Nest ferch Rhys (b. c. 1085 - d. before 1136) was a daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, last King of Deheubarth (South Wales), by his wife, Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of Powys. She is also known as "Nesta" or "Princess Nesta".[1][2]
Nest had two younger brothers, Gruffydd ap Rhys and Hywel, and several older illegitimate half-brothers and half-sisters. After their father's death in battle in 1093, "the kingdom of the Britons fell" and was overrun by Normans. Nest's brother Gruffydd was spirited into Ireland for safety; their brother Hywel was captured by Arnulf de Montgomery, and injured while escaping. The immediate fate of Nest and her mother is unknown. What is least likely is that she was "given as a hostage" by her father to William the Conqueror, or to William Rufus, after her father's death. In any event, she came to the attention of the new king, Henry I of England, to whom she bore one of his numerous illegitimate children, Henry FitzHenry (c. 1103–1158).[3]
Contents |
Some time after the rebellion of the powerful Montgomery clan of Normandy and England, King Henry married Nest to Gerald de Windsor, Arnulf de Montgomery's former constable for Pembroke Castle and one of the recent Montgomery rebels. By Gerald, Nest is the maternal progenitor of the FitzGerald dynasty, one of the most celebrated families of Ireland and Great Britain. They are referred to as Cambro-Normans or Hiberno-Normans, and have been Peers of Ireland since 1316, when Edward II created the earldom of Kildare for John FitzGerald.
The details of this most famous episode of Nest's life are obscure and vary, depending on who is relating it. Either Nest and Gerald were present at an eisteddfod given, during a truce, by Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, prince of Powys; or they were not present, and Nest and her husband were "visited" by Owain ap Cadwgan, one of Cadwgan's sons, or they were not visited by Owain, merely attacked by Owain and his men. The usual tale is that Owain hears at the eisteddfod that Gerald is in the neighbourhood, that Gerald's wife is very beautiful, and so he goes to visit her "as his kinswoman", but this is unlikely. The earliest account, that of Caradoc of Llancarfan, relates that "At the instigation of the Devil, he [Owain] was moved by passion and love for the woman, and with a small company with him...he made for the castle by night." The castle was Cenarth Bychan (possibly Cilgerran Castle; Carew Castle is also mentioned, but is unlikely.[4]
Tradition has it that, during Owain's firing of some of the outbuildings, Nest persuaded her husband and his men to escape rather than face Owain outnumbered. They exited via a lavatory chute and escaped. Owain and his men burst into the castle and searched for Gerald. Nest said, "He whom you seek is not here. He has escaped." An infuriated Owain then raped Nest in front of her children—either her two sons and daughter and Gerald's son by a concubine; or Gerald's two sons by a concubine and Nest's two sons; or any other variant—following which he kidnapped Nest and the children, and took them to a hunting lodge by the Eglwyseg Rocks north of the Vale of Llangollen.
The rape of Nest aroused the wrath of the Normans, as well as of the Welsh who had been victimised by Owain and his followers. The truce was broken. The Norman lords, the Justiciar of Salop, and at least one bishop, bribed Owain's Welsh enemies to attack him and his father, which they promptly did. Owain's father tried to persuade him to return Nest, but to no avail. According to Caradoc, Nest told Owain, "If you would have me stay with you and be faithful to you, then send my children home to their father." She secured the return of the children. Owain and his father were driven to seek exile in Ireland. Nest was returned to her husband.
In recent years, Nest has been given two specious children by her rapist, Llywelyn and Einion. Owain, however, had a brother but not a son named Einion, and Welsh geneaologies do not name the mother of Owain's son Llywelyn. The omission of the name of a mother with the highborn status of Nest would be startling, if it were true.
In the 19th century, this "abduction", as well as the fighting which followed, earned Nest the nickname "Helen of Wales". She was depicted at having connived with Owain at her rape and abduction, and given more children than she had borne, along with more lovers than she had had.
In 1112, her brother Gruffydd returned from Ireland, spending most of his time with Gerald and Nest. When he was denied his inheritance from his father, and accused to the king of conspiring against him, he allied with the prince of Gwynedd, and war broke out. Owain ap Cadwgan had, by now, been pardoned by the king, and was prince of Powys; in 1111, his father had been assassinated by Owain's cousin and former comrade in arms, Madog ap Rhiryd, whom Owain captured, castrated, and blinded. Being then on the king's good side, Owain was ordered to rendezvous with a Norman force to proceed against Gruffydd. En route, he and his force chanced to run into none other then Gerald FitzWalter. Despite Owain being a royal ally, Gerald chose to avenge his wife's rape, and slew Owain.
Some historians have recently cast doubts on the account, suggesting it may have been revised or rewritten at a later date, by an author who had a motive to both demean Gerald and enhance the reputation of Owain. Thus,"we should hesitate to take it at full face value."[5]
Nest bore five children to Gerald. The two eldest sons married two daughters of Arnulf de Montgomery.
(Note: William Hay is frequently, and incorrectly, noted as an illegitimate son of Nest; the speculation is based on Nest's grandson, Gerald of Wales, naming William as one of the Geraldines, which he was, if only by marriage. William's father is usually given one "Hayt", a Flemish sheriff of Pembroke in 1130.)
After Gerald's death, Nest's sons married her to Stephen, her husband's constable of Cardigan, by whom she had another son, possibly two; the eldest was Robert Fitz-Stephen (d. 1182), one of the Norman conquerors of Ireland; the second son, if such there were, may have been named Hywel. With Nest's son Maurice FitzGerald, his half-brother, Robert captured the town of Wexford (see Siege of Wexford), and, with Maurice, was granted joint custody of the town.
____________, The Welsh Kings: Warriors, Warlords, and Princes, Tempus: 2005 (3rd ed.), ISBN 0752429736, ISBN 978-0752429731