MORGAN ap CARADOG ap IESTYN (died c. 1208), lord of the Welsh barony of Avan Wallia (or Nedd-Avan) in the honour of Glamorgan

son of Caradog and Gwladus, daughter of Gruffydd ap Rhys ap Tewdwr. Always an unwilling vassal of the Norman lords of Glamorgan, he was closely identified with the policy of his cousin, the 'lord' Rhys, and was probably the leader of the Glamorgan rising of 1183 (?). He was twice married: (1) to Gwenllian, daughter of Ifor Bach; (2) to Gwerful, daughter of Idnerth ap Cadwgan. He had at least four sons of whom the third, Morgan Gam, succeeded him. A daughter, Sybil, appears to have married into the family of Turberville of Coity.

Giraldus Cambrensis (Itin., i, cap. 8) recounts that it was Morgan ap Caradog who guided archbishop Baldwin in 1188 across the quicksands between the Afan and Tawe estuaries. Of the four sons of Morgan whose names are known to us, LLEISION was the eldest; in the charters which Morgan gave to Margam abbey, Lleision and OWAIN are frequently mentioned as co-donors with their father. It would seem that Owain died before Lleision, but dates are uncertain, many of the charters being undated or wrongly dated.

Welsh sub-lordships under the suzerainty of the Norman lords of Glamorgan were granted to other members of Iestyn ap Gwrgant's family. To MAREDUDD ap Caradog ap Iestyn came the lordship of Miskin - his son, HYWEL, had to surrender it to the Clare family c. 1245. CADWALLON ap Caradog held the lordship of Glynrhondda - Cadwallon's grandson, OWAIN GRYCH (AP MORGAN), was its last Welsh lord, for before 1295 the Clare family had absorbed this lordship as well. According to Giraldus (Itin., i, cap. 7), this Cadwallon was killed by his brother OWAIN, who died soon afterwards.

Authors

• Professor Thomas Jones Pierce, (1905 - 1964)
• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Sources

• D. Rhys Phillips, The History of the Vale of Neath (Swansea 1925)
• G. T. Clark, Cartae et Alia Munimenta quae ad Dominium de Glamorgan pertinent (1910)
• W. de Gray Birch, History of Margam Abbey (1897), chapters 13 and 20
• J. S. Corbett, Glamorgan Papers and Notes on the Lordship and its members (1925), 59-67
• J. E. Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest (London 1911), Vol. I
• J. E. Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest (London 1911), Vol. II (consult index and the genealogical table on p. 771)

Published date: 1959

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