Wales and its History

  The murder of the Norman noble Robert of Rhuddlan Rhuddlan was enjoying a nap in his castle at Deganwy when the news was brought to him that Welsh raiders had landed in three ships underneath the Great Orme and pillaged his lands. Some sources say that these raiders were led by King Gruffudd ap Cynan, who had escaped from captivity in Chester. The raiders had beached their ships and were busy loading the plunder. Robert despatched messengers to gather his troops and hastened to the Great Orme, where he found that the rising tide was about to allow the Welsh to refloat their vessels and get away with the loot before Robert's troops could appear. In a fury, Robert rushed down the slopes to attack them, followed only by his armor-bearer. He was killed by a volley of javelins, and the raiders sailed off with his head attached to the mast of one of the vessels.'  from the north side according to Dextra Visual Ednyfed Fychan Ednyfed Fychan was a warrior who became Seneschal to the

having defeated the king of Wales Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (through treachery) IN 1063, Earl Harold of Wessex (the last Saxon king of England) decided to build a grand hunting lodge in portskewett, It was to be a lodge fit enough for a king with no expense spared. Caradog ap Gruffydd, King of Gwent had different ideas though. in 1065 he attacked and killed every person on the site and burned the building to the ground. He then went on to ravage the district with his forces Harold never had the opportunity to take revenge; in January 1066 he became king of England, and later that year was killed at the Battle of Hastings. note::The killing of the king of Wales by Harold enabled Caradog ap Gruffydd to reclaim his throne in Gwent so you think he would have owed a debt to the future English king.

"was said to be disappointed and incensed when the first Act of Union was enacted in 1536, as he believed the Welsh could not be trusted as part of England" "As the lord president, on the direction of Thomas Cromwell, he set out to bring law and order to the Welsh regions. What ensued was a reign of terror, in which Lee decided the best way to deal with the 'lawless' Welsh was to convict and hang with impunity. Lee claimed to have hanged 5000 Welshmen in his five years; possibly an exaggeration, but in any event, indicates the character of the man described as a "great despiser of Welshmen" by Dafydd Jenkins."

In 1212 King John held 28 sons of Welsh noble families hostage. Some as young as 12, lived at the castle for some time and then one day, King John ordered all the hostages executed. "A chronicler states that the boy's pitiful cries rang around the castle as one after the other they were taken up on the ramparts and hanged in a row."  ***The words bellow are taken from  A short history of Nottingham castle  *** In order to keep the Welsh Prince Llewellyn in subjection, John, had taken as hostages 28 boys, ranging from 12 to 14 years of age, and kept them in his Castle at Nottingham. It is said the news came to the King while staying at his hunting palace at Clipstone that the Welsh Prince had again broken out in revolt. Hastily summoning his followers, he held a Council beneath the spreading branches of an oak tree (now known as Parliament Oak), when the execution of the. hostages was decided upon. Then he swore “by the teeth of God” that he would not eat again

Upon the death of Llywelyn,  longshanks did all he could to get rid of any sign of Welsh independence. Firstly he dismantled most of llywelyns halls and castles.  He then tried to kill off the lineage of Llywelyn by executing his brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd and ensuring Llywelyn's only child   Gwenllian along with the daughters of her uncle Dafydd ap Gruffudd, were all confined for life in remote priories in  Lincolnshire  and never allowed freedom.  Edward also took from the welsh  Llywelyn’s coronet, the matrix of his seal, the crown  of Arthur and the most sacred of all,  the most cherished relic in the whole history of Wales, the piece of the t rue Cross known as Y Groes Naid.   It is recorded that  ''Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales and Lord of Aberffraw had deposited this crown (Welsh: Talaith) and other items (such as the Cross of Neith) with the monks at Cymer Abbey for safekeeping at the start of his final campaign in 1282'' After given to Edward

Cunedda or Cunedag Wledig (the Imperator) was a  King of  Manau Gododdin on the Firth of Forth around Clackmannanshire. Cunedda and his forebears led the Votadini against Pictish and Irish incursions south of Hadrian's Wall.  Around AD 430 and his  Votadini   army was  invited to North Wales to help the Welsh rid the area of the invading Irish pirates. He did what he come to do and expelled most of the Irish from the area.  he soon established himself in Wales,  in the territory of the Venedoti, which would become the centre  of the kingdom of Gwynedd. He was the first King of the Welsh and founder of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd which lasted nearly 1000 years and was the most powerful in the whole of Wales.  The leader of Gwynedd was often called the king of the Britons. So not only did a Scot  end the dream of Welsh independence by killing Owain Lawgoch, They started it all too.