Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

King Gruffydd ap Llywelyn

In the 11th century Wales was not a united entity under a single king, but a fragmented region, riven with conflict between rival princes, the descendants of Rhodri Mawr. Gruffydd became king of the principal realm of Wales, Gwynnedd, roughly the north Wales of today, and of Powys, bordering on Mercia, in 1039. In that year he won so decisive a victory over Edwin, brother of Leofric of Mercia, at Rhyd-y-Groes near Welshpool, that the Saxons left him alone thereafter. He then turned his attention to the conquest of southern Wales, the kingdom of Deheubarth. He later allied himself with the son of the earl of Mercia, Alfgar, married his fifteen-year-old daughter, Edith, and the two men proceeded to raid along the Marches and acquire new lands. Hereford was sacked in 1055 and later fortified by Harold Godwinsson who negotiated a peace which brought Gruffydd to swear fealty to Edward the Confessor. When the alliance with Alfgar ceased on the Mercian's death in 1062, Harold attacked the Welshman's castle at Rhuddlan, forcing Gruffydd to flee and then, in 1063, with his brother Tostig, attacked Wales from north and south securing the complete defeat of the Welsh. Their submission to the English was marked by their murder of Gruffydd in August that year and the despatch of his severed head to Harold. His widow became Harold's wife.