Griffith ap Conan had a long life of strife and success. In his struggle
with Hugh the Wolf, he was once in The Wolf’s prison, and more than once
he had to flee to the sea. But, backed up by the liberty-loving sons of
Snowdon and by his sea-roving kinsmen, he made Gwynedd strong and
prosperous. He drove the Normans from Anglesey; he attacked and killed
Robert of Rhuddlan; he saw the red King of England himself forced by
storm and rain to beat a retreat from Snowdon. He was loved by his
people during his youth of adventure and battle, and during his old age
of safe counsel and love of peace. His wife Angharad and his son Owen
live with him in the memory of his country. When he died, in 1137, it
was said that he had saved his people, had ruled them justly, and had
given them peace.
In the Severn country the princes of Powys were fighting against the
Normans also, especially against the family of Montgomery. The sons of
Bleddyn—Cadogan, Iorwerth, and Meredith—were driving the invaders from
the valley of the Severn, and from Dyved, defeating their armies in
battle, and storming their castles. Sometimes they would make alliances
with them, and defy the King of England. But it is difficult to follow
each of them. The history of one of them, Owen ap Cadogan, is like a
romance. He was brave and handsome, in love with Nest, and a very
firebrand in politics. The army of Henry I. was too strong for him, and
he had to submit. He then became the friend of the King of England. It
was the aim of the princes of Powys to be free, not only from the Norman,
but also from Griffith of Gwynedd and Griffith of Deheubarth. They were
an able and versatile family; noble and base deeds, revolting crimes and
sweet poems, come in the stirring story of their lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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