Notes |
- Knighted sometime between June and November of 1346, possibly at Crécy, where he was present.
From the Dictionary of Welsh Biography:
He was the wealthiest and most influential figure among the native gentry of the 14th cent., and in his career is crystallized the attitude and aspirations of those members of his class who lent support to the Angevin cause in Wales during the first century of the English settlement.
It would appear that he inherited the family estates centred on the manor of Llansadwrn in Cantref Mawr directly from his grandfather. He first appears in the records as steward of Cardigan in 1309, and in the course of the next few years he acquired other offices of profit in south-west Wales.
It was, however, the support which he gave to the Despensers which in 1322 brought him into a position of real eminence when he was appointed deputy to the royal justice in South Wales, given leases of Dinefwr and Dryslwyn, granted the lordship of Narberth, and made sheriff of Carmarthen with custody of the town and castle. In consequence he was deeply involved in the crisis over the abdication of Edward II in 1327, and may only have escaped complete destruction by a hasty flight to Scotland. A little later he was restored in possession of his lands, but again in 1330 he was obliged to seek asylum overseas because of his part in a premature attempt to unseat the regents. Later in the same year, when the personal power of Edward III was at last established, Rhys was recalled, was eventually restored to many important offices, and henceforth until his death played a leading role among the Welshmen of his day in furthering Edward's foreign adventures.
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