Gwenllian was the daughter of Gruffudd ap Cynon, King of Gwynedd. She was a beautiful lady who married the Prince of Deheubarth, Gruffudd ap Rhys. She became the mother of four sons; Meredudd, Morgan, Maelgwyn and Rhys.
In 1136 the Normans were the rulers of Wales and this had never set well with the Welsh people. They rebelled against the Norman tyranny and a great battle was fought near Loughor in which many Norman soldiers died.
Gwenllian’s husband decided to try and regain what he had lost under the Norman ruler and set out to gain allies to support him in the North of Wales. This was to prove a costly and fatal mistake for his family.
The Lord of Kidwelly, Maurice de Londres, decided to take of advantage of the absence of Gruffudd ap Rhys and avenge the defeat of Loughor. Gwenllian found about these plans and decided to thwart Maurice at Kidwelly.
Gwenllian gathered an army of Welshmen and led an attack as it s commander in chief. She led her army to a battlefield near Kidwelly, but Maurice’s army would proved to be far superior to that of Gwenllian’s.
The battle was bloody and fatal to Gwenllian and her son Morgan. They were both beheaded on the site that has been known since that time as Maesgwenllian (Gwenllian’s field).
Her death resulted in a thirst for revenge that may never again be matched. Her courage and valor gave the Welsh a rallying point to unite them against the Normans and drive them from Welsh soil.
Her husband gained his revenge just months after Gwenllian’s death when he and her brothers rousted the Normans out of Ceredigion. Her son Rhys, who was a toddler at the time of her death, further exacted revenge when he won back his father’s holding and became a ruler of Wales near the end of the 12th century.
Maesgwenllian is today a lovely area of Wales to visit. You can see Kidwelly and the castle from the field. It is hard to imagine the death and destruction that took place here.
But what one does feel is a stirring of pride and satisfaction that Gwenllian did succeed in death, as she had wanted to in life – to see the Normans out of Wales forever. And she has accomplished that.
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