AceJack said:
Black history is Welsh history.
Cough
On this day 1039, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd and Powys, defeated a Mercian army at Rhyd y Groes near Welshpool.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (c. 1007–1063 or 1064) was the son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, King of Gwynedd and Deheubarth, who claimed descendency from Hywel Dda . He is known as "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales".
According to an early story Gruffydd had been a lazy youth, but one New Year's Eve, he was watching a cook boiling pieces of beef in a cauldron. The cook was complaining that there was one piece of meat which kept coming to the top of the cauldron, however often it was thrust down and Gruffydd took this as applying to himself, and thus began his rise to power.
1023 - On the death of Grufydd's father, Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig became ruler of Gwynedd.
1039 - King Iago was killed and Gruffydd, who had already conquered Powys, regained the rule of Gwynedd. Soon after gaining power, he totally defeated a Mercian army at Rhyd y Groes near Welshpool.
1041 - Gruffydd defeated Hywel of Dyfed at the Battle of Pencader
1044 - Hywel returned with a Danish fleet to try to reclaim his kingdom, but Gruffydd defeated and killed him.
1047 - Gruffydd ap Rhydderch of Gwent expelled Gruffydd ap Llywelyn from Deheubarth after the nobles of Ystrad Tywi attacked and killed 140 of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's household guard.
1052 - Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was active on the Welsh border, he attacked Herefordshire and defeated a mixed force of Normans and English near Leominster.
1055 - Gruffydd ap Llywelyn killed Gruffydd ap Rhydderch and recaptured Deheubarth. He then allied himself with Aelgar of Mercia, who had been deprived of his earldom of East Anglia by Harold Godwinson and they marched on Hereford, defeating the force of the Earl of Hereford, Ralph the Timid and sacked the city, destroying its castle. Gruffydd was also able to seize Morgannwg and Gwent, along with extensive territories along the border with England.
1056 - He won another victory over an English army near Glasbury and claimed sovereignty over the whole of Wales - a claim which was recognised by the English. Historian John Davies tells us that Gruffydd was "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... and for about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor."
1062 - Harold Godwinson obtained Edward the Confessor's approval for a surprise attack on Gruffydd's court at Rhuddlan, Grufydd was nearly captured but escaped out to sea.
1063 - Harold's brother Tostig led an army into north Wales while Harold led a fleet to meet up with him. Gruffydd was forced to take refuge in Snowdonia, and according to the Ulster Chronicle he was killed by Cynan ap Iago, son of Iago ab Idwal whom Gruffydd had killed in 1039. Gruffydd's head and the figurehead of his ship were sent to Harold.
Following Gruffydd's death, Harold married his widow Ealdgyth and his realm was divided back into the traditional kingdoms, so that when Harold was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, so that when the Normans reached the borders of Wales, their task was made more difficult, because they were confronted by the traditional kingdoms rather than a single kingdom.
