Preachers and plots

Serving two masters (2) In the summer of 1277 a plot was hatched against Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd by the Dominican brothers of the Order of Preachers. The evidence of this plot is contained in a document (attached) witnessed at Chester on 21 July, in which Friar Llywelyn testifies to his mediation between Edward I on the one part, and on the other, the friar’s uterine brother Rhys ap Gruffudd and his kinsmen, Hywel ap Goronwy and Gruffudd ap Iorwerth.

Rhys, Hywel and Goronwy had earlier received the king’s permission to negotiate terms with any royal officer of their choice. This instruction was issued on 22 May, two months before Friar Llywelyn interceded on their behalf. In the document dated 21 July, the friar advises Rhys and his kinsmen to make their peace with the king and do homage. He assures them that the king would grant them their lands and rights and that, pending the recovery of their lands, they would be provided for.

The Welsh Dominicans were instrumental in the negotiations between the king and Prince Llywelyn at this time. Friar Llywelyn can most likely be identified with the Friar Llywelyn of Bangor who, along with Prior Ifor of Rhuddlan, received oaths for the observance of the Treaty of Aberconwy after Prince Llywelyn’s surrender in November. Rhys ap Gruffudd, as noted in my previous post, was one of Llywelyn’s chief counsellors. In May-July 1277 he was evidently seeking favourable terms from the king, and to disassociate himself from Llywelyn. He was too slow to act, and Llywelyn seized and imprisoned him before Rhys could escape into England. By the terms of Aberconwy, dated 9 November, Llywelyn was obliged to release Rhys and restore him to the status he had held when he first negotiated with the king.

Another of the men named on the document, Gruffudd ap Iorwerth, can probably be identified with Gruffudd ap Iorwerth ap Maredudd of Anglesey. In a letter written between the wars of 1277-82, Prince Dafydd ap Gruffudd asked the king to restore Gruffudd to his lands in Anglesey, since he had committed no trespass. An elegy was later composed in Gruffudd’s honour by the Welsh bard, Bleddyn Fardd.

The four sons of Gruffudd remained crown loyalists. After the deposition of Edward II, they were named among the uchelwyr of Gwynedd who swore to restore the king to his throne. One of them - confusingly named Llywelyn ap Gruffudd - described himself to Edward II as ‘pencenedl’ or head of his kindred. Thus, the head of the lineage of Gruffudd ap Iorwerth was apparently named after the man their father had chosen to abandon.