TUDOR TREVOR ¹

  General Notes:

See http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id55.html

Seated on the northern march of Wales just south of Chester, this family represents a junior branch of the first Royal Dynasty of Powys. While careless genealogists equate the Cadell who sits atop its pedigree with the fifth century Cadell Ddyrnllwg, this family actually split from the royal line about the start of the seventh century.[1] We believe its Cadell was the "King Cadell" who fell at the Battle of Chester[2], probably a son of Cynan Garwyn and younger brother of Selyf.

The traditional history of Wales (a mixture of fact and legend) as it affects this family is outlined by Edward Hamer in his "A Parochial Account of Llangurig".[3] The following statements are extracted from that account, with our comments in italics following each paragraph:

Ynyr was Lord of Chirk, Whittington, Oswestry, Maelor Cymraeg and Maelor Saesnaeg in Powysland, being the son of Cadfarch ap Gwrgeneu. In the year 870, he built the castle of Whittington. By his wife Rhiengar, daughter and heiress of Lluddoca ap Caradog Freichfras, Lord of Hereford, Gloucester, Erging and Ewias, Ynyr had a son Tudor called Trevor for his birthplace. In 907, Tudor Trevor married Angharad, daughter of Hywel Dda. He had three sons:

(Our timeline for this family would place the birth of Ynyr at c. 870. He may have resided at Whittington but the castle was still over 150 years in the future for Wales. The first stone castle at Whittington was built on the site of an earlier hill fort in the 13th century. The Caradog Freichfras who was grandfather to Rheingar was the ninth century man of Rhos in north Wales, not the sixth century same-named man of Ewias[4]. We date the birth of Tudor Trevor c. 900 and his marriage would have occurred c. 928/930)

(1) Gronwy, who died in his father's lifetime, married Tangwystl, daughter of Dyfnwal ap Alan ap Alser ap Tudwal Gloff ap Rhodri Mawr, by whom he had an only daughter and heiress, Rhiengar who succeeded to her grandfather's lands in Hereford, Gloucester, Erging and Ewias. She married Cyhelin ap Ivor ap Seferus, Lord of Buillt, Radnor, Ceri, Maelienydd, Elfael and Cydewain. By Cyhelin, she was the mother of Elystan Glodrydd, Prince of Fferllys. He was born in 927 and was named after King Athelstan who was his godfather. He was living in 1010 but slain in a civil broil in Montgomeryshire.

(Tangwystl was the daughter of Dyfnwal ap Alser ap Tudwal Gloff[5]; since her father died in the lifetime of Tudor Trevor, she would inherit nothing from either man under Welsh law. And Tudor Trevor did not hold any land south of Oswestry anyway[6]. Elystan Glodrydd was born near 985/990 long after the death of King Athelstan, and likely died nearer 1050/1060.)

(2) Lluddoca was Lord of Chirk, Whittington, Oswestry and Maelor Saesnaeg and died in 1037, leaving by his wife Angharad (daughter of Iago ap Idwal of north Wales) a son Llywarch, who by Lucy his wife, daughter of Gwerystan ap Gwaethfoed, Lord of Cibwyr in Gwent, had a son and heir, Ednyfed, who married Janet, daughter of Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn and was the father of Rhys Sais.

(Lluddoca was likely born c. 930/935 and his obit is not recorded. Angharad would have been a granddaughter of Idwal Foel, not a daughter of King Iago ap Idwal whose rule began in 1033. The Lleuci who married Llywarch Gam was a daughter of Gwerystan, but he had no connection at all with lands in Gwent. His home was probably Cwybr in Tegeingl[7]. The Sioned (Janet) who married Ednyfed was a daughter of Rhiwallon ap Dyngad ap Tudor Trevor, not Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn.[8]

(3) Dyngad, Lord of Maelor Cymraeg married Cecilia, daughter of Seferus ap Cadifor, Lord of Buillt and had a son, Rhiwallon who died in 1040 and left by his wife Letitia, daughter of Cadwalar ap Pereder Goch of Mon, a son Cynwrig who succeeded his father as Lord of Maelor Cynraeg. Cynwrig was slain in 1074 during an incursion of the Danes into Maelor. By his first wife Judith, daughter of Ifor Hen of Rhos, he had five sons: Ninniaw, Ednyfed, Gruffudd, Bleddyn and Hoedliw. Cynwrig married secondly Annesta, daughter of Idnerth Benfras, Lord of Maesbrook, by whom he had seven more sons: Dafydd, Hwfa, Llewelyn, Einion, Iorwerth, Ieuaf and Bledrws and one daughter, Jane who married Madog ap Cadwgan of Nannau and had issue a son Rhiwallon.

(Rhiwallon ap Dyngad would date from c. 965 but his obit is not recorded. The lady mentioned as his wife was born c. 1145 and married a later Rhiwallon of this family. Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon ap Dyngad was born c. 995 and was definately not the man of that name reported slain in 1075 not in Maelor but in Lleyn (Gwynedd)[9]. The present Cynwrig did not marry Dyddgu (Judith) ferch Ifor Hen of Rhos; that lady dates from c. 1075 and married a later Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon. He likely did marry a daughter of Idnerth Benfras of Maesbrook[10], but their only known sons were Dafydd and Rhiwallon. The other sons listed in the account were children of much later men, as was the daughter Sian (Jane).

Tudor Trevor married Angharad, daughter of Hywel Dda and Unknown. (Angharad was born about 915.)