Catherine of Beren 94 George Lord Jefferies 108 Chief Justice Vaughan no Sir John Trevor 112 Sir Orlando Bridgman 116 Humphrey Llwyd ir8 Sir Thomas Hanmer 172 Sir William Williams 176 . '•> -w. . f; •• 7jj 7 i j; > • :;?0 k:. . .... \ . ■ t • . 7. ... - i >iiO v I.’i l 0 •:>;/ 1:0 lui ■ . . . -7 ■ J ■■ i \ '■ THE ROYAL TRIBES OF WALE Gruffudd ab CYNAN ranks first of the five Royal Tribes.* He recovered his crown of North Wales from a The five regal Tribes, and the respective representative of each, were considered as of royal blood. The fifteen common Tribes, all of North Wales, and the respective representative of each, formed the Nobility; were Lords of distinct districts, and bore some hereditary office* in the palace. Gruffudd ab Cynan, Prince of North Wales, Rhys ab Tewdwr, of South Wales, and Bleddyn ab Cynfyn, of Powys, regulated both these classes, but they did not create them; as many of the persons, placed at their head, lived before their times, and some, after. Their precedence, as it stands, is very uncertain, and not governed by the dates; the last of them were created by Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, who began his reign in. 1169. We are left ignorant of the form, by which they were called to this rank. Mr. Vaughan of Hengwrt informs us “that Gruffudd ab Gy- “ nan, Rhys ab Tewdwr, and Bleddyn ab Cynfyn, made diligent search after “ the arms, ensigns, and pedigrees of their ancestors, the Nobility and Kings “ of the Britons. What they discovered by their pains in any papers and “ records was afterwards by the Bards digested, and put into books, and “they ordained five Royal Tribes, there being only three before, from “ whom their posterity to this day, can derive themselves, and also fifteen “ special Tribes, of whom the gentry of North Wales are for the most part “ descended.” By the Laws q£ Hywel Dda it appear* there were twenty-four great officer* of the Welsh court. A 2 Trahaern ab Caradog, at the battle of Carno,b who had been elected by the people, without the merits of descent, on the assassination of our worthy Prince, Bleddyn ab Cynfyn. In Gruffudd, the succession was restored. He was the son of Cynan, the son of Iago or James, the son of Meurig, the son of Idwal, the son of Anarawd, the eldest son of Roderic the Great; and had not the principality of the North alone, but tire supremacy of Wales, vested in him; for it wras the condition, in the tripartition of Roderic,' and confirmed by his grandson Hywel Dda, that the Princes of South Wales and Powys, should be tributary to the North. Gruffudd owed his success at Carno to a force of Irish, \ devoted to his fortunes, from his relation to Auloeddd King of Dublin, Man, and the Isles; whose daughter Ranhult, widow bThe mountains of Carno, as the mountains of Gilboa, are celebrated for the fall of the mighty. The fiercest battle in our annals, happened in 1079, amidst these hills, when Gruffudd ab Cynan, assisted by Rhys ab Tewdwr, Prince of South Wales, disputed the sovereignty of North Wales, with. Trahaern ab Caradog, the reigning usurper. After a bloody contest, vic- tory decided in favour of the first, and Trahaern was slain, — Pennant. c Roderic ordained that the Princes of South Wales and Powys should each of them pay yearly to the Sovereigns of North Wales, a tribute, called Maelged, of sixty-three pounds. d Auloedd had built a castle on the Menai, near Moel y donn, called Castle Auloedd Frenin, the Castle of King Auloedd. 3 of Mathganyn, King of Ulster, by her second marriage, was his Mother.. From the same interests, he had been supplied in a former attempt to recover North Wales, when he fixed himself in Anglesey; but pursuing his success beyond the Menai, was defeated by Trahaern at the battle of Bron yr Erw, and driven again, with great loss, within the island. Grulfudd died in 113 6, at the age of eighty-two, and lies buried on the south side of the great altar, in the Cathedral church of Bangor, having reigned fifty-seven years, through various fortunes,' and with equal interruption from his ene- mies the English, and his friends the Welsh. His early life was marked by spirit and success, but in his riper years, the desire of peace, and his submissions' to obtain it, tarnished his former glory. His son Owain Gwynedd more popularly succeeded 'Soon after his victory at Carno, he was treacherously surprized at Rug by one Muriawn goch, and, notwithstanding his late eminent success, suffered a long captivity of twelve* years in the castle of Chester. At length he escaped by the bravery of a young man, Kynrig hir or the tall, of Ial; who coming to Chester, under pretence of buying necessaries-, took an occasion, whilst the keepers were feasting, to carry away his Prince, laden with Irons, on his back, to a place of security. — Vita Conani. fGruffudd had personal rather than political courage (often political vil- lainy.) He had fought hand to hand with that hardy Baron Fulkq Fitzwarren, who was. entrusted by Henry the First with the care of the * This could not be : the restless spirit of the Welsh, in this course of time, would have set up another Prince; besides, it contradicts the evidence of Ordericus Vi|alis> who says, that Robert of Rhuddlamwas slain by Gruffudd on the third of July, 1088, which was only nine years after the battle of Carno. 4 liim;e and it may have happened that on this account, th^ descendants of the tribe, have taken his coat, in preference to his fathers bearings, or have borne the father’s only in the second quarter. Gruffudd was accomplished: He Marches, and was wounded by him in the shoulder, and fled; but in the end wrested from Fulke, his castle and lordship of Whittington. There was another action in which he was personally engaged; and the circum* stances are very extraordinary. Robert of Rhuddlan, nephew to Hugh Lupus, and the possessor of that castle, where he then resided, received in it a visit from Gruffudd, who came to solicit his assistance against his Welsh subjects-. This he obtained ; but on some quarrel attacked Robert in his castle, took and burnt the baily or yard, and killed such a number of his men, that but few escaped into the towers. An extraordinary end ■attended Robert in a future contest, which ought to become history. On the third of July 1088, Gruffudd had entered the Cynwy, with three ships, and leaving them on the shore at low water, had proceeded to ravage the country, which belonged to Hugh Lupus Earl of Chester, the uncle of Robert. Alarmed at the descerit, Robert, while his men were mustering their forces, went down to the sea side, with one soldier only, named Osborne de Orger, where he was slain, and gave up (says Ordericus,) his -soul to God, and the Virgin, his men coming up too late, to save him ; but they recovered his body, which was first interred at St. Walburg’s, Chester, but removed afterwards to Normandy. e Consilio felix Princeps, fortissimus armis; Civibus, ille novus Solomon, novus hostibus. Hector. — PentarcJia. Owain Gwynedd reigned thirty two years. He died in December, 1169, and lies buried at Bangor; whose tomb when Baldvvyn, Archbishop of Canterbury coming to preach the Crusade against the Saracens, saw, he charged the Bishop to remove the body out of the Cathedral, when he could find a fit opportunity so to do, in regard that Archbishop Becket 5 reformed the Welsh minstrelsy,11 and improved the national music: Himself; his mother and grandmother were born in Ireland, then the land of harps and harmony; whence he brought our best tunes, better performers, and a better order of instruments. He regulated also the family pe- digrees, and heraldic distinctions of our Countrymen, Sus horridus , atraque Tygris , Squamosusque Draco , et fulva cervice Lecena, and established our first game laws. Of his descen- dants the house of Gwydir 1 feems most eminent. Sir John Wynn the historian, was no ordinary character. He was made a Baronet on the creation of that honour, had excommunicated him heretofore, because he had married his first cou- sin, the daughter of Grono ab Edwyn, and that, notwithstanding he had continued to live with her till she died. The Bishop in obedience to the charge, made a passage from the vault through the south wall of the church, under ground, and so secretly shoved the body into the church yard. — Hengwrt MSS. h After Cadwaladr, the Princes who next undertook the reform of our minstrelsy, were Bleddyn ab Cynfyn, and Gruffudd ab Cynan. It was by them enacted, that no person should follow the profession of Bard or Mins- trel, but such only as were admitted by the Eisteddfod, which was held once in three years. They were prohibited from invading each other’s province, nor were they permitted to degrade themselves, by following any other oc- cupation.— Lewis Morris MSS. ‘Gwydir, from Gwy, aqua, and Tir, terra; the lands being much subject to be overflowed by the river Cynwy. s 6 and his journey to Court, with the particulars k kept by himself, is curious. He was a man of ability, and learned in the histories of his country, which he much embellished, nor did he neglect his common interest, but was shrewd and successful in his dealings. Hence the people were led to think he deceived and oppressed them, and it is the superstition of the place to this day, that the spirit of the old gentleman lies under the great wa- ter-fall of Rhaiadr y Wennol, or the swallow, from its swiftness," there to be punished, purged, spouted upon, and purified from the foul deeds done in his days of nature, aliis sub gurgite vasto Infectum eluitur scelus , He made the amende honorable of that time, and foun- ded an hospital, and endowed a school at Llanrwst, and gave the rectorial tythes of Eglwysfach, to the support of these charities, and left regulations for their govern- ment. In 1615 he had incurred the displeasure 1 of the Court m of Marches, since the Lord Chancellor Ellesmere In the possession of the Antiquarian Society. 1 He was unjustly charged ( as he is pleased to say himself) with pro- curing a petty riot, and for entering into lands, of which he was the King’s farmer. m This Court, in the nature of a French Parliament, was first establish- ed by Edward the Fourth, who sent his son Edward to reside at Ludlow, O Published .dug /. IjqS. ly Philip Yor/ct £$y'. fVrcocfumv 7 is informed by it, that Sir John Wynn Knight and Baronet, is unfit to be continued a member thereof, and that his name should not remain in the commission for Carnarvonshire ; but he made his peace from the sure means n of that moment. The Court of James was corrupt to an extreme, and beyond the examples of any period. Sir John died at the age of seventy-three, and lies buried at Llanrwst. By his wife Sidney, the daughter of Sir William Gerard, Chancellor of Ireland, he had eleven sons and two daughters. His eldest son John was a Knight, and died during his father’s life, on his travels at Lucca, at the age of thirty-one. Domestic under the government of his uncle Rivers.* It was confirmed by an Act of Henry the Eighth. The Council, assisting the President, consisted of the Chief Justice of Chester, with the three other then existing Justices of Wales. There were also extraordinary members of Council called in, as the President should think proper. They were allowed six shillings and eight-pence per day, and diet for themselves and their men. ‘Tn this Court,” says Mr. Lewis, "when it flourished without restraint, as many cau- ses were dispatched in a Term, as in any Court in England, or more, and that he had himself moved in an afternoon above twenty causes, and that the Counsellor for all the motions and pleadings in one cause, in one Term, had but five shillings fee.” It was dissolved at the Revolution.. n See Appendix. * The Welsh were so turbulent at this time, that it was thought necessary for some person of high distinction fo reside on the borders, to strengthen the civil power. — Mon. 8 disagreements are said to have sent him so late abroad. He married Margaret0 daughter of Sir Thomas Cave of Stanford in Northamptonshire, and left no issue. He was a man of observation, and some of his foreign let- ters remain. The father was succeeded by his son Richard, who was Groom of the Bed-chamber to Prince * t Charles, and attended him and Buckingham, on their matrimonial excursion to Spain, of which he left a plea- sant account.15 He became Treasurer to Queen Henrietta. He built the chapel at Llanrwst, from a design of Inigo; the roof was not new, and taken from the neighbouring abbey at Maenan. Parts of that fabric may be traced at Gwydir. Invenias etiam disjecti membra Sir Richard married a Darcy, but died without issue, 0 “ This Lady,” says Mr. Pennant, “ had four husbands. Her first was Sir John Wynn the younger; her second of the Milesian race, for she mar- ried Sir Francis Aungier, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, afterwards creat- ed Baron of Longford. Thirdly she gave her hand to an Englishman, Sir Thomas Wenman of Oxfordshire; and finally she resigned her antiquated charms to my relation, Major Pennant, a younger son of Downing, who in the year 1656 deposited her with his ancestors in the church of Whitford.” p Preserved by Thomas Hearne. Sir Richard, in one of his letters to his father from Spain, says, “We may think: ourselves happy, that have every thing in Wales, for both of the kingdoms of Castile and Arragon are not worth one of our wrorst counties.” rub/i.r/ifd . tag. 7 "jtfg.hi/ fhili/i Yortar. Esq. Wrexham,. 9 and was buried at Wimbledon. 11 He was succeeded by his brother Sir Owen, who left a son Sir Richard, who married a daughter of the old cavalier Sir Thomas Mid- delton of Chirk castle, and had one daughter Mary, the wife of Lord Willoughby, the first Duke of Ancaster. This lady was great grandmother to the present Baroness Willoughby, married to Lord Gwydir, to whom in her right, the place belongs. The Baronetage continued and ended in Sir John Wynn of Wynnstay, the grandson of Sir John of Gwydir, by his tenth son Henry/ and the q See Appendix. r Henry Wynn married Catharine, the daughter and heiress of Elizei Lloyd of Rhiw goch, in Merionethshire. Henry was no small pluralist in lay-preferment, and with a kind of law Commendam, he held together the Prothonotaryship of North Wales, was Judge of the Marshalsea, Steward of the Virge, Sollicitor General to the Queen (Henrietta,) and Secretary to the Court of the Marches. He sat for the County of Merioneth, in the last Parliament of James the first, and died in 1671. This gentleman, wri- ting to his father. Sir John, the second of April, 1624, and speaking of Parliamentary business, says, “We sit very hard from seven in the morning until one in the afternoon, and after, from two of the clock in the after- noon until seven, in relation to Recusants, state of the Navy, motion against the Lord Treasurer concerning stamps, used by him in stamping his name, which are left with his men. These some held he might lawfully use, but kept safely by him, as the Keeper doth the Great Seal. I cannot chuse but remember what was said by Sir Peter Mutton of Llannerch, in the House, Sir Edward Coke sitting in the Chair: “That this time, was not the first that stamps were used, for he had heard before he was born, that c heiress of Rhiw goch. Sir John of Wynnstay, married Jane the heiress of Watstay. 8 He changed the name as nearer his own, to Wynnstay, and in a manner made stamps were used here, in this Kingdom.” At which the whole House laughed ; which is not to be forgotten in haste. To whom presently Sir Edward Coke called. Sir Peter Stamp. sShe was the daughter and heiress of Eyton Evans of Watstay, by Anne the daughter of Dr. Powel, Vicar of Rhiwabon, the Welsh historian. Eyton Evans was the eldest son of Thomas Evans of Rhiwabon, as Wynnstay was then called, which he altered to Watstay, from its situation on Wat’s Dyke. Thomas was the son of Richard Evans, the son of old Thomas Evans of Oswestry, Attorney General in the Court of the Mar- ches. Richard married Mary Eyton, daughter and heiress of Edward Eyton of Rhiwabon. This Edward Eyton was the son of William, the younger brother of John Eyton, who suffered death at Holt, for killing William Hanmer, and died without issue; on whom a welsh Englyn was made, which signifies that in the year 1534 a great grief befel us in the death of John Eyton, an amiable Man. William, who succeeded his bro- ther John, was the son of John Eyton of Rhiwabon, the son and heir of John ab Ellis Eyton, distinguished for his services at Bosworth, who lies buried at Rhiwabon, and his stone effigy in armour, is ornamented with a collar of SS.* This John ab Ellis Eyton was the son of another Ellis Eyton, who was the eldest son of John hen (or the old) of Eyton and Rhi- wabon. The last John was Steward of the Lordship of Bromfield and Ial, in 1439, and, after the birth of his eldest son Ellis, he was divorced by the church, on the stale ground of consanguinity; by which ecclesiastical * He was an Esquire by creation, which was the fourth class of Esquires, called white spurs. The Ceremo- ny was, that the King put about his neck a silver collar of Esses, and conferred upon him a pair of silver spurs. The five ancient orders of Esquires were, first, those who arc elect for the King’s body ; second, Knight’s eldest sons; third, younger sons of the eldest sons of Barons and other nobles of higher estate; fourth, the white spurs^ by creation, and fifth, they who are so by office, and by serving the Prince in any worshipful calling. This titlsf pf white spur was hereditary, and belonged only to the heir male of the family. — Prince's IF ort/iiu. 11 the place, fc which had been the residence in times past of Madog ab Gruffudd Maelor, the potent Lord of the Bromfields, and founder of the Abbey of Llanegwest. Sir John died at the age of ninety-one, and lies buried at Rhiwabon, under a mass and massacre of marble, lu- dicrous to look on. He left Wynnstay, and his other estates of great value, to his kinsman Watkin Williams, afterwards Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, the grandfather of my spirited friend of the same name the present pos- sessor. Sir John was a man of pleasure in his youth; late in life he made a visit to the Court, in the early days of Queen Anne, and meeting in the drawing-room after many years absence, his old Westminster school- fellow the Apostolic Beveridge of St. Asaph; “ Ah, Sir John! Sir John!” says the good Bishop to him, when pretence Ellis was made illegitimate, yet he had the Rhiwabon estate gi- ven him. The father and mother were again married by licence, and had afterwards issue William Eyton, who in preference to his elder brother, had the Eyton estate, and was ancestor to Edward Eyton Esquire, the pre- sent possessor. Of the House of Eyton was Madog Eyton of Eyton, Erddlis, and Bersham, who died in 1331, and was buried at Gresford on the feast of St. Matthias. He lies represented in armour in stone, on the south side- within the church, in the wall. 1 In 1678 Sir John inclosed a park for deer, with a stone wall, at Wynnstay, and at the same time, the avenues of oak, elm, and ash, were planted there. 12 I knew you first, the Devil was very great with you.” ‘ Yes, by Gad, my Lord,’ says Sir John, ‘and I wish he was half so great with me now.’ . * r r , f - # r • He was an early improver of Welsh gardening, and introduced a small swan egg pear, that is yet very popu- lar and bears his name. The house of Llwyn, is of this tribe and family. Maurice Wynn of Gwydir, father of Sir John the historian by his first wife, to his second married Catha- rine of Beren ; by her he had a son, on whom he settled Llwyn; from him is descended Owen Wynn Esquire of that place, the existent male heir of the house of Gwydir. The Wynns of Berthddu, and Bodysgallen, were of this tribe, and a younger branch of Gwydir. Gruffudd Wynn the younger brother of Maurice, and uncle to Sir John the historian, was settled at Berthddu. He married the daughter of Richard Mostyn of Bodysgallen, (the second son of Thomas u ab Richard ab Hywel ab Jevan Fychan, of Mostyn) and obtained the estate, u “ Thomas ab Richard ab Hywel first took the name of Mostyn, says Mr. Pennant, on this occasion. Rowland Lee, Bishop of Lichfield and President of the Marches, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, sat on a Welsh cause, and wearied with the quantity of Aps on the jury, directed, that the (j^PuMishid . 4ug 7'/#. by P/iilyi T/br/ct J!ty* Wrexham* ■ '. • :* • ; *3 which hath again reverted to the Mostyn family. The male line ended in Robert Wynn, who died a batche-A.D. lor, and his estates fell to Margaret, (the daughter of his1762, brother Dr. Hugh Wynn, and, by her mother, the heir- ess of Has hen, Corsygedol, and fiodidris,) married to Sir Roger Mostyn of Mostyn. The last Mr. Wynn sat for the boroughs of Carnarvonshire, and will be remembered in the annals of hospitality for his plentiful long tables and substantial Christmas dinners. He was not so fond of long sermons, especially in cold weather; and it hap- pened that Bishop Sherlock then of Bangor, his old acquaintance, was on a visit with him at Bodysgallen, on a Sunday, and observing to the Curate at dinner, that he was surprized he had given them no sermon that morning; “Ah, my Lord,” says poor Ellis in his panel should assume their last name, or that of their residence; and that Thomas ab Richard ab Hywel ab Jeuan Fychan, should be reduced in future to the poor dissyllable Mostyn.” “You may see,” says Mr. L. Morris, “in some copies of Gildas Nennius, that the Cambro-British Kings used, on the first coming of the Saxons, the appellation of Mac, instead of Mab or Fab, although now entirely disused in Wales, and preserved only in North-Britain and Ire- land. It hath of late sunk into the surname there, as Macpherson, Mac- donald; so Ap, properly ab, from Mab the son, is generally lost in Wales, in the surnames Prys for Ap Rhys, Powel for Ap Howel, Parry for Ap Harry. Ap is the banter of the English, upon our pronunciation of Ab, the true abbreviation from Mab, a son.” D -. 14 broad simple manner, “had I preached when Master Wynn is in church, I shall have nothing but small beer; but when I do not preach when Master is in church, I may have my belly-full of ale and welcome.” The Lloyds of Rhiwaedog were of this Tribe, and of great extraction. The materna nobilitas was here also considerable, their ancestor Maredudd ab Jeuan, the Eighth from Owain Gwynedd,, having married Margaret, the coheirefs of Einionw ab Ithel ab Gwrgeneu Fychan, w Einion ab Ithel was Esquire to the body of John of Gaunt, who gave him a pension of twenty marks from his manor of Halghton in Cheshire, to serve him in Guienne. Ithel, on the death of Walter Lord Manny, succeed- ed him as Sheriff of Merionethshire for life. Ithel was in great favor with Henry the Fourth, in the beginning of whose reign he died. Jeuan ab Maredudd had matched his son Maredudd ab Jeuan with the daughter of Ithel, who belonged to the house of Lancaster. Jeuan ab Maredudd the father held stedfastly to that house, when Owain Glyndwr rebelled ; so that in the time of that war he and Hwlkyn Llwyd of Glynllifon had the charge of Carnarvon town, and an English captain was in the castle; in revenge whereof Owain burned his two houses, Cefn y fan or Ystumcegid, and Cesail Gyfarch. In the continuance of this war, Jeuan ab Maredudd died at Carnarvon, and was brought by sea (for the passage by land was shut up by Owain ’s forces) to Penmorfa, his parish church, to be buried. Ro- bert ab Maredudd, the brother of Jeuan ab Maredudd, taking the contrary side, was out with Owain, as may be gathered by a pardon granted him by Henry the Fourth, and Henry his son, then Prince of Wales. From Robert, who did not marry till near eighty, descended the houses of Gwydir, Cesail Gyfarch, and Hafod Lwyfog; and Sir John the historian, his descen- dant, says, he was the elder brother; from Jeuan ab Maredudd, who was *5 db Gwrgen^u ab Madog, ab Ririd Flaidd/ Lord of Penllyn, who dwelt at Rhiwaedog. The eldest Son of this match, John ab Maredudd, was cousin to Owain Tewdwr, and with an hundred gentlemen of North Wales his kinsmen, he went to visit Owain, then in prison at Wysg castle. x Ririd Flaidd, Lord of Penllyn, took his surname of Blaidd, (or the Wolf,) from his maternal ancestor Blaidd Rhudd, or the Bloody Wolf, of Gest, near Penmorfa, and in his Arms bore a Wolf passant, &c. Some Welsh verses remain concerning him, which may be thus interpreted, ( the Poet speaks ) te I have a friendly Wolf, that stands by me to crush the insulting foe. It is not the forest Wolf, scattering the harmless flock, but the Wolf of the field of battle -3 though at other times he is mild and liberal.” From Ririd Flaidd were descended the Lloyds of Rhiwaedog, the Myd- deltons of Gwaynynog and Chirk Castle, the Vaughans of Glanyllyn, and the Lloyds of Glanhavon. the honor and credit of their ancestors, and concluding that it should never be said in time to come, that there an hundred North Welsh Gentlemen fled, but that the place should carry the name and memory, that there an hundred North Welsh gentlemen were slain. Because .some of his kinsmen had brought with them all their sons, and some others had but one son to succeed in their name and inheritance, as Hywel ab Llywelyn ab Hywel and others, he placed all these in the rereward, out of the fury of the fight, whilst all his own sons were in the vanward which himself led, where he was sore wounded in the face, whence he was called ’Squier y Graith, the ’Squire with the scar, to his dying day: But God gave his enemies the overthrow, he opening the passage with his sword. E ' • f.':. i'r • , ‘ i ' , . • ' • ■ , . . ' ; Oueen Catharine being a Frenchwoman born, the re- lict of Henry the Fifth, knew no difference between the English and Welsh nations, until her second mar- riage a being published, Owain Tewdwr’s kindred and ' 1 J .c . • j • v. * * • : • • * ' 2 Gwydir History. * Soon after the death of Henry the Fifth, his Widow Catharine became enamoured by the manly graces of Owain Tewdwr. His introduction was singular: He being a courtly and active gentleman was commanded once to dance before the Queen, and in a turn, not being able to recover him- self, fell into her lap as she sate on a little stool with many of her ladies about her. — Draytons Epistles . * ■ ' *7 countrymen were objected to, to disgrace him as most vile and barbarous, which made her desire to see some of his kinsmen. Whereupon, Owain brought to her presence this John ab Maredudd and Hywel ab Llywelyn his near cousins, and men of goodly stature and personage, but wholly destitute of bringing up and nurture ; for when the Queen had spoken to them in different languages, and they were not able to answer her, she said they were the goodliest dumb creatures that ever she saw. At this time there happened some difference between William Griffith of Penrhyn, Chamberlain of North Wales, and John ab Maredudd, who both bore chief rule in the country ; the one by reason of his authority, that all should reverence and obey him, the other in regard of his descent, kindred, and ability, acknowledging none but the Prince his superior; hence grew the de- bate: nec Cccsar ferre priorem , Pompeiusve parem9 % To John ab Maredudd his kindred and friends cleaved stedfastly, like courageous men: so then it began to be a proverb or phrase, to call the family of Owain Gwynedd Tylwydd John ab Maredudd, the race of John E ab Maredudd. This variance continued in their posterity long after, till with matches, and continuance of time it was worn out.b Our valiant countryman married Gwenhwyfar, daugh- ter of Gronw ab Jeuan of Gwynfryn. By her he had five sons. Morys ab John ab Maredudd, the eldest, had Clenenneu, Rhiwaedog and Park, and married Angh- arad, the daughter of Ellis ab Gruffudd ab Einion ab Gruffudd ab Cynfrig ab Osbern' Fitzgerald. By her he had three sons; WilliamLlwyd of Rhiwaedog; Ellis who had Clenenneu, and was Sheriff of Merioneth in 1541, and Robert who had Park, The Llwyds were extinct in the male line in William Lloyd, whose sister was the mother of the present William Lloyd Dolben Es- quire, of Rhiwaedog. b Gwydir History. c Osbern Fitzgerald was a branch of the Desmond Fitzgeralds, who were settled in Ireland, and descended from Gerald, Constable of Windsor, a military attendant on William the Conqueror. Osbern is called Gwyddel, or the Irishman. He came into Wales in the time of Llywelyn the Great, and was much favoured by that Prince. From Osbern are descended the Vaughans of Corsygedol, the Wynns of Maes y Neu- add, the Yales of Ial, the Wynns of Glyn in Ardudwy, whose daughter, and heiress Margaret married Sir Robert Owen of Clenenneu, Llandyri and Porkington, the grand father to the late Robert Godolphin Owen Esquire. *9 The Morices'* of Clenenneu were descended from Ellis, the second son of Morys ab John ab Maredudd. Sir William Morice of this house married the daughter and heiress of the Lacons of Llanddyn and Porkmgton, and the heiress of the three houses married John Owen (fourth son of Robert Owen, of Bodsilin,) of the Tribe of Hwfa ab Cynddelw. This gentleman had been Secre- tary to Walsingham, and made a fortune of ten thousand pounds, when his great master left not wherewith to bury him. The eldest son of this match was the me- morable Sir John Owen of Porkington, Llanddyn and Clenenneu, of whom I shall speak under his proper Tribe. From Robert, the third son of Morys ab John ab Maredudd, came the Anwyls of Park. They ended in an heiress, Catharine, who married Sir Gruffudd Wil- liams of Marl and Pantglas, a younger branch of Pen- rhyn. Anne, their daughter and heiress, was maid of honor to Queen Caroline; was first married to Sir Tho- mas Prendergast of the Kingdom of Ireland, and second- ly to a gentleman of the same name and nation. She A. D died without issue, and her estates have passed away in 1770 d Sir William Morice, Secretary of State to Charles the second, and an instrument in his Restoration, was the son of Evan Morice, a younger bro- ther of Clenenneu, settled in Devonshire. Sir William was succeeded in his great office by another of our countrymen, Sir John Trevor, of the house of Trefalyn. 20 different alienations. Of a younger branch of Clenenneu, was Andrew Morice D. D. the twenty-sixth Dean of St. AjD. j 1634. Asaph. He was instituted to the Deanery on the no- mination of Sir Morice Abbot, Executor to Archbishop Abbot, who had made it an option. He was ejected from this and his other preferments by the Parliament, and dying in 1654 was buried in the Cathedral at St. Asaph. After his death this dignity lay* vacant till the Restoration. He left a son, David Morice D. D. who held the Vicarages of Bettws* and Abergele. He is A • D • 1 692. buried in the churchyard of the former place, with the arms of Owain Gwynedd engraved on his stone, exploding as the rest of his Tribe the bearings of the Founder. The Llwyds of Esclusham and Dulaseu, Baronets, of this Tribe, descend from Dafydd Goch of Pen- machno. The first Baronet, Sir Richard Lloyd, was governor of Holt Castle in the civil wars of the last century, and defended it vigorously, but without effect, against General Mytton. The estates passed to coheiresses; Mary married to Sir Harry Conway of Bodryddan, * The Vicarage House at Bettws is remarkably small, and was built by the joint efforts of Sampson and Jones, two of it’s Vicars j Stare nequit mo cardine tanta Domus. 21 Jane, to Lewis Owen of Peniarth, and Anne to Edward Ravenscroft of Bretton. Of a younger son of Dulaseu was descended Hum- phrey Lloyd, Bishop of Bangor and Vicar of Gresford. He built the good substantial brick house f there, which with the church hath been much improved by my old friend, its worthy incumbent.2 The Bishop built his house in the form of a cross, and the win- dows consisted of three lights in each window. 