Clement-Jones family - Person Sheet
Clement-Jones family - Person Sheet
NameHywel Coetmor ap GRUFFYD VYCHAN 
, 14852
, 14852Birthc1330
FatherGRUFFYD VYCHAN AP GRUFFYD AP DAVID GOCH , 14853
Notes for Hywel Coetmor ap GRUFFYD VYCHAN
Nobleman of Nant Conwy. Captain of 100 Denbighshire Archers at the battle of Poitiers, 10 Sep 1356 who later played leading role in the rising of Owain Glyndwr.
His father was ap Gruffudd ap Gruffudd Vaughan David Goch ap Dafydd ap Gruffudd ap Llywelyn . His brother was Rhys Gethin , who was one of Glyndŵr's leading generals.
Hywel joined the Glyndwr rebellion when it broke out in 1400
He owned Gwydir and other large estates in the parish of Llanrwst, but generally resided at Castell Cefel Ynghoedmor in the parish of Llanrswt. (Lloyd, History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog Vol 4 P 276). He was the first to build a mansion on the site of Plas Gwydir; this was later sold by his son, Dafydd ap Hywel Coetmor, to the Wynn family.
He was buried in the church of Llanrwst, where In the chapel there is a 15th century stone effigy of him.
There is a poem of praise to him by an unknown poet.
Next to the church of St Grwst in Llanrwst is Gwydir Chapel built in the early 17th Century by Sir Richard Wynn. It is the memorial chapel of the Wynn family of Gwydir Castle, and contains the empty coffin of Llywelyn the Great. He was buried at Aberconwy Abbey, but his coffin was moved to the new abbey at Maenan when the Cistercian monks were forced to move there by Edward 1.
Hywel married Gwenllian, a daughter of Rhys ap Robert (d. 1377), a prominent nobleman who had supported Owain Lawgoch.
See also:
http://www.llanrwst.net/history.asp?contentcatid=2&contentid=14
Disease, Death and Destruction - the 14th and 15th Century
Llanrwst in the 14th and 15th Century.
It would have taken some time for the disease to spread to Llanrwst, but it did arrive around 1350 and took a grip of the already fragile population. The entire population of Llanrwst was decimated. Not a single person from the town would survive the Black Death, probably as the result of a number of factors. The years of crop failure would have left people hungry and weak, spirits would have been at an all time low, and the simple fact that Llanrwst was a market town and important crossing meant a daily influx of hundreds, half of whom may already have contracted the disease.
With the wholesale destruction of the Llanrwst population, many of those families native to Llanrwst and the Conwy Valley returned, almost as if nothing had ever happened. Indeed, Llanrwst once again re-affirmed its independent status and the role as a centre of Welsh rebellion against Plantagenet rule in Wales. The famous example of this comes when in 1390 the parson dies and St Asaph try to force an Englishman named William Brown into the post, but the local squire is having none of it and expels the parson, much to the annoyance of St Asaph. The squire or armiger is Hywel Coetmor, the member of an old Betws family, whose ancient family seat was at Cwm Llanerch, now a farm on the Betws Rd.
Hywel Coetmor is a much-ignored figure in the history of Llanrwst. The Coetmor family was in possession of Gwydir castle during this period, it was Hywel’s son Dafydd that sold Gwydir to the Wynns. Hywel Coetmor was of a noble Welsh family, he himself the illegitimate great-grandson of the last native Prince of Wales Dafydd. Represented on his effigy in St Grwst Church in a suit of armour, Hywel had fought in several campaigns against the French, including Poitiers.
Upon his return from the continental wars, Hywel resumed his role as Squire until the Glyndwr rebellion when this knight of seventy years became one of its principle leaders. It seems hard to imagine a descendent of the native Welsh Princes, fighting on a battlefield for the English only to support a major Welsh rebellion. But so it was that Hywel Coetmor and his brother Rhys Gethin found themselves at the heart of the great rebellion. Perhaps it was due to this association that Llanrwst was to suffer at the hands of English forces. In the autumn of 1402 King Henry IV led a force from Shrewsbury into North Wales but were soon pushed back by the weather, so on their way home King Henry IV entered Llanrwst and destroyed it completely. The abbey at Maenan was looted and buildings burned, the Abbot who openly supported Glyndwr reporting that books, vestments, chalices and ornaments had been carried away.
The poor inhabitants of Llanrwst had a hard task ahead of them. A century of misery, death and destruction had taken their toll. Rebuilding work would have begun almost immediately but there was a rumbling from across the border.
His father was ap Gruffudd ap Gruffudd Vaughan David Goch ap Dafydd ap Gruffudd ap Llywelyn . His brother was Rhys Gethin , who was one of Glyndŵr's leading generals.
Hywel joined the Glyndwr rebellion when it broke out in 1400
He owned Gwydir and other large estates in the parish of Llanrwst, but generally resided at Castell Cefel Ynghoedmor in the parish of Llanrswt. (Lloyd, History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog Vol 4 P 276). He was the first to build a mansion on the site of Plas Gwydir; this was later sold by his son, Dafydd ap Hywel Coetmor, to the Wynn family.
He was buried in the church of Llanrwst, where In the chapel there is a 15th century stone effigy of him.
There is a poem of praise to him by an unknown poet.
Next to the church of St Grwst in Llanrwst is Gwydir Chapel built in the early 17th Century by Sir Richard Wynn. It is the memorial chapel of the Wynn family of Gwydir Castle, and contains the empty coffin of Llywelyn the Great. He was buried at Aberconwy Abbey, but his coffin was moved to the new abbey at Maenan when the Cistercian monks were forced to move there by Edward 1.
Hywel married Gwenllian, a daughter of Rhys ap Robert (d. 1377), a prominent nobleman who had supported Owain Lawgoch.
See also:
http://www.llanrwst.net/history.asp?contentcatid=2&contentid=14
Disease, Death and Destruction - the 14th and 15th Century
Llanrwst in the 14th and 15th Century.
It would have taken some time for the disease to spread to Llanrwst, but it did arrive around 1350 and took a grip of the already fragile population. The entire population of Llanrwst was decimated. Not a single person from the town would survive the Black Death, probably as the result of a number of factors. The years of crop failure would have left people hungry and weak, spirits would have been at an all time low, and the simple fact that Llanrwst was a market town and important crossing meant a daily influx of hundreds, half of whom may already have contracted the disease.
With the wholesale destruction of the Llanrwst population, many of those families native to Llanrwst and the Conwy Valley returned, almost as if nothing had ever happened. Indeed, Llanrwst once again re-affirmed its independent status and the role as a centre of Welsh rebellion against Plantagenet rule in Wales. The famous example of this comes when in 1390 the parson dies and St Asaph try to force an Englishman named William Brown into the post, but the local squire is having none of it and expels the parson, much to the annoyance of St Asaph. The squire or armiger is Hywel Coetmor, the member of an old Betws family, whose ancient family seat was at Cwm Llanerch, now a farm on the Betws Rd.
Hywel Coetmor is a much-ignored figure in the history of Llanrwst. The Coetmor family was in possession of Gwydir castle during this period, it was Hywel’s son Dafydd that sold Gwydir to the Wynns. Hywel Coetmor was of a noble Welsh family, he himself the illegitimate great-grandson of the last native Prince of Wales Dafydd. Represented on his effigy in St Grwst Church in a suit of armour, Hywel had fought in several campaigns against the French, including Poitiers.
Upon his return from the continental wars, Hywel resumed his role as Squire until the Glyndwr rebellion when this knight of seventy years became one of its principle leaders. It seems hard to imagine a descendent of the native Welsh Princes, fighting on a battlefield for the English only to support a major Welsh rebellion. But so it was that Hywel Coetmor and his brother Rhys Gethin found themselves at the heart of the great rebellion. Perhaps it was due to this association that Llanrwst was to suffer at the hands of English forces. In the autumn of 1402 King Henry IV led a force from Shrewsbury into North Wales but were soon pushed back by the weather, so on their way home King Henry IV entered Llanrwst and destroyed it completely. The abbey at Maenan was looted and buildings burned, the Abbot who openly supported Glyndwr reporting that books, vestments, chalices and ornaments had been carried away.
The poor inhabitants of Llanrwst had a hard task ahead of them. A century of misery, death and destruction had taken their toll. Rebuilding work would have begun almost immediately but there was a rumbling from across the border.