Iestyn ab Owain, King Of Glywiyssing

Please see Darrell Wolcott: Maredudd ap Owain, King of Deheubarth; http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id206.html. (Steven Ferry, July 17, 2020.)

Please see Darrell Wolcott: Two Families Headed by a Rhydderch ap Iestyn; http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id212.html. (Steven Ferry, July 18, 2020.)

Please see Darrell Wolcott: The 'Next Heir' of Morgan of Caerleon; http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id214.html. (Steven Ferry, September 18, 2020.)

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In 983 the people of Gwent re- belled against Owen ap Howel Dda, who had now for some years been prince of South Wales. His son Eineon marched against them, but was defeated and killed. However, the insurrection appears to have bfeen put down. Prince Owen died in 987. He had several sons. Edwallon died in 972; Eineon, who seems to have been the eldest, was killed as above in 983; Llewarch had his eyes put out by Godfrid the Dane, after which we have no further account of him; Meredith succeeded his father in South Wales, and having made himself master of North Wales and Powis, became sole prince of Wales ; he died in 998; Jestyn, lord of Jestynston in Pembrokeshire, who succeeded to Caerleon; and Grono. The names of the two last are omitted in the Welsh chronicles, although several existing families trace their descent from Jestyn. This has involved the historians of Wales in a series of the most absurd anachronisms that it is possible to imagine. The similarity of their names has led them to identify this Jestyn ap Owen with Jestyn ap Gurgan, the last prince of Glamorgan, who was dispos- sessed by Fitz Hamon a century afterwards. The consequence of this blunder has been to throw the whole history of Wales at this period into confusion. At what time Jestyn ap Owen died I have not discovered. His son Rhydderch, however, on the death of Llewelyn ap Sitsyllt in 1021, made himself master of the princi- pality of South Wales. It is evident that a person who was oldenough and powerful enough to seize upon the government of South Wales in 1021, could not possibly be the son of a prince of Glamorgan who was alive and at the head of his troops in 1090. Modern historians, however, having put Rhydderch down as the son of Jestyn ap Gurgan, are puzzled to account for his title to South Wales. To get over this difficulty, a chronicle published in the Myfyrian Archaiology, called Llyfr Aberpergwm � evidently a comparatively modern composition � states that Aeddon ap Blego- rad, the usurper of North Wales, who died in 1015, had made him his heir. It is evident, however, that with the exception of his cousins the sons of Eineon ap Owen ap Howel Dda, he had as good a title to South Wales as any of his competitors. The same pretended chroni- cle, called Llyfr Aberpergwm, gravely informs us that in the year 994 Jestyn married Denis, daughter of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, prince of Powis. Now as Bleddyn ap Cynfyn did not die till 1073, it is totally impossible that he could have had a marriageable daughter in 994, even if he himself were in existence, which is very doubtful, as he is nowhere represented as a very old man. This lady, how- ever, figures in many pedigrees as the mother of Rhydderch; and to complete the absurdity, we are told that Caradoc ap Griffith ap Rhydderch ap Jestyn married another daughter of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, that is to say, his great grandmother's sister. The truth seems to be that the mother of Rhydderch and wife of Jestyn ap Owen, was a daughter of Elystan Glodrid, a chieftain who died about 1010, and that the wives of Jestyn ap Gurgan and Caradoc ap Griffith were sisters, daughters of Bleddyn. Many more anachronisms almost as absurd have originated from this confusion of persons, and the unfortunate Jestyn ap Gurgan, whose greatest crime appears to have been his misfortunes, has been handed down to posterity as a monster of vice and immorality, it being evident from the dates that much of what is alleged against him applies in fact to the son of Owen ap Howel Dda.Reference: Welsh Journals Online - Archaeologia Cambrensis