eldest son of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn by Senena, and brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. Some years a prisoner of his brother, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, Henry III secured to him a portion of Snowdonia by the treaty of Woodstock (1247). Again deprived by Llywelyn after Bryn Derwin (1254), he spent another long period in confinement, until Llywelyn was obliged to release him after the humiliating defeat of 1277, and to establish him as lord over part of Llŷn. The assumption has been that he died before the final catastrophe of 1282, but for another view which has not much to support it, see The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1899-1900, 44-7. Owain was undoubtedly the worst victim of the drive against the custom of partible succession pursued by the two Llywelyns.
Published date: 1959
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