Llywelyn the Great
2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and before (including Roman Britain); Historical figures
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Llywelyn the Great ( Welsh Llywelyn Fawr, pronounced [ɬəˈwɛlɨ̞n]), full name Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, (c. 1173 – April 11, 1240) was a Prince of Gwynedd in North Wales and eventually de facto ruler over most of Wales. He is occasionally called Llywelyn I of Wales. By a combination of war and diplomacy he dominated Wales for forty years, and was one of only two Welsh rulers to be called 'the Great'. Llywelyn's main home and court throughout his reign was at Garth Celyn on the north coast of Gwynedd, between Bangor and Conwy, overlooking the port of Llanfaes. Throughout the thirteenth century, up to the Edwardian conquest, Garth Celyn, Aber Garth Celyn, was in effect the capital of Wales. ( Garth Celyn is now known as Pen y Bryn, Bryn Llywelyn, Abergwyngregyn and parts of the medieval buildings still remain).
During Llywelyn's boyhood Gwynedd was ruled by two of his uncles, who had agreed to split the kingdom between them following the death of Llywelyn's grandfather, Owain Gwynedd, in 1170. Llywelyn had a strong claim to be the legitimate ruler and began a campaign to win power at an early age. He was sole ruler of Gwynedd by 1200, and made a treaty with King John of England the same year. Llywelyn's relations with John remained good for the next ten years. He married John's illegitimate daughter Joan, also known as Joanna, in 1205, and when John arrested Gwenwynwyn ab Owain of Powys in 1208 Llywelyn took the opportunity to annex southern Powys. In 1210 relations deteriorated and John invaded Gwynedd in 1211. Llywelyn was forced to seek terms and to give up all his lands east of the River Conwy, but was able to recover these lands the following year in alliance with the other Welsh princes. He allied himself with the barons who forced John to sign Magna Carta in 1215. By 1216 he was the dominant power in Wales, holding a council at Aberdyfi that year to apportion lands to the other princes.
Following King John's death, Llywelyn concluded the Treaty of Worcester with his successor Henry III in 1218. During the next fifteen years Llywelyn was frequently involved in fighting with Marcher lords and sometimes with the king, but also made alliances with several of the major powers in the Marches. The Peace of Middle in 1234 marked the end of Llywelyn's military career as the agreed truce of two years was extended year by year for the remainder of his reign. He maintained his position in Wales until his death in 1240, and was succeeded by his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn.
Genealogy and early life
Llywelyn was born about 1173, the son of Iorwerth ap Owain and the grandson of Owain Gwynedd, who had been ruler of Gwynedd until his death in 1170. Llywelyn was a descendant of the senior line of Rhodri Mawr and therefore a member of the princely house of Aberffraw. He was probably born at Dolwyddelan though probably not in the present Dolwyddelan castle, which is alleged to have been built by Llywelyn himself. He may have been born in the old castle which occupied a rocky knoll on the valley floor. Little is known about his father, Iorwerth Drwyndwn, who may have died when Llywelyn was an infant. There is no record of Iorwerth having taken part in the power struggle between some of Owain Gwynedd's other sons following Owain's death, although he was the eldest surviving son. There is a tradition that he was disabled or disfigured in some way that excluded him from power.
By 1175 Gwynedd had been divided between two of Llywelyn's uncles. Dafydd ab Owain held the area east of the River Conwy and Rhodri ab Owain held the west. Dafydd and Rhodri were the sons of Owain by his second marriage to Cristin ferch Goronwy. This marriage was not considered valid by the church as Cristin was Owain's first cousin, a degree of relationship which according to Canon law prohibited marriage. Giraldus Cambrensis refers to Iorwerth Drwyndwn as the only legitimate son of Owain Gwynedd. Following Iorwerth's death, Llywelyn was, at least in the eyes of the church, the legitimate claimant to the throne of Gwynedd.
Llywelyn's mother was Marared, sometimes anglicized to Margaret, daughter of Madog ap Maredudd, prince of Powys. There is evidence that, after her first husband Iorwerth's death, Marared married in the summer of 1197, Gwion, the nephew of Roger Powys of Whittington Castle. She seems to have pre-deceased her husband, after bearing him a son, David ap Gwion, and therefore there can be no truth in the story that she later married into the Corbet family of Caus Castle (near Westbury, Shropshire) and later, Moreton Corbet Castle.
Rise to power 1188–1199
In his account of his journey around Wales in 1188 Giraldus Cambrensis mentions that the young Llywelyn was already in arms against his uncles Dafydd and Rhodri. In 1194, with the aid of his cousins Gruffudd ap Cynan and Maredudd ap Cynan, he defeated Dafydd in a battle at the mouth of the River Conwy. Rhodri died in 1195, and his lands west of the Conwy were taken over by Gruffudd and Maredudd while Llywelyn ruled the territories taken from Dafydd east of the Conwy. In 1197 Llywelyn captured Dafydd and imprisoned him. A year later Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, persuaded Llywelyn to release him, and Dafydd retired to England where he died in May 1203.
Wales was divided into Pura Wallia, the areas ruled by the Welsh princes, and Marchia Wallia, ruled by the Anglo-Norman barons. Since the death of Owain Gwynedd in 1170, Rhys ap Gruffydd had made the southern kingdom of Deheubarth the strongest of the Welsh kingdoms, and had established himself as the leader of Pura Wallia. After Rhys died in 1197, fighting between his sons led to the splitting of Deheubarth between warring factions. Gwenwynwyn ab Owain, prince of Powys Wenwynwyn, tried to take over as leader of the Welsh princes, and in 1198 raised a great army to besiege Painscastle, which was held by the troops of William de Braose, Lord of Bramber. Llywelyn sent troops to help Gwenwynwyn, but in August Gwenwynwyn's force was attacked by an army led by the Justiciar, Geoffrey Fitz Peter, and heavily defeated. Gwenwynwyn's defeat gave Llywelyn the opportunity to establish himself as the leader of the Welsh. In 1199 he captured the important castle of Mold and was apparently using the title "prince of the whole of North Wales" (Latin: tocius norwallie princeps). Llywelyn was probably not in fact master of all Gwynedd at this time since it was his cousin Gruffudd ap Cynan who promised homage to King John for Gwynedd in 1199.
Early reign
Consolidation 1200–1209
Gruffudd ap Cynan died in 1200 and left Llywelyn undisputed ruler of Gwynedd. In 1201 he took Eifionydd and Llŷn from Maredudd ap Cynan on a charge of treachery. In July the same year Llywelyn concluded a treaty with King John of England. This is the earliest surviving written agreement between an English king and a Welsh ruler, and under its terms Llywelyn was to swear fealty and do homage to the king. In return, it confirmed Llywelyn's possession of his conquests and allowed cases relating to lands claimed by Llywelyn to be heard under Welsh law.
Llywelyn made his first move beyond the borders of Gwynedd in August 1202 when he raised a force to attack Gwenwynwyn ab Owain of Powys, who was now his main rival in Wales. The clergy intervened to make peace between Llywelyn and Gwenwynwyn and the invasion was called off. Elise ap Madog, lord of Penllyn, had refused to respond to Llywelyn's summons to arms and was stripped of almost all his lands by Llywelyn as punishment.
Llywelyn consolidated his position in 1205 by marrying Joan, the illegitimate daughter of King John. He had previously been negotiating with Pope Innocent III for leave to marry his uncle Rhodri's widow, daughter of Ragnald, King of Mann and the Isles. However this proposal was dropped when the more advantageous marriage to Joan was offered.
In 1208 Gwenwynwyn of Powys fell out with King John who summoned him to Shrewsbury in October and then arrested him and stripped him of his lands. Llywelyn took the opportunity to annex southern Powys and northern Ceredigion and rebuild Aberystwyth castle. In the summer of 1209 he accompanied John on a campaign against King William I of Scotland.
Setback and recovery 1210–1217
In 1210 relations between Llywelyn and King John deteriorated. J.E. Lloyd suggests that the rupture may have been due to Llywelyn forming an alliance with William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, who had fallen out with the king and had been deprived of his lands. While John led a campaign against de Braose and his allies in Ireland, an army led by Earl Ranulph of Chester and Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, invaded Gwynedd. Llywelyn destroyed his own castle at Deganwy and retreated west of the River Conwy. The Earl of Chester rebuilt Deganwy, and Llywelyn retaliated by ravaging the earl's lands. John sent troops to help restore Gwenwynwyn to the rule of southern Powys. In 1211 John invaded Gwynedd with the aid of almost all the other Welsh princes, planning according to Brut y Tywysogion "to dispossess Llywelyn and destroy him utterly". The first invasion was forced to retreat, but in August that year John invaded again with a larger army, crossed the River Conwy and penetrated Snowdonia. Bangor was burnt by a detachment of the royal army and the Bishop of Bangor captured. Llywelyn was forced to come to terms, and by the advice of his council sent his wife Joan to negotiate with the king, her father. Joan was able to persuade her father not to dispossess her husband completely, but Llywelyn lost all his lands east of the River Conwy. He also had to pay a large tribute in cattle and horses and to hand over hostages, including his illegitimate son Gruffydd, and was forced to agree that if he died without a legitimate heir by Joan all his lands would revert to the king.
This was the low point of Llywelyn's reign, but he quickly recovered his position. The other Welsh princes, who had supported King John against Llywelyn, soon became disillusioned with John's rule and changed sides. Llywelyn formed an alliance with Gwenwynwyn of Powys and the two main rulers of Deheubarth, Maelgwn ap Rhys and Rhys Gryg, and rose against John. They had the support of Pope Innocent III, who had been engaged in a dispute with John for several years and had placed his kingdom under an interdict. Innocent released Llywelyn, Gwenwynwyn and Maelgwn from all oaths of loyalty to John and lifted the interdict in the territories which they controlled. Llywelyn was able to recover all Gwynedd apart from the castles of Deganwy and Rhuddlan within two months in 1212.
John planned another invasion of Gwynedd in August 1212. According to one account, he had just commenced by hanging some of the Welsh hostages given the previous year when he received two letters. One was from his daughter Joan, Llywelyn's wife, the other from William I of Scotland, and both warned him in similar terms that if he invaded Wales his magnates would seize the opportunity to kill him or hand him over to his enemies. The invasion was abandoned, and in 1213 Llywelyn took the castles of Deganwy and Rhuddlan. Llywelyn made an alliance with Philip II Augustus of France, then allied himself with the barons who were in rebellion against John, marching on Shrewsbury and capturing it without resistance in 1215. When John was forced to sign Magna Carta, Llywelyn was rewarded with several favourable provisions relating to Wales, including the release of his son Gruffydd who had been a hostage since 1211. The same year Ednyfed Fychan was appointed sensechal of Gwynedd and was to work closely with Llywelyn for the remainder of his reign.
Llywelyn had now established himself as the leader of the independent princes of Wales, and in December 1215 led an army which included all the lesser princes to capture the castles of Carmarthen, Kidwelly, Llanstephan, Cardigan and Cilgerran. Another indication of his growing power was that he was able to insist on the consecration of Welshmen to two vacant sees that year, Iorwerth as Bishop of St. David's and Cadwgan as Bishop of Bangor.
In 1216, Llywelyn held a council at Aberdyfi to adjudicate on the territorial claims of the lesser princes, who affirmed their homage and allegiance to Llywelyn. Beverley Smith comments, "Henceforth, the leader would be lord, and the allies would be subjects". Gwenwynwyn of Powys changed sides again that year and allied himself with King John. Llywelyn called up the other princes for a campaign against him and drove him out of southern Powys once more. Gwenwynwyn died in England later that year, leaving an underage heir. King John also died that year, and he also left an underage heir in King Henry III with a minority government set up in England.
In 1217 Reginald de Braose of Brecon and Abergavenny, who had been allied to Llywelyn and had married his daughter Gwladus Ddu, was induced by the English crown to change sides. Llywelyn responded by invading his lands, first threatening Brecon, where the burgesses offered hostages for the payment of 100 marks, then heading for Swansea where Reginald de Braose met him to offer submission and to surrender the town. He then continued westwards to threaten Haverfordwest where the burgesses offered hostages for their submission to his rule or the payment of a fine of 1,000 marks.
Later reign
Treaty of Worcester and border campaigns 1218–1229
Following King John's death Llywelyn concluded the Treaty of Worcester with his successor Henry III in 1218. This treaty confirmed him in possession of all his recent conquests. From then until his death Llywelyn was the dominant force in Wales, though there were further outbreaks of hostilities with marcher lords, particularly the Marshall family and Hubert de Burgh, and sometimes with the king. Llywelyn built up marriage alliances with several of the Marcher families. One daughter, Gwladus Ddu, was already married to Reginald de Braose of Brecon and Abergavenny, but with Reginald an unreliable ally Llywelyn married another daughter, Marared, to John de Braose of Gower, Reginald's nephew. He found a loyal ally in Ranulph, Earl of Chester, whose nephew and heir, John the Scot, married Llywelyn's daughter Elen in about 1222. Following Reginald de Braose's death, Llywelyn also made an alliance with the powerful Mortimer family of Wigmore when Gwladus Ddu married Ralph de Mortimer.
Llywelyn was careful not to provoke unnecessary hostilities with the crown or the Marcher lords; for example in 1220 he compelled Rhys Gryg to return four commotes in South Wales to their previous Anglo-Norman owners. He built a number of castles to defend his borders, most thought to have been built between 1220 and 1230. These were the first sophisticated stone castles in Wales; his castles at Criccieth, Deganwy, Dolbadarn, Dolwyddelan and Castell y Bere are among the best examples. Llywelyn also appears to have fostered the development of quasi-urban settlements in Gwynedd to act as centres of trade.
Hostilities broke out with William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, in 1220. Llywelyn destroyed the castles of Narberth and Wiston, burnt the town of Haverfordwest and threatened Pembroke Castle, but agreed to abandon the attack on payment of £100. In early 1223 Llywelyn crossed the border into Shropshire and captured Kinnerley and Whittington castles. The Marshalls took advantage of Llywelyn's involvement here to land near St David's in April with an army raised in Ireland and recaptured Cardigan and Carmarthen without opposition. The Marshalls' campaign was supported by a royal army which took possession of Montgomery. Llywelyn came to an agreement with the king at Montgomery in October that year. Llywelyn's allies in south Wales were given back lands taken from them by the Marshalls and Llywelyn himself gave up his conquests in Shropshire.
In 1228 Llywelyn was engaged in a campaign against Hubert de Burgh, who was Justiciar of England and Ireland and one of the most powerful men in the kingdom. Hubert had been given the lordship and castle of Montgomery by the king and was encroaching on Llywelyn's lands nearby. The king raised an army to help Hubert, who began to build another castle in the commote of Ceri. However in October the royal army was obliged to retreat and Henry agreed to destroy the half-built castle in exchange for the payment of £2,000 by Llywelyn. Llywelyn raised the money by demanding the same sum as the ransom of William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny, whom he had captured in the fighting.
Marital problems 1230
Following his capture, William de Braose, 10th Baron Abergavenny decided to ally himself to Llywelyn, and a marriage was arranged between his daughter Isabella and Llywelyn's heir, Dafydd ap Llywelyn. At Easter 1230 William visited Llywelyn's court Garth Celyn, Aber Garth Celyn now known as Pen y Bryn, Abergwyngregyn. During this visit he was found in Llywelyn's chamber together with Llywelyn's wife Joan. On 2 May, De Braose was hanged in the marshland under Garth Celyn, the place now remembered as Gwern y Grog, Hanging Marsh, a deliberately humiliating execution for a nobleman, and Joan was placed under house arrest for a year. The Brut y Tywysogion chronicler commented:
| “ | ... that year William de Breos the Younger, lord of Brycheiniog, was hanged by the lord Llywelyn in Gwynedd, after he had been caught in Llywelyn's chamber with the king of England's daughter, Llywelyn's wife. | ” |
A letter from Llywelyn to William's wife, Eva de Braose, written shortly after the execution enquires whether she still wishes the marriage between Dafydd and Isabella to take place. The marriage did go ahead, and the following year Joan was forgiven and restored to her position as princess.
Until 1230 Llywelyn had used the title princeps Norwalliæ 'Prince of North Wales', but from that year he changed his title to 'Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Snowdon', possibly to underline his supremacy over the other Welsh princes. He did not formally style himself ' Prince of Wales' although as J.E. Lloyd comments "he had much of the power which such a title might imply".
Final campaigns and the Peace of Middle 1231–1240
In 1231 there was further fighting. Llywelyn was becoming concerned about the growing power of Hubert de Burgh. Some of his men had been taken prisoner by the garrison of Montgomery and beheaded, and Llywelyn responded by burning Montgomery, Powys, New Radnor, Hay and Brecon before turning west to capture the castles of Neath and Kidwelly. He completed the campaign by recapturing Cardigan castle. King Henry retaliated by launching an invasion and built a new castle at Painscastle, but was unable to penetrate far into Wales.
Negotiations continued into 1232, when Hubert was removed from office and later imprisoned. Much of his power passed to Peter de Rivaux, including control of several castles in south Wales. William Marshal had died in 1231, and his brother Richard had succeeded him as Earl of Pembroke. In 1233 hostilities broke out between Richard Marshal and Peter de Rivaux, who was supported by the king. Llywelyn made an alliance with Richard, and in January 1234 the earl and Llywelyn seized Shrewsbury. Richard was killed in Ireland in April, but the king agreed to make peace with the insurgents. The Peace of Middle, agreed on 21 June, established a truce of two years with Llywelyn, who was allowed to retain Cardigan and Builth. This truce was renewed year by year for the remainder of Llywelyn's reign.
Death and aftermath
Arrangements for the succession
In his later years Llywelyn devoted much effort to ensuring that his only legitimate son Dafydd would follow him as ruler of Gwynedd. Dafydd's older but illegitimate brother, Gruffydd, was excluded from the succession. This was a departure from Welsh custom, not as is often stated because the kingdom was not divided between Dafydd and Gruffydd but because Gruffydd was excluded from consideration as a potential heir owing to his illegitimacy. This was contrary to Welsh law which stipulated that illegitimate sons had equal rights with legitimate sons, provided they had been acknowledged by the father.
In 1220 Llywelyn induced the minority government of King Henry to acknowledge Dafydd as his heir. In 1222 he petitioned Pope Honorius III to have Dafydd's succession confirmed. The original petition has not been preserved but the Pope's reply refers to the "destestable custom ... in his land whereby the son of the handmaiden was equally heir with the son of the free woman and illegitimate sons obtained an inheritance as if they were legitimate". The Pope welcomed the fact that Llywelyn was abolishing this custom. In 1226 Llywelyn persuaded the Pope to declare his wife Joan, Dafydd's mother, to be a legitimate daughter of King John, again in order to strengthen Dafydd's position, and in 1229 the English crown accepted Dafydd's homage for the lands he would inherit from his father. In 1238 Llywelyn held a council at Strata Florida Abbey where the other Welsh princes swore fealty to Dafydd. Llywelyn's original intention had been that they should do homage to Dafydd, but the king wrote to the other rulers forbidding them to do homage.
Gruffydd was given an appanage in Meirionnydd and Ardudwy but his rule was said to be oppressive, and in 1221 Llywelyn stripped him of these territories. In 1228 Llywelyn imprisoned him, and he was not released until 1234. On his release he was given part of Llŷn to rule. His performance this time was apparently more satisfactory and by 1238 he had been given the remainder of Llŷn and a substantial part of Powys.
Death and the transfer of power
Joan died in 1237 and Llywelyn appears to have suffered a paralytic stroke the same year. From this time on, his heir Dafydd took an increasing part in the rule of the principality. Dafydd deprived his brother Gruffydd of the lands given him by Llywelyn, and later seized him and his eldest son Owain and held them in Criccieth Castle. In 1240 the chronicler of Brut y Tywysogion records:
| “ | ... the lord Llywelyn ap Iorwerth son of Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Wales, a second Achilles, died having taken on the habit of religion at Aberconwy, and was buried honourably. | ” |
Llywelyn died at the Cistercian abbey of Aberconwy, which he had founded, and was buried there. This abbey was later moved to Maenan near Llanrwst, and Llywelyn's stone coffin can now be seen in Llanrwst parish church. Among the poets who lamented his passing was Einion Wan:
- "True lord of the land - how strange that today
- He rules not o'er Gwynedd;
- Lord of nought but the piled up stones of his tomb,
- Of the seven-foot grave in which he lies."
- He rules not o'er Gwynedd;
Dafydd succeeded Llywelyn as prince of Gwynedd, but King Henry was not prepared to allow him to inherit his father's position in the remainder of Wales. Dafydd was forced to agree to a treaty greatly restricting his power and was also obliged to hand his brother Gruffydd over to the king, who now had the option of using him against Dafydd. Gruffydd was killed attempting to escape from the Tower of London in 1244. This left the field clear for Dafydd, but Dafydd himself died without an heir in 1246 and was eventually succeeded by his nephew, Gruffydd's son, Llywelyn the Last.
Historical assessment
Llywelyn dominated Wales for over forty years, and was one of only two Welsh rulers to be called 'the Great', the other being his ancestor Rhodri the Great. The first person to give Llywelyn the title 'the Great' seems to have been his near-contemporary, the English chronicler Matthew Paris.
John Edward Lloyd gave the following assessment of Llywelyn:
| “ | "Among the chieftains who battled against the Anglo-Norman power his place will always be high, if not indeed the highest of all, for no man ever made better or more judicious use of the native force of the Welsh people for adequate national ends; his patriotic statemanship will always entitle him to wear the proud style of Llywelyn the Great." | ” |
David Moore gives a different view:
| “ | "When Llywelyn died in 1240 his principatus of Wales rested on shaky foundations. Although he had dominated Wales, exacted unprecedented submissions and raised the status of the prince of Gwynedd to new heights, his three major ambitions - a permanent hegemony, its recognition by the king, and its inheritance in its entirety by his heir - remained unfulfilled. His supremacy, like that of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, had been merely personal in nature, and there was no institutional framework to maintain it either during his lifetime or after his death." | ” |
Children
The identity of the mother of some of Llywelyn's children is uncertain. He was survived by nine children, two legitimate, one probably legitimate and six illegitimate. Elen ferch Llywelyn (c.1207–1253), his only certainly legitimate daughter, first married John de Scotia, Earl of Chester. This marriage was childless, and after John's death Elen married Sir Robert de Quincy, the brother of Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester. Llywelyn's only legitimate son, Dafydd ap Llywelyn (c.1208–1246), married Isabella de Braose, daughter of William de Braose, 10th Baron Abergavenny, Lord of Abergavenny. William was the son of Reginald de Braose and Gracia Briwere. After Gracia's death Reginald married, Gwladys Dduu, another of Llywelyn's daughters. Dafydd and Isabella may have had one child together, Helen of Wales (1246–1295), but the marriage failed to produce a male heir.
Another daughter, Gwladus Ddu (c.1206–1251), was probably legitimate. Adam of Usk in the fifteenth century states that she was a legitimate daughter by Joan, although most sources claim that her mother was Llywelyn's mistress, Tangwystl Goch. She first married Reginald de Braose of Brecon and Abergavenny in November 1215, but had no children by him. After Reginald's death in 1228 she married Ralph de Mortimer of Wigmore in 1230 and had five sons and a daughter.
The mother of most of Llywelyn's illegitimate children is known or assumed to have been Llywelyn's mistress, Tangwystl Goch (c.1168–1198). Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (c.1196–1244) was Llywelyn's eldest son and is known to be the son of Tangwystl. He married Senena, daughter of Caradoc ap Thomas of Anglesey. Their four sons included Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, who for a period occupied a position in Wales comparable to that of his grandfather, and Dafydd ap Gruffydd who ruled Gwynedd briefly after his brother's death. Llywelyn had another son, Tegwared ap Llywelyn, by a woman known only as Crysten.
Marared ferch Llywelyn (c.1198–after 1263) married John de Braose of Bramber and Gower, a nephew of Reginald de Braose, by whom she had at least three sons. After his death in 1232 she married Walter III de Clifford of Bronllys and Clifford Castle with whom she had a single daughter, Matilda Clifford. Other illegitimate daughters were Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn, who married William de Lacy, and Angharad ferch Llywelyn, who married Maelgwn Fychan. Susanna ferch Llywelyn was sent to England as a hostage in 1228, and married Maol Choluim II, Earl of Fife in 1237 by whom she had at least two sons.
Cultural allusions
A number of Welsh poems addressed to Llywelyn by contemporary poets such as Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr, Dafydd Benfras and Llywarch ap Llywelyn (better known under the nickname Prydydd y Moch) have survived. Very little of this poetry has been published in English translation.
Llywelyn has continued to figure in modern Welsh literature. The play Siwan (1956, English translation 1960) by Saunders Lewis deals with the finding of William de Braose in Joan's chamber and his execution by Llywelyn. Another well-known Welsh play about Llywelyn is Llywelyn Fawr by Thomas Parry.
Llywelyn is the main character or one of the main characters in several English-language novels:
- Raymond Foxall (1959) Song for a Prince: The Story of Llywelyn the Great covers the period from King John's invasion in 1211 to the execution of William de Braose.
- Sharon Kay Penman (1985) Here be Dragons is centred on the marriage of Llywelyn and Joan. Dragon's lair (2004) by the same author features the young Llywelyn before he gained power in Gwynedd.
- Edith Pargeter (1960-63) "The Heaven Tree Trilogy" features Llywelyn, Joan, William de Braose, and several of Llywelyn's sons as major characters.
- Gaius Demetrius (2006) Ascent of an Eagle tells the story of the early part of Llywelyn's reign.
The story of the faithful hound Gelert, owned by Llywelyn and mistakenly killed by him, is also considered to be fiction. "Gelert's grave" is a popular tourist attraction in Beddgelert but is thought to have been created by an eighteenth century innkeeper to boost the tourist trade. The tale itself is a variation on a common folktale motif.