Ednyfed Fychan

Little is known of Ednyfed's early life beyond his being born into an established family related to the Second Dynasty of Gwynedd. Ednyfed was the eldest son of Cynfrig ab Iorwerth, whose grandfather Gwgon established the settlement of Betws Gwyrion Gwgon in modern Denbighshire. Ednyfed's byname (a soft mutation of the Welsh word , 'small' or 'junior') usually would suggest his father or grandfather was also named Ednyfed, but as this is not the case, it may instead refer to his size. The core territory associated with Ednyfed's family was that around Abergele in Rhos, a cantref of the Perfeddwlad. Ednyfed's mother was Angharad ferch Hwfa from Cyffylliog in Dyffryn Clwyd, whose mother in turn was Gwenllian, daughter of Owain Gwynedd, king of Gwynedd. Ednyfed's family was very influential in Rhos and later generations would claim that Marchudd ap Cynan of was the founder of the family. Sixteenth-century poet and genealogist Gruffudd Hiraethog alleged Marchudd was and to the ninth-century king of Gwynedd Rhodri Mawr, while the seventeenth-century antiquary Robert Vaughan calls him 'Lord of Abergeleu'. This lineage was ultimately traced to one 'Cadrod Calchfynydd', son of Cynwyd Cynwydion, supposed ancestor of the royal dynasty of Strathclyde in the formerly Brittonic-speaking area of northern Britain known as the Old North . King Henry VII of England, a lineal descendant of Ednyfed, appointed a commission in about 1490 to examine the pedigree of his grandfather Owen Tudor. The original report of this commission does not survive, but its text was printed in William Wynne's 1697 version of David Powel's 1584 Historie of Cambria. This commission recorded that Ednyfed fought against King John during the reign of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth and slew three English lords one morning in battle. According to the story, after Ednyfed showed their heads to Llywelyn, the prince allowed him to bear three bloody heads as his arms in token of his victory, which were also borne by his descendants, including the Tudors of Penmynydd. Welsh historian John Edward Lloyd situated Ednyfed's feat within the context of the invasion of Gwynedd in 1210 led by Ranulf de Blondeville, Earl of Chester, and Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester. The earl sought to take Perfeddwlad for himself and built castles in Holywell and Degannwy, and in the next year King John himself invaded and ravaged Gwynedd, heading an army with most of the other Welsh princes under him. While this campaign was disastrous for Llywelyn, who only regained his position by 1213, this may have been when Ednyfed first caught the prince's eye and began his long career of service to the princes of Gwynedd. The folk memory of Ednyfed's actions may reflect real events, but the grant of arms "almost certainly [occurred] significantly after his death in 1246", according to historian David Stephenson. ==Tenure as ==

Service under Llywelyn ab Iorwerth Ednyfed Fychan is first recorded in Llywelyn ab Iorwerth's service acting as a seneschal or in summer 1217, when he was recorded as heading a witness list in a grant by Llywelyn of Llandimôr in Gower to Morgan Gam of Afan. Ednyfed was preceded in this role by Gwyn ab Ednywain, who was probably first to Gruffudd ap Cynan, ruler of Meirionnydd and Gwynedd Uwch Conwy before being overthrown by Llywelyn in 1199. Gwyn's last recorded action in the role was his heading a list of witnesses confirming a donation of land by Llywelyn to the Cistercian abbey of Strata Marcella on 25 November 1209. According to David Stephenson, Ednyfed was "almost certainly" Gwyn's immediate successor, though it is impossible to date the beginning of Ednyfed's tenure in the office. In March 1218, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth signed three agreements with Henry III of England, known collectively as the Treaty of Worcester. These confirmed Llywelyn's occupation of Powys and the royal castles of Cardigan and Carmarthen which he had won in the campaigns of 1215–16. However, these agreements also asserted the king's overlordship over Llywelyn and other Welsh lords, who were required to do homage to him. In the third of these agreements, confirming Llywelyn's right to hold the king's court in the royal castles, Ednyfed appears as a negotiator and leads the list of the prince's officials and leading men of the principality who are bound to the terms of the treaty. According to the treaty, Llywelyn's officials and supporters would "be absolved from homage and fealty to [Llywelyn]" should the prince betray the terms of the agreement, and could "[not]... return to Llywelyn's homage and fealty without first making satisfaction to the king or his heirs concerning the aforesaid breaches". Similarly, Ednyfed appears to have been a chief negotiator in the 1222 talks which led to the marriage of Llywelyn's daughter Helen to John of Scotland, heir apparent to the earldom of Chester. The pair were married "for the purpose of effecting a lasting peace" between Llywelyn and Ranulf de Blondeville, John's uncle, against whom Ednyfed had fought some twelve years earlier yet became the prince's closest ally in England. Perhaps in recognition of his services in upholding the treaty of Worcester, Henry III granted Ednyfed letters of protection in 1229 for some of his holdings: Llansadwrn in Ystrad Tywi, and Cellan and Llanrhystud in Ceredigion. In 1223, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Worcester, Ednyfed acted with the king's authority and as Llywelyn's chief representative, determining the limits of lands won by Maelgwn ap Rhys, Rhys Gryg, and Owain ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth in the campaign of 1215–16. The findings of an inquisition held on 28 October 1278 recorded Ednyfed, "justice of the prince", had arbitrated a land dispute between two lords of Mechain some decades before, which suggests he also held legal authority in Llywelyn's principality. This is further supported by an occasion in 1234 when Ednyfed arbitrated a dispute in the lordship of Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor between the monks of Valle Crucis and the freemen of Llangollen over a dispute about the ownership of a fishing weir on the Dee. Over Easter 1230, Llywelyn found his wife Joan, legitimised daughter of King John, in compromising circumstances with the marcher lord of Brecon, William de Braose, whom Llywelyn consequently had hanged on 2 May that year. Joan was kept imprisoned by Llywelyn for her infidelity until 1231. The execution of de Braose did not cause an incident with the English, but hostilities between prince and king broke out in April 1231, when Llywelyn attacked de Braose's former castle at Radnor, which was then being managed by the powerful justiciar Hubert de Burgh. The royal counter-campaign of 1231 headed by de Burgh stalled, and de Burgh was removed from his position in 1232. Ednyfed Fychan led a diplomatic mission to Henry III which resulted in a truce between Llywelyn and the king for a year from 30 November 1231. Ednyfed made two further visits in May and November 1232 together with Llywelyn's wife Joan to further negotiate with the king's representatives. However, in 1233, Llywelyn threw in his lot with Richard Marshal's baronial rebellion against Henry III. While Llywelyn was making gains in this short conflict, he sent Ednyfed and Dafydd ap Llywelyn, his son by Joan, to negotiate terms with the king at Worcester in June 1233. When Richard was murdered by his allies in Ireland in early 1234, Llywelyn sealed a lasting peace with the English Crown in June that year with the Pact of Myddle. No castles could be built or repaired in the whole of the March, and Llywelyn was confirmed in his possession of Buellt and Cardigan. Henry requested Ednyfed be present when extending the truce in 1237, and he appears at the list of the prince's ministers who swore to uphold the truce upon its renewal in 1238. According to Matthew Paris, Llywelyn suffered a massive paralytic stroke in late spring 1237. This led Dafydd to assume effective rulership of Gwynedd. Because there was peace between Llywelyn and the king after 1234, Ednyfed decided to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and received safe conduct through England from the king in June 1235. Whilst waiting to depart from London that same month, the king ordered Ednyfed be given a silver cup worth five marks. However, this grant was not fulfilled because the King's treasurer did not have the cup. Service under Dafydd ap Llywelyn Llywelyn ab Iorwerth died on 11 April 1240, and was succeeded as king of Gwynedd by his son Dafydd. However, Dafydd had an elder brother named Gruffudd, the son of Llywarch by his mistress Tangwystl, daughter of Llywarch Goch. Llywelyn had intended that his younger son Dafydd would succeed him because Dafydd was both the product of a marriage sanctified by the Church and of Angevin ancestry by virtue of his being a grandson of King John. While illegitimate in the eyes of the Church, Gruffudd could claim support from much of the nobility of Gwynedd because his birth by a pre-marital liaison was no obstacle to his accession to the kingship of Gwynedd under Welsh law. Despite being granted some territory in Gwynedd during Llywelyn's reign, Gruffudd plotted against his father and brother in response to his being passed over in the succession, and was gaoled by Llywelyn from 1228 to 1234 and by Dafydd shortly before their father's death. Within a month of Llywelyn's death, Dafydd was humiliated by Henry III by the terms of the Treaty of Gloucester, signed on 15 May 1240, which saw Gruffudd released and Dafydd stripped of the homage done to his father by the barons of Wales. Even though Ednyfed Fychan was Gruffudd's stepfather, Ednyfed supported Dafydd, and even represented Dafydd in a plea between the prince and Gruffudd. In August 1241, after a week-long campaign launched from Chester, Henry III humiliated Dafydd further, forcing him to sign the Treaty of Gwerneigron on 29 August 1241, and even more humiliating terms in London on 24 October that year. Dafydd was stripped of all the lands his father had won since 1215, Gruffudd and his son Owain Goch were taken into the Tower of London by the king, pending a partition of the remaining lands of Gwynedd between them. Ednyfed, together with his son Hywel, bishop of St Asaph, swore to ensure Dafydd would follow the terms of this treaty as well. Gruffudd died in a botched attempt to escape from the Tower of London on St David's Day in 1244. Consequently, a revolt erupted throughout Wales against royal rule, and Dafydd acted as its leader. While enjoying some initial successes, Dafydd's alliance was defeated in late 1245. In his last recorded action on behalf of the princes of Gwynedd, Ednyfed led a group of envoys parlaying with Henry III at his court at Degannwy sometime in 1245. Dafydd died on 25 February 1246, and an English annalist writing in Chester records Ednyfed's death in the same year: he was memorialised as , further suggesting he held legal authority in Gwynedd, though according to David Stephenson it is "highly unlikely" that the use of the title by an English chronicle"reflects Venedotian usage the middle of the thirteenth century. ==Elegy==

's elegy to Ednyfed Fychan and Tegwared ab Iarddur|left|alt=An image of a manuscript containing Ednyfed's elegy Together with a certain obscure nobleman named Tegwared ab Iarddur, Ednyfed was the recipient of a , or elegy, by the court poet Elidir Sais II. This poem is preserved a seventeenth-century manuscript known as Liber B, copied by the seventeenth-century priest and antiquary John Davies of Mallwyd. The source of John Davies' copy of the poem is unclear. Elidir's poem does not survive in the Hendregadredd Manuscript, the most important source for twelfth- and thirteenth-century early Welsh court poetry, or the Red Book of Hergest, though Nerys Ann Jones postulates the poem was originally copied on now-lost folios in the third quire of the Hendregadredd Manuscript. Elidir Sais opens the elegy with a dramatic picture of himself standing above Ednyfed's freshly dug grave. In the first three englyn, he praises Ednyfed and Tegwared individually, then jointly. He highlights their generosity and support for poets, but he also emphasises their ferocity in battle. The earth is portrayed as an actively destructive and malevolent force, while the grave closes inescapably around the dead, like honeysuckle around a branch. However, the hope of heaven becomes a certainty at the end. Ednyfed's role as a is not explicitly mentioned, but his and Tegwared's status as noblemen is apparent from the reference to their being 'warriors of great fame around their lord' at the end of the poem, though this may be a reference to God. Ednyfed is the first lay official in medieval Wales to whom there is surviving poetry. There are no surviving poems to court officials of the twelfth century. Ednyfed's successor Goronwy also was the recipient of two elegies, and Goronwy's son another. Because of this, David Stephenson suggested that "it would seem that the leading officials might have been beginning to rival the prince himself". There is not much biographical information related about Ednyfed in the elegy, though Ednyfed is compared to two of Arthur's warriors Cai and Bedwyr, and praised for his generosity and skill in warfare, especially against the English. This may be a reference to the feat which won him his coat of arms, but it is also a standard topos in poetry of the period. Elidir's elegy for Ednyfed and Tegwared is also curious because it is one poem sung to two different subjects who are not connected in any surviving genealogy. However, it is possible they were somehow related, as joint elegies for relatives are known elsewhere in Middle Welsh court poetry. They may also have been joint recipients of an elegy because they died on the same day: Elidir says "" "Bearing grief on the calends of October [is] torturous for me", which suggests Ednyfed and Tegwared died on 1 October 1246. ==Ednyfed and the role of the ==

28|alt=a thirteenth-century illustration of the , holding a dish Ednyfed's tenure as appears to have coincided with great changes in the role, though Ednyfed is the first about whom much is known. The role appears in the Welsh law texts as the third of the king's officers, "chief over all the officials". The name of the office comes from the Old English , a term originally referring to a dish-bearer in the Anglo-Saxon court. The 's duties as recorded in the native Welsh laws state he was supposed to be in charge of the kitchens of the court, and it was his duty to hand round the 'supper-money' paid to the other officials. This arrangement was clearly obsolete by the thirteenth century, yet even the Latin translations of the laws do not translate as or , as do other contemporary Latin sources, but instead as 'follower, servant', a title more appropriate for one in a domestic role. Although the title originates from Old English, the role itself is likely much older, corresponding to the Irish position of 'food-distributor', and the role may originally have been referred to by the name . However, the evidence of Ednyfed's service in this role is markedly different from a chief domestic servant, suggesting the nature of the office changed drastically in the early thirteenth century. Numerous indications suggest he was the prince's closest regular adviser throughout the century, rather than simply being the chief manager of his household as depicted in the laws. This is evident from his frequent presence working with the prince, witnessing his charters and other documents, and carrying out diplomatic missions on his behalf. In lists of witnesses to charters or diplomatic envoys, Ednyfed is almost always at the head of the list of the prince's ministers, with his name generally following those of ecclesiastical dignitaries and subject rulers. This involvement in judicial and military matters is particularly noteworthy, especially when compared to the functions granted to him in the laws. His military functions came apparently at the expense of the , captain of the household troop, whom the laws state should be a near relative of the ruler. It might have been safer for the prince to entrust its leadership to a trusted servant, rather than to an official whose lineage and position made him a possible subversive element in the kingdom. ==Marriages and family==

Ednyfed was twice married, first to Tangwystl, daughter of Llywarch ap Brân, brother-in-law and perhaps of Owain Gwynedd. Tangwystl was the mother of Ednyfed's children Tudur (died 1281), lord of Y Nant and Llangynhafal, Llywelyn, lord of Creuddyn, Hywel, Bishop of St Asaph (1240–47), Cynwrig, also lord of Creuddyn, and Iorwerth y Gwahanglwyfus ('the leprous'). Ednyfed's most prominent sons were the product of his marriage with Gwenllian, namely Goronwy, lord of Trecastell, and Gruffudd, lord of Henglawdd, both of whom followed him as in the kingdom of Gwynedd. and Gwenllian, who married Tegwared y Baiswen, the illegitimate son of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. Ednyfed also had two daughters by unknown mothers, Angharad and Gwenllian, as well as a son, Tudur Gwilltyn. Heilyn ap Cynfrig is also recorded as having served in the government of Gwynedd in the years 1222–1241. Ednyfed's service to Llywelyn was rewarded by not only grants of lands in his native Rhos, but also in Anglesey, Ceredigion, and Ystrad Tywi. Ednyfed's lineage enjoyed unique privileges regarding their tenure on this land. This exempted him and his descendants from many services and renders owed to the prince except military service, which would be paid for at the prince's expense. This special tenure was extended to his descendants, known as the , though even Ednyfed's brothers and their descendants held land under the same privileges. Because his more distant relatives held land under this tenure in Rhufoniog and Rhos, it may have been intended to aid in the defence of important routes into Snowdonia. This arrangement lasted even after Edward I's conquest of Wales, and allowed members of the dynasty to become wealthier than other nobles owning similar amounts of land. ==Legacy==

Llys Euryn and St Trillo's chapel , Ednyfed's chapel Ednyfed Fychan appears to have built a manor at Bryn Euryn or Dinerth, overlooking the modern towns of Colwyn Bay and Rhos-on-Sea, though none of this construction survives. In a meeting which also passed the sentence of execution on William de Braose held at the manor of Ystrad south of Denbigh on 1 May 1230, Ednyfed was issued letters patent by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth confirming his purchase from his distant cousins of land around the St Trillo's church, to which Ednyfed was to pay two shillings each Easter. Ednyfed had a chapel erected adjoining an earlier twelfth-century church at Dinerth, now dedicated to Saint Trillo. However, much of the fabric of the modern church dates from the sixteenth century, with only two arches surviving at the west end of its north wall from the thirteenth century chapel. The church was also mentioned in the Norwich Taxation of 1254, which Pope Innocent IV commissioned in order to assess the value of clerical property for taxation. Ednyfed's successors as Ednyfed appears to have left an expectation that his sons would follow him into the highest levels of service to the kings of Gwynedd. Ednyfed's eldest son Tudur served Dafydd ap Llywelyn together with his father. However, he was seized by Henry III during Dafydd's rebellion in late 1245, and kept in the Tower of London until his release in late 1246, when he swore fealty to the king and promised to not countenance the king's enemies, with his son Heilyn kept in the Tower as surety until 1263. With their eldest brother Tudur in the Tower when Gwynedd Uwch Conwy was partitioned between Owain Goch and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1247, Goronwy and Gruffudd ab Ednyfed became their respective . Their early appearance in service of the sons of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn may suggest they were supporters of Gruffudd himself rather than his brother Dafydd even during Dafydd's reign and their father Ednyfed's tenure as his . Llywelyn reunited Gwynedd in 1255 and Gruffudd died in about 1256; afterwards, Goronwy became Llywelyn's in turn. Goronwy served in this position for over a decade and is recorded as the prince's in the Treaty of Montgomery, dying in 1268. Goronwy was succeeded by Ednyfed's eldest son Tudur, who was until his death in 1281. Even Dafydd ab Einion Fychan, the last recorded of Gwynedd who died in Brycheiniog alongside Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in late 1282, was a grandson of Ednyfed as his mother was Angharad, daughter of Ednyfed Fychan. According to historian Glyn Roberts, "[e]ven before the conquest of 1282... 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." However, his most politically important descendants were the Tudors of Penmynydd. The Tudors of Penmynydd were descended from Ednyfed's son Goronwy. Goronwy ab Ednyfed's son Tudur Hen was a major landowner and administrator in North Wales, as was his son Goronwy ap Tudur Hen and Goronwy's sons Hywel and Tudur ap Goronwy. These brothers were also important patrons of Gruffudd ap Maredudd ap Dafydd, the last of the , or 'rather early poets' a term used to describe the poets who composed in the style of the Poets of the Princes (c. 1100–1283). The Owen Tudor who married Catherine of Valois and was grandfather to the future Henry VII was a grandson of Tudur ap Goronwy, making Ednyfed Fychan the originator of the dynasty. The junior members of this family continued to own land in Anglesey until the late eighteenth century. ==Arms==

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