Maredudd ap Tudur (died c. 1406) was a Welsh soldier and nobleman from the Tudor family of Penmynydd. He was one of five sons of

Tudur ap Goronwy Tudur ap Goronwy (c. 1310 - c. 1367) was a Welsh landowner, soldier and administrator of the Tudors of Penmynydd family from the island of Anglesey. Origins Born about 1310, he was one of the two sons of Goronwy ap Tudur Hen and his wife Gwer ...

, and was the father of

Owen Tudor Sir Owen Tudor (, 2 February 1461) was a Welsh courtier and the second husband of Queen Catherine of Valois (1401–1437), widow of King Henry V of England. He was the grandfather of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty. Background Owe ...

. Maredudd supported the Welsh patriot Owain Glyndŵr in 1400, alongside his brothers

Rhys ap Tudur Rhys ap Tudur (died 1412) was a Welsh nobleman and a member of the Tudor family of Penmynydd. He held positions of power on behalf of King Richard II of England, including two periods as the Sheriff of Anglesey in the 1370s and 80s. Rhys accomp ...

and Gwilym ap Tudur; Owain was their cousin. He was the great-grandfather of

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beauf ...

and the great-great-grandfather of

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

Ancestry and early life

Maredudd was one of five sons of

and Marged ferch Tomos (a descendant of

Llywelyn Fawr Llywelyn the Great ( cy, Llywelyn Fawr, ; full name Llywelyn mab Iorwerth; c. 117311 April 1240) was a King of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually " Prince of the Welsh" (in 1228) and "Prince of Wales" (in 1240). By a combination of war and ...

); alongside Ednyfed ap Tudor,

, Goronwy ap Tudor and Gwilym ap Tudur. Tudur had served with the forces of King

Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ...

during the campaigns in France in 1337, assuming the rank of knight in the process. Afterwards, he became a royal officer for the island of Angelsey and ensured that all of his sons found similar roles. The family were descended from

Ednyfed Fychan Ednyfed Fychan ( 1170 – 1246), full name Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig, was a Welsh warrior who became Seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in Northern Wales, serving Llywelyn the Great and his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Ednyfed claimed descent fr ...

, and his son

Goronwy ab Ednyfed Goronwy ab Ednyfed (c. 1205 – 17 October 1268) was seneschal to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Kingdom of Gwynedd, king of Gwynedd. Goronwy was the founder of the Tudors of Penmynydd, Tudor family of Penmynydd. Early life and service to Llywelyn ap Gru ...

, the founder of the Tudor family of Penmynydd. At some point between 1387 and 1395, Maredudd was made rhaglaw ( bailiff) of the

commote A commote (Welsh ''cwmwd'', sometimes spelt in older documents as ''cymwd'', plural ''cymydau'', less frequently ''cymydoedd'')''Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales ...

at Malltraeth. His brothers Rhys and Goronwy held similar roles in the commote of

Dindaethwy Dindaethwy was in medieval times one of two commotes of the cantref of Rhosyr, in the south-east of the Isle of Anglesey. It was between the Menai Strait and Conwy Bay (to the south), and the Irish Sea and Red Wharf Bay (to the north). It incl ...

. Maredudd was named

escheator Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a ...

of Anglesey between 1388 and 1391, a role normally reserved by the crown for Englishmen.

Revolt

When Owain Glyndŵr led a revolt against the crown, the surviving Tudur brothers (Goronwy and Ednyfed both drowned in 1382), sided with him openly; Glyndŵr was their cousin on his mother's side of the family. But unlike Rhys and Gwilym, Maredudd was included in a general pardon in 1401 given to those who on Anglesey who supported Owain. Despite this, Maredudd again led a group of rebels in 1405, and was outlawed a year later by the king. Maredudd's lands were confiscated by the crown, but unlike those of his brothers they were not passed to Gwilym ap Gruffydd. The rebellion ultimately failed; Rhys was executed in 1412, Gwilym ap Tudur was given a pardon in 1413, but Maredudd disappears from the historical record after 1405 and his final fate is unclear.

Legacy

Maredudd's son Owain initially used the name Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur, but Anglicised it to become

. Owen married the widow of King Henry V of England,

Catherine of Valois Catherine of Valois or Catherine of France (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was Queen of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of Charles VI of France, she was married to Henry V of England and gave birth to his heir Henry VI of Englan ...

, in secret and had had three sons, Owen, Edmund and

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

. Their half brother, King Henry VI of England, took an active interest in them and had Edmund married to

Margaret Beaufort Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. A descendant of ...

to ensure their children could inherit the throne of England. During the subsequent

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

, Edmund's son Henry Tudor became King

, the founder of the House of Tudor.

Lineage

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tudur, Maredudd ap 14th-century Welsh people 1400s deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain Welsh soldiers Welsh rebels People from Anglesey