Sorry that I am resurrecting and old thread...and an older lineage I suppose.
I am a simple man and a son of a coal miners of Pennsylvania. Who is now living in a simple market town in Gwent (somewhat ironically if you are familiar with the Sons of Idwal ap Anarawd and his brother.
6. The Anwyl family are not the only descendants in a direct male line of one of the sons of Owain Gwynedd - in fact descendants exist from an elder son than the one the Anwyl's descend from.
Quoting above from James Frankcom :
""Last Ruler of Wales"
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (1246-1282) was arguably the last independent prince among the Welsh to reign in any part of Wales. There was his brother Dafydd who followed him for six months in 1282/3 and after that some rebellions (the most significant being Owain Glyndwr from 1400-1409) but otherwise the family to which Llywelyn ap Gruffudd belonged - the House of Aberffraw - were the last rulers of any part of Wales in a legal and literal sense, maintaining their independence from the English Crown throughout most of the 12th and 13th Centuries, some time after the other realms (e.g. Powys and Deheubarth) had yielded.
"Main Ruler of Wales"
As to whether the house of Aberffraw to which Llywelyn the Great and Llywelyn the Last belonged were the "main" rulers of Wales, it can be safely said that the House of Aberrffraw had claimed paramountcy over all the other princely houses in Wales from their very foundation. They had a strong legal basis for doing so. Whether they were able to exercise that authority was a different matter. But more than any other dynast they dominated Wales consistently for over seven hundred years.
Their claim of paramountcy derived from the following:
The House of Aberffraw claimed its ancient ancestry lay with the far older 'House of the North'. This northern house were male line descendants of King Coel the Old (c.350-420AD), the last Roman "Dux" of northern Britannia who appears to have ruled from Eboracum, modern York. They asserted this claim through Merfyn Frych, king of Gwynedd (825-844AD) who was descended in the male line from Llywarch Hen (r.534-608) and before that Coel the Old (Colius Dux Britanniae).
The House of Aberffraw also claimed its ancestry lay with the 'House of Cunedda' through Essylt, the mother of Merfyn Frych. Essylt was the daughter of King Cynan of Gwynedd - the last of the House of Cunedda. He was a male line descendant of Cunedda Wledig whose right to Wales was through conquest; having driven out the Irish from Wales in c.370AD and ruled most of Wales until his death, c.425).
The House of Cunedda, ancestors of the House of Aberffraw via Essylt, mother of Merfyn, included King Cadwaladr ap Cadfan (reigned 625-634) and his son King Cadwallon the Blessed (655-682), who apart from being kings of Gwynedd were the last two named "High Kings of Britain".
Merfyn Frych, who I mentioned previously, was succeeded by his son Rhodri the Great (Rhodri Mawr). Rhodri united almost all of Wales through marriage and conquest. When Rhodri died his great realm was divided out between his three sons; the eldest son, Anarawd, and his heirs became the kings of Gwynedd and were known as the "House of Aberffraw"; the younger sons (Merfyn and Cadell) and their descendants became the kings of Powys and Deheubarth (respectively). During Rhodri Mawr's lifetime he put in place a system whereby his younger sons, Merfyn and Cadell, paid homage to his elder son, Anarawd. The younger sons swore that both they and their successors in Powys and Deheubarth (known as the Houses of Mathrafal and Dinefwr respectively) would likewise owe homage - for ever - to the descendants of Anarawd, the Kings of Gwynedd of House Aberffraw.
King Anarawd (878-916) was styled "King of the Britons" in the Annals Cambrae in acknowledgement of these circumstances.
King Gruffydd ap Cynan of Gwynedd (1081-1137), a direct descendant of Anarawd (male line, of course) reinforced the homage of lesser princes among the Welsh
King Owain ap Gruffydd (1137-1170), his son, also claimed to be "King of the Welsh" and was acknowledged as the foremost prince among the Welsh.
Prince Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (1195-1240), the grandson of Owain ap Gruffydd and popularly known as Llywelyn the Great, was acknowledged by all the other Welsh princes as their liege-lord at the Council of Aberdyfi in 1216 and recognised as "Prince of Wales" by King Henry III of England in the Treaty of Worcester (1218).
Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn (1240-1246) was also acknowledged as Prince of Wales and paramount ruler of Wales (owing fealty to the King of England) during his short reign
Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (1246-1282), nephew of Dafydd, was also recognised as Prince of Wales by Henry III in the Treaty of Montgomery (1267) and briefly by his successor, Edward I. He received the homage of all the other Welsh rulers in the 1250s and enforced his rule across all 'Waliae Pura' (that is those parts of Wales ruled by Welshmen). However, Llywelyn refused to to swear fealty to Edward I and was eventually overthrown by the armies of England in 1282.
So, when Llywelyn asserted that he was the rightful ruler of Wales he had a lot of precedence to back him up. This was why he would not tolerate the dastardly activities of Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, the Prince of Powys and why the princes of the House of Dinefwr flocked to him. Llywelyn's ancestors had usually been the main rulers of Wales and because of the settlement made between the sons of Rhodri Mawr could claim paramountcy over all the Welsh (except Gwent which remained outside the lands of Rhodri) on a legal basis.
As such, the living heirs of the House of Aberffraw, in the male line, are not only the living heirs of Owain ap Gruffydd, "King of the Welsh" but are also the heirs of Rhodri Mawr and before that of Cadwallon and Coel Hen in an unbroken line stretching back more than sixty generations to the end of the Roman Empire. Heritage indeed."
"During Rhodri Mawr's lifetime he put in place a system whereby his younger sons, Merfyn and Cadell, paid homage to his elder son, Anarawd. The younger sons swore that both they and their successors in Powys and Deheubarth (known as the Houses of Mathrafal and Dinefwr respectively) would likewise owe homage - for ever - to the descendants of Anarawd, the Kings of Gwynedd of House Aberffraw."
Hywel Dda (Hywel ap Cadell of the House of Dinefwr) broke the oath, and took Gwynedd from Idwal ap Anarawrds sons Iago ap Idwal and Ieun ap Idwal, the rightful heirs to Rhodri Mawr's seat. Although later they were able to reclaim and ruled jointly of Gwynedd,
Rhodri Mawr had three sons, the eldest being Anarawd ap Rhodri Mawr. Anarawd had a brother, Cadell ap Rhodri Mawr, King of Seisyllwg. The Eldest son of Anarawd ap Rhodri Mawr was Idwal Foel ab Anarawd. Upon his death the titles should have passed to Iago ap Idwal, but it was forcefully taken from him from his Uncle and sons.
From Iago comes Owain ab Iago, of Holt, who was father to Gruffudd ap Owain and Brother of Angharad verch Iago and Custennin Ddu "The Black" ab Iago(who led a failed revolt to retake Gweyndd. Custennin's nephew Owain (ap Iago) was orphaned and he was taken as a steward to the Norman Lords and eventually were made into the Clerks of Chester and married into the Line of Hugh I of Chester De Avaranches, and the Son of Owain was named Sir William Le Belward (ap Owain) (The good Ward). The Hugh family married the Fitzhugh daughters (possibly illegitimate) into the "Belward"(ap Owain) line, thus protecting the lineage for their service to the Norman Lords as Knights and leaders of military. In the line of William ap Owain (Le Bel ward) the male decendants were married onto De Duttons, De Kingsleys, Fitzhughs and other powerful Norman families to keep the line in Nobility. William Le Belward died in Somme, Picardie, France after his military service to Hugh the Fat. Eventually they were given lands in Malpas and became Clerks for the Earls of Chester. So, thus, the senior line of Anarawd became Knights and then simple Clerks (Le Clerc de Malpas) of the Earls of Chester, but lives to this day. I may not have a direct male line (2 females), and I may have close bonds with those who have stronger claim, but this is my blood.
