Maredudd ap Gruffydd

This article is about the 12th-century King of Deheubarth. For the 11th-century dispossessed heir to Gwynedd, see Maredudd ap Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.

Maredudd ap Gruffydd (1130–1155) was a prince of the kingdom of Deheubarth in Southwest Wales.

Maredudd was the third of four sons of Gruffydd ap Rhys by Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, though he had two older half-brothers, Anarawd and Cadell by Gruffydd's first wife. He was only six years old when his mother and brothers Morgan and Maelgwyn were killed at Cydweli. His father died the same year. At the age of 16 he is recorded helping his half-brother Cadell, now Prince of Deheubarth, to expel the Normans from Ceredigion. He then successfully defended Carmarthen castle against a Norman assault, hurling down the scaling ladders.

In 1151 he took a prominent part in winning back the northern part of Ceredigion from Gwynedd. The same year Cadell was attacked by a force of Normans while out hunting and left for dead. He survived, but was so badly injured that the effective rule of Deheubarth fell on Maredudd. In 1153 Cadell left on a pilgrimage to Rome, leaving Maredudd as Prince of Deheubarth.

Maredudd died two years later in 1155, leaving the throne of Deheubarth to his younger brother Rhys, later known as The Lord Rhys.

References

• John Edward Lloyd (1911) A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest (Longmams, Green & Co.)#]