THE DUBIOUS EINION ap LLYWARCH "ap BRAN"
By
Darrell Wolcott
On his chart "Llywarch ap Bran 8", Peter Bartrum charts a son of that Llywarch named Einion. While this
does follow his insistence upon charting what the sources claim [1], we nevertheless fault him for not noting that the underlying
citations likely were incorrect.
As we pointed out in an earlier paper [2], the 1352 Extant of Anglesey contained gwelys (land tracts)
named for sons Iorwerth, Cadwgan, Madog and Bleddyn ap Llywarch ap Bran, but none called Einion ap Llywarch. [3]
Two sons are charted for this Einion, each sourced exclusively by non-aligned citations. No source
which mentions Ifor ap Einion ap Llywarch also mentions Richard ap Einion ap Llywarch, and the reverse is also true. Bartrum
agrees that Richard was a full generation younger than Ifor, but charts them as siblings. All the other sons of Llywarch
ap Bran headed families found in Anglesey, where Llywarch had been Lord of the commote of Menai. None of the families charted
for an Enion ap Llywarch ap Bran resided in Anglesey, nor even in Gwynedd.
Ifor ap Einion ap Llywarch, born c. 1190. generated families who resided in the cantref of Elfael in
Rhwng Gwy a Hafren [4], while Richard ap Einion ap Llywarch, born c. 1225, produced families who lived in the commote of Talgarth
in Brycheiniog. It IS chronologically possible that Ifor's father Einion could have been a son of Llywarch ap Bran ,
but it is impossible that Richard's father Einion could be "ap Llywarch ap Bran". It is equally as likely that neither
Ifor nor Richard were descended from Llywarch ap Bran, and that those two sons of an Einion ap Llywarch were not even related
to each other.
ELFAEL FAMILY:
Once the southern-most cantref in the kingdom ruled by Elystan Glodrydd, by c. 1190 when Ifor ap Einion
ap Llywarch was born, Elfael had been almost wholly conquered by the Normans. Those noble Welshmen yet in residence
there did not necessarily embrace these foreign lords, but neither did they actively oppose them. We suggest this Einion
ap Llywarch was descended from a junior line of the family of Elystan Glodrydd, probably from a younger son of Idnerth ap
Cadwgan. Madog, the eldest son of Idnerth, was the last Welshman to rule Elystan's former lands, and his son, Einion
Clud, was the last to hoid the Welsh Lordship of Elfael.
When we first encountered this family in our research projects some dozen years ago, we suggested it
was likely this Llywarch was a son of Owain ap Idnerth. [5] Following our recent review of the family, we now believe the
Llywarch in this pedigree was the Llywarch Fyr (the little) ap Ednyfed ap Idnerth whom Bartrum charted on "Elystan Glodrydd
42", to whom he assigned no descendants. We would chart the family as: [6]
990
Elystan Glodrydd
l
1020 Cadwgan
l
1050
Idnerth
l
1085 Ednyfed
l
1120
Llywarch Fyr
l
1155 Einion
l
119
Ifor
TALGARTH
FAMILY:
This cantref forms the eastern edge of Brycheiniog and is bordered on the north by Elfael and
on the south by Gwent. Thus while it is nearby Elfael, wholly different family groups owned its land.
We believe the Einion ap Llywarch in Talgarth descended from the same line as the c. 1070 Rhys Goch of Ystrad Yw. and would
chart the family as:
875 Hydd Hygan
l
910 Gwynngy
l
945 Einion
l
975 Richert
l
1010 Ifor
Elystan Glodrydd 990
l
l
1040 Maenrych
Cadwgan 1020
l
l
1075 Einion*
Idnerth 1050
l
l
1105 Richard
Ednyfed 1085
l
l
1135 Ifor
Llywarch Fyr 1120
l
l
1165 Llywarch
Einion 1155
l
l
1195 Einion
Ifor 1190
l
l
1225 Richard
Philip 1225
l
l
1255 Richard Gam
Morus 1260
l
l
1285 Philip===========Crisli** 1295
*brother of Rhys Goch, Lord of Ystrad Yw
**The only known instance where the two separate Einion ap Llywarch families intermarried [7]
DATING THE TALGARTH FAMILY:
1195 Einion ap Llywarch
l
1225 Richard
l
1255 Richard Gam
l
1285 Philip
l
1320 Gwilym (a)
l
1355 Philip Fychan
_____________________l__________________________
l l
l
l
1385 Thomas
1390 Daughter (c) 1390 William 1395 Gwilym (e)
Fychan (b)
Fychan (d)
(a) Wife unknown. Bartrum follows the error made by
his source in assigning a c. 1395 lady as married to "Gwilym ap Philip ap Richard Gam" rather than to "Gwilym ap Philip Fychan"
(b) He married Alis (1390) ferch Sir Watkin Llwyd (1355)
ap Ieuan (1320) ap Watkin (1290) ap Hywel (1260) ap Einion Sais (1225) [8]
(c) She married John Fychan (1385) ap Gwilym (1355)
ap Philip (1325) ap Meurig Ddu (1290) ap Rhys (1260) ap Meurig (1230) ap Rhys Mechyl (1105) ap Rhys Gryg (1165) ap Lord Rhys
(1123) [9]
(d) He married Catrin (1405) ferchHywel Moethe (1375)
ap Rhys Moethe (1340) ap Rhys Moethe (1305) ap Dafydd Moethe (1275) ap Dafydd (1235) ap Gruffudd (1205) ap Iorwerth (1165)
ap Cadifor (1130) ap Gwaithfoed of Meirionydd (1100) [10]
(e) He married Mawd (1395) ferch Thomas (1360) ap Gwilym
(1330) ap Jenkin (1290), the ancestor of the Herbert Family. [11] It is possible this was a second marriage for the
man we chart as his brother, William Fychan. In that event, Gwilym and William Fychan are two names for the same man.
NOTES:
[1]
Both Pen. 131, 288 and Dwnn ii, 22 say "Ifor ap Einion ap Llywarch ap Bran" which, quite dubiously, gives an Elfael family
roots in Anglesey
[2]
See our paper on Llywarch ap Bran as the following link:
[3]
We have elsewhere suggested that Llywarch ap Bran DID have a son named Llywarch Fychan, but his descendants failed in the
male line long before 1352. There may have been a gwely bearing his name in the 12th century, but it would have been
renamed for its new owners before 1352.
[4]
"between the Wye and Severn rivers", the kingdom once called Fferlys and later called Radnor. In the 12th century, it consisted
of Ceri, Maelienydd and Elfael, lying just south of Powys Gwenwynwyn and northeast of Brychieniog
[5]
In 2012, we published a paper on the children of Lord Rhys, in which we tentatively identified the husband of his base daughter,
Tangwystl, as Einion ap Llywarch ap Owain ap Idnerth. We have since replaced Owain with Ednyfed as our present belief about
her ancestry.
[6]
Additional analysis of this family is made in our companion paper at this link:
[7]
This marriage is cited in Harl. 2289, 246 and Bodleian Add. C-177, 62
[8]
Pen. 128, 872a
[9]
Pen. 133, 208 which omits Rhys Mechyl
[10]
Dwnn i, 45
[11]
Harl. 2289, 208 & 246
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