Slanders and old poets

Serving two masters (1) Rhys ap Gruffydd was one of the many grandsons of Ednyfed Fychan, seneschal or distain to Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. His father, Gruffydd, is traditionally supposed to have fled to Ireland as a result of a slander concerning Llywelyn’s wife, Joan Plantagenet. The alleged slander is contained in a book of pedigrees by John Tudor of the parish of St Asaph, described as an ‘old poet’. He died in 1602.

If true, it would appear Joan was the focus of a second scandal in Gwynedd after the more famous incident involving William de Braose. Gruffydd’s precise role in the ‘slander’ is not described, but he was obliged to stay in Ireland until Llywelyn died. This would imply he had done something the prince could not forgive.

His son, Rhys, was untainted by all this and became a long-term servant of Prince Llywelyn ap Guffudd. In 1272 he witnessed a document on his master’s behalf at Caernarfon and was later appointed as one of Llywelyn’s bailiffs of the Middle Marches. He was also present at the interrogation of Gruffudd ap Gwenwnwyn in 1274, after the latter’s alleged role in the notorious plot against Llywelyn’s life.

During the time of Llywelyn’s supremacy (1256-76) Rhys married Margaret, a daughter of the Marcher baron John Lestrange IV. Before 1276 John mortgaged his vill of Moreton in Shropshire to his son-in-law for 120 marks (£80). John repaid most of this sum in the form of a destrier worth eighty marks and a palfrey worth twenty.

In January 1277 the manor of Moreton was seized into the king’s hands after an inquisition found that it had been in the possession of Rhys; this can only mean that at first Rhys adhered to Prince Llywelyn in the war of 1276-77, and was disinherited as a result.