Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam

Personal and Family Information

Gwladys was born about 1385, the daughter of unknown parents. The place is not known.

She died in 1454. The place is not known.

Her husband was William ap Thomas. They were married, but the date and place have not been found. Their only known child was William (c1423-1469).

Events

Notes

Note 1

!Source: Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwladys_ferch_Dafydd_GamGwladys ferch Dafydd Gam [died 1454] was a Welsh noblewoman. She was the daughter of Dafydd ap Llewelyn ap Hywel, otherwise known as Dafydd Gam, who was killed at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.[1]

Gwladys was named "the star of Abergavenny" [Welsh: Seren-y-fenni][2] —"Gwladys the happy and the faultless" by Welsh poet Lewys Glyn Cothi.[3] He describes the lady of Raglan Castle, which she became upon her second marriage, as a brilliant being, "like the sun—the pavilion of light."[4] She has been compared to the legendary Queen Marcia for her discretion and influence.[5]

— Childhood

Gwladys's father, Dafydd, was a gentleman of considerable property and a celebrated military figure, descended from the native Welsh rulers of Brycheiniog.[6][7] He was a prominent opponent of Owain Glyndŵr. Accounts of her mother are unclear. According to Prichard, Dafydd married Gwenllian, daughter of wealthy gentleman Gwilym ab Howel and grew up on an estate named "Petyn Gwyn" near the town of Brecon, in the parish of Garthbrengy,[2] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography more recently reports that some genealogists claim Dafydd's wife to have been Gwladys, daughter of Gwilym ap Hywel Crach. [1374–6].[7]

On 16 September 1400, Owain Glyndŵr instigated the Welsh Revolt against the rule of Henry IV of England from the House of Lancaster. Dafydd, "one of Owain's most die-hard opponents," supported the English monarchy for the next twelve years[7] in opposition to his Welsh countrymen.[8]

During opposition to Owain Glyndŵr, Dafydd's lands in and around Brecon became a target for Glyndŵr's attacks. Owain is recorded to have arrived at the family's principal residence at Petyn Gwyn where he captured and assaulted Lady Gwenllian. After imprisoning her inside the house, he burnt the mansion to the ground.[9][10]

Driven from their last home in Wales, Gwladys, with her father, grandfather, and her two brothers, found refuge at King Henry IV's court,[10][11] where Gwladys served as a Maid of Honour firstly to Mary de Bohun [c. 1368–1394], wife of Henry IV, and afterwards to Queen Joan [c. 1370–1437], his second wife and only queen consort.[8][12]

— First marriage

Sir Roger Vaughan

Gwladys married her first husband, Sir Roger Vaughan of Bredwardine also known as Roger Fychan [the younger],[13] after her family returned to Wales. Roger, a gentleman of wealth, rank, and high respectability was a special friend of her father's, and would later be his companion in arms at the Battle of Agincourt.[14][15]

Following her marriage, she never again left Wales. Gwladys was a supporter of Welsh culture, especially of the bards and minstrels of her time. In Lewus Glyn Cothi's elegy, Gwladys is called "the strength and support of Gwentland and the land of Brychan" [later the counties of Monmouth and Brecon]: which she supported extensively.[14]

Battle of Agincourt

Gwladys' father Dafydd, and her husband Roger, had been part of the Welsh contingent that fought with Henry V of England; they both died at the Battle of Agincourt in France in 1415.[13] Legends appeared in the 16th century claiming that[7] upon saving the life of Henry V at the expense of their own lives, both men were knighted by the king on the battlefield before they died.[15][16] However, there is no contemporary validation that the legends are true.[7]

— Issue

In contrast to Gwladys and Roger's allegiance to the House of Lancaster[17] and Sir William ap Thomas's daughter,[13] their three sons were staunch Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses. The brothers would fight with their Herbert half-brothers during the Battle of Edgecote Moor in 1469. Beyond their political pursuits, the Bredwardine and Hergest Vaughans supported Welsh poets. They took residence at the main Vaughan holdings of Bredwardine, Hergest, and Tretower, respectively.[13]

Watkin [Walter] Vaughan [d. 1456] of Bredwardine, Esquire,[18] married Elinor, daughter of Sir Henry Wogan,[17][19] On Easter 1456, Watkin was murdered at home, Bredwardine Castle for which half-brother William Herbert and Walter Devereux forcibly ensured prosecution of execution of the culprits at Hereford.[13]

Thomas Vaughan [c.1400–1469] of Hergest, Esquire,[18] married Ellen Gethin,[17][19] daughter of Cadwgan ap Dafydd. From the mid-1440s, Thomas had interests in the Stafford lordships of Huntington, Brecon and Hay.[13] September 1461, supporting the three Vaughan brother's allegiance to Yorkist rule, Edward IV appointed Thomas receiver of Brecon, Hay, and Huntington during the minority of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. In 1469, Thomas died at the Battle of Edgecote and entombed at Kington church, near Hergest.[13]

Sir Roger Vaughan [d. 1471] of Tretower Court married twice. Once to Cicely, daughter of Thomas ab Philip Vychan, of Talgarth[19] and second Lady Margaret, daughter of Lord James Audley, another of the heroes of Agincourt.[3][17] Roger fought with his father and grandfather at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Roger was knighted for his activities supporting the Yorkist regime. In May 1471 Roger was captured by Jasper Tudor and beheaded at Chepstow.[13]

Elizabeth Vaughan married gentleman Griffith ab Eineon.[17][19]

Blanch Vaughan married wealthy Englishman John Milwater,[17][19] commissioned by Edward IV to accompany Blanch's half-brother, William Herbert, to the siege of Harlech Castle.[20]

There are other children less reliably attributed to this union: John Vaughan of Dursley, William Vaughan of Clifford and three more daughters not specifically identified.[18]

— William ap Thomas

Her second marriage was to Sir William ap Thomas of Raglan Castle who also fought at the Battle of Agincourt. William was the son of Thomas ap Gwilym ap Jenkyn, a local landowner and his wife Maud, daughter of Sir John Morley.[21] He was knighted in 1426 and was known, because of the colour of his armour, as "The Blue Knight of Gwent."[22]

As Lady of Raglan Castle, Gwladys was able to entertain her guests and assist the needy and afflicted on an even greater scale than when the mistress of Bredwardine Castle.[21]

Gwladys and William's children were raised with the Vaughan children[13]

—Issue

he children of Gwladys and William were:

William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke [1423–1469] took the surname Herbert.[3][23] William's allegiance to Richard, Duke of York, and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, branded him Edward IV's Welsh "master-lock". He was the first full-blooded Welshman to enter the English peerage and he was knighted in 1452. He married Anne Devereux daughter of Sir Walter Devereux in 1449, by whom he had issue.[24]

Sir Richard Herbert of Coldbrook, near Abergavenny; died on the battlefield of Danesmoor.[3][23]

Elizabeth married Sir Henry Stradling[3][23] [1423–1476], son of Sir Edward Stradling [d. c.1453] and the Lady Jane Joan Plantagenet de Beaufort [the bastard daughter of Cardinal Beaufort; m 1423].

Reversing alliances from the previous generation, Henry and his brothers-in-law were hostile to Henry VI's reign. Henry went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1476. Henry died on 31 August 1476 on his journey back to England and was buried at Famagusta, Cyprus. Thomas, Elizabeth and Henry's young son died on 8 September 1480.[25]

Margaret married Sir Henry Wogan,[3][23] steward[26] and treasurer of the Earldom of Pembroke, tasked with securing war material for the defence of Pembroke Castle.[27] Henry and his father, John Wogan of Picton, witnessed an act of Bishop Benedict in 1418. Their son, Sir John Wogan, was killed at the battle of Banbury in 1469, fighting by the side of his uncle, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.[28]

Other issue less consistently attributed to Gwladys and William include: Maud, Olivia, Elizabeth [who married Welsh country gentlemen, John ab Gwilym],[3] and Thomas Herbert.[23]

The Cornish family of Thomas [Thomas of Lelant, Thomas of Crowan, Thomas of Tremayne, Thoms, and the Bosarvanes of St Just], all patrilineally descended from "Richard Thomas gent. of Wales" are acknowledged as legitimate agnatic descendants of William ap Thomas in the 1620 Visitation of Cornwall, and thus of Gwladys.[29]

The Visitation records state "This coate of Pr pale nebule Ar. B. was ye coate armor of Sr Willm ap Thomas, from whom this familye chalengeth to be descended."[29]

Descendants of this family include Members of Parliament, such as John Thomas who sat in the 1555 Parliament for the Cornish borough of Mitchell,[30] members of the clergy such as Methodist minister the Reverend William Courtenay Thomas[31] and his descendants,[32] and related pioneering families in Australia.[33]

Lady Gwladys mourned at length when William died in 1445.[34]

— Death

She died in 1454.[35] Gwladys and her husband William ap Thomas were patrons of Abergavenny Priory where they were both buried; their alabaster tomb and effigies can still be seen in the church of St Mary's.[22][36][37]

Gwladys was so beloved by her people that, according to legend, 3,000 knights, nobles and weeping peasantry followed her body from Coldbrook House [her son Richard's manor] to the Herbert Chapel of St. Mary's Priory Church where she was buried.[36][38]

Notes

References

Prichard pp. 431-433

Prichard p. 416

Prichard p. 437

Prichard p. 436

Prichard p. 441

Prichard p. 416, 441

Tout, T; Davies, R [2004–2011]. "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - Dafydd [David] Gam [d. 1415], warrior". Oxford University Press 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011. [subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required]

Hodgdon & Thomas pp. 128-129

Prichard p. 419

Wilkins, C [1879]. Tales and Sketches of Wales. Cardiff: Daniel Owen, Howell & Company. p. 15. OCLC 13012228.

Prichard p. 421

Burke, J.; Burke, J. B. [1847]. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain. Vol. 2. London: Henry Colburn. p. 1471.

Griffiths, R [2004–2011]. "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - Vaughan Family[per. c.1400–c.1504], gentry". Oxford University Press 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011. [subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required]

Prichard p. 422

Nicholas, T. [1991] [1872]. Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales: containing a record of all ranks of the gentry with many ancient pedigrees and memorials of old and extinct families [Facsimile reprint ed.]. Genealogical Publishing.Com. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-8063-1314-6.

Prichard pp. 424-433

Theophilus, Jones [1809]. A history of the county of Brecknockshire. Vol. 3. Self-published. pp. 503–505.

Hodgdon & Thomas p. 120.

Prichard p. 423

Davies, W; Evans, Daniel [1861]. English works of the Rev. Walter Davies [Gwallter Mechain]. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co. p. iii. "John Milwater."

Prichard pp. 435-437

"Abergavenney Priory-William ap Thomas, Sir". Aberystwyth University. Retrieved 7 February 2011.

Evans p. 244

Griffiths, R. A. [2004–2011]. "Herbert, William, first earl of Pembroke [c.1423–1469]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [Online ed.]. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48658. [Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.]

Griffiths, R. A. [2004–2011]. "Stradling [Stradelinges, de Estratlinges] family". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [Online ed.]. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48658. [Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.]

"Sloane Charters". Cymmrodorion Record Series. 4. London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion: 618. 1908.

Evans p.214

Owen, Henry [1902]. Old Pembroke Families in the Ancient County Palatine of Pembroke. London: C. J. Clarke. LCCN 05015821.

"The Visitations of Cornwall". ukga.org. Retrieved 20 August 2019.

"THOMAS, John II [c.153I-81/90], of the Middle Temple, London and Constantine, Cornw. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 20 August 2019.

Joseph A. Alexander [ed.], Who's Who in Australia 1955 [Melbourne: Colorgravure Publications, 1955], p.749.

"Jeffrey Raeder Thomas - Coat of arms [crest] of Jeffrey Raeder Thomas". www.heraldry-wiki.com. Retrieved 20 August 2019.

"THOMAS, Edward Courtney". Western District Families. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2019.

Prichard p. 440

"Gwladys". Aberystwyth University. Retrieved 28 May 2011.

Prichard pp. 440–441

"St. Mary's Priory of Abergavenny, William ap Thomas and Gwladys Monuments". St Mary's Priory Church. 2008. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2011.

"St Mary's Priory Church". Abergavenny Local History Society. Retrieved 7 February 2011.

Bibliography

Prichard, T. J. Llewelyn. [1854]. The Heroines of Welsh History: Or Memoirs of the Celebrated Women of Wales. London: W & F G Cash.

Prichard, T. J. Llewelyn. [2007] [1854]. The Heroines of Welsh History: Or Memoirs of the Celebrated Women of Wales [Reprinted ed.]. Kessinger Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-4325-2662-7.

Hodgdon, George E.; Hancock, Thomas W. [1918]. Reminiscences and genealogical record of the Vaughan family of New Hampshire. New York: Rochester. LCCN 18007045.

Evans, Howell T. [1915]. Wales and the wars of the Roses. Cambridge University Press. LCCN 15019453.

!Source: https://archive.org/stream/HeraldicVisitationsOfWalesAndPartOfTheMarchesBetweenTheYears1586/HeraldicVisitationsOfWalesAndPartOfTheMarchesBetweenTheYears1586And1613ByLewysDwnnVol.1_djvu.txt

14 Sir Roger ivanc. or vychan, both which words are used to imply "junior," was, as

Lewys Dwnn above says, " slain in Agincourt field," was made a Knight Banneret, with

his father-in-law, David Gam. Gwladys and her second husband. Sir William ap

Thomas, a widower, were both buried in the Priory Church at Abergavenny, where

their effigies still exist.

15 For a continuation of the descents from these two, see Walpole's Life of Lord

Herbert of Cherbury. Sir William, the eldest son, had, in 1461, a grant of the offices

of Chief Justice and Chamberlain of South Wales from Edward IV.; and was, on the

■lth of November, in the same year, created Baron Herbert of Gower. In 1462, he

had the grant of the Castle, Town, and Lordship of Pembroke ; in 1463, was constituted

Justice of Merioneth, in North Wales ; and in 1467, Chief Justice of North Wales

for life. On the 27th of May, 1468, he was advanced to the title of Earl of Pembroke,

and soon after a Knight of the Garter. He was taken prisoner at tho battle of Danes-

more, in 1469, and on the Wednesday, viz., two days after, according to Gutto'r Glyn,

was executed. Lewys Glyn Cothi addressed an Ode to him ; and as he, in November,

1463, accompanied Edward IV, on an expedition to the North, in order to reduce those

Castles which were possessed by Lancastrians, he commences, by asking, " How was it

that the dart of William was not broken in the assault upon Durham," which took

place in the next month ; and then exclaims, " May the lance of William break down

the strong wall of the city, and the five towers thereof." Ho congratulates all Wales

on having such a hero ; styles him a loverof truth, the protector of the weak, and the

terror of the Lancastrians ; the prosperity of Wales, and the dispenser of charity ; tells

us that he was a member of the Parliament, to which he was first sammoned in 1462,

and the son of the daughter of David Gam. He alludes to his deeds of valour in the

North, and speaks of his triumphing over the enemy from Dunster Castle, in Somerset-,

shire, which, on the attainder of Sir James Luttrel was bestowed upon him, to Aber

I[16] '■-■•■■. a village in Glamorganshire. He adds, that when mounted on his restless white

charger, his countenance was most animated, and his eyes sparkling like fire. He

alludes also to his improvement of Rhaglan Castle, which his father had acquired with

his first wife, Elizabeth Berkley. But ho records no one act so much to his credit as

his obtaining pardon for David ab Einion, on his surrender, who had so bravely defended

Harlech Castle, in Merionethshire [Monmouthshire] ; for when Lord Herbert summoned him to surrender,

he made this memorable reply, — " I maintained a Castle in France so long, that all the

old women in Wales talked about me ; and I will keep this Castle of Harlech so long,

Note: David ap Einon 1420 is also related to Hotchkiss, and the families later appear to have becom staunch allies. Name also appears later as Benyon.