If ever your family gets on your nerves, you can be glad that you don’t have a family like Owain Gwynedd. Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd was Owain Gwynedd’s brother.  A royal family in Wales wasn’t the same as in England, where the eldest son inherited most everything.  In Wales, upon the death of a king, an entire kingdom was to be split among the brothers, even the illegitimate ones.  (yes, the Catholic Church objected to this, but the Welsh didn’t much care).  This caused problems for Wales time and again–as the brothers fought over lands among themselves and what had been a united kingdom under the father became divided under the sons. Cadwaladr and Owain were often at odds.  Owain became the eldest son when his brother, Cadwallon, died, leaving Owain and Cadwaladr to rule without him. Owain and Cadwaladr seemed Read more…