After Gruffudd ap Cynan, the Kingdom of Gwynedd | King of Gwynedd, escaped imprisonment at Chester, he sought sanctuary in St Hywyn's Church, and fled in the monks ' boat.

Through his mother Gruffudd had close family connections with the Norse settlement around Dublin and he frequently used Ireland as a refuge and as a source of troops.

According to the Life of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Gruffudd was born in Dublin and reared near Swords, County Dublin in Ireland.

Through his mother, who appears in the list of the fair women of Ireland in the Book of Leinster, Gruffudd claimed relationships with many of the leading septs in Ireland.

During his many struggles to gain the kingship of Gwynedd, Gruffudd received considerable aid from Ireland, both from the Hiberno-Norse at Dublin, but also those at Wexford, and also from Muircheartach Ua Briain.

Gruffudd again took refuge in Ireland but returned to Gwynedd to lead the assaults on Norman castles such as Aber Lleiniog.

Gruffudd and his ally Cadwgan ap Bleddyn retreated to Anglesey, but then were forced to flee to Ireland in a skiff when a fleet he had hired from the Danish settlement in Ireland accepted a better offer from the Normans and changed sides.

The Normans were obliged to evacuate Anglesey, and the following year Gruffudd returned from Ireland to take possession again, having apparently come to an agreement with Earl Hugh of Chester.

In 1094 Gruffudd ap Cynan, the exiled King of Gwynedd, sought refuge in the church while attempting to recapture his throne ; he escaped in the monastic community's boat to Ireland.

Gruffudd ap Cynan retreated to Anglesey, but then was forced to flee to Ireland when a fleet he had hired from the Danish settlement in Ireland changed sides.

Cynan ab Iago ( 1014 – 1063 ) was a Welsh Prince, the son of Ragnhilda of Ireland, daughter of Amlaíb mac Sitriuc, and Iago ab Idwal, King of Gwynedd and father of Gruffudd ap Cynan who also became king of Gwynedd.

He married Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon daughter of Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of the Mathrafal dynasty of Powys, by whom he had four sons, Gruffudd, Hywel ap Rhys, Goronwy and Cadwgan, and a daughter Nest ( who married Gerald de Windsor Constable of Pembroke, progenitors of the FitzGerald and de Barry dynasties of Ireland.

Llywelyn is conjectured to have been born some time before 1267, as Gruffudd was dispossessed of the lordship of Senghenydd in that year by Gilbert de Clare and subsequently imprisoned in Ireland ; there is no record of him returning to Wales.

In 1081 Gruffudd ap Cynan, who had just won the throne of Gwynedd from Trahaearn ap Caradog at the Battle of Mynydd Carn was enticed to a meeting with the Earl of Chester and Earl of Shrewsbury and promptly seized and imprisoned, leading to the seizure of much of Gwynedd by the Normans.

However in 1081 Gruffudd ap Cynan King of Kingdom of Gwynedd was captured by treachery at a meeting near Corwen.

It appears that Madog returned to Gwynedd after the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282 and received lands from the King of England in Anglesey.

Owain's father, Gruffudd ap Cynan, was a strong and long-lived ruler who had made the principality of Gwynedd the most influential in Wales during the sixty-two years of his reign, using the island of Anglesey as his power base.

She married Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, honouring an agreement that had been made between Earl Simon and Llywelyn.

Much of our knowledge of Gruffudd comes from this source, though allowance has to be made for the fact that it appears to have been written as dynastic propaganda for one of Gruffudd's descendants.

Gruffudd made his first attempt to take over the rule of Gwynedd in 1075, following the death of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn.

He was joined here by a force of his supporters from Gwynedd, and he and Rhys marched north to seek Trahaearn ap Caradog and Caradog ap Gruffudd who had themselves made an alliance and been joined by Meilyr ap Rhiwallon of Powys.

The king had to come to terms with Gruffudd and made no further attempt to invade Gwynedd during Gruffudd's reign.

In 1547 he published a collection of Welsh proverbs made by Gruffudd Hiraethog ( d. 1564 ), Oll synnwyr pen Kembero ygyd.

** Gruffudd Hiraethog-Oll synnwyr pen Kembero ygyd ( posthumous collection of Welsh proverbs made by William Salesbury )

According to the chroniclers, Nicholas Trivet, William Rishanger and others, Earl Simon had earlier made an alliance with Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, whereby it was agreed that Llywelyn and Eleanor would marry.

Countess Eleanor died in Spring 1275, and shortly afterwards Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the Prince of Wales, and Eleanor de Montfort married by proxy, ( per nuncios ) per verba de presenti ( Canon law endorsed a marital bond that was made in this way, with the full consent of both of the individuals, before witnesses ).

The earliest recorded form of the place name Criccieth in Welsh is found in Brut y Tywysogion where reference is made to the imprisonment of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn in the ' castle of Cruceith ( Middle Welsh orthography: Kastell Krukeith ).

* Mister Miracle made a return in the Justice League Unlimited episode The Ties That Bind ( which, fittingly enough, was scripted from a story outline provided by Jim Steranko ) voiced by Ioan Gruffudd while his younger self was voiced by Zack Shada.

Gruffydd formed an alliance with Gwynedd, and later in 1136 the sons of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Owain Gwynedd and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd, led an army to Ceredigion.

Owain and Cadwaladr in alliance with Gruffudd ap Rhys of Deheubarth gained a crushing victory over the Normans at Crug Mawr near Cardigan in 1136 and took possession of Ceredigion.

* Places and artifacts associated with Rhys ap Gruffudd from Gathering the Jewels

In 1194, with the aid of his cousins Gruffudd ap Cynan and Maredudd ap Cynan, he defeated Dafydd at the battle of Aberconwy at the mouth of the River Conwy.

Gruffudd landed on Anglesey with an Irish force, and with the assistance of troops provided by the Norman Robert of Rhuddlan first defeated and killed Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon, an ally of Trahaearn who held Llŷn, then defeated Trahaearn himself in the battle of Gwaed Erw in Meirionnydd and gained control of Gwynedd.

Gruffudd this time embarked from Waterford with a force composed of Danes and Irish and landed near St David's, presumably by prior arrangement with Rhys.

The armies of the two confederacies met at the Battle of Mynydd Carn, with Gruffudd and Rhys victorious and Trahaearn, Caradog and Meilyr all being killed.

Gruffudd had not been king very long when he was enticed to a meeting with Hugh Earl of Chester and Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury at Rug, near Corwen.

David went on to rebuild Bangor Cathedral with a large financial contribution from Gruffudd.

The latter part of Guffydd's reign was considered to be a " Golden Age "; according to the Life of Gruffudd ap Cynan Gwynedd was " bespangled with lime-washed churches like the stars in the firmament ".

Gruffudd started his acting career at the age of 13 in a Welsh television film called Austin ( 1986 ) and then later moved on to the Welsh language soap opera Pobol y Cwm ( People of the Valley ) from 1987 to 1994. He also played football with the Pobol y Cwm football team Cwmderi FC alongside co-stars Hywel Emrys, Gwyn Elfyn and Ieuan Rhys.

He conspired with his cousins Gruffudd and Maredudd and his uncle Rhodri and in the year 1194 they all united against Dafydd, defeated him at the Battle of Aberconwy and " drove him to flight and took from him all his territory except three castles ".

Nevertheless, Goronwy ap Heilin had committed himself to the struggle and died in rebellion, alongside the disinherited princes who stood with Dafydd ap Gruffudd in the last springtime of the principality of Wales, diehards who knew that theirs was not the heroism of a new beginning but the ultimate stand of the very last cohort clutching the figment of the political order that they had once been privileged to know.

From his base in Pembrokeshire he was a mainstay of the English campaigns against Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and later Dafydd ap Gruffudd ; in the war of 1282 – 3 that led to the conquest of Wales he negotiated the surrender of one of Dafydd's last remaining castles, Castell-y-Bere, with its custodian, Cynfrig ap Madog.