MALLT/MAWD
ferch IEUAN ap RHYS of ELFAEL
By
Darrell Wolcott
Our inquiry concerns two ladies, presented by Bartrum on his chart "Llywarch ap Bran 9", as sisters
born in Bartrum generation 11 (1351-1385). The first lady is styled "Mawd" and she is presented as having married Llewelyn
ap Hywel Fychan ap Hywel ap Einion Sais of Brecknock. That Llewelyn was the father of several children, including the
Agincourt hero, Sir Dafydd Gam. Our work on that family line estimates Llewelyn was born c. 1325, and we can not accept
that he married a lady 26-60 years younger than himself. We should be looking for a lady born c. 1340 or earlier
for his wife.
The other lady on this chart is called Mallt, and she has been assigned two consorts. Her
husband is identified as Hywel ap Gwilym ap Jenkin, a brother of Thomas, the ancestor of the famous Herbert family of Gwent.
This Hywel, we estimate, was born c. 1355 and fits well with such a wife (one born in the Bartrum generation 11). Her
other identified consort, charted as his mistress, is Gwallter Sais ap Roger Ieuanc ap Roger Fawr of Brecknock. We estimate
that man was born c. 1315 and seriously doubt that the same lady who married Hywel ap Gwilym also bore a child for Gwallter
Sais.
We believe there was another branch of the family headed by Ifor ap Einion ap Llywarch who appears
on Bartrum chart "Llywarch ap Bran 8", and which Bartrum has conflated with the line which contains an Ifor Goch:
1190 Ifor [Hen]
__________l___________
l
l
1225 Ieuan 1220
Gruffudd
l
l
1260 Rhys 1255
Ifor Goch
l
l
1295 Ieuan 1290
Rhys
l
l
1330 Mallt/Mawd (a) 1320 Ieuan
l
1355 Mallt/Mawd (b)
(a) Dwnn ii, 57 cites the wife of Llewelyn ap Hwel Fychan ap Hywel as "Mallt ferch Ieuan
ap Rhys ap Ieuan ap Ifor". Pen 128, 871b cites the same marriage as "Mam Dafyddd ap Llewelyn ap Hywel Fychan"
was "Mallt ferch Ieuan ap Rhys ap Ifor Hen". While the citation errs in omitting the c. 1225 Ieuan, it does confirm
that the Ifor in this Mallt's ancestry was not Ifor Goch, but an earlier Ifor Hen. There are 3 other citations which mention
this marriage, but call the lady "Mawd" [1], 2 more that call her "Mallt" [2]and one that calls her "Dyddgu". [3]
(b) Harl. 2300(2), 152 calls this lady Mallt and makes her wife to Hywel ap Gwilym ap Jenkin. The
sources which also make her a consort of Gwallter Sais all call her Matilda, 2 of which call her "widow", not "mistress".[4]
DICTIONARY OF WELSH BIOGRAPHY:
The entry for the Vaughan Family of Bredwarden was written by a librarian at the National Library of Wales,
named Evan David Jones. This writer claims that according to a document (not available on-line) given at Cwm Du on 26
Nov 1383,
"Walter Seys had a son called Roger Vychan, whose mother was Matilda verch Ieuan ap Rhys, then
wife of Howel ap William ap Jenkyn, and holding land in the lordship of Talgarth."
Mr Jones used this language to describe what he found in his source document, "Cardiff Library,
Brecknock Deeds, 3". We wish to emphasize that Bartrum used Jones' summary as his source, not the deed document itself.
By reading the word "then" as deliberately connected to the immediately preceding phrase, the inference is that 'then' meant
"at the time Matilda conceived the named son". If you read the statement this way, it appears to tell you that Matilda was
married to another man when she gave birth to a child by Gwallter Sais.
A wholly different set of facts, however, is being described if you read 'then' to mean "at the time
(1383) when the document was issued". The sense of Jones' wording now suggests that the child was born to Matilda at
some much earlier time when she was married to Gwallter Sais, but that the lady was, by 1383, married to a different
man because Gwallter Sais had since died. As mentioned above, two earlier writers clearly call Matilda the widow of
Gwallter Sais, men who had only the original deed record as their source, not Jones' modern description of it.
As we were pondering the matter, we wondered why a deed would even name the mother of the man receiving
title to land, much less comment about her current marital status. Unless, perhaps, it was Matilda herself who executed that
deed. That possibility opens up a conjectural series of events which might lie behind this deed.
Suppose that Gwallter Sais had died near age 65, or in the year 1380. His first wife (and
mother of a daughter named Angharad and Gwallter's son and heir, Roger Hen) might have died about 1361 and he remarried Matilda.
They had a single child, Roger Fychan in 1362. Thus, when Gwallter died in 1380. both his children by his first wife
were adults and could take their inheritance immediately. Whatever lands had been willed to Roger Fychan, however, would
have been (under this scenario) held in guardianship, perhaps by his mother, since the boy was still a teenager.
When Roger Fychan turned 21, our scenario continues, his mother then deeded the lands to her son.
With this explanation, we can understand why his mother is mentioned in the deed...she executed it. We can make no case
to show why she would have also inserted wording into the deed to identify her current martial status. We suggest that
data was supplied, either bv the librarian who originally summarized the deed, or by Evan David Jones who wrote the modern
Dictionary of Welsh Biography entry. Either of those sources may have mistakenly thought the lady who executed the deed
was the same Matilda ferch Ieuan ap Rhys who married Hywel ap Gwilym ap Jenkin, when in fact, she was the earlier same-named
lady who married Llewelyn ap Hywel Fychan.
OUR SCENARIO IN CHART FORM:
NOTES:
[1] Pen. 127, 169; Pen. 132, 171; and Pen. 134, 430 all
call her "Mawd"
[2] In addition to Pen. 128, 871b, she is also called
"Mallt" by Pen. 176, 373 and Pen. 140, 234
[3] Pen. 134, 296
[4] Joseph Bradney "History of Monmouthshire", Vol
1, Part 2b, page 305 and George Clark "Limbus Patrum Morganaie et Glamorganie" p. 259 both called her "widow"
|
