Llewellyn ap Iorworth was ruler of Gwynedd in North Wales from 1201 to 1240. He conquered Powys and Ceredigion in 1208. He survived an invasion from 1211 to 1212 by King John of England and benefited greatly from the Barons’ War of 1215 to 1217 by capturing Swansea.
His reign was sustained by a combination of both military and diplomatic means. He married Joan the illegitimate daughter of King John in 1205 and allied with the Earl of Chester Ranulf, on his north-eastern flank.
After English King John died unexpectedly in 1216 from a fever in Newark, Henry III takes the thrown. During the early reign of Henry III several attacks by the English armies are repelled.
Joan died in 1237 and Llewellyn himself died in 1240, leaving behind the legacy of winning Welsh independence from both the English kings and the Marcher lords.
Research Sources
- The Hutchinson Softback Encyclopaedia
- The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare
- British History – A Chronological Dictionary of Dates – Rodney Castleden
- Wales in History – Book II 1066 – 1485 – The Defenders – David Fraser
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