Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/95

 succeeded him; Hywel, who was imprisoned by Arnulf Montgomery, but escaped with some bodily injury (ib. p. 295); and Nest, who married Gerald of Windsor.

The circumstantial account given in the ‘Gwentian Brut’ and in Powel's ‘Historie’ of the relations between Rhys and Iestyn ap Gwrgant of Glamorgan appears to be without historical authority. So, too, is the statement found in the Iolo MSS. (p. 215) that Rhys brought over from Brittany the ‘system of the round table,’ with rules for the bards as they were observed in Arthur's time.

[Annales Cambriæ; Bruts in Myvyrian Archaiology, 2nd edit.; Florence of Worcester; Powel's Historie of Cambria; Life of Gruffydd ap Cynan in Myv. Arch.; Freeman's Norman Conquest and William Rufus.] 

RHYS GRUFFYDD (1132?–1197), prince of South Wales, called ‘Rhys Mwynfawr’ and ‘yr Arglwydd Rhys,’ was son of Gruffydd ap Rhys (d. 1137) [q. v.] and Gwenllian, daughter of Gruffydd ap Cynan (Jesus Coll. MS. 20 in Cymrodor, viii. 88). Born about 1132, he in 1146 aided his elder brother Cadell in the capture of the castles of Dinweileir, Carmarthen, and Llanstephan; he was with Cadell, too, in his attack upon Wiston Castle in 1147. In 1150 he joined in the invasion of South Cardiganshire, which expelled Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd from the district; he and his brothers in 1151 carried the war into the tract between the Aeron and the Dovey, and almost wholly won it. Later in this year Maredudd and he burnt Loughor Castle, ravaged Gower, and repaired their castle of Dinweileir. In 1153 they completed the conquest of North Cardiganshire, took Tenby by a night surprise, and captured also the castles of Aberafan and Ystrad Cyngen. Rhys closed the year with a foray into Cyfeiliog, the region east of Machynlleth. By the departure of Cadell this year on a pilgrimage, power fell into the hands of the two youths Maredudd and Rhys, and the death of the former in 1155 left Rhys sole ruler of what was held by the Welsh in Dyfed, Ceredigion, and Ystrad Tywi. In 1156 he strengthened his northern frontier by building a castle at the mouth of the Dovey.

With the substitution of the strong hand of Henry II for the anarchy of the previous reign, Rhys's position became difficult. He made preparations for a conflict in the early part of 1158, removing all his valuables to the wilds of Ystrad Tywi. Henry, however, persuaded him to submit, and in an interview promised him Cantref Mawr and another whole ‘cantrev.’ According to the Welsh authorities this promise was not kept, and the forays of Walter Clifford, to whom Cantref Bychan was given, coupled with the establishment of Roger de Clare in Ceredigion, drove Rhys once more into rebellion [see ]. He captured Clifford's castle of Llandovery, and burnt those of Roger in Ceredigion; in 1159 he destroyed the castles of Dyfed, and attacked Carmarthen, which was, however, relieved by Reginald, earl of Cornwall [q. v.] Rhys was now beset in Dinweileir by the combined forces of the English and the North Welsh, but he successfully stood the siege. He was apparently not again disturbed until the spring of 1163, when Henry, who had now returned from the continent, marched into South Wales to reduce him to obedience. The expedition reached Pencader, where Rhys was overcome. He returned with Henry to England, and on 1 July 1163 did him homage at the council of Woodstock (, Rolls edit. i. 311). But in 1164 he was again in revolt, destroying castles in Ceredigion, and when, in the autumn of 1165, Henry led an army against the princes of North Wales, Rhys was one of the confederate chiefs who met to oppose him at Corwen. The king's failure encouraged him to attack Cardigan Castle, which he took at the beginning of November, with the aid of a clerk, one Rhygyfarch; Cilgerran also fell into his hands, as well as Robert FitzStephen, his cousin. Rhys was now master again of Ceredigion; in 1167 he joined the princes of Gwynedd in an attack on Powys, which gave him the district of Cyfeiliog, and afterwards in a long but successful siege of the royal castle of Rhuddlan. Next year he built a castle at Aber Einion, and twice invaded Brecknock, the first time unsuccessfully, the second with such a show of power as to win for him favourable terms of peace from the justiciar, Richard de Lucy [q. v.]

Rhys's position was now well assured; in 1171 he rebuilt Cardigan Castle, and reduced Owain Cyfeiliog of Powys to submission. In the autumn of the same year he took advantage of Henry's passage through South Wales on his way to Ireland to come to an understanding with him; in return for a substantial tribute, the king recognised his possession of Ceredigion, Ystrad Tywi, and two commotes of Dyfed. The arrangement was confirmed on Henry's return at an interview between him and Rhys, which took place at Laugharne in Easter week, and, according to the ‘Chronicle of the Princes,’ Rhys was soon after made ‘justice of all Deheubarth.’ In the rebellion of 1173–