RHODRI ap GRUFFYDD (d. c. 1315), prince of Gwynedd;
third son of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (q.v.) and Senana, and brother of Owain Goch (q.v.), Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (q.v.), and Dafydd ap Gruffydd (q.v.). His first appearance is as a child hostage in the hands of Henry III in 1241. Probably released in 1248, he returned to Wales when Owain and Llywelyn went surety for his loyalty to the king. He later became a victim of Llywelyn's drive against the custom of partible succession; but after some years in prison he agreed, in 1272, to quitclaim his rights in Gwynedd in return for a grant from Llywelyn of 1,000 marks. This agreement was not immediately implemented, and Rhodri escaped to England. On two subsequent occasions Edward I intervened to enforce the contract; only 50 marks had been paid by the end of 1278, but at least another 100 marks had been handed over at Aberconwy by Nov. 1280. In 1292 he received an annual pension of £40 from the king. Meanwhile he had m., in 1281, Beatrice, daughter and heiress of David de Malpas, and appears henceforth as a landowner of some standing in Cheshire as well as the lord of a manor in Surrey. After the death of Beatrice, in 1290, he took as his second wife one named Catherine, who survived him. There was one son of this marriage — Thomas ap Rhodri (q.v.), father of Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri (or Owain Lawgoch) (q.v.).
Bibliography:
- Hist. W.;
- Littere Wallie;
- Ancient Correspondence;
- Trans. Cymm., 1899-1900, 28-37
Author:
Professor Thomas Jones Pierce, M.A., F.S.A., (1905-1964), Aberystwyth
