Rhys Gethin (died in 1405) was a key figure in the revolt of

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...

's Welsh

rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

between 1400 and c. 1415 against the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...

. He was

Glyndŵr Glyndŵr, also spelled Glyndwr, may refer to: *Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and milita ...

's standard bearer and a leading general. His name translates as "swarthy Rhys".

Family

Rhys Gethin was a Welsh nobleman from Nant Conwy who played a leading role in the rebellion of Owain Glyn Dŵr. He had a brother,

Hywel Coetmor Hywel Coetmor (died c. 1440) was a Welsh people, Welsh knight who played a leading part in Prince Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh Glyndŵr rebellion, rebellion between 1400 and c. 1415 against the Kingdom of England. His brother was Rhys Gethin, who was ...

, who also played a significant role in the rising. Their father was Gruffudd Fychan ap Gruffudd ap Dafydd Goch ap Dafydd ap Gruffudd ap Llywelyn Fawr, through which they claimed that they were the grandsons of an

illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

son of

Dafydd ap Gruffydd Dafydd ap Gruffudd, also known as ''Dafydd III'' (11 July 1238 – 3 October 1283), was a Prince of Gwynedd until after the death of his brother, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, when he proclaimed himself as the Prince of Wales from 11 December 1282. H ...

and part of the royal dynasty of the kingdom of Gwynedd. Rhys married the daughter of Hywel ap Meirig Llwyd of Plas Nannau, Meirionnydd. His daughter Margred married Siancyn ap Dafydd ab y Crach ap Madog ap Goronwy ap Cynwrig, and their son was the Dafydd ap Siencyn. Rhys Gethin lived at 'Hafod Rhys Gethin', Betws Wyrion Iddon, (now

Betws-y-Coed Betws-y-Coed () is a village and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The village is located near the confluence of the River Conwy and the River Llugwy and is on the eastern edge of Snowdonia. The population of the co ...

) in the parish of Betws-y-Coed, according to Sir John Wynn of Gwydir in his History of the Gwydir Family.

Glyndŵr rebellion

In 1390, an English clergyman was appointed to the parish priesthood of Llanrwst by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The response of the local nobility was to force the monolingual Englishman to leave and to steal his property. Two of the leaders of the rebel attack were Rhys Gethin and his brother Hywel Coetmor. When the Glyn Dŵr rebellion broke out in 1400 Rhys and Hywel joined in the cause as military leaders in the local area. Rhys had a flourishing career with the prince. He may have led Glyn Dŵr's army of 3,000 warriors at the

Battle of Bryn Glas The Battle of Bryn Glas (also known as the Battle of Pilleth) was a battle between the Welsh and English on 22 June 1402, near the towns of Knighton, Powys, Knighton and Presteigne in Powys, Wales. It was part of the Glyndŵr rebellion of 1400-1 ...

(22 June 1402). Later in the same year he is recorded as a captain of the prince's army in south Wales against the force of Henry IV of England. In 1403 he was with Owain attacking

Carmarthen Castle Carmarthen Castle (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Castell Caerfyrddin'') is a ruined castle in Carmarthen, West Wales, UK. First built by Walter, Sheriff of Gloucester in the early 1100s, the castle was captured and destroyed on several occasions bef ...

. In March 1405 he was in South Wales again, this time unsuccessfully attacking the town of Grosmont and its castle; his army of about 8,000 men from Gwent and Glamorgan was defeated by a strong army sent from Hereford to lift the siege. Rhys Gethin is thought to have been killed at either the

Battle of Pwll Melyn The Battle of Pwll Melyn (also known as the Battle of Usk) was a battle between the Welsh and English on 5 May 1405. It was part of the Glyndŵr Rising that lasted from 1400 to 1415. It was the first English victory in a pitched battle during ...

or the Battle of Grosmont in 1405.

Legacy

A cywydd (poem of praise) sometimes attributed to poet and bard

Iolo Goch Iolo Goch (c. 1320 – c. 1398) (meaning ''Iolo the Red'' in English) was a medieval Welsh bard who composed poems addressed to Owain Glyndŵr, among others. Lineage Iolo was the son of Ithel Goch ap Cynwrig ap Iorwerth Ddu ap Cynwrig Dd ...

was written for Rhys Gethin. The poem describes the dislike of the Welsh had for living under English control and praises Rhys Gethin for his generosity and courage defending in beautiful Nant Conwy against the oppression of the foreigners. In the 20th century, his name was used as a pseudonym in statements by Meibion Glyndŵr, a

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

Welsh nationalist Welsh nationalism () emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Culture of Wales, Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self-determination, which includes Welsh de ...

group which undertook over 200

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

attacks against English-owned

holiday cottage A holiday cottage, holiday home, vacation home, or vacation property is accommodation used for holiday vacations, corporate travel, and temporary housing often for less than 30 days. Such properties are typically small homes, such as cottage ...

s in Wales between 1979 and 1992.

References

*R.R. Davies, ''The Revolt of Owain Glyndŵr'' (Rhydychen, 1995) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gethin, Rhys Welsh rebels Year of birth missing 1405 deaths