William ap Thomas

William ap Thomas was the son of Sir Thomas ap Gwyllym, Knt (d. 1438) of Perth-hir House and Maud Morley, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Morley of Llansantffraed. In 1400 Thomas and his wife Maud inherited Llansantffraed Court, the country seat and estate of Sir John Morley. Llansantffraed Court was located approximately west of the town of Raglan and Raglan Castle, near Clytha and Abergavenny, Wales. of Henry I of England have been largely discounted as forgeries, and the dynasty is now considered to be of native Welsh origin, as a cadet branch of the pre-Norman Royal Family of the Kingdom of Gwent. The second earl of the tenth creation quartered the ancient royal arms of Gwent in the 1620 heraldic Visitation, which supports this claim. ==The Blue Knight of Gwent==

Sir William was thought by antiquarians to have fought at the Battle of Agincourt and Joseph Edmondson (died 1786) states that Sir William was made knight banneret on the battlefield by Henry V. More recent research of the rolls, however, of those who went to France has failed to reveal his name. and a primary source for Edmondson's assertion has not been found. It is possible he was in the entourage of his future wife's father Davy Gam, who fell at Agincourt. Primary sources exist to show that he was made a Knight Bachelor by Henry VI in 1426; and—as Octavius Morgan (died 1888) pointed out—he could not have been knighted twice. He became known to his compatriots as "Y marchog glas o Went" (the Blue Knight of Gwent), because of the colour of his armour. • William was Steward of the Lordship of Abergavenny by 1421. • He was appointed High Sheriff of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire in 1435. • In 1440, he was appointed the position as High Sheriff of Glamorgan. • In 1442 or 1443, William became Chief Steward of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York's estates in Wales. • Was a member of the Duke of York's military council. While William played an active role for the Duke of York, his sphere of influence was generally limited to South Wales. == Death and burial ==

, where they were both buried William ap Thomas died in London in 1445 and his body was brought back to Wales. == Family ==

William married first in 1406 Elizabeth (died 1420 Before marrying Berkeley she had married and become the widow of Sir Bartholomew Picot. Elizabeth's third marriage, to William, was childless. William and Gwladys had children: • William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1423–1469) took the surname Herbert. William's allegiance to Richard, Duke of York, and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, branded him Edward IV's Welsh "master-lock". He was the first full-blooded Welshman to enter the English peerage and he was knighted in 1452. He married Anne Devereux, daughter of Sir Walter Devereux, in 1449, and they had issue. The modern Herbert family that holds the earldoms of Pembroke, Montgomery, and Carnarvon, are descended from an illegitimate son of this William Herbert. • • Sir Richard Herbert of Coldbrook, near Abergavenny; died at the Battle of Edgcote in 1469. • Margaret married Sir Henry Wogan, and treasurer of the Earldom of Pembroke, tasked with securing war material for the defence of Pembroke Castle. Henry and his father, John Wogan of Picton, witnessed an act of Bishop Benedict in 1418. Their son, Sir John Wogan, was killed at the Battle of Edgcote in 1465, fighting by the side of his uncle, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Other children less consistently attributed to Gwladys and William include: Maud, Olivia, Elizabeth (who married Welsh country gentlemen, John ab Gwilym), The Visitation records state "This coate of Pr pale nebule Ar. B. was ye coate armor of Sr Willm ap Thomas, from whom this familye chalengeth to be descended." members of the clergy such as Methodist minister the Reverend William Courtenay Thomas and his descendants, and related pioneering families in Australia. Raglan Castle When Sir John Bloet died, Raglan manor passed to Elizabeth Bloet and her husband James Berkeley. When William's wife Elizabeth died in 1420, Elizabeth's son Lord James Berkeley inherited Raglan Manor. William resided at Raglan manor as a tenant of his stepson :"The Earle of Penbroke that was created Earle by King Edward the four bult the Castell sumptuously at the first ::Not farre from thence, a famous castle fine ::That Raggland hight, stands moted almost round ::Made of freestone, upright straight as line ::Whose workmanship in beautie doth abound ::The curious knots, wrought all with edged toole ::The stately tower, that looks ore pond and poole ::The fountaine trim, that runs both day and night ::Doth yield in showe, a rare and noble sight" Dafydd Llwyd proclaimed Raglan the castle with its "hundred rooms filled with festive fare, its hundred towers, parlours and doors, its hundred heaped-up fires of long-dried fuel, its hundred chimneys for men of high degree." ==Notes==