|
||||||||||||||
| Spouses | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Notes for Owain Gwynnedd AP GRUFFYD , Prince of Gwynnedd | ||||||||||||||
| "[He was] Prince of Gwynedd from 1137 until his death in 1170, took advantage of the troubled reign of King Stephen of England and seized some neigbouring territories. In 1157, Henry II led an army into Wales and Owain acknowledged Henry II as overlord. Owain kept all the territory he had gained with the exception of Tegeingl in the extreme north east. "Owain married Gwladys, a daughter of Llywarch ap Trahaearn ap Cardogog whose father Trahaearn ap Cardogog had been killed in 1081 by Owain's father Gruffydd ap Cynan. Apparently, our ancestors didn't hold long grudges over killings and murders, perhaps because these events were so common."153 Owain had an illegitimate son named Madoc ap OWAIN GWYNNED, about whom a curious story is told: "Upon the death of Owain Gwynedd ap Gruffydd, Prince of Gwynedd from 1137 until 1170, there was a great deal of competition among his many children. One of the illegitimate sons, Prince Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd was eager to get away from all the trouble. He and his brother Riryd led a group of presumably peace loving countrymen to a new land where they could start afresh . . . or so the story goes. "According to the legend, Madoc and Riryd sailed west in 1170 with 2 boats and a number of colonists, and landed in the area of what is now Mobile, Alabama. One of the boats returned to Wales, fitted out an expedition of 10 ships, and returned to North America to stay. Prince Madoc and his settlers moved up the Alabama and Coosa Rivers to the Chattanooga area. They built a series of forts along the route, one of which at DeSoto Falls, Alabama, is said to have been nearly identical in setting, layout, and method of construction to Dolwyddelan Castle in Gwynedd, Wales. "Prince Madoc is also said to have settled in the West Indies and Mexico where he became known as Quetzacoatl, the white Aztec god. However, according to the most popular and persistent version of the legend, the Welsh settlers moved further and further inland from Alabama, and eventually moved in with the Mandan Indians on the Missouri River in North Dakota where they were assimilated into the aboriginal culture. "Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, tales appeared to the effect that various aboriginal tribes of North America spoke a form of ancient Welsh, had pale complexions and blue eyes, cherished ancient relics including Bibles printed in Welsh, built little wicker-framed, hide-covered boats similar to Welsh coracles and Irish curraghs, and so on. At various times, the Shawnee, Delaware, Conestoga, Comanche, along with least nine more actual tribes and eight imaginary ones were said to have been blue-eyed Welsh-speaking Indians. Eventually, the Mandan of North Dakota became the most favoured tribe, possibly because their dwellings, and to an extent their social structure, differed from those of their more nomadic neighbours. 'Not all horse-riding, buffalo-hunting plains Indians lived in tepees. The earthen lodges of the Mandans each housed several families, a few favourite horses, a number of dogs, and a wide range of equipment for cooking, hunting, and ceremonial observances.' (John A. Garraty: The American Nation, New York, 1966, pages 462 & 463) "The rumours were so persistent that in 1790's a Welsh clergyman named John Evans was appointed to search for Madoc's descendants and reconvert them to Christianity. After an adventurous journey as far west as the Rocky Mountains and spending a winter with the Mandan, John Evans reported that he had met no Welsh-speaking aboriginal peoples. He wrote: 'from the intercourse I have with Indians from the latitude 35° to 49° I think you may with safety inform my friends that they (Welsh speaking aboriginal peoples) have no existence.' Lewis and Clark came to a similar conclusion, but the legends persisted. "In November 1953, The Daughters of the American Revolution even went so far as to erect a bronze tablet on Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay that reads: 'In memory of Prince Madoc, a Welsh explorer, who landed on the shores of Mobile Bay in 1170 and left behind, with the Indians, the Welsh language'. "The above information was condensed from Samuel Eliot Morison: The European Discovery of America , New York, 1971; and from the web sites listed below. "For information on Madoc's voyage to North America, see these sites: Prince Madoc and the Discovery of America http://www.where-can-i-find.com/wales/history/madoc.htm Was America discovered in 1170 by Prince Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd of Wales? http://www.barstow.cc.ca.us/wac/madoc.htm or http://www.welshdragon.net/myths/madoc_usa.htm Madoc 1170 http://www.madoc1170.com/home.htm Georgia's Fort Mountain and Prince Madoc of Wales http://www.tylwythteg.com/fortmount/Ftmount.html Prince Madoc http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/3579/madog.html The Mystery of Madoc in Mobile http://members.tripod.com/robertstapleton/madoc.html Origins of the Mandan http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos217.htm�153 | ||||||||||||||
| Research Notes | ||||||||||||||
| DEATH: His date of death is also given as December 1169.149 BURIAL: His place of burial is confirmed as Bangor.149 | ||||||||||||||
| Last Modified Apr 5, 2003 | Created Dec 31, 2003 by Reunion for Macintosh |