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Owain Gwynedd was esteemed one of the greatest princes Wales ever produced.

Upon the death of his father, which occurred in 1137 A.D., he took his share of the possessions, which were divided, according to the custom of the nation, among the sons, and he ruled North Wales, his seat of government being at Aberfraw, till 1169 A.D., when he died.

Gwalchmai, a Bard of his times, addressed to him the following spirited ode in celebration of an important victory he achieved over the English at the battle of Tal y Moelvre:

"The generous chief I sing of Rhodri's line,

With princely gifts endow'd, whose hand

Hath often curb'd the border land,

Owain, great heir of Britain's throne—

Whom fair Ambition marks her own,

Who ne'er to yield to man was known,

Nor heaps he stores at Avarice's shrine.

"Three mighty legions o'er the sea-flood came,

Three fleets intent on sudden fray;

One from Erin's verdant coast,

One with Lochlin's arméd host,

Long burdens of the billowy way;

The third, from far, bore them of Norman's name,

To fruitless labor doom'd, and barren fame.

"'Gainst Mona's gallant lord, where, lo! he stands,

His warlike sons ranged at his side,

Rushes the dark tumultuous tide,

Th' insulting tempest of the hostile bands:

Boldly he turns the furious storm,

Before him wild Confusion flies,

While Havoc rears her hideous form,

And prostrate Rank expiring lies;

Conflict upon conflict growing,

Gore on gore in torrents flowing,

Shrieks answering shrieks, and slaughter raving,

And high o'er Modore's front a thousand banners waving.

"Now thickens still the frantic war;

The flashing death-strokes gleam afar,

Spear rings on spear, flight urges flight,

And drowning victims plunge to night;

Check'd by the torrent-tide of blood,

Backward Menai rolls his flood;

The mailéd warriors on the shore,

With carnage strew'd, and dyed with gore,

In awful anguish drag their mangled forms along,

And high the slaughter'd throng

Is heap'd, the King's red chiefs before.

"Lloegria's onset thus, Lloegria's flight,

The struggle doom'd her power to tame,

Shall, with her routed sons, unite

To raise great Owain's sword to fame;

Whilst sevenscore tongues of his exploits shall tell,

And all their high renown through future ages swell."

Many other odes are extant in the Welsh language, written in honor of this great prince, which have never been surpassed in true poetic spirit, elegance of diction, and metrical ease, by the productions of any other country.

Owain Gwynedd had nineteen children. The names of the sons were Rhodri, Cynoric, Riryd, Meredydd, Edwal, Cynan, Rien, Maelgon, Llewelyn, Iorweth, Davydd, Cadwallon, Hywell, Cadell, Madoc, Einon, and Phylip; and of this number Rhodri, Hywell, Davydd, and Madoc were the most distinguished.

Iorweth, being the eldest son, was entitled to succeed his father, but was declared unfit to occupy such a position, on account of an injury done to his nose, which gained for him the not very euphonious name of Drwyndwn (Swarthy-nose).

Hywell was a brilliant soldier and poet, and many of his best productions are still preserved. His mother was a native of Ireland, and although not born in wedlock, thus being regarded as an illegitimate son, he aspired to the crown after the death of his father, and succeeded in obtaining it, at the same time granting to Iorweth the cantrevs of Nanconwy and Ardudwy.

Soon after, he went to Ireland to receive possession of his mother's property, but upon his return he found Davydd, the legitimate son of Owain by another wife, asserting in arms his right to the throne under the sanction of a legitimate birth. The consequence was that the entire country became embroiled in a bitter civil war, Hywell was slain in battle, and Davydd ab Owain occupied his father's throne. As a stroke of perfidy, or policy, he married the sister of King Henry the Second, whereby he succeeded in breaking for a time the independent spirit of the Welsh. He gave aid to his brother-in-law in money and men, and attended the Parliament at Oxford. Such a treacherous course excited the disgust and hatred of his brothers, as well as of his subjects generally, so that his realm continued in a state of wild revolt and dissension. Davydd, suspicious and alarmed lest he might lose his throne through some unforeseen intrigues, seized and imprisoned Rhodri, slew Iorweth, and drove his other brethren into exile.

He was so intractable in spirit, and so cruel, that he put out the eyes of large numbers who were not subservient to his will.

From all the concurrent evidences which can be gleaned, it appears that Madoc was the commander of his father's fleet, which at that time was so considerable as successfully to oppose that of England at the mouth of the Menai in the year 1142. The poem in which Gwalchmai has celebrated this victory has already been given in this chapter. There is also an allusion to it in Caradoc's History, p. 163, 4th ed., 1607.

Madoc was of a mild, gentle temperament, and must have felt deeply grieved at the unnatural dissensions existing between his own brothers. Moreover, he was an object of suspicion himself, exposed to his brother Davydd's ferocity, who imagined that he might also dispute the question of succession to the throne. Doubtless it was this that led Madoc to resolve that he would leave those scenes of contention, and seek, in exile from his native country, some other land in the west, if such could be found. Being commander-in-chief of the fleet, he was able to take a speedy departure.

This emigration of Prince Madoc seems to have been commemorated by Bards who lived very near the time in which it took place. According to various old documents, his enterprise of exploring the ocean westward resulted in the discovery of a new world, from which he returned to make known his good fortune and to gather other emigrants to accompany him thither. He accordingly fitted out a second expedition, and, taking his brother Riryd, Lord of Clocran in Ireland, with him, they prevailed upon a number to accompany them, sufficient to fill ten ships. They set sail from a small port, five miles from Holyhead, in the island of Anglesea.

There is a large book of pedigrees still extant, written by Jeuan Brecva, who flourished in the age preceding the time of Columbus, where the above event is thus noticed in treating of the genealogy of Owain Gwynedd: "Madoc and Riryd found land far in the sea of the west, and there they settled."

The Bards were the historians of those times. By a perusal of the compositions of those who were contemporary with Madoc, it is found that his name is mentioned three or four times by Cynddelw, Llywarch, and Gwalchmai. These are held to be among the most celebrated of the Welsh Bards. Their works, which are mostly extant in manuscript, would each of them make a respectable volume.

Llywarch, who was the son of Llewelyn, wrote a poem while undergoing the ordeal of the hot iron to prove his innocence respecting Madoc's death. He invoked the aid of the Saviour "lest he should injure his hand with the shining sword and his kinsmen should have to pay the galanas." It is addressed

"TO THE HOT IRON.

"Good Iron! free me from the charge

Of slaying. Show that he

Who smote the prince with murderous hand

Heaven's kingdoms nine shall never see,

Whilst I the dwelling-place of God

Shall share, safe from all enmity."

The same poet, in a panegyric, addressed to Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd, of Hywell and Madoc, his brothers, says—

"Two princes were there, who in wrath dealt woe,

Yet by the people of the earth were loved:

One who in Arvon quench'd ambition's flame,

Leading on land his bravely toiling men;

And one of temper mild, in trouble great,

Far o'er the bosom of the mighty sea

Sought a possession he could safely keep,

From all estrangéd for a country's sake."

In a poem addressed to Prince Llywelyn ab Iorweth by the same bard, there appear the following lines:

"Needless it is to ask all anxiously,

Who from invaders will our waters guard?

Llywelyn, he will guard the boundary wave;

The lion i' the breach, ruler of Gwynedd.

The land is his to Powys' distant bounds,

He met the Saxons by Llanwynwy lake,

Across the wave is he victorious,

Nephew of Madoc, whom we more and more

Lament that he is gone."

Gwalchmai addressed an ode to Davydd ab Owain Gwynedd, lamenting his being deprived of that prince's brothers:

"Silent I cannot be without mentioning who they were,

Who so well of me merited praise:

Owain the fierce, above the muse's song,

The manly hero of the conflict;

Cadwallon, ere he was lost,

It was not with smooth words he praised me;

Cadwaladyr, lover of the harmony of exhilarating songs,

He was wont to honor me;

Madoc, distributing his goods,

More he did to please than displease me."

In an elegy on the family of Owain Gwynedd, by Cynddelw, Madoc is twice mentioned, one passage particularly seeming worthy of attention:

"And is not Madoc by the whelming wave

Slain? How I sorrow for the helpful friend!

Even in battle was he free from hate,

Yet not in vain grasp'd he the warrior's spear."

There is a Welsh triad entitled "The Three Losses by Disappearance." The first loss was that of Gavran, the son of Aeddan Vradog, a chieftain of distinguished celebrity of the latter part of the fifth century. He went on an expedition to discover some islands which are known by the name of Gwerddonan Llion, or the Green Islands of the Ocean. He was never heard of afterwards, and the situation of these islands became lost to the Welsh.

The second loss was that of Merddin, who was the Bard of Emrys Wledig, or the Ambrosius of Saxon history, by whose command Stonehenge was erected.

Merddin is held as one of the three Christian Bards of Wales—Merddin Wyllt and Taliesin being the other two.

This Merddin, with twelve Bards, went to sea, and they were heard of no more.

The third loss of this remarkable triad was Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd, who, with three hundred men, went to sea in ten ships, and it is not known whither they went.

About 1440 A.D., Meredydd ab Rhys, having obtained the loan of a fishing-net by a poem, sent a second poem with it when he returned it, and wrote thus: