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- "Ednyfed ap Cynwrig (died 1246), claiming descent from Marchudd, was a member of one of a group of kindreds long settled in Rhos and Rhufoniog. As seneschal (in Welsh, distain) of Gwynedd c. 1215-1246, his political and military services to Llywelyn the Great were rewarded, not only by the grant to Ednyfed himself of bond vills in Anglesey, Nantconwy, Arllechwedd Uchaf, and Creuddyn, but also by the concession, made to all the descendants of Ednyfed's grandfather (Iorwerth ap Gwrgan) that they should for the future hold their lands throughout Wales free from all dues and services other than military service in time of war. This special tenure, known as that of ‘Wyrion Eden,’ is prominent in the 14th century in the lordship of Denbigh amongst the collateral branches of the family, Ednyfed's own descendants in the same period are found in the townships of Trecastell, Penmynydd, Erddreiniog, Clorach, Gwredog, Trysglwyn, and Tregarnedd in Anglesey, and in Crewyrion, Creuddyn, Gloddaeth, Dinorwig, and Cwmllannerch in Caernarfonshire. They are also found in Llansadwrn in Carmarthenshire and at Llechwedd-llwyfan, Cellan, and Rhyd-onnen in Cardiganshire. Even before the conquest of 1282, therefore, Ednyfed's immediate descendants formed a 'ministerial aristocracy' of considerable wealth, and their widespread possessions, combined with the favourable terms on which they were held, made them the forerunners of that class of Welsh squires whose emergence is characteristic of the post-conquest period." [Dictionary of Welsh Biography, citation details below]
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