Over my dead body, cariad

 

Brut y Tywysogion on the death of Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg in 1271:

[1271-1271]. A year after that, Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg, a brave, powerful man, died in his own castle at Dryslwyn on the sixth day of August, and his body was taken to Whitland and was honourably buried in the great church on the steps in front of the altar'.

Maredudd was head of the House of Dinefwr, son of Rhys Gryg ('the Hoarse), and a grandson of the Lord Rhys. The Brut gives him a positive eulogy, but a version of the Annales Cambriae described Maredudd as 'the man who had perturbed all Wales by his faithlessness'.

This was because Maredudd had fought against Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, and the AC was written by a pro-Venedotian annalist. It would be wrong to describe Maredudd as a turncoat who betrayed Wales and collaborated with the English: he had inherited an age-old feud with the House of Aberffraw, and his dynasty had its own pretensions to rule Wales. No self-respecting Welsh prince simply bowed the knee to a rival. Please, sir, do take all my lands and castles. Over my cold dead body, cariad.

 After decades of bitter struggle, Maredudd was defeated and ended his days as a feudatory of his enemy, Llywelyn. This was, to a large extent, due to the influence of the future Edward I. Let's have a look at how that came about.