Bartrum's "Pedigrees of the Welsh Tribal Patriarchs"
The Other "Sir Roger of Powys"
What Really Happened in Deheubarth in 1022?
Owain ap Cadwgan and Nest ferch Rhys - An Historic Fiction?
Thomas ap Rhodri - Father of Owain "Lawgoch"
Three Men called Iorwerth Goch "ap Maredudd"
Who Was Sir Robert Pounderling?
Eidio Wyllt - What Was His Birthname?
Pedigree of "Ednowain Bendew II"
The 1081 engagement at Mynydd Carn has been described as one in which "all the leading figures of the period took part, and which left its impress permanently on the history of Gwynedd and Deheubarth". The second part of that assessment is certainly true, but far from all the leading figures of the period were present and at least one of the combatants was then an obscure leader of nothing. There is a widespread belief that the side led by Rhys ap Tewdwr and Gruffudd ap Cynan refers to Rhys ap Tewdwr ap Cadell of Deheubarth, and to Gruffudd ap Cynan who sought the kingship of Gwynedd. And that the losers included Trahaearn ap Caradog ap Gwyn, then king of Gwynedd; Caradog ap Gruffudd ap Rhydderch, king of Gwent; and Meilyr ap Rhiwallon, of uncertain descent. To separate legend from history, let us consider what is recounted in ancient manuscripts.
"Verily the second time they have come, the savage people, the Gwyddelians, black demons, the Scots, half men, half brutes. In Carn Mountain is a battle and Trahaearn in slain, and the son of Rhiwallon, lord of the seas, from the conflict will not return. On Thursday, at the end of three weeks, toward night, wert thou slain"
The title was supplied by a medieval copyist, who added this explanation: "Meilyr the bard sang this ode during the campaign in which were slain Trahaearn, the son of Caradawg, and Meilyr son of Rhiwallon, son of Cynfyn".
COMMENTS: No other source claims the battle lasted three weeks and it is not the poem but a later copyist who identifies Meilyr ap Rhiwallon as a son of Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn. The attribution of the poem to Meilyr the bard (this Meilyr, father of Gwalchmei, was bard to Gruffudd ap Cynan at the death of the latter) raises serious doubt as to the dating of the work. If we credit the ancient pedigrees, that man was, at best, a mere toddler in 1081. As likely as not, this work was composed hundreds of years after the battle and cannot be seriously considered as an eyewitness account.
"The Lord of Mon fought with their chiefs midday, where Trahaearn was slain at Carn Fynydd. On the two princes, the kings of Powys and their Gwent-tribe, he wrought vengeance with his host..."
COMMENTS: Here the bard names only Trahaearn, but surely the other two kings must be Meilyr ap Rhiwallon and Caradog ap Gruffudd. Unlike the other work claimed to have been written by Meilyr Brydydd, it speaks of no three-week battle. Since his patron, the Gruffudd ap Cynan who died in 1137, was probably not the the Gruffudd at Mynydd Cairn, we suspect this elegy was composed in the mid-13th century and attributed to the earlier bard to add "authority" to its claims.
3. A long account of the battle is included in Historia Gruffud fab Kenan, thought to have been written within 30 years of the death of Gruffudd in 1137, but more likely not composed until c. 1230. It identifies the opponents of Gruffudd ap Cynan and Rhys ap Tewdwr as "Caradog son of Gruffudd from Gwent Uch Coed and Is Coed, and with him his men of Gwent, the men of Morgannwg, and many Norman cross-bowmen; Meilyr son of Rhiwallon with his men of Powys; king Trahaearn and the men of Arwystli."
COMMENTS: This was a fight over supremacy in Deheubarth; Caradog had moved his army west from Gwent as far as Dyfed, forcing Rhys ap Tewdwr to retreat. Trahaearn was apparently secure in Gwynedd if he could join his ally in this land-grab. It is not known who was then king in Powys nor which Rhiwallon was the father of Meilyr. Earlier in Historia, there was a mention of Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon who shared rule in Gwynedd and who was killed in 1075. That man is called a "brenhinyn" or petty king of Powys and might well have been a brother of Meilyr.
4. The original text of Annales Cambriae reads "The Battle of Mynydd Carn in which Trahaearn ap Caradog and Caradog ap Gruffudd and Goethi ap Rhiwallon and Rhys ap Tewdwr and Gruffudd ap Cynan were killed".
COMMENTS: Except for the name given to the son of Rhiwallon, this account seems to correctly recite the principal men at the battle but the final two named certainly were not killed at that time.
5. A later text of Annales Cambriae  reads "The Battle of Mynydd Carn in which Trahaearn ap Caradog and Caradog ap Gruffudd and Meilyr ap Rhiwallon and Rhys ap Tewdwr and Gruffudd ap Einion ap Iago were killed".
COMMENTS: This closely repeats the oldest version in which all 5 men were said (incorrectly) to have been killed. It corrects the name of Rhiwallon's son to Meilyr, but substitutes "Einion" for "Cynan" as the father of Gruffudd. It also makes Gruffudd the grandson of Iago, a common but probably incorrect identification of the man.
6. One version of the Brut y Tywysogyon  reads "A year after that was the battle of Mynydd Carn. And there Trahaearn ap Caradog and Caradog and Gruffudd and Meilyr sons of Rhiwallon and Rhys ap Tewdwr were slain. For after him came Gruffudd, grandson of Iago, together with Irish to help him".
COMMENTS: In this version, the "ap" in Caradog ap Gruffudd was rendered as "and" making it appear that three sons of Rhiwallon were present. It incorrectly has Rhys being killed, but does give the impression that this was essentially his fight and Gruffudd was there only in a support role.
7. Another version of Brut y Tywysogyon  says "And then there was a battle on Mynydd Carn. And then were slain Trahaearn ap Caradog and Caradog ap Gruffudd, grandson of Iago, and Irish along with him to help him."
COMMENTS: A whole line seems to be missing in this text. Apparently one line ended with the Gruffudd who was father to Caradog and the copyist picked up with Gruffudd the grandson of Iago. The intervening line probably identified the other men present.
8. A third version of Brut y Twywsogyon  reads "Gruffudd ap Cynan came a second time to Wales, accompanied by a great host of Scots from Ireland. He joined Rhys ap Tewdwr and went against Trahaearn ap Caradog; and a battle took place between them in which Trahaearn was killed, together with Gruffudd and Meilyr ap Rhiwallon ap Gwyn ap Collwyn. This battle took place on the mountain of Carno, and was very severe and bloody, and the slain on both sides were countless. This battle was called the action of Carno".
COMMENTS: This account, like an earlier version, omits Caradog ap Gruffudd and replaces him with a "Gruffudd ap Rhiwallon, brother of Meilyr". It further mistakes Mynydd Carn with Carno in Arwystli. And it is the only extant account which identifies Meilyr ap Rhiwallon as a first cousin of Trahaearn ap Caradog (ap Gwyn ap Collwyn).
9. The text of Brenhinedd y Saesson  reads "The battle of Mynydd Carn took place. And there Trahaearn ap Caradog and the sons of Rhiwallon, Caradog and Gruffudd and Meilyr, were slain by Rhys ap Tewdwr; for Gruffudd, nephew of Iago, and fierce Irish came to his aid".
COMMENTS: Apparently borrowing from earlier texts, this version repeats the error making Caradog ap Gruffudd into two brothers of Meilyr. Calling Gruffudd (ap Cynan) a nephew of Iago rather than grandson, this version may be the only source to correctly identify him as a different man from the Gruffudd ap Cynan grandson of Iago who first occurs in 1098.
The author of Historia Gruffud vab Kenan would like for us to believe that this was a battle instigated by Gruffudd ap Cynan to defeat Trahaearn ap Caradog and install himself as the rightful king of Gwynedd. He tells us that Gruffudd set sail from Ireland with a large contingent of "Danes, Irish and Britons". He landed in Dyfed near the church of St. David where he found Rhys ap Tewdwr hiding from his enemies. When he learned that the armies which had driven Rhys from his kingdom of Deheubarth included his own nemesis, Trahaearn ap Caradog, Gruffudd offered to help Rhys. The unknown author goes on to say that on that same day, the two men set out to find the camp of the enemy; Gruffudd with his large Irish contingent plus another 160 from Gwynedd led by Cynddelw ap Cwnws, and Rhys with a pitiful few men of Deheubarth.
Rhys ap Tewdwr had ruled Dehuebarth since 1079 and Caradog ap Gruffudd of Gwent was intent upon expanding his own kingdom across all of south Wales. In 1081, aided by an old ally (Trahaearn ap Caradog), he drove deep into Deheubarth as Rhys ap Tewdwr retreated. From his refuge in the church at St. David's, he sent word to Gruffudd in Ireland that Trahaearn was camped nearby and he might want to take the opportunity to bring an army to Dyfed to help defeat the king of Gwynedd and possibly allow Gruffudd to reclaim his "patrimony". The idea appealed to Gruffudd since a battle outside Gwynedd would prevent any of Trahaearn's loyalists from coming to his aid. Before setting sail, he sent word to one young nobleman in Gwynedd that he trusted; Cynddelw agreed to set out for Dyfed with as many men as he could pursuade to join him. Alternately, this claim by Historia may have been included as "proof" that the noblemen of Gwynedd supported Gruffudd's claim as their legitimate king. It would have been difficult to move an army of that size into Dyfed by land without it being detected and attacked by the army they supposedly came to fight. Perhaps they also sailed to Dyfed, but perhaps the story of their coming was pure fiction.
When everyone assembled in Dyfed, it would have been Rhys ap Tewdwr who led the army; he was the only king among them. When this group of combatants encountered their enemy camped less than a day's march away, there was little doubt of the outcome. Gruffudd ap Caradog was leading his warband of about 125 men, while the men from Arwystli who ruled Gwynedd would not have had more than 200 in their warband. Contrary to the assertions of later writers, there was no one present representing Powys. The sons of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn were now men in their 20's (his brother Rhiwallon is not known to have had any sons, but his daughter was married to Rhys ap Tewdwr) but were not present. Nor was Gwrgeneu ap Seisyllt whom the author of Historia Gruffudd ap Cynan calls "king of Powys" in 1075. Likewise absent were former Bleddyn officers Eunydd ap Morien and Madog ap Cadwgan. Against these 300-odd warriors came Rhys ap Tewdwr with perhaps 600 to 900 men, many of them Irish mercenaries. His force overpowered the opposition leaders and when those three men fell, the remainder of their men fled.
*** This lady was but one of several children, born in Ireland, who were taken in by Gruffudd's brother Maredudd, a cleric at Cadwgan's court in Powys.