Text Box: The arms pictured to the left were those used by the Royal House of Gwynedd in particular Llewelyn ap Iorwerth better known as Llewelyn Mawr (the Great) who was recognized as Prince of Wales, he ruled from 1195 to 1240 and was first of what is sometimes known as the House of Llewelyn. His younger son by Joan daughter of King John of England was Dafydd II who succeeded his father in 1240 but died without legitimate issue in 1246. The succession then passed jointly to two of the sons of Llewelyn Mawr’s eldest son Gruffydd they were Owain Goch 1246 to 1255 and Llewelyn III 1246 to 1282. Llewelyn III (ap Gruffydd) deposed his brother Owain to become sole Prince of Wales in 1255 and was recognized Prince of all Wales in 1263. In December 1282 Llewelyn was killed at Cilmeri near Builth his body was mutilated but what was left of his remains are said to have been taken by Monks to Abbeycumhir. After the death of Llewelyn he was briefly succeeded by his younger brother Dafydd III who was murdered by Edward I at Shrewsbury in 1283 on the false charge of treason. The last of the legitimate male line of Llewelyn Mawr was Owain Lawgoch (of the red hand) he was murdered on the orders of the English King in 1378. Many were descended of Llewelyn Mawr’s five daughters but only one was married in to another Royal Welsh line she was Angharad. Angharad’s first husband was Maelgwyn Fychan Grandson to The Lord Rhys (Prince of South Wales), this union united the two great Royal Houses of Wales. Much of this later line was either butchered or imprisoned by Edward I but some did escape and went on to have issue. One of their daughters, Margaret, married Owain ap Maredudd and their daughter and sole heir Janet (or Joned) married Einion the Lord of Cefn~y~Llys this line continued for many generations and some can lay claim to be descended of this native Welsh line. Another of their daughters was Elenor who married Maredudd ap Owain another descendant of The Lord Rhys, Their Great Grandson was Thomas ap Llewelyn who died in 1343 he in turn was the Great Grandfather of Owain Glyn Dwr and the Great Great Great Grandfather of Henry Tudor (Henry VII) the first Welsh king of England. Text Box: The arms pictured to the left were those used by Owain Glyn Dwr who was proclaimed Prince of Wales on the 16th of September 1400. He was one of our greatest Welsh heroes and perhaps the most well known, he came so close to succeeding in creating a long lasting independent Wales. The War of the Roses traced its origins to the time of Owain Glyn Dwr at the beginning of the 15th Century. The Irony is that this dynastic English civil war was brought to an end on the 22nd of August 1485, by a Welshman, Henry Tudor, who had a much better claim to the throne of Wales than he ever did of England. When Parliament offered to Legitimize Henry’s claim to the throne of England he answered by saying he was King by conquest and that was all that mattered. Of course that did not stop him or his heirs having to fight the occasional rival from the old Plantagenet dynasty. When Henry VII became king he brought with him a large retinue of Welsh followers some of which were Lawyers, Clerics and other men of letters, one of which was a man who bore the surname Williams. This Williams settled in Putney and married his son Morgan to Katherine Cromwell the daughter of a local blacksmith, Walter Cromwell. Walter was also father of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Minister, who was executed for treason in 1540. Before Thomas Cromwell’s death his nephew Richard Williams, son of Morgan & Katherine, changed his name to Cromwell. Richard Cromwell, as he became, was the Great Grandfather of “The Fen-land Farmer” himself. The Welsh PrincesHOMEText Box: Copyright © Rhodri ap Dafydd 2015.