 1173 - 1240 (67 years)
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| Name |
Llewelyn Ap Iorwerth Of Wales |
| Prefix |
Prince |
| Birth |
1173 |
Aberffraw Castle, Aberconway, Wales  [2] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
11 Apr 1240 |
Aberconway, North Wales [2, 3] |
| Person ID |
I69886 |
Cecilie Family |
| Last Modified |
9 Dec 2010 |
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| Notes |
- Notes for Lewellyn II Fawr:
He may have been born at Aberffraw Castle, Gwynedd, Wales
Llewellyn Fawr ap Iorweth, the Great, Prince of N. Wales
Ruled Gwynedd (east Gwynedd from 1195) 1200-40; incorporating Powys from 1208; overlord of Deheubarth from 1216; regarded as prince of Wales from 1210.
If there is one Welsh prince everyone knows (or thinks they know) it is Llywelyn the Great, although some of his exploits often get confused in the public consciousness with those of his grandson, known as Llywelyn The Last. Llywelyn rightly deserved the epithet "the Great", the most of all the Welsh rulers, almost solely for his leadership and statesmanlike abilities. Certainly he had no finesse or cultural qualities, but he was the man that Wales needed to pull it out of the Dark Ages and make it a united country. H was an ideal successor to Gruffydd ap Cynan and Owain Gwynedd.
His rise to power was meteoric. His father, Iorweth Drwyndwn, had died soon after Llywelyn's birth and he was raised with his mother's relatives in Powys. By his late teens he had joined forces with his cousins, Gruffydd and Maredudd ab Cynan in their opposition to their uncles Rhodri ab Owain and Dafydd ab Owain. Llywelyn soon got the upper hand over his cousins, so that Dafydd deposed from East Gwynedd in 1195 Llywelyn claimed the territory as his own. Although technically he initially shared it with his uncle, Dafydd was soon squeezed out of the land, imprisoned in 1197, and then banished altogether in 1198. In 1200, his cousin Gruffydd, who had ostensibly become the ruler in West Gwynedd, died, and Llwelyn promptly annexed that territory. In 1201 and 1202 he deprived Maredudd of his lands in Llyn and Merionydd respectively, so that by 1202 he had reunited all of Gwynedd.
Llywellyn learned from his predecessors that it was important to stay on cordial terms with the king of England. Soon after John came to power, he and Llywelyn entered into a detailed agreement. This enforced John's overlordship of Wales, and stated the terms by which Llywelyn and his own lords must render fealty; but it also recognized the authority of Welsh law and stated on what basis cases might be tried. This agreement, the oldest to survive between an English and a Welsh monarch, while definitely constituting an imposition of English overlordship, nevertheless recognized the relevance and need of Welsh law and government and thus gave Llewelyn a power in his own land that was unequalled by any previous English-Welsh relationship. Llywelyn sought to cement this accord further by marrying Joan, an illegitimate daughter of John's, in 1205. He also accompanied John on his punitive expedition against the Scots in 1209.
In the meantime Llewelyn took what opportunities presented themselves to expand his authority in Wales. His closest rival was Gwenwynwyn, the prince of Powys, who also had expansionist desires, but he overstepped the mark in 1208, literally, by several ill-disposed attacks on the marcher lands. King John reacted swiftly and deprived Gwenwynwyn of all of his lands. Llywelyn promptly annexed southern Powys and used this as a means to march into and lay claim to southern Ceredigion. He then claimed overlordship of the other lesser lordships in southern Wales and, by 1210, was declaring himself as prince of all Wales.
This insubordination angered John who sent two expeditions into Wales in 1211. The first suffered from poor organization but the second was highly sucesful, penetrating far into the stronghold of Gwynedd. East Gwynedd was placed again under Norman control, and John cleverly engineered the isolatoin of Llywelyn by ensuring the support of the other princes. Exacting tributes were demanded and severe retribution taken on the hostages John took, including Llywelyn's illegitimate eldest son. For a few months Llywelyn was vulnerable. There was even a rival movement which sought to bring his cousin, Owain ap Dafydd, to the throne, but at the moment of crisis Llywelyn found unanimous support amongst his countrymen. In 1212 Llywelyn regrouped his forces and prepared to face the might of John's army, which he had convened with a view to total conquest of Wales.
It could have been the biggest invasion force since the Norman conquest of England but, at the last moment, John changed his plans. Domestic problems amongst his barons, which culminated in John's signing the Magna Carta, meant that he turned his attention from Wales. This was not a retreat, but the Welsh regarded it as a victory. Llewelyn had not been afraid to face the might of the English, and the English had backed down. Thereafter Llywelyn felt able to recommence his onslaught against the Norman-controlled territories, regaining East Gwynedd and the lands in the Marches, as well as commanding fealty from the remaining Welsh princes in Powys and Deheubarth. By 1216 Llywelyn was prince of all Wales in fact as well as title, as confirmed by the Treaty of Worcester in 1218.
Border skirmishes continued for several more years, mostly with the new regent of England, William Marshal, one of the marcher lords and the new earl of Pembroke, until his death in 1219. From 1216 to 1234 lands and castles frequently changed hands, but it was as much a period of testing as of outright hostility. The two parties came to understand each other and, with the Pact of Middle in 1234, an agreement was reached by both sides which assured a modicum of peace.
Llywelyn was determined that all he had achieved would not be broken asunder after his death so, as early as 1208 he ensured that his newly born legitimate son, Dafydd, was recognized as his heir. He also determined to revoke the Welsh law of partible succession, which had been the ruin of previous attempts to unite Wales. Under that rule a landowner had to divide his inheritance amongst his sons. Llywelyn sought to introduce promogeniture so that his eldest legitimate son inherited. Although this caused a family rift between Llywelyn's eldest illegitimate son, Gruffydd, and nis nominated successor, Dafydd, Llywelyn succeeded in gaining total acceptance. Dafydd was recognized as heir not only by Henry III in 1220, but by the Pope in 1222, and in 1226 Llywelyn required that all the senior Welsh lords swore fealty to Dafydd as the next prince of Wales. Never had Wales been so united as under Llywelyn the Great. Had someone of his stature existed in previous generations, especially prior to the Norman conquest fo England, it is entirely possible that the Welsh could have regained their native Britain. Unfortunately, Llywelyn achieved it at a time when England had increasingly powerful monarchs, and although he left a much improved legacy to his son and grandson, they had to face England's strongest monarch yet -- Edward I.
Mike Ashley, 'British Monarchs'
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| Sources |
- [S1484] Ashley, Mike, Ashley (1998), (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1998.), p. 331, 548 (Reliability: 3).
- [S1631] Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th, 29a-27 (Reliability: 3).
- [S1625] Encyclopedia Britannica, Treatise on, UK-Wales Macropaedia p 125 (Reliability: 3).
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