Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd

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Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd (died 1170) was the illegitimate son of Owain Gwynedd prince of Gwynedd and an Irishwoman named Pyfog. He was also known as Hywel ap Gwyddeles (=Hywel son of the Irishwoman).

In 1143 Owain Gwynedd's brother Cadwaladr, who held lands in Meirionnydd and Ceredigion was implicated in the murder of Anarawd ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth. Owain responded by sending Hywel to strip him of his lands in the north of Ceredigion, which he did, capturing and burning the castle of Aberystwyth in the process. In 1147 Hywel and his brother Cynan drove Cadwaladr out of Meirionnydd, taking his castle at Cynfael by storm. Hywel lost southern Ceredigion in 1150 when Cadell ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth drove him north of the River Aeron and reclaimed the territory.

Upon the death of Owain Gwynedd in 1170, his sons fell into dispute over the lordship of Gwynedd. Hywel's half brothers Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd and Rhodri forced him to flee to Ireland. He raised an army in Ireland and returned the same year in an attempt to claim a share of the kingdom, but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Pentraeth on Anglesey. The seven sons of Hywel's foster-father, Cadifor, were killed while defending him in this battle, and were commemorated in verse:

The sons of Cadifor, a noble band of brothers

In the hollow above Pentraeth

Were full of daring and of high purpose

They were cut down beside their foster-brother.

Hywel was an accomplished poet and eight of his poems have been preserved. The best known is probably Gorhoffedd Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd in which he praises his father's kingdom of Gwynedd, both its natural beauties and its beautiful women. Other poems include the earliest known love poetry in the Welsh language, and may show a French influence. Hywel is known to have sired the following sons;