The son of a slave girl

A slightly wordy letter dated 26 May 1222, from the Archbishop of Canterbury and bishop-elect of Norwich to Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, in response to a petition from the latter:

"To the nobleman Lord Llywelyn of North Wales. Bringing about from us the attached petition. Certainly your petition to us showed that since some detestable custom or rather corruption has developed in the land subject to your authority - as evidently the son of the slave girl could be the heir together with the son of the free woman and illegitimate sons could obtain the inheritance just as the legitimate - you and your Lord Henry, the illustrious king of the English, beloved sons of Christ, have agreed in harmony and also furthermore with the intervening authoruty of our beloved sons, our venerable brother Archbishop Stephen of Canterbury, cardinal saint of the Roman church and also Pandulf the elect of Norwich then in those parts as official legate in the customary manner, or if the corruption of this sort contrary to divine just is to be abolished and rooted out in curing, it is required to be established that in the preceding case it henceforth in the before mentioned land [Wales] inviolably will be followed that the provisions of the law is by canonical and lawful ordinances, according to the statute of this sort as composed by you that Dafydd your son, who from Joan the daughter of Clementia and the king of England, your legal wife, should succeed in receiving your inheritance by right in your possessions..."

With the consent of Henry III and the English church, Llywelyn had abolished the custom in Wales that illegitimate children should inherit just as if they were legitimate. He did this so the pope would confirm Llywelyn's statute that his second son, Dafydd, the prince's child by Joan Plantagenet, should succeed him in all his possessions.

This was all at the expense of Llywelyn's first wife, who now stood condemned as a 'slave girl'. Her son, Gruffydd, was now legally 'the son of a slave girl' and brutally cast out of the succession. In an effort to get rid of him, Llywelyn later tried to send Gruffydd as a permanent hostage to the English court. Llywelyn thus only had himself to blame when Grufydd rose against him in his final years:

"Llywelyn was not in himself in a fit state of mind, weakened by the sickness of a partial paralysis, weighted down by the attack of Gruffydd his son." - Matthew Paris