History

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The Eleventh Century – The Normans and the Welsh Princes.

The story of Aberlleiniog Castle begins in the late eleventh century, around 1088.
Invading Norman forces constructed the motte and bailey castle, under the command of Marcher Lord, Hugh of Chester, and his powerful Commander of Troops, Robert of Rhuddlan.

A depiction of Aberlleiniog Castle as it could have looked during the Norman occupation.

After their conquest of England in 1066, the Normans spread steadily north and west. As early as 1070, Gwent was under their control. In 1073, by the command of William the Conqueror, a motte and bailey castle (Twthill) was built at Rhuddlan by the men of Robert of Rhuddlan. The aim here was to consolidate Norman advances into North Wales. By 1074, the Kingdom of Deheubarth (which comprised present day Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Swansea and the Gower) was overrun by the forces of Hugh of Shrewsbury, another Norman Marcher Lord.

A year later, in 1075, the whole of Wales was thrown into turmoil, when the King of Gwynedd, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, was killed by the King of Deheubarth, Rhys ab Owain.  It appears that none of Bleddyn’s sons were old enough to take over the throne, and the resulting power vacuum allowed his cousin, Trahaearn ap Caradog, to seize control of Gwynedd.

At around this time, Prince Gruffydd ap Cynan appeared on the scene, arriving from Ireland, where he had been brought up.  Gruffydd’s grandfather ruled Gwynedd between 1023 and 1039, and Gruffydd landed on Anglesey, intent on reclaiming his inheritance from Trahaearn ap Caradog.

With the help of Irish allies, and troops borrowed from Robert of Rhuddlan, Gruffydd succeeded in this aim, defeating Trahaearn at the Battle of Gwaed Erw in Meirionnydd.

Buoyed by his victory, Gruffydd moved to try to regain the areas of North East Wales that had been seized by the Normans.  Despite having received crucially important support from Robert of Rhuddlan before the Battle of Gwaed Erw, Gruffydd turned against him, and attacked and destroyed Robert’s castle at Rhuddlan!

The defeated Trahaearn ap Caradog, meanwhile, was hatching a plot to re-take Gwynedd from Gruffydd while he was preoccupied fighting the Normans in North East Wales.  Choosing his moment carefully, he launched a counter attack!  The adversaries met at Clynnog Fawr in Caernarfonshire, and fought against one another at the Battle of Bron yr Erw.  During the battle, Gruffydd was forced to flee, and he returned to Ireland.  A victorious Trahaearn saw his position of ruler of Gwynedd restored once more.  

Three years later, in 1078, another twist saw Rhys ab Owain (King of Deheubarth, and the person responsible for the death of Gwynedd King Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in 1075) was killed by Caradog ap Gruffydd (Prince of Gwent).  Caradog ap Gruffydd wished to seize power in Deheubarth, emulating his father, and grandfather before him.  Rhys ab Owain’s death, however, allowed his second cousin, Rhys ap Tewdwr, to take over the Deheubarth throne.  Far from content with this situation, Caradog ap Gruffydd invaded Deheubarth in 1081.  Rhys ap Tewdwr was forced to flee, and sought sanctuary in the far south western corner of his kingdom, in St David’s Cathedral.

In the meantime, Gruffydd ap Cynan had returned from Ireland on a second campaign to become King of Gwynedd.  Intent on seizing Gwynedd from his old enemy Trahaearn ap Caradog, he brought with him an allied army of Danes and Irishmen.  He landed with his fleet near St David’s (this had probably been arranged in advance with Rhys ap Tewdwr), and here, his ranks were swelled still further by the addition of supporters that had travelled from North Wales to join him.  Gruffydd went to St David’s Cathedral to meet with the exiled Rhys ap Tewdwr, and it was here that they agreed to form an alliance to oust Trahaearn ap Caradog from the throne of Gwynedd.  The combined allied force headed north, with Trahaearn in their sights.

Unbeknown to Gruffydd and Rhys, however, Trahaearn had learned of their alliance, and he countered by forming an alliance with Caradog ap Gruffydd (Rhys’s usurper) and Meilyr ap Rhiwallon of Powys.  It is said that Trahaearn also had Norman crossbowmen in his army.

The two sides met at Mynydd Carn, just north of St. David’s, and a bloody battle ensued, the Battle of Mynydd Carn.  During the battle, Trahaearn, Caradog and Meilyr were all killed.  It is said that Trahaearn was killed by one of Gruffydd’s men, an Irishman, named Gucharki.

So Gruffydd emerged from the battle victorious, and became King of Gwynedd once more!  His ally Rhys ap Tewdwr was restored as King of Deheubarth.

The story doesn’t end there, however.  All of the infighting between the Welsh Kingdoms allowed the Normans to reinforce their campaign to take control of North Wales, which they had so far failed to do.

Soon after the Battle of Mynydd Carn, Gruffydd, the new King of Gwynedd, was persuaded to meet with the Norman Earls Hugh of Chester and Hugh of Shrewsbury, at Rug, near Corwen.  This meeting turned out to be a trap, and resulted in Gruffydd being captured by the Earls.  He was imprisoned in Earl Hugh’s castle at Chester.

According to the anonymous author of the ‘History of Gruffydd ap Cynan’, straight after Gruffydd’s capture in 1081, the Normans tried to capitalise on this, and built Aberlleiniog motte and bailey castle, and others at Caernarfon, Bangor and in Meirionnydd.  Aberlleiniog’s construction was spearheaded by one-time ally of Gruffydd’s, Robert of Rhuddlan.

Gruffydd was held prisoner for many years, but sometime between the date of his capture and 1094 he escaped, and lead a rebellion against the Norman invaders.  By this time, the Normans had occupied most of Wales, but despite this, were still having difficulty exerting control.

In 1094, Gruffydd instigated the Battle of Aberlleiniog against the Normans.  Gruffydd’s history records him as ‘fighting against the castle of Aberllienyauc in Anglesey, with 120 men and 14 youths’.  He is said to have burned and plundered the castle, and in so doing, successfully ousted the Normans from Aberlleiniog Castle.  They were forced to withdraw from Anglesey completely, when they were defeated at the Battle of the Anglesey Sound, in which the forces of Viking King Magnus Barefoot played a decisive role.  Gruffydd himself had Norse ancestors (on his mother’s side) so was it purely down to coincidence that King Magnus arrived so soon after the Battle of Aberlleiniog?  Could he have already been on his way to ally with Gruffydd to help him to repel the Normans from Aberlleiniog?

A depiction of the Battle of Aberlleiniog.