Owain Cyfeiliog ap Gruffudd ap Maredudd ap Bleddyn ap Cynfyn

Abt 1130 - 1197  (~ 67 years)

• Name	Owain Cyfeiliog ap Gruffudd ap Maredudd ap Bleddyn ap Cynfyn  [1]
  Birth	Abt 1130  [2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	1197	Monastery of Strata Marcella, Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, Wales   [1, 3]
  Person ID	I1595	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of AP, Ancestor of DDB, Ancestor of DK, Ancestor of JMF, Ancestor of JTS, Ancestor of LD, Ancestor of TNH, Ancestor of TSW, Ancestor of TWK, Ancestor of UKL
  Last Modified	10 Aug 2020

  
  

  Father	Gruffudd ap Maredudd
  Mother	Gwerful ferch Gwrgeneu
  Family ID	F2039	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Gwenllian ferch Owain
  Children	+ 1. Gwenwynwyn   d. Abt 1216, Cheshire, England + 2. Constance ferch Owain
  Family ID	F270	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 May 2019

  
  

• Notes

  Prince of southern Powys. Also called Owain ap Gruffudd. Died as a monk at the Cistercian monastery of Strata Marcella (Ystrad Marchell) near Welshpool, which he had founded in 1170. From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Owain Cyfeiliog probably married twice, first certainly to Gwenllïan, daughter of Owain Gwynedd, and second perhaps to Gwenllïan, daughter of Ednywain, claimed by later genealogies to be of the line of Gollwyn ap Tangno. [...] Gerald of Wales includes Owain Cyfeiliog with Owain Gwynedd and Maredudd ap Gruffudd ap Rhys of south Wales as the three Welshmen who, in his days, were conspicuous for their justice, prudence, and moderation as rulers. The lavish hospitality of Owain's court -- "Where there was drinking without want, without refusal" -- was celebrated by the poet Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr. Cynddelw's poetry also testifies to Owain's raids against Anglo-Norman lands in the Shropshire marches, among them the territories of the Corbet lords of Caus, an aspect of his career which is ignored by the chronicles. The poet's evidence is complemented by the portrayal of Owain in the thirteenth-century Anglo-French romance "Fouke le Fitz Waryn" (the Fitzwarines held land of the Corbets at Alberbury). Here he features as "un chevaler hardy e fer" (a bold and fierce knight) who grievously wounds Fouke le Fitz Waryn. Owain, whom Gerald of Wales praised for the readiness of his tongue, is renowned in Welsh literary history as a poet. Two poems, the lengthy "Hirlas Owain", which is definitely ascribed to Owain in the Red Book of Hergest, and the shorter "Englynion on the circuit of Wales" have been regarded as his work. The "Hirlas" is an unusual poem, which, in dramatic style, depicts a feast in Owain's court following a raid in Maelor in north-east Wales to free his brother Meurig from prison, an event which the Welsh chronicles show to have taken place in 1156. Owain praises his brave warriors, calling upon his cup-bearer to bring the long blue ("hirlas") drinking-horn filled with mead to each hero in turn. Recent stylistic analysis of this and the other poem, however, implies that their true author was Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr, Owain's court poet, and that the prince's role was that of a persona in the poems rather than their creator.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3215] Medieval Welsh Ancestors of Certain Americans by Carl Boyer III. Santa Clarita, California, 2004. [S903] The Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales, 2007 and ongoing. [S76] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004-ongoing.