Sunday, August 28, 2005

Llewelyn ap Ifor and Angharad (2)


On the death of her father, Sir Morgan ap Maredudd in c1332, Angharad, his only daughter, inherited Tredegar and his other estates. An account of Angharad's great beauty has been passed down through history (she was celebrated as being the mother of Ifor Hael). As a great heiress, a marriage with her should have been seen as very desirable, it is therefore slightly surprising that, aged around 32, she was still unmarried on her father's death. It is very tempting to ponder the reasons for this. After all, as Thomas Wakeman, the Victorian antiquarian pointed out "at a time of day when young ladies of any expectations were married when about 13 or 14 it may excite our curiosity". Was her father, Morgan the Rebel, an obstacle in her path to marriage? There is no evidence either way, but speculation is always fun.

When she DID marry (c1333), it was a very advantageous match. Her husband was Llewelyn ap Ifor, lord of Sancler (St Clears) and Gwynfe, in Carmarthenshire. He was a descendant of Cadifor Fawr, lord of Cilsant, who lived in Dyfed, and died in 1089. Cadifor Fawr's third son, Bledri, received land from the Normans in Gwent. Thus, two ancient Welsh families, with links back to Hywel Dda, and the Welsh princes, were joined. It is likely that Llewelyn moved to Tredegar and it was from this marriage that the main line of the Morgans of Tredegar stemmed; a family that were to become dominant in south-east Wales.

The children from this marriage included:

Morgan ap Llewelyn - born c1334, the heir to Tredegar.

Ifor Hael - born c1336, a name that lives on thanks to the bardic tradition. He lived at Gwern-y-Cleppa (near what is now Cleppa Park).

Philip - born c1338, who lived at St Pierre. It was from his line that the Lewis family of St Pierre descended.

It must have been shortly after the birth of their third son (Philip of St Pierre) that Llewelyn ap Ifor died. Angharad, who obviously had overcome her reluctance to matrimony, re-married as soon as decency allowed, and, according to some accounts, may even have married a third time. Tredegar passed to the eldest son, Morgan ap Llewelyn, but it was the events at Gwern-y-Cleppa, home of the second son, Ifor Hael, that capture the imagination....

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear sir Paul Busby
I'am Traylor M. Morgan Born Houston,Texas
I have been using Ancestry here .
My findings Are the blood line back to the 100th monarch of Ireland Dublin . and also his great-grandfather Fionn M Benia.
Ancestry did not go back any more .
The line Come's down to Llywelyn and the connection of Morgan .
down to Morgan ap Llywelyn then his son " Llewelyn"ap Morgan and to his son Jevan , Then Sir John To Thomas Esquire to Henry 7th then his Son Rowland Morgan Machen of Tredegar , to son Thomas Then Sir William His son John then Charles , Col. Morgan Morgan , to Cat. David,then Cpt. Morgan Morgan , Capt. Achilles , his son Morgan Morgan , to William D. Morgan To Frank Alonzo . Zoda , James Resse Morgan To ME Traylor Michell Morgan Of Texas USA .

Unknown said...

Ok then i was able to fine the web site that Put the missing pieces together, About What Happend so long ago . Morgan Genealogy
http://hausegenealogy.com/morgan.html

Unknown said...

The Daughter Elizabeth born 1583
Married William Morgan "Not of Same blood line" And Had Three sons James , John , And Miles Morgan. And are the Grandsons of Sir. William Morgan Of Tredear House . And My line that is Y-Chromezone DNA Blood line
Direct !

Unknown said...

In the interest of all Morgan's
The DNA People Told me that Trere Is More Than # 30 Defferent Line's
Of Morgan's and Counting ! So Have Fun Like I am Learning All There is to Know About The Morgan's Of so very long ago. And Just How Many
There Were , One Story Said That You Could Swing a Cat by it's Tail and Hit 6 He said he tryed it and Hit 4 , so it was one of the most used name in History !
Traylor Morgan ap Llywelyn

Thank you

Unknown said...

I am from two morgan lines the first one is of james morgan miles brother,and the other line is james morgan that who died on arrival in 1691 on a ship called the morning star his father was morgan ap lewis ,of lewis ap morgan found that both lines are of royal decent

Unknown said...

an then morgan ap Edward,edward ap hywel aka howel and then , hywel ap gwalter , gwalter ap Llewelyn , Llewelyn ap robin , robin Llwyd ap dafydd aka davydd ,david Lloyd ap levan aka dafydd Llwyd , levan ab lorwerth , lorwerth Ddu ab lorwerth ,lorwerth ap gruffudd , gruffudd ab lorwerth and so on

Unknown said...

Just learned that i am a descendant Sir William Morgan, Baron of Tredegar (1560-1653). thank you for sharing this, its been very helpful