son of
Cynan ap Iago
, who was an exile in
Ireland
, and
Rhagnell
(
Ragnhildr
)
, a daughter of the royal house of the
Scandinavians
of
Dublin
. After
1039
, when
Iago
was treacherously slain by his own men,
Gwynedd
was ruled by usurpers who were not of the royal line. One of these was
Bleddyn ap Cynfyn
(q.v.)
. who was killed in
1075
and succeeded by his cousin,
Trahaearn ap Caradog
(q.v.)
,
king of Arwystli
. In that same year
Gruffudd
crossed over from
Ireland
intent on regaining his patrimony, and landed at
Abermenai
. With the help of
Robert
of
Rhuddlan
he overcame and killed
Cynwrig
, who held
Llyn
under
Trahaearn
.
Trahaearn
himself was conquered in a battle fought somewhere in
Meirionnydd
and compelled to retreat to his own lands of
Arwystli
. As
king of Gwynedd
Gruffudd
's first act was to attack the
Norman
castle at
Rhuddlan
in spite of the former help given him by
Robert
, carrying off booty but failing to take the castle itself. As a result of the resentment felt towards the
Norsemen
in
Gruffudd
's army the men of
Llŷn
rebelled, giving
Trahaearn
an opportunity to attack
Gruffudd
and overcome him in a battle which took place at
Bron-yr-erw
near
Clynnog
.
Gruffudd
fled to
Ireland
. In
1081
he returned and landed at
Porth Clais
in
Dyfed
, where he was joined by
Rhys ap Tewdwr
(q.v.)
, another exile, who was laying claim to his patrimony in
Deheubarth
. They met
Trahaearn
at
Mynydd Cam
, where he was slain,
Gruffudd
thus becoming again
king of Gwynedd
. Soon after, however, through the treachery of
Meirion Goch
, one of his own men, he was captured by the
Normans
at
Rug
near
Corwen
and taken prisoner to
Chester
. During his imprisonment the
Normans
gained much land in
Gwynedd
, and built castles at
Bangor
,
Caernarvon
and
Aberlleiniog
(near the later
Beaumaris
). It cannot now be stated with certainty how long
Gruffudd
remained a prisoner (the
History
at one point says twelve years and at another sixteen years), but he was free by
1094
(and perhaps some years earlier) because he was prominent in the general insurrection against the
Norman
power which took place that year. But in
1098
the
Normans
made a concerted attack upon
Gwynedd
from
Chester
and
Shrewsbury
.
Gruffudd
was shut up in
Anglesey
and compelled once more to seek refuge in
Ireland
. He returned however the following year and was allowed to rule over
Anglesey
with the consent of the
Normans
. Sometime in the course of the succeeding years he made himself
lord of Gwynedd uwch Conwy
, and for the rest of his life he was left undisturbed to consolidate his kingdom. It is true that
Henry
I
led a formidable army into
Gwynedd
in
1114
, but
Gruffudd
lost no land, and after this he himself did not fight a single battle. The authority of
Gwynedd
was however greatly extended by his sons,
Owain
and
Cadwaladr
(qq.v.), and before
Gruffudd
's death
Ceredigion
,
Meirionnydd
,
Rhos
,
Rhufoniog
and
Dyffryn Clwyd
were under the rule of
Gwynedd
. He d.,
blind
and decrepit, in
1137
, and was buried in the
cathedral church of Bangor
. An elegy upon him was sung by
Meilyr
(q.v.)
, his
pencerdd
. His wife,
Angharad
(q.v.)
, daughter of
Owain ab Edwin
, survived him by twenty-five years.
It was part of the traditional lore of the
Welsh
bards
that
Gruffudd ap Cynan
had made certain regulations to govern their craft, and his name was used to give authority to the ‘statute’ drawn up in connection with the
Caerwys eisteddfod
of
1523
. There is nothing to substantiate this tradition, but it is not unreasonable to suggest that
Gruffudd
may have brought
bards
and
musicians
with him from
Ireland
and that these may have had some influence on the craft of poetry and music in
Wales
. He may also have
made some formal changes in the bardic organization
. It is clear that a genuine and persistent tradition to this effect existed in the
16th cent.
It is perhaps worth noting that the
History
mentions the death in battle of
Gellan
,
Gruffudd
's
harpist
, in
1094
.
Gruffudd ap Cynan
is the only mediaeval
Welsh prince
whose biography, in the form of pure eulogy, has survived (see bibliography below). Linguistic characteristics prove it to have been a translation of a
Latin
original now lost. It was probably written by a
cleric
towards the
end of the 12th cent.
