Greetings,
I do hope all of you are getting the Welsh Castle newsletter that I
mentioned months ago. This issue highlights an aritcle on our cousin.
This website has tons of genealogies for the Welsh royal lines and many
interesting facts on castles, etc.
Visit the sites mentioned in the excerpt of the newsletter (see addr below
to sub).
From the Welsh Castles newsletter:
FEATURE OF THE MONTH
The featured article of the month for May is our essay on Llywelyn ap
Iorwerth, known to history as Llywelyn the Great. Many historians view
Llywelyn as the outstanding Welsh ruler of the 13th century. Not only was he
a skilled and respected military leader, he was skilled at playing the
political game as well. As a result, Llywelyn was able to establish himself,
for a time, as the de-facto ruler of a largely independent Wales, a position
not enjoyed by the house of Gwynedd since the days of Owain Gwynedd.
Although it is thought that the first Welsh castle builder of note in north
Wales was either Owain Gwynedd or his sons, Llywelyn was the first northern
ruler to regularly build his castles in stone. Llywelyn's impressive
fortresses at Criccieth, Castell y Bere, Dolwyddelan, Dolbadarn, and Ewloe,
stand as a testament to his determination to meet the Norman threat and
protect his native Gwynedd.
Llywelyn the Great died in 1240, and, although his son and chosen heir
Dafydd would attempt to carry on his father's legacy, it would be left to
Llywelyn's grandson, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, a generation later to once again
ignite the struggle for an independent Wales.
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth is among an elite group of important Welsh rulers who
fought their entire lives to make an independent Wales a reality, however
only two of these leaders have been graced with the epitaph "the Great". The
first is Rhodri Mawr, (mentioned above), and the other is Llywelyn.
This article is found at:
http://www.castlewales.com/llewelyn.html
(This page is also available in Welsh.)
Other links from the Llywelyn page include:
The Palace of Llywelyn: Pen Y Bryn
http://www.castlewales.com/pen.html
Medieval Welsh Warriors and Warfare
http://www.castlewales.com/warfare.html
Genealogy of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth
http://www.castlewales.com/gwynedd.html
If you haven't joined, contact Jeffrey:
http://www.totalwales.com
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Thanks again to everyone for your support.
See you in July! (or maybe August or September :-)
Jeffrey L. Thomas
e-mail: jltbalt(a)worldnet.att.net
The Castles of Wales Web Site:
http://www.castlewales.com/home.html
The Castle Studies Group web site
http://www.castlewales.com/csg.html
Wales on the Web:
http://www.castlewales.com/walesweb.html