The Rise & Fall of Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales by David Pilling
Requirements: epub, mobi, azw3 reader, 668 KB
Overview: “Upon my life, I was never able to lose a tear for that worthless man.”
Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales in the late 13th century, is one of the most controversial figures in Welsh history. A younger brother of Prince Llywelyn, remembered in Wales as Ein Llyw Olaf – our last prince – Dafydd has traditionally been viewed as a treacherous, shifty character, who betrayed his country for the sake of personal gain. His actions helped to bring about the final conquest of Wales, when King Edward I of England destroyed the ruling house of Aberffraw and ‘threw all Wales to the ground’.
The real Dafydd was a complex personality, and to date there has been little attempt to tell his side of the story. As a young man he was sidelined by his brothers, Llywelyn and Owain Goch, expected to play only a minor role in Welsh affairs. Dafydd, however, was unwilling to be their subordinate. Deprived of his inheritance, he did whatever it took to recover his rights. To that end, like many Welsh princes before him, Dafydd forged an alliance with the English crown.
After nineteen years in English service, he performed an astonishing about-face and threw in his lot with Llywelyn. United at last, the brothers staged a last desperate attempt to throw off Edward’s power. The effort failed, crushed by the superior resources of England, and Dafydd was left to face the wrath of his former paymaster. Captured by men of his own tongue, he was subjected to an especially gruesome execution at Shrewsbury. Afterwards his limbs were put on display in English towns, and his children incarcerated for life.
Future generations of Welsh historians had little good to say of Dafydd. Condemned as ‘worthless’, ‘the last and weakest of his line’, ‘Llywelyn’s evil genius’ and a ‘restless, discontented, shiftless schemer’, he deserves reappraisal. This short overview of his career casts fresh light on a difficult, perhaps unknowable man who did his best to endure and prosper in an exceptionally turbulent era.
Genre: General Fiction
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