In his later years Rhys had trouble keeping control of his sons, particularly Maelgwn and Gruffydd, who maintained a feud with each other.

His grandfather, Rhys ap Tewdwr, had been king of all Deheubarth until his death in 1093.

Rhys had other reasons for rebellion, for he had returned to Deheubarth from England to find that the neighbouring Norman lords were threatening Cantref Mawr.

In 1167 the King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, who had been driven out of his kingdom, had asked Rhys to release Robert Fitz-Stephen from captivity to take part in an expedition to Ireland.

Rhys was to pay a tribute of 300 horses and 4, 000 head of cattle, but was confirmed in possession of all the lands he had taken from Norman lords, including the Clares.

Rhys had collected 86 of the 300 horses, but Henry agreed to take only 36 of them and remitted the remainder of the tribute until after his return from Ireland.

In 1177 Rhys, Dafydd ab Owain, who had emerged as the main power in Gwynedd, and Cadwallon ap Madog from Rhwng Gwy a Hafren swore fealty and liege homage to Henry at a council held at Oxford.

In his later years Rhys had trouble keeping control of his sons, particularly Maelgwn and Gruffydd.

William FitzMartin was married to Rhys's daughter Angharad, and, according to Giraldus, Rhys " had solemnly sworn, by the most precious relics, that his indemnity and security should be faithfully maintained ".

Rhys had also annexed the Norman lordships of Cydweli and Carnwyllion in 1190.

Rhys had nominated his eldest legitimate son, Gruffydd ap Rhys, as his successor, and soon after his father's death Gruffydd met the Justiciar, Archbishop Hubert Walter, on the border and was confirmed as heir.

What could have been a tense affair, since Rhys had seized lands in Ceredigion previously held by the Clare family, passed off with an exchange of courteous compliments, followed by some good-natured banter between Rhys and Gerald about their family connections.

In 1171 Rhys met King Henry II and came to an agreement with him whereby Rhys had to pay a tribute but was confirmed in all his conquests and was later named Justiciar of South Wales.

Since the death of Owain Gwynedd in 1170, Rhys ap Gruffydd had made the southern kingdom of Deheubarth the strongest of the Welsh kingdoms, and had established himself as the leader of Pura Wallia.

The original character is often said to have been based on one Thomas Jones ( c. 1530-1609 ) who, according to the Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales, was pardoned for unspecified offences in 1559, wrote poetry, was a steward who " often had recourse to the law ", and married the widow of Thomas Rhys Williams of Ystrad-ffin.

Several kings, including Hywel ap Rhys of Glywysing and Hyfaidd of Dyfed ( where Asser's monastery was ), had submitted to Alfred's overlordship in 885.

Restoring Anglo-Norman supremacy in Wales proved harder, and Henry had to fight two campaigns in north and south Wales in 1157 and 1158 before the Welsh princes Owain Gwynedd and Rhys ap Gruffydd submitted to his rule, agreeing to the pre-civil war division of lands.

Owen's father Maredudd ap Tudur ( English: Meredith ) had been ( together with his two brothers Rhys and Gwilym ) stalwarts of Owain Glyndŵr's uprising of 1400.

Hirwaun moor, 4 miles to the north west of Aberdare, was according to tradition the scene of a battle at which Rhys ap Tewdwr, prince of Dyfed, was defeated by the allied forces of the Norman Robert Fitzhamon and Iestyn ap Gwrgant, the last Welsh prince of Glamorgan.

Griffith Rhys Jones-or Caradog as he was commonly known-was the Conductor of the famous ' Côr Mawr ' of some 460 voices ( the South Wales Choral Union ), which twice won first prize at Crystal Palace choral competitions in London in the 1870s.

Rhys's grandfather, Rhys ap Tewdwr, was king of Deheubarth, and was killed at Brecon in 1093 by Bernard de Neufmarche.

Rhys gained his first recorded military experience at the age of fourteen when he participated in the storming of Llansteffan Castle in 1146.

Maredudd and Rhys also destroyed the castles at Tenby and Aberafan that year.

Maredudd died in 1155 at the age of twenty-five and left Rhys as ruler of Deheubarth.

Rhys responded by building a castle at Aberdyfi in 1156.

An appeal to the king produced no response, and Rhys resorted to arms, first capturing Clifford's castle at Llandovery then seizing Ceredigion.

Rhys was summoned to appear before Henry at Woodstock to do homage together with Owain Gwynedd and Malcolm IV of Scotland.

Rhys did not oblige at the time, but released him the following year and in 1169 Fitz-Stephen led the vanguard of a Norman army which landed in Wexford.

Henry and Rhys met once more at Laugharne as Henry returned from Ireland in 1172, and shortly afterwards Henry appointed Rhys " justice on his behalf in all Deheubarth ".

When Henry's sons rebelled against him in 1173 Rhys sent his son Hywel Sais to Normandy to aid the king, then in 1174 personally led an army to Tutbury in Staffordshire to assist at the siege of the stronghold of the rebel Earl William de Ferrers.

King Henry held a council at Gloucester in 1175 which was attended by a large gathering of Welsh princes, led by Rhys.

Davies suggests that the texts of Welsh law, traditionally codified by Hywel Dda at Whitland, were first assembled in book form under the aegis of Rhys.

Rhys arrived at Oxford to discover that Richard was not prepared to travel there to meet him, and hostilities continued.

In 1189 Gruffydd persuaded Rhys to imprison Maelgwn, and he was given into Gruffydd's keeping at Dinefwr.

In 1216 Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd held a council at Aberdyfi where he allocated parts of Deheubarth to several sons and grandsons of Rhys.

Gerald tells the story of a banquet at Hereford in 1186 where Rhys sat between two members of the Clare family.

* Hywel ap Rhys ( died 1231 ) spent many years as a hostage at the court of Henry II and on his return became known as Hywel Sais ( Hywel the Saxon, i. e. Englishman ).

When Henry Tudor landed in Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1485 to make a bid for the throne, his descent from Rhys was one of the factors which enabled him to attract Welsh support ( Henry flew a ( Welsh ) dragon banner at the battle of Bosworth Field ).

* The first recorded Welsh Eisteddfod is held by Rhys ap Gruffydd at Cardigan.

The tradition of such a meeting of Welsh artists dates back to at least the 12th century, when a festival of poetry and music was held by Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth at his court in Cardigan in 1176 but, with the decline of the bardic tradition, it fell into abeyance.

The date of the first Eisteddfod is a matter of much debate among scholars, but boards for the judging of poetry definitely existed in Wales from at least as early as the twelfth century, and it is likely that the ancient Celtic bards had formalized ways of judging poetry as well. The first Eisteddfod can be traced back to 1176, under the auspices of Lord Rhys, at his castle in Cardigan.