Einion Sais
Eugenie Roy Thrapp
Chapel in Brocknockshire, Wales.
By way of identification:
Son: Hywell (Hoell ab Gwillm or Howell the Good)
Son: Davydd ab Llewelyn, or David ab Llewelyn or Sir David Gam (Gaines),
died at the Battle of Agincourt, France, October 24, 1415.
Any help appreciated.
Eugenie Roy Thrapp
ge...@wolfenet.com
DKJ200
>Chapel in Brocknockshire, Wales.
I have the following references:
(I have used the same spellings as in the sources I am quoting from; I have
added
explanations in square brackets):
From History of the County of Brecknock by Theophilus Jones (1898), volume 2:
page 77: [1321] The younger [Hugh] D'Espencer was now constituted governor of
Brecknock castle; and afterwards obtained a grant of the lordship, together
with
Penkelly, Cantreff-Selyff, Blanllyfni and Dinas, late the property of the earl
of
Hereford and Roger Mortimer, [John] Giffard and Rhys ap Hywel, who had been
attainted for the late rebellion. [The Earl of Lancaster's rebellion, which
ended at
Boroughbridge in 1321]. This last was the lineal descendant of Bleddyn ap
Maenarch
and grandson of that Trahearn fychan who was so inhumanly murdered by William
de
Breos of Brecknock
page 80: Einion the second son of Rhys ap Hywel, whose attainder has been
noticed,
embraced a military life and served our third Edward in the memorable battles
of
Cressy and Poictiers; after a long residence in England he returned to his
native
country with considerable opulence and married the rich heiress of Howel, lord
of
Miscin in Glamorganshire; he became possessed by purchase of nearly the whole
of
what is now called the hundred of Devynnock, from Llywel on the borders of
Carmarthenshire to the river Tarell near Brecon. He built a castellated mansion
for his
residence in the parish of Llandspyddid, lately called the castle field, now
the property
of Penry Williams of Penpont, esquire: it is described to have been situated on
the fall
of a small brook into the Usk, near Bettws or Penpont chapel: there is still an
unevenness in the surface of the ground, though there are not now the smallest
vestiges of buildings remaining; Hugh Thomas, who wrote in 1698, recollects to
have
seen the ruins, and there are others living who remember the rubbish being
removed
and the soil cleared of the stones and materials of the walls: it was called
from the
owner, Castell Einion Sais, or Einion the Englishman's castle, an appellation
by which
the Welsh to this day sometimes distinguish not only the English settlers among
them,
but also their own countrymen who have been brought up and educated in England.
David Llewelyn, or Dafydd ap Llewelyn, generally called David Gam or aquinting
David, was the fourth in descent from Einion Sais and inherited the estate and
demesne of Castell Einion Sais. his father Llewelyn had also purchased the
mansions
and lands of Peyton, (Wallace Peityn) now called Peityn gwin, Peityn du, and
Peityn
glas, in the parishes of Garthbrengy and Llanddew, from William Peyton, the
last
Brecknockshire resident of that Norman family, for three hundred marks. In
consequence of an affray in the High Street of Brecknock, in which David
unfortunately killed his kinsman Ritsiart fawr o'r Slwch, he was compelled to
fly into
England, and to avoid a threatened prosecution for the murder, attached himself
to the
Lancastrian party, to whose interest he ever afterwards most faithfully
adhered.
From Medieval Wales (David Walker, Cambridge University Press 1990):
page 150 : The combination of the justiciarship of north and south Wales in
the
hands of John of Havering, Roger Mortimer of Chirk, Edmund fitz Alan and Roger
Mortimer, earl of March, made for a consistent approach to administrative
problems.
Among these English magnates one Welshman, Rhys ap Hywel, was justiciar of
south
Wales very briefly in 1326-7. He had made a career in the service of Edward II
and
then of two marcher lords Roger Mortimer of Wigmore and Humphrey de Bohun, earl
of Hereford. He was an active deputy justiciar whn Roger Mortimer of Chirk held
office, and in the first decade of the fourteenth century he acquired estates
in
Pontesbury in Shropshire and Talgarth and Bronllys, in the lordship of
Brecknock.
From Brut y Tywysogyon (Red Book of Hergest Version) for year 1196-97:
That year Trahaearn Fychan of Brycheiniog an eminent powerful man of gentle
blood
with a niece of the lord Rhys [Rhys ap Gruffudd, prince of Deheubarth] married
to
him, was seized as he was coming through Llan-gors to the court of William
Breos,
his lord, and he was cruelly shackled; and at Brecon he was drawn by horses'
tails
through the streets to the gallows. And there his head was struck off and he
was
hanged by his feet; and he was on the gallows for three days, after his brother
and his
wife and his son had escaped in flight.
Unfortunately I can't help with identifying Trahaearn Fychan or his wife, nor
can I
work out whether he was paternal or maternal grandfather of Rhys ap Hywel.
Maybe
someone else can.
David Jamieson
AJones9446
under Bleddyn ap Maenyrch (13), if anyone has access to it. Possibly this will
also explain the significance of Trahaearn Fychan and his wife, the niece of
Rhys ap Gruffudd.
DBBoles
I have to question the chronology here. The battles of Crecy and Poitiers were
in 1346 and 1356, respectively. It seems improbable that a soldier in those
years would be the great-great-grandfather of Sir David Gam, who d. 1415 in
battle. The Welsh pedigrees show that relationship, and they also make Einion
Sais the great-grandson of a couple married ca 1158, another reason to doubt
the
chronology. Has an error been made in identifying Einion Sais with a
similarly-
named soldier in the time of Edward III?
FWIW, here is the descent as given by Clark, G. T. (1886). Limbus Patrum
Morganiae et Glamorganiae [C86], supplemented by Allstrom, C.M. (1902).
Dictionary of Royal Lineage [A2] and Weis, F.L. (1992). Ancestral Roots of
Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700 [WE92].
Sir David Gam, d. 1415 at Agincourt, in the personal defense of King Henry V,
m.
to Wenllian, daughter of ----------, son of Howel (ap Einon Sais), see below
[C86]. Son of:
Llewelyn, m. to Malt (Maud), daughter of Evan ap Iorwerth, of Elvel[C86]. Son
of:
Howel-ychan, m. to Morvydd, daughter of Llewelyn ap Howel-hen [C86]. Son of:
Howel [C86]. Son of:
Einon Sais, of Llywell, co. Brecon, m. (1) Lucy, daughter of Howel (ap
Meredith), Lord of Miscin [C86]. Son of:
Rees, of Aberllyfni, m. to Catherine, daughter of Griffith Gwyr, of Gower
[C86].
Son of:
Howel, Lord of Llangorse, m. to Wenllian, daughter of Griffith, of Senghenydd,
m. ca 1158 to Mabel, d. 23 Nov 1183, illegitimate daughter of William Fitz
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, lord of the manor of Glamorgan and Cardiff Castle,
b. 1121, d. 23 Nov 1183, son of Robert of Caen, "the Consul", Earl of
Gloucester
1122-1147, b. ca 1090, d. 31 Oct 1147 in Bristol, illegitimate son of Henry I,
King of England [A2, C86, WE92]. Son of:
Traherne, m. (2) to Joan, daughter of Rhys ap Bleddri, Lord of Cilsant [C86].
Son of:
Gwgan, Lord of Llangorse, m. to Wenllian, daughter of Philip Gwys, of Gwiston,
co. Pembroke [C86]. Son of:
Blegwrd [C86]. Son of:
Bleddyn, m. to Ellen, daughter of Tewdwr Mawr [C86]. Son of:
Maenarch, Lord of Brecknock, m. to Elinor, daughter of Einon ap Selyff, Lord of
Cwmmwd [C86].
David Boles
http://members.aol.com/Bolesbooks/Bolesbooks.html
Eugenie Roy Thrapp
very much.
Eugenie Roy Thrapp
ge...@wolfenet.com
Mary E. Gossage
> it was called
>from the
>owner, Castell Einion Sais, or Einion the Englishman's castle, an appellation
>by which
>the Welsh to this day sometimes distinguish not only the English settlers among
>them,
>but also their own countrymen who have been brought up and educated in England.
If "Einion" is the person's name, and "Castell" is castle then is
Sais=Englishman in Welsh?
There is a town of Sais in Egypt along the coast, going toward Libya.
I just wonder about the same word showing up in Wales and wonder
what it means.
Mary G.