Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Cadwaller ap Grufudd ap Cynan

Male - 1172


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Cadwaller ap Grufudd ap Cynan 
    Born of Cynfael, Gwynedd, Wales Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 1172 
    Buried Bangor Cathedral, Bangor, Caernarfonshire, Wales Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I7270  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family Alice de Clare 
    Married Bef 1151 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F3219  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. “Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):
      “RICHARD FITZ GILBERT (also known as RICHARD DE CLARE), of Clare, Suffolk, Tonbridge, Kent, and Cardigan, son and heir. He married ALICE (or ALICIA) OF CHESTER, daughter of Ranulph le Meschin, Earl of Chester, by his wife, Lucy. They had three sons, Gilbert [Earl of Hertford], Roger [Earl of Hertford (or Clare)], and Richard, and two daughters, Alice and Rohese. In 1124 he removed the Priory of Clare, Suffolk from its original site to Stoke by Clare, a few miles away, and rebuilt the church and monastic buildings for the monks. In 1130 he had pardons from exactions in four counties; the king also assisted him in the matter of a large debt to the Jewish moneylenders of London. He rebuilt the clas church of Llanbadarn Fawr, which his father had given to Gloucester Abbey, as a priory of the house. He founded a priory at Tonbridge, Kent. He was also active as a patron of Cardigan Priory. RICHARD FITZ GILBERT, lord of Clare, was surprised and slain by the Welsh, near Abergavenny 15 April 1136, and was buried at the Chapter House at Gloucester. Sometime before 1143 his widow, Alice, was rescued from the Welsh by Miles of Gloucester. About 1148 she gave the mill of Taddewell to the monks of St. Peter, Gloucester for the soul of her late husband, Richard Fitz Gilbert; this gift was confirmed by King Henry II in 1153-4.
      Clutterbuck Hist. & Antiqs. of Hertford 3 (1827): 225-226 (Clare ped.). Coll. Top. et Gen. 1 (1834): 388. Lipscomb Hist. & Antiqs. of Buckingham 1 (1847): 200-201 (Clare ped.). Hart Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestria 1 (1863): 104 (undated record that Alice, sister of Ranulph, Earl of Chester, gave the mill of Taddewell for the soul of Richard Fitz Gilbert her husband in the time of Abbot Hamelin [i.e., c. 1148]). Jour. British Arch. Assoc. 26 (1870): 149-160. Arch. Jour. 2nd Ser. 6 (1899): 221-231. Copinger Manors of Suffolk 1 (1905): 45-46 ("Gilbert Lord of Tonbridge died about 1091 and the manor passed with most of the estates to Richard who was taken prisoner by Robert de Beleswe at the siege of Couci in 1091 and is erroneously stated to have died from the effects of his incarceration which was the result. He was the first of the family who bore the title of Earl of Hertford. He acquired vast possessions in Wales as the result of a long continued warfare which he waged somewhat on his own account there. He was in 1136 killed in a combat with the Welsh chieftains Joworth and his brother Morgan-ap-Owen in a woody tract called 'the ill-way of Coed Grano,' near the Abbey of Llanthony."). C.P. 3 (1913):243 (sub Clare), 6:498-499, 10 (1945): 441 (author identifies Alice de Tonbridge, wife of William de Percy, on chronological grounds as more likely to be the daughter of Richard Fitz Gilbert; instead of the suggestion made by Round [see preceding generation] that her father was Richard's father Gilbert, who, moreover, had a da. Alice who m. Aubrey de Vere). Marx ed. Gesta Normannorum Ducum (1914): 325-326 (Guillaume de Jumièges: "Ricardus autem duxit sororem comitis Rannulfi junioris, comitis Cestriae, et habuit ex ea tres filios: Gislebertum, qui ei successit et fratres ejus."), 331 (Guillaume de Jumièges: "Hujus autem Rannulfi sororem duxit Ricardus, filius Gisleberti; ex qua suscepit tres filios."). Delisle Recueil des Actes de Henri Ill (1916): 67-68 (confirmation charter of King Henry II dated 1153 4). Paget (1957) 130:4-5 (Founder of Stoke-Clare Priory; slain near Brecknock, being ambushed and surprised by Jorwerth, brother of Morgan of Caerleon). Harper-Bill Stoke by Clare Cartulary 1 (Suffolk Charters 4) (1982): 30-31 (confirmation charter of Richard Fitz Gilbert, lord of Clare dated 1124-36). Rohan Domesday Descendants (2002): 399. Tanner Fams., Friends, & Allies (2004): 316 (Clare ped).
      Children of Richard Fitz Gilbert, by Alice of Chester:
      i. GILBERT DE CLARE, Lord of Clare, etc., son and heir, born before 1115; hostage for his uncle Ranulph, Earl of Chester; succeeded his father in the great family estates (which, besides the honour of Clare, included Tonbridge Castle), 15 April 1136. He married LUCY ___. They had no issue. He was created Earl of Hertford probably by King Stephen in (?1138). He and his uncle, Baldwin Fitz Gilbert, witnessed a charter for King Stephen in 1142. He witnessed a charter of his uncle, Gilbert, Earl of Pembroke, c.1147-8. GILBERT DE CLARE, 1st Earl of Hertford, died between 1151 and 1153, and was buried at Clare Priory. His widow, Lucy, married (2nd) between 1151/1155 (as his 2nd wife) BALDWIN DE REDVERS, in Earl of Devon (died 4 June 1155). Clutterbuck Hist. & Antiqs. of Hertford 3 (1827): 225-226 (Clare ped). Lipscomb Hist. & Antiqs. of Buckingham 1 (1847): 200-201 (Clare ped.). Jour. of the British Arch. Assoc. 26 (1870): 149-160. Copinger Manors of Suffolk 1(1905): 45-46. C.P. 3 (1913): 244 (sub Clare); 4 (1916): 311-312 (sub Devon); 6 (1926): 498-499 (sub Hertford) ("The Earl of Hertford's wife is unknown: he is generally supposed not to have married"). Leys Sandford Cartulary 1 (Oxfordshire Rec. Soc. 19) (1938): 35; 2 (Oxfordshire Rec. Soc. 22) (1941): 229 (charter of Gilbert, Earl of Pembroke dated c.1147-8; charter witnessed by [his nephew] Earl Gilbert de Clare). Ellis Cat. Seals in the P.R.O. 2 (1981): 25 (seal of Gilbert, Earl of Clare dated 1139-49 - On horseback, riding to the right. He wears chain mail and conical helmet with nasal, and holds a drawn sword and a shield charged with chevrons of which half only are visible.). Harper-Bill Stoke by Clare Cartulary 1 (Suffolk Charters. 4) (1982): 49-50. Beaman Charters of the Redvers Family & the Earldom of Devon, 1090-1217 (Devon & Cornwall Rec. Soc. n.s. 37) (1994): 5-11, 44, 80-82, 84-85.
      ii. ROGER DE CLARE (otherwise ROGER FITZ RICHARD), 2nd Earl of Hertford [see next].
      iii. ALICE DE CLARE, married before 1151 CADWALADR AP GRUFFUDD AP CYNAN, Prince of North Wales, of Cynfael, Meirion, younger son of Gruffudd ap Cynan, by Angharad, daughter of Owain ab Edwin. They had four sons, Cunedda (or Conan), Randwlff, Gruffudd, and Richard. During his father's lifetime he accompanied his elder brother, Owain, on many predatory excursions against rival princes. In 1121 they ravaged Meirionydd, and apparently conquered it. In 1135 and 1136 they led three successful expeditions to Ceredigion, and managed to get possession of at least the northern portion of that district. In 1137 Owain succeeded, on Gruffudd ap Cynan's death, to the sovereignty of Gwynedd or North Wales. Cadwaladr appears to have found his portion in his former conquests of Meirionydd and northern Ceredigion. The intruder from Gwynedd soon became involved in feuds both with his south Welsh neighbours and with his family. In 1143 his men slew Anarawd, son of Gruffudd of South Wales, to whom Owain Gwynedd had promised his daughter in marriage. Repudiated by his brother, who sent his son Howel to ravage his share of Ceredigion and to attack his castle of Aberystwith, Cadwaladr fled to Ireland, whence he returned next year with a fleet of Irish Danes, to wreak vengeance on Owain. The fleet had already landed at the mouth of the Menai Straits when the intervention of the `goodmen' of Gwynedd reconciled the brothers. Disgusted at what they probably regarded as treachery, the Irish pirates seized and blinded Cadwaladr, and only released him on the payment of a heavy ransom of 2,000 bondmen (some of the chroniclers say cattle). Their attempt to plunder the country was successfully resisted by Owain. In 1146, however, fresh hostilities broke out between Cadwaladr and his brother's sons Howel and Cynan. They invaded Meirionydd and captured his castle of Cynvael, despite the valiant resistance of his steward, Morvran, abbot of Whitland. This disaster lost Cadwaladr Meirionydd, and so hard was he pressed that, despite his building a castle at Llanrhystyd in Ceredigion (1148), he was compelled to surrender his possessions in that district to his son, apparently in hope of a compromise; but Howel next year captured his cousin and conquered his territory, while the brothers of the murdered Anarawd profited by the dissensions of the princes of Gwynedd to conquer Ceredigion as far north as the Aeron, and soon extended their conquests into Howel's recent acquisitions. Meanwhile Cadwaladr was expelled by Owain from his last refuge in Mona. Cadwaladr now seems to have taken refuge with the English, with whom, if we may believe a late authority, his marriage with a lady of the house of Clare had already connected him (Powel, History of Cambria, p. 232, ed. 1584). The death of Stephen put an end to the long period of Welsh freedom under which Cadwaladr had grown up. In 1156 he was temporarily granted an estate at Ness, Shropshire worth £7 a year. In 1157 Henry II's first expedition to Wales, though by no means a brilliant success, was able to effect Cadwaladr's restoration to his old dominions. Despite his blindness, Cadwaladr had not lost his energy. In 1158 he joined the marcher lords and his nephews in an expedition against Rhys ap Gruffudd of South Wales. In 1165 Cadwaladr took part in the general resistance to Henry II's third expedition to Wales. In 1169 the death of Owain Gwynedd probably weakened his position. In March 1172 Cadwaladr himself died, and was buried in the same tomb as Owain, before the high altar of Bangor Cathedral (Gir. Cambr. It. Camb. in Op. (Rolls ed.), iii. 133). In 1156 he was temporarily granted an estate at Ness, Shropshire worth £7 a year. He died in 1172, and was buried before the high altar of Bangor Cathedral. Wynn Hist. of the Gnydir Fam. (1827): 20. Price Hanes Cymru (1942): 549 (charter of Cadwalader brother of Owain to Haughmond Abbey). Dwnn Heraldic Vis. of Wales 2 (1846): 17 ("Kynneda a Rickart a Randiolff, meibion oeddynt hwy y Gydwaladr ab Grh ab Kynan o Adles vh larll Kaer y mam hwyntey."). Lipscomb Hist. & Antiqs. of Buckingham 1 (1847): 200-201 (Clare ped). Burke Gen. & heraldic Dictionary of the landed Gentry of Great Britain 1 (1852): 743. Arch. Cambrensis 3rd Ser. 6 (1860): 332 (charter of Cadwaladr brother of Owain; charter witnessed by Aliz de Clare his wife); 4th Ser. 6 (1875): 117. Eyton Antiqs. of Shropshire 10 (1860): 256-257 ("In 1151, says the Welsh Chronicle, `Cadwalader, the brother of Prince Owen, escaped out of his Nephew Howes prison and subdued part of the Ile of Mein, or Anglesey, to himselfe; but his brother Owen sent an armie against him, and chased him thence, who fled to England for succour to his wife's friends, for she was the daughter of Gilbert Earl of Clare.' Between 1151 and 1152 Ranulf, Earl of Chester ... confirmed the Monks of Shrewsbury in the possession of all their lands between the Ribble and the Mersey. 'The Earl's Charter is dated at Chester, and attested as follows. - Testibus, Comite de Clara, et Cadwaladro ... The Earl of Clare here alluded to, was Gilbert. He was Nephew of Earl Ranulph himself, and, in the year 1146, had been given up to Stephen as a hostage for his Uncle's good faith and allegiance. His flight from Stephen's Court is recorded by the Chroniclers. It is evident that he took refuge with his Uncle. He died, in 1151 without issue, and was succeeded by his brother Roger. This fact, as well as a comparison of dates and ages, will show that Cadwalader's wife, Alice, was a Sister of Earl Gilbert and a daughter of Earl Richard de Clare, and, finally, a niece of Ranulph, Earl of Chester. For a time he [Cadwallader] remained in alliance with the English, as when, in 1159, he assisted the Earls of Clare and of Bristol to relieve Carmarthen, then besieged by Prince Rese of South Wales. He was also a munificent Benefactor to Haughmond Abbey. In 1165 he is found leagued with Owen Gwyneth against the English, and probably retained that adverse position till his death in 1172."). Nicholas Annals & Antiqs. of the Counties & County Fams. of Wales 1 (1872): 43; foll. 442. Lloyd Hist. of the Princes, the Lords Marcher & the Ancient Nobility of of Powys Fadog 1(1881): 96, 107, 151; 4 (1884): 323, 341; 5 (1885): 367. D.N .B. 3 (1908): 642-643 (biog. of Cadwaladr). Lloyd Hist. of Wales 2 (1911): 76, 93-101, 315, 317. Fryde Handbook of British Chron. (1996): 50. Maund Gruffierld ap Cynan (1996). Jour. Medieval Military Hist. 2 (2004): 58. Pryce Acts of Welsh rulers, 1120-1283 (2005): 330-331. Hosier Henry II (2007): 54.
      Child of Alice de Clare, by Cadwaladr:
      a. CONAN AP CADWALADR. Ward Women of the English Nobility & Gentry 1066-1500 (1995): 42; 93-94 (charter of Maud, wife of Roger earl of Clare dated 1152-73; charter witnessed by Richard brother of the earl and Conan nephew of the earl).
      iv. ROHESE DE CLARE, married (1st) GILBERT DE GANT, Earl of Lincoln [see GANT 2.i], (2nd) ROBERT FITZ ROBERT, of Ilkley, Yorkshire [see GANT 2.i]. “