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Home / People / Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd

Historical person

Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd

c. 1100–1172

Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd was a twelfth-century prince of Gwynedd, the son of Gruffudd ap Cynan and younger brother of Owain Gwynedd. He first appears prominently in 1136, when the brothers exploited Norman weakness in Ceredigion after the death of Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare. Their forces captured several castles and later defeated Norman and Flemish opponents at Crug Mawr, extending Gwynedd’s influence southwards during the wider instability of King Stephen’s reign in England.

Cadwaladr’s career was repeatedly disrupted by conflict with his brother. In 1143 men associated with him killed Anarawd ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth, prompting Owain to strip him of lands; Cadwaladr then sought support from Dublin and later from England. Henry II’s invasion of Gwynedd in 1157 helped secure restoration of some of his possessions, after which he again cooperated with Owain. He survived his brother, died in 1172 and was buried at Bangor Cathedral.

Ellis Peters’s The Summer of the Danes places Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd within the dynastic tensions of twelfth-century Wales. Brother to Owain Gwynedd and a recurrent rival within the ruling family, Cadwaladr helps make the political landscape encountered by Brother Cadfael more dangerous than a simple conflict between Welsh and Danish forces. His shifting claims and alliances give the novel a specifically Welsh problem of lordship and kinship: the characters must negotiate not only external enemies but a princely family in which blood relationship does not guarantee political loyalty.

Periods

Periods linked to Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd

Second Crusade1147–1149 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd (1 series)

Chronicles of Brother Cadfael in Order

by Ellis Peters 19 books 4.5(42,288)

The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael follow a former soldier and crusader who has become the herbalist of Shrewsbury Abbey. Between 1137 and 1145, Cadfael investigates deaths, disappearances and disputed identities while working within the rhythms of Benedictine life and the law of medieval England. The twenty novels unfold…

All books in this series