Princess Nesta Ferch Osbern

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• Reference Number: 15959

Nesta married Bernard De Neufmarché Bef 1099. Bernard (son of Geoffrey De Neufmarché and Ada De Hugleville) was born Abt 1050; died 1125. [Group Sheet]

1. Sibyl of Neufmarché
2. Mahel De Neufmarché

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• Reference Number: 15960

Osbern — Nesta Ferch Gruffydd. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 15961

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• Reference Number: 15971

Notes:

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (c. 1007 - August 5, 1063) was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, the only Welsh monarch able to make this boast. Called King of the Britons in the Annals of Ulster and Brut y Tywysogion, he was great-great-grandson to Hywel Dda and King Anarawd ap Rhodri of Gwynedd.

Gruffydd was the elder of two sons of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, who had been able to rule both Gwynedd and Powys. On Llywelyn's death in 1023, a member of the Aberffraw dynasty, Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig, became ruler of Gwynedd. According to an early story Gruffydd had been a lazy youth, but one New Year's Eve, he was driven out of the house by his exasperated sister. Leaning against the wall of another house, he heard a cook who was boiling pieces of beef in a cauldron complain that there was one piece of meat which kept coming to the top of the cauldron, however often it was thrust down. Gruffydd took the comment to apply to himself, and began his rise to power in Powys.

In 1039 Iago ab Idwal was killed by his own men (his son Cynan ap Iago, who may have been as young as four, was taken into exile in Dublin) and Gruffydd, already the usurper-king of Powys, was able to become king of Gwynedd. Soon after gaining power he surprised a Mercian army at Rhyd y Groes near Welshpool and totally defeated it, killing its leader, Edwin, the brother of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He then attacked the neighbouring principality of Deheubarth which was now ruled by Hywel ab Edwin. Gruffydd defeated Hywel in a battle at Pencader in 1041 and carried off Hywel's wife. Gruffydd seems to have been able to drive Hywel out of Deheubarth in about 1043, for in 1044 Hywel is recorded as returning with a Danish fleet to the mouth of the River Tywi to try to reclaim his kingdom. Gruffydd however defeated and killed him in a close fought fight.

Gruffydd ap Rhydderch of Gwent was able to expel Gruffydd ap Llywelyn from Deheubarth in 1047 and became king of Deheubarth himself after the nobles of Ystrad Tywi had attacked and killed 140 of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's household guard. He was able to resist several attacks by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in the following years. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was active on the Welsh border in 1052, when he attacked Herefordshire and defeated a mixed force of Normans and English near Leominster.

In 1055 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn killed his rival Gruffydd ap Rhydderch in battle and recaptured Deheubarth. Gruffydd now allied himself with Ælfgar, son of Earl Leofric of Mercia, who had been deprived of his earldom of East Anglia by Harold Godwinson and his brothers. They marched on Hereford and were opposed by a force led by the Earl of Hereford, Ralph the Timid. This force was mounted and armed in the Norman fashion, but on October 24 Gruffydd defeated it. He then sacked the city and destroyed its Norman castle. Earl Harold was given the task of counter attacking, and seems to have built a fortification at Longtown in Herefordshire before refortifying Hereford. Shortly afterwards Ælfgar was restored to his earldom and a peace treaty concluded.

Around this time Gruffydd was also able to seize Morgannwg and Gwent, along with extensive territories along the border with England. In 1056, he won another victory over an English army near Glasbury. Now a true King of Wales, he claimed sovereignty over the whole of Wales - a claim which was recognised by the English[citation needed]. Historian John Davies states that Gruffydd was "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... Thus, from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor."

Gruffydd reached an agreement with Edward the Confessor, but the death of his ally Ælfgar in 1062 left him more vulnerable. In late 1062 Harold Godwinson obtained the king's approval for a surprise attack on Gruffydd's court at Rhuddlan. Gruffydd was nearly captured, but was warned in time to escape out to sea in one of his ships, though his other ships were destroyed. In the spring of 1063 Harold's brother Tostig led an army into north Wales while Harold led the fleet first to south Wales and then north to meet with his brother's army. Gruffydd was forced to take refuge in Snowdonia, but at this stage his own men killed him, on 5 August according to Brut y Tywysogion. The Ulster Chronicle states that he was killed by Cynan ap Iago in 1064, whose father Iago ab Idwal had been put to death by Gruffydd in 1039. Gruffydd had probably made enemies in the course of uniting Wales under his rule. According to Walter Map, Gruffydd said of this:

Speak not of killing; I but blunt the horns of the offspring of Wales lest they should injure their dam.

Gruffydd's head and the figurehead of his ship were sent to Harold.

Following Gruffydd's death, Harold married his widow Ealdgyth, though she was to be widowed again three years later. Gruffydd's realm was divided again into the traditional kingdoms. Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon came to an agreement with Harold and were given the rule of Gwynedd and Powys. Thus when Harold was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Normans reaching the borders of Wales were confronted by the traditional kingdoms rather than a single king. Gruffydd left two sons who in 1069 challenged Bleddyn and Rhiwallon at the battle of Mechain in an attempt to win back part of their father's kingdom. However they were defeated, one being killed and the other dying of exposure after the battle.

Gruffydd married Edith of Mercia (Ealdg?ð), daughter of Ælfgar, they had the following children:
Maredudd ap Gruffydd (died 1069)
Idwal ap Gruffydd (died 1069)
Nesta verch Gruffydd, married Osbern FitzRichard of Richard's Castle

Gruffydd — Edith of Mercia. Edith (daughter of Ælfg?r and Aelfgifu) was born , England; died Aft 1070. [Group Sheet]

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• Name: Ealdg?ð, Aldgyth
• Reference Number: 15972

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• Name: Llywelyn ap Seisyllt
• Reference Number: 15973

Notes:

Llywelyn ap Seisyll (died 1023) was a King of Gwynedd and of Deheubarth in north-west and south-west Wales, also called King of the Britons by the Annals of Ulster. Also called Llywelyn ap Seisyllt

Little is known about Llywelyn's father Seisyll, who may not have been of Royal blood. According to some genealogies Siesyll and his son Llywelyn were associated with Rhuddlan, perhaps originally as lords of the Rhuddlan commote in Rhos.[1] Llywelyn's wife Angharad was the daughter of Maredydd ab Owain, who ruled much of both northern and southern Wales for a period.

Llywelyn won control of Gwynedd in 1018 when he defeated Aeddan ap Blegywryd in battle, killing him and his four sons. He later gained control of Deheubarth, defeating Rhain, an Irish pretender who claimed to be the son of Maredudd ab Owain, at Abergwili in 1022.

According to the annals in Brut y Tywysogion, Llywelyn's reign was a period of prosperity, "there was no one needy in his realm, and there was no town empty or deserted". His reign was cut short by his premature death in 1023.

His son, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, though still a youth when his father died, was later able to gain control of almost the whole of Wales.

Llywelyn — Angharad. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 15978

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• Name: Elfgar
• Reference Number: 15974

Notes:

Ælfgar (died c.1062) was son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, possibly by his well-known wife Godgifu (Lady Godiva), although more probably by an earlier marriage. He succeeded to his father's title and responsibilities on the latter's death in 1057.

Ælfgar gained from the exile of Earl Godwin of Wessex and his sons in 1051. He was given the Earldom of East Anglia, which had been that of Harold, son of Godwin. Earl Godwin and King Edward were reconciled the following year, so Harold was restored to his earldom - but not for long. At Easter 1053 Godwin died, so Harold became Earl of Wessex, and the earldom of East Anglia returned to Ælfgar.

Ælfgar seems to have learned from the tactics Godwin used to put pressure on King Edward. When he was himself exiled in 1055, he raised a fleet of 18 ships in Ireland and then turned to Wales, where King Gruffydd agreed to join forces with him against King Edward. Two miles from Hereford, on 24 October, they clashed with the army of the Earl of Herefordshire, Ralph the Timid. The Earl and his men eventually took flight, and Gruffydd and Ælfgar pursued them, killing and wounding as they went, and enacting savage reprisals on Hereford. They despoiled and burnt the town, killing many of its citizens. King Edward ordered an army mustered and put Earl Harold in charge of it. This was more formidable opposition, and Ælfgar and Gruffydd fled to South Wales. However the issue was resolved by diplomacy and Earl Ælfgar was reinstated.

He married Aelfgifu, and was succeeded as Earl of Mercia by his eldest son by her, Edwin (also called Eadwine). His second son, Morcar (also called Morkere) was elected Earl of Northumbria when Tostig Godwinson was ejected by the Northumbrians. His daughter, Edith (Aldgyth) married firstly the Welsh prince Gruffyd (kd. 1063), by whom she had three children, and secondly 1064 Harold Godwinson (kd 1066 Hastings), by whom she had a posthumous son, Harold (died 1098).

— Aelfgifu. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 15997