The Tale of Two Gwenllians

Welsh history is blessed with two wonderfully named Gwenllians, although they seem to get confused with one another in certain circles even though they lived about two hundred years apart. So, who were our two Gwenllians?

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd was born in 1100AD on Ynys Môn, the daughter of Gruffudd ap Cynan. Gwenllian was said to be incredibly beautiful and she was so attractive that after Gruffudd ap Rhys, the then Prince of Deheubarth had travelled to Gwynedd to meet her father, the two eloped. She joined her husband at Dinefwr, the seat of the princes of Deheubarth at a time when the kingdom faced challenges from the Normans, English and Flemish settlers.

In 1136, Stephen de Blois usurped the Empress Matilda to the throne of England, the period which followed is known in English history as ‘the Anarchy’ and that should give you some idea of the upheaval it created. Crucially, it damaged the central authority of the English crown and the Welsh saw an opportunity to cause some trouble of their own. Beginning in Brycheiniog, the Welsh forces there defeated a Norman-English army at the battle of Llwchwr. Gwenllian’s husband, Gruffudd ap Rhys, was emboldened by this and travelled north to seek an alliance with Gwynedd. However, whilst he was away, the Norman lord Maurice of London raided Deheubarth and forced Gwenllian to lead an army in its defence. At a battle fought near Cydweli, she was captured and killed by beheading, but far from ending the revolt her death acted as a catalyst to other Welsh people. In Gwent, the Marcher lord Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare was slaughtered by the forces of Iowerth ab Owain. Gwenllian’s brothers Owain and Cadwaladr invaded Ceredigion and took back Aberystwyth, Llanbadarn and Llanfihangel.

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd has entered history in much a similar style as Boudica, a warrior female, depicted with a sword and sometimes in a chariot! Obviously, those depictions are incredibly fanciful, but Gwenllian remains a Welsh folk hero to this day and the only Welsh woman on record to have led an army in battle.

Our second Gwenllian was the daughter of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and furthermore, as her mother was Eleanor de Montfort, that made her maternal great-grandfather King John I. Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn was born in 1282 at Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd but sadly during the birth, Eleanor died.

Just months after her birth, Gwenllian was captured, along with her uncle at Nanhysglain where they had been hiding following Edward I’s conquest of Wales. Dafydd, her uncle, was later taken to Shrewsbury where he was executed but Gwenllian joined Dafydd’s daughters in being placed in priories in Lincolnshire. The purpose of doing so was to stop them from becoming martyrs to the Welsh and equally importantly to prevent them from having children. Gwenllian was sent to Sempringham Priory, being so young it is unlikely Gwenllian ever really remembered her past or her royal connections. She probably spoke little to no Welsh and thus probably couldn’t properly pronounce her own name; she has been shown to sign her own as ‘Wentliane’. Edward, however, was still fully aware of her position and in writing to the Pope to ask for money for Sempringham Priory he explicitly refers to Gwenllian as the ‘Princess of Wales’. Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn died in Sempringham Priory in 1337. There is still a memorial to Gwenllian at Sempringham, inscribed in both Welsh and English.

Both of our Gwenllian’s led quite different lives, one died a martyr to Welsh freedom whilst the other died quietly in a corner of England almost a metaphor for the death of the freedom of Wales. That the two should be mixed up is probably due to the uniqueness of their names but both have stories that are equally as tragic and deserve to be told separately.