Page "Kingdom of Gwynedd" Paragraph 50

On the death of Einion ap Cadwgan, lord of Meirionydd, a quarrel engulfed his kinsmen on who should succeed him.

Meirionydd was then a vassal cantref of Powys, and the family there a cadet of the Mathrafal house of Powys.

Gruffydd gave license to his sons Cadwallon and Owain to press the opportunity the dynastic strife in Meirionydd presented.

The brothers raided Meirionydd with the Lord of Powys as important there as he was in the Perfeddwlad.

However it would not be until 1136 that the cantref was firmly within Gwynedd's control.

Perhaps because of their support of Earl Hugh of Chester, Gwynedd's rival, in 1124 Cadwallon slew the three rulers of Dyffryn Clwyd, his maternal uncles, bringing the cantref firmly under Gwynedd's vassalage that year.

And in 1125 Cadwallon slew the grandsons of Edwin ap Goronwy of Tegeingl, leaving Tegeingl bereft of lordship.

However, in 1132 while on campaign in the commote of Nanheudwy, near Llangollen, ' victorious ' Cadwallon was defeated in battle and slain by an army from Powys.

The defeat checked Gwynedd's expansion for a time, " much to the relief of the men of Powys ", wrote historian Sir John Edward Lloyd ( J. E Lloyd ).