Cadwgan ap Bleddyn

Who was Cadwgan ap Bleddyn?

Cadwgan ap Bleddyn was a prince of Powys in eastern Wales.

Cadwgan was the second son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn who was king of both Powys and Gwynedd. When Bleddyn was killed in 1075, Powys was divided between three of his sons, Cadwgan, Iorwerth and Maredudd. Cadwgan is first heard of in 1088 when he attacked Deheubarth, forcing its king, Rhys ap Tewdwr, to flee to Ireland. However Rhys returned later the same year with a fleet from Ireland and defeated the men of Powys in a battle in which two of Cadwgan's nephews, Madog and Rhiryd, were killed.

When Rhys ap Tewdwr was killed in 1093, Cadwgan again attacked Deheubarth, but it soon became clear that it was the Normans who would benefit from the death of Rhys. About this time Cadwgan married the daughter of one of the neighbouring Norman lords, Picot de Sai. In 1094 a Welsh revolt against Norman rule broke out, and Cadwgan played a part in this, defeating a Norman force at the battle of Coed Yspwys. Bleddyn was now an ally of Gruffydd ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd, and when Earl Hugh of Chester and Earl Hugh of Shrewsbury launched an invasion in 1098 to try to recover Anglesey for Hugh of Chester, Cadwgan was with Gruffydd. A Danish fleet hired by Gruffydd was offered a higher price by the Normans and changed sides, forcing Cadwgan and Gruffydd to flee to Ireland in a skiff.