Wales on the Web A biographical flash movie about Princess Gwenllian. Including Gwynedd, Aberffaw on Anglesey, King Gryffyd ap Cynan, Queen Angharad, Gwenllian, Owain Gwynedd, William ll, Princess Gwenllian, Carmarthen Castle, Kidwelly Castle, Anarawd And Rhys and more. Part of the largest collection of movies on any culture anywhere on the Web.
Wales on the Web Princess Gwenllian - Wales flash movie In 1097, the Royal house of Gwynedd in Aberffraw on Anglesey, celebrated a fifth daughter born to King Gryffydd ap Cynan and his wife Queen Angharad ‘The Fair’. She was called Gwenllian. Her brothers included Owain Gwynedd, a future Prince of Gwynedd, whose son Madoc allegedly discovered America in 1170. During her lifetime, two Norman Kings, William II and Henry I, endeavoured to bring Wales under their control in line with the rest of the country. Gwenllian would eventually become a symbol of Welsh resistance in the bitter contest that ebbed and flowed between these different nations. By her teens, Gwenllian’s general demeanour was described by medieval author of ‘The History of Gryffydd ap Cynan’ - as being “of a war-like disposition”. Gerald of Wales said she looked “every inch the Amazonian Queen”. It therefore came as no surprise to find the 18 year-old princess had eloped and married Prince Gryffydd ap Rhys of Deheubarth, who had recently returned from exile in Ireland to find his father’s Principality firmly under Norman control. After a desperate but unsuccessful bid to oust all Normans from Deheubarth, he fled North to seek help from Gwenllian’s father, but none was forthcoming from the King, who even tried to arrest him. With a band of followers, Gwenllian and Gryffydd took refuge high in the upper reaches of the River Towy in a district known as Caeo. Gerald of Wales described this remote area as being “the safest of refuges, because of the tangled density of its forests.” Between 1115 and 1133 the royal couple had four sons - Anarawd, Morgan, Maelgwyn and Rhys. Throughout this period they continued their guerrilla war against Norman strongholds in mid and West Wales. One notable success at the time was the taking of Carmarthen Castle. Following the death of King Henry I in December 1135, a state of civil war existed in Norman Britain after his nephew Stephen contentiously seized the throne. In the resulting anarchy, the Welsh saw their opportunity. Faced with this insurgence, Maurice de Londres, custodian of Kidwelly Castle since 1130, hatched a plot to lure Gwenllian into the open. With her husband and sons Anarawd and Rhys en-route to North Wales to seek assistance from her father, Gwenllian was deceived into believing Caeo was to be attacked. With 18 year-old son Morgan and 16 year-old Maelgwyn, Gwenllian chose to lead a large Welsh force in a pre-emptive strike on Kidwelly Castle. At the foot of Mynydd Y Garreg, less than a mile from Kidwelly, Gwenllian made camp. Prior to her planned dawn raid, a Norman ambush was launched from the surrounding hills. In the ensuing battle five hundred knights of both Norman and Welsh origin lay dead, including her son Maelgwyn. Gwenllian fought on but being outnumbered was eventually captured. Without trial De Londres ordered her to be beheaded. Her son Morgan was thrown into gaol and would succumb to his injuries nine years later. Within a year Gwenllians husband had died of an unknown illness. However the fight carried on through her surviving sons Anarawd and Rhys, who, was dignified historically with the title ‘The Lord Rhys’. While the Norman Lords celebrated her demise, the resultant Welsh uprising that spread across the country ensured it would be eight years before a Norman victory could once again be proclaimed.