OWAIN ap GRUFFYDD, or OWAIN GOCH , (fl. 1260), a prince of Gwynedd,
eldest son of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (q.v.) by Senana, and brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. Some years a prisoner of his brother, Dafydd ap Gruffydd (q.v.), Henry III secured to him a portion of Snowdonia by the treaty of Woodstock (1247). Again deprived by Llywelyn after Bryn Derwin (1254), he spent another long period in confinement, until Llywelyn was obliged to release him after the humiliating defeat of 1277, and to establish him as lord over part of Llŷn. The assumption has been that he d. before the final catastrophe of 1282, but for another view which has not much to support it, see Trans. Cymm., 1899-1900, 44-7. Owain was undoubtedly the worst victim of the drive against the custom of partible succession pursued by the two Llywelyns.
Bibliography:
- Hist. W.;
- Littere Wallie;
- Ancient Correspondence.
Author:
Professor Thomas Jones Pierce, M.A., F.S.A., (1905-1964), Aberystwyth
