Gruffudd ap Llywelyn was the eldest son of one of the greatest rulers Wales ever had, and he spent much of his adult life locked away by other men: his father, his half-brother and finally the King of England. He was, in the end, killed by a rope that was not strong enough for the man who hung from it.
The Horror
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, known as Llywelyn the Great, built Gwynedd into the dominant power in Wales. Gruffudd was his eldest son, but he was a natural son, born to Tangwystl, and not the child of Llywelyn’s marriage to Joan, daughter of King John. Llywelyn named Joan’s son Dafydd as his heir. Welsh law might have given Gruffudd a claim, but his father had settled the matter, and Gruffudd’s life from then on was a series of confinements.
As a boy he was held by King John as a pledge for his father’s behaviour, and a clause of Magna Carta in 1215 called for his release. Later he was given lands, lost some of them in 1221, and by 1228 he was in prison again, this time at his own father’s order. The Dictionary of Welsh Biography places him at Degannwy from 1228 to 1234, six years, which is where the popular version of the story gets its figure. Released, he held land in Llŷn and Upper Powys. When Llywelyn died in April 1240, Dafydd moved against him and shut him up at Criccieth with his eldest son, Owain. The sources are not exact about whether this happened just before or just after the old prince’s death.
In 1241 Henry III invaded the Welsh borders. On 12 August, Gruffudd’s wife, Senana, agreed terms with the king for her husband’s release and restoration, and a fortnight later Dafydd submitted to Henry at Gwern Eigron. Only part of the bargain was kept. Gruffudd and Owain were carried to London and lodged in the Tower. Wikipedia adds that Senana had offered 600 marks for their freedom and given two younger sons as hostages, and that Henry then kept the father and son as his “guests”, a lever against Dafydd. That reading of the king’s motives is the usual one, but the sources state it as outline and not as proven policy.
It was not a dungeon. The Dictionary of Welsh Biography describes more than three years of fairly easy confinement, with his wife and some of his children. That is the cruel part. He was housed according to his rank and had no way out.
On 1 March 1244 he tried to leave. The best account is that of the English chronicler Matthew Paris, who wrote close to the event. As quoted by Medievalists.net, Paris says Gruffudd tricked his gaolers and made a rope from sheets, tapestries and tablecloths, then lowered himself from the top of the Tower. Paris describes him as a big, heavy man. The cord snapped partway down and he fell from a great height. The body was found the next morning, with the head and neck, in Paris’s words, almost buried in his breast between the shoulders. Several modern summaries compress this to “the rope broke and he fell”. The detail of the injuries rests on one chronicler, quoted through a popular site; no Latin text or scholarly translation has been consulted.
Some retellings say he fled in the night. The sources agree on the date only, so the hour is uncertain. Nor do they say which tower or which window he used.
The Bones Come Home
His body did not go home at once. Wikipedia and the Dictionary of Welsh Biography agree that in 1248 his remains were taken to Wales and buried at Aberconwy Abbey, the house his father had founded and where Llywelyn the Great lay.
As for what his death changed, a common retelling says it freed Dafydd to rebel against Henry and that Gruffudd’s sons carried the quarrel on, one of them becoming Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales. The sons are well documented. Wikipedia names Owain, Llywelyn, Dafydd and Rhodri as his children. The idea that his death turned Henry’s policy and set off a fresh Welsh revolt is not supported by the available sources, so it is left out.
The Modern Relic
The Tower of London is a working visitor attraction, and the walls Gruffudd was held within are still there. Which of them he climbed from is not recorded. A claim that a window in the White Tower was bricked up afterwards circulates, but no source repeats it, so treat it as legend, if that.
The better relic lies in Wales. Llywelyn the Great was buried at Aberconwy, which was later moved to Maenan near Llanrwst. His stone coffin is today in St Grwst’s Church in Llanrwst. Gruffudd was laid beside him in 1248. The abbey’s move means his grave has not been identified, though that is an inference from the abbey’s history, not a statement in the sources.
