Mary Kynaston, daughter of Roger Kynaston’s second wife Elizabeth Grey, was born sometime after c. 1454 when Rogers first wife Elizabeth Strange died (see Roger Kynaston's memorial). A rough estimate for the timeframe for Mary’s birth can be attempted. If say her mother Elizabeth Grey’s first child was born between 1455 and 1459 (see above note no. 4.2) and she had a total of three sons and four daughters and then a daughter Mary, the span of time from the earliest possible first birth in 1455 to Mary’s birth was likely in the range of 12-22 years. This would place Mary Kynaston’s birth at roughly between 1467 and 1477. However, a deed dated 1479/80 (see below), points to the earlier end of the range. The deed, which infers Mary is already married would, if she was at least 12 years old, place her birth on or before 1467/68.)
Mary Kynaston married Howel son of Jenkin ab Iorwerth of Ynysymaengwyn. Though the Visitation of Shropshire and Bartrum pedigrees show this marriage, [5.1] a contemporary poem by Tudur Penllyn (c. 1415/20- c. 1485) praising Hywel ap Siancyn of Ynysymaengwyn and Mary, which was written when they were still alive, is more certain evidence. Beginning on line 33, the poem reads:
Mi af, os byw fyddaf fi,
Os marw, at Meistres Mari.
San Ffraid, bo rhaid ei byw rhawg,
Sy ferch iarlles o farchawg;
Aur glân ar sidan yw’r sêr
Sy ar Esyllt Syr Roeser.
Gwawr dydd, gorau dyweddi,
Gyda’r iarll, gwaed ieirll yw hi.
Translation:
I’ll go, if I’ll be alive,
Or if dead, to Mistress Mary.
Saint Ffraid, it is a necessity that she lives a good while,
[She] Is a daughter of a countess from a knight;
The stars are pure gold on silk
Which are on Sir Roger’s Iseult.
She is the light of dawn, the best of brides,
With the earl, she possesses the blood of earls.
A paraphrasing of this poem extract praising Howel ap Jenkyn and Mary could read as follows:
If Howel dies, he will go to his wife Mary who (praise be to the Saint Bridget) will live long. Mary is the daughter of a countess and Roger Kynaston, a knight (“iarlles,” or countess refers to her mother Elizabeth Grey, daughter of an Earl). Because of Mary’s lineage, she is “Sir Roger’s Iseult” (a popular usage in Wales, was that Iseult was the daughter of king Cynan of Gwynedd and later became the wife of Merfyn, a succeeding king of Gwynedd). Mary, descended from an Earl, is the light of dawn, and the best of brides for Howel. [5.2]
Tudur Penllyn who wrote the above poem, was last thought to be active in c. 1485 and the poem refers to Mary as a bride, so possibly it is referring to a marriage that happened within a few years of the poem’s composition. Additional evidence shows the marriage occurred probably by c. 1479/80 when a deed describes Mary as already married to Howel ap Jenkin. A description of the deed says that Howel forced his father to pass “all his landes upon Howel and Mary his wife and their issue, by his deede, wch beareth date ye 19th of Edw. 4.” A marriage in or before the time of the deed in c. 1479/80 would seem to allow a sufficient amount of time for the five children that Howel ap Jenkin had with Mary before his death in 1494. [5.3]
Howel ap Jenkin was likely born before c. 1458/59 if he was of age in the above 1479/80 deed. He is said to have died of the plague in 1494, according to an elegy by Welsh poet Hywel ap Rheinallt (fl. 1461-1506/7). Sometime after Howel died in 1494, Mary was said to marry secondly, Sir Rhys ap Thomas. She may have survived until the year 1500 or beyond. [5.4]
They had a son Humphrey ap Howel (see next generation). [5.5]
5.1 See the Visitation of Shropshire, vol 2, p 295 (which shows the marriage and arms ermine a saltire gules for Howel); Bartrum, “Bleddyn ap Cynfin” 38(A1) and 38(A3). See also pedigrees in PACF (Ynysmaengwyn p. 237 and Nannau, p. 200).
5.2 For the poem to Howel ap Jenkin and wife Mary, see Roberts, Gwaith Tudur Penllyn, poem 6, p. 11. My thanks to Gruffydd Aled Williams for the translation of poem 6, lines 33-40, received by email in November 2016.
Note: The Welsh Saint Ffraid (Bridget) was renowned in Wales where 18 chapels and churches are dedicated to her (see Williams, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen (1852) p. 156). For Iseult, see the Guto’r Glynn Project website, Daniel (ed.), poem 24 (“English notes” introduction and note number 2) where, in a similar manner, the poet praised Ann Herbert when he compared her with Essylt. (Note: Esyllt was the daughter of Cynan the last king of the first dynasty of Gwynedd and wife of Merfyn, the first king of the second dynasty of Gwynedd.) In this same poem on line 11, the word “iarlles” is translated as countess (though “noble lady” is also a possible translation for “iarlles” according to Gruffydd Aled Williams). For the poem link, see: http://www.gutorglyn.net/gutorglyn/poem/?poem-selection=026.
There is another poem to Howel by Tudur Aled (fl.1480-1526) titled “Ho:[well] ap Jankyn ap Ierwerth” in a manuscript book (NLW Peniarth MS no. 110, p. 124) that is dated to the 2nd quarter, 16th c. This book was once apparently owned by Howel ap Jenkin’s descendent Hugh Nanney, who wrote “Hugh Nanney is the true honor of this booke.” See Evans, RMW, vol. 1, pt. 2-3, p. 662. Tudur Aled also had the Nannau and Salesbury families as patrons.
5.3 For the text of the 1479/80 deed (NLW Peniarth 234, 50v) described by the antiquary Robert Vaughan (whose wife was descended from Howel and Mary), see Lloyd, Powys Fadog (1887), vol. 6, p. 245-6. Vaughan described the 1479/80 “deede” as follows: “Howel ab Jenkin of Ynys y Maengwyn seeing his father's meanes (estate) after his death was to be divided between him and his brethren.... took the old man [Jenkin] his father, and imprisoned him in Harlegh castell, where he [his] father in lawe [Sir Roger Kynaston of Hordley,] was constable; from whence he was not released untill he passed all his landes upon Howel and Mary [Kynaston] his wife and their issue, by his deede, wch beareth date ye 19th of Edw. 4 [blank or torn. Said to be 1479/1480]. …..”
Vaughan goes on to say that “William ap Jenkin, & Morgan his brother, ye sonnes of Jenkin ap Iorwerth aforesd, who being disinherited by meanes of their brother Howell" took up sides against Hywel. See also the Ynysmaengwyn pedigree (PACF p. 237), where both Hywel ap Jenkin and his brothers William and Morgan ap Jenkin named above appear.
Lending credence to the above deed, Tudur Aled refers to the dispute between Howel and his brothers when he wrote a poem of reconciliation to Howel’s son Humphrey ap Howel. For Gruffydd Aled Williams’ translation of part of that poem, see Smith and Smith(eds.), History of Merioneth, vol. 2, and for his article on the poem in Welsh, see ”Tudur Aled ai cant yn dda om barn I”: Cywydd Cymod Wmffre ap Hywel ap Siancyn o Ynysymaengwyn a’i Geraint’ published in Llên Cymru, 30 (2007), 57-99. This poem mentions many of the names in the deed above but does not identify Howel ap Jenkin’s wife Mary Kynaston.
For the five children attributed to Howel ap Jenkin and Mary by Bartrum’s pedigree, see pedigree Osbwrn 2(G2). Note that this pedigree also shows Howel had several children by possibly a mistress.
5.4 See Llên Cymru (1965), vols. 8-9, p. 205-6: “Gwr arall a ddechreuodd adeiladu oedd Hywel ap Siencyn o Dywyn, ond bu farw yn 1494 heb 'Orffen Ehangwen i hwn’ …” For the Bartrum pedigree showing Mary’s second marriage to Sir Rhys ap Thomas, see “Bleddyn ap Cynfin" 38(A3).
5.5 For Humphrey as son, see Bartrum Osbwrn 2 (G2) and PACF “Ynysmaengwyn" p. 237. Also see poem (discussed under generation 7 below) where Griffith Nanney’s wife Jane is said to be the daughter of Humphrey ap Howel and her grandfather is named as Howel ap Jenkin: by William Llyn (fl. 1534/35-1580) in Morrice, Barddoniaeth William Llyn: “Awdl Foliant Gruffydd Nannau” (poem LIV, p. 140).
Mary Kynaston married Howel son of Jenkin ab Iorwerth of Ynysymaengwyn. Though the Visitation of Shropshire and Bartrum pedigrees show this marriage, [5.1] a contemporary poem by Tudur Penllyn (c. 1415/20- c. 1485) praising Hywel ap Siancyn of Ynysymaengwyn and Mary, which was written when they were still alive, is more certain evidence. Beginning on line 33, the poem reads:
Mi af, os byw fyddaf fi,
Os marw, at Meistres Mari.
San Ffraid, bo rhaid ei byw rhawg,
Sy ferch iarlles o farchawg;
Aur glân ar sidan yw’r sêr
Sy ar Esyllt Syr Roeser.
Gwawr dydd, gorau dyweddi,
Gyda’r iarll, gwaed ieirll yw hi.
Translation:
I’ll go, if I’ll be alive,
Or if dead, to Mistress Mary.
Saint Ffraid, it is a necessity that she lives a good while,
[She] Is a daughter of a countess from a knight;
The stars are pure gold on silk
Which are on Sir Roger’s Iseult.
She is the light of dawn, the best of brides,
With the earl, she possesses the blood of earls.
A paraphrasing of this poem extract praising Howel ap Jenkyn and Mary could read as follows:
If Howel dies, he will go to his wife Mary who (praise be to the Saint Bridget) will live long. Mary is the daughter of a countess and Roger Kynaston, a knight (“iarlles,” or countess refers to her mother Elizabeth Grey, daughter of an Earl). Because of Mary’s lineage, she is “Sir Roger’s Iseult” (a popular usage in Wales, was that Iseult was the daughter of king Cynan of Gwynedd and later became the wife of Merfyn, a succeeding king of Gwynedd). Mary, descended from an Earl, is the light of dawn, and the best of brides for Howel. [5.2]
Tudur Penllyn who wrote the above poem, was last thought to be active in c. 1485 and the poem refers to Mary as a bride, so possibly it is referring to a marriage that happened within a few years of the poem’s composition. Additional evidence shows the marriage occurred probably by c. 1479/80 when a deed describes Mary as already married to Howel ap Jenkin. A description of the deed says that Howel forced his father to pass “all his landes upon Howel and Mary his wife and their issue, by his deede, wch beareth date ye 19th of Edw. 4.” A marriage in or before the time of the deed in c. 1479/80 would seem to allow a sufficient amount of time for the five children that Howel ap Jenkin had with Mary before his death in 1494. [5.3]
Howel ap Jenkin was likely born before c. 1458/59 if he was of age in the above 1479/80 deed. He is said to have died of the plague in 1494, according to an elegy by Welsh poet Hywel ap Rheinallt (fl. 1461-1506/7). Sometime after Howel died in 1494, Mary was said to marry secondly, Sir Rhys ap Thomas. She may have survived until the year 1500 or beyond. [5.4]
They had a son Humphrey ap Howel (see next generation). [5.5]
5.1 See the Visitation of Shropshire, vol 2, p 295 (which shows the marriage and arms ermine a saltire gules for Howel); Bartrum, “Bleddyn ap Cynfin” 38(A1) and 38(A3). See also pedigrees in PACF (Ynysmaengwyn p. 237 and Nannau, p. 200).
5.2 For the poem to Howel ap Jenkin and wife Mary, see Roberts, Gwaith Tudur Penllyn, poem 6, p. 11. My thanks to Gruffydd Aled Williams for the translation of poem 6, lines 33-40, received by email in November 2016.
Note: The Welsh Saint Ffraid (Bridget) was renowned in Wales where 18 chapels and churches are dedicated to her (see Williams, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen (1852) p. 156). For Iseult, see the Guto’r Glynn Project website, Daniel (ed.), poem 24 (“English notes” introduction and note number 2) where, in a similar manner, the poet praised Ann Herbert when he compared her with Essylt. (Note: Esyllt was the daughter of Cynan the last king of the first dynasty of Gwynedd and wife of Merfyn, the first king of the second dynasty of Gwynedd.) In this same poem on line 11, the word “iarlles” is translated as countess (though “noble lady” is also a possible translation for “iarlles” according to Gruffydd Aled Williams). For the poem link, see: http://www.gutorglyn.net/gutorglyn/poem/?poem-selection=026.
There is another poem to Howel by Tudur Aled (fl.1480-1526) titled “Ho:[well] ap Jankyn ap Ierwerth” in a manuscript book (NLW Peniarth MS no. 110, p. 124) that is dated to the 2nd quarter, 16th c. This book was once apparently owned by Howel ap Jenkin’s descendent Hugh Nanney, who wrote “Hugh Nanney is the true honor of this booke.” See Evans, RMW, vol. 1, pt. 2-3, p. 662. Tudur Aled also had the Nannau and Salesbury families as patrons.
5.3 For the text of the 1479/80 deed (NLW Peniarth 234, 50v) described by the antiquary Robert Vaughan (whose wife was descended from Howel and Mary), see Lloyd, Powys Fadog (1887), vol. 6, p. 245-6. Vaughan described the 1479/80 “deede” as follows: “Howel ab Jenkin of Ynys y Maengwyn seeing his father's meanes (estate) after his death was to be divided between him and his brethren.... took the old man [Jenkin] his father, and imprisoned him in Harlegh castell, where he [his] father in lawe [Sir Roger Kynaston of Hordley,] was constable; from whence he was not released untill he passed all his landes upon Howel and Mary [Kynaston] his wife and their issue, by his deede, wch beareth date ye 19th of Edw. 4 [blank or torn. Said to be 1479/1480]. …..”
Vaughan goes on to say that “William ap Jenkin, & Morgan his brother, ye sonnes of Jenkin ap Iorwerth aforesd, who being disinherited by meanes of their brother Howell" took up sides against Hywel. See also the Ynysmaengwyn pedigree (PACF p. 237), where both Hywel ap Jenkin and his brothers William and Morgan ap Jenkin named above appear.
Lending credence to the above deed, Tudur Aled refers to the dispute between Howel and his brothers when he wrote a poem of reconciliation to Howel’s son Humphrey ap Howel. For Gruffydd Aled Williams’ translation of part of that poem, see Smith and Smith(eds.), History of Merioneth, vol. 2, and for his article on the poem in Welsh, see ”Tudur Aled ai cant yn dda om barn I”: Cywydd Cymod Wmffre ap Hywel ap Siancyn o Ynysymaengwyn a’i Geraint’ published in Llên Cymru, 30 (2007), 57-99. This poem mentions many of the names in the deed above but does not identify Howel ap Jenkin’s wife Mary Kynaston.
For the five children attributed to Howel ap Jenkin and Mary by Bartrum’s pedigree, see pedigree Osbwrn 2(G2). Note that this pedigree also shows Howel had several children by possibly a mistress.
5.4 See Llên Cymru (1965), vols. 8-9, p. 205-6: “Gwr arall a ddechreuodd adeiladu oedd Hywel ap Siencyn o Dywyn, ond bu farw yn 1494 heb 'Orffen Ehangwen i hwn’ …” For the Bartrum pedigree showing Mary’s second marriage to Sir Rhys ap Thomas, see “Bleddyn ap Cynfin" 38(A3).
5.5 For Humphrey as son, see Bartrum Osbwrn 2 (G2) and PACF “Ynysmaengwyn" p. 237. Also see poem (discussed under generation 7 below) where Griffith Nanney’s wife Jane is said to be the daughter of Humphrey ap Howel and her grandfather is named as Howel ap Jenkin: by William Llyn (fl. 1534/35-1580) in Morrice, Barddoniaeth William Llyn: “Awdl Foliant Gruffydd Nannau” (poem LIV, p. 140).
Mary Kynaston, daughter of Roger Kynaston’s second wife Elizabeth Grey, was born sometime after c. 1454 when Rogers first wife Elizabeth Strange died (see Roger Kynaston's memorial). A rough estimate for the timeframe for Mary’s birth can be attempted. If say her mother Elizabeth Grey’s first child was born between 1455 and 1459 (see above note no. 4.2) and she had a total of three sons and four daughters and then a daughter Mary, the span of time from the earliest possible first birth in 1455 to Mary’s birth was likely in the range of 12-22 years. This would place Mary Kynaston’s birth at roughly between 1467 and 1477. However, a deed dated 1479/80 (see below), points to the earlier end of the range. The deed, which infers Mary is already married would, if she was at least 12 years old, place her birth on or before 1467/68.)
Mary Kynaston married Howel son of Jenkin ab Iorwerth of Ynysymaengwyn. Though the Visitation of Shropshire and Bartrum pedigrees show this marriage, [5.1] a contemporary poem by Tudur Penllyn (c. 1415/20- c. 1485) praising Hywel ap Siancyn of Ynysymaengwyn and Mary, which was written when they were still alive, is more certain evidence. Beginning on line 33, the poem reads:
Mi af, os byw fyddaf fi,
Os marw, at Meistres Mari.
San Ffraid, bo rhaid ei byw rhawg,
Sy ferch iarlles o farchawg;
Aur glân ar sidan yw’r sêr
Sy ar Esyllt Syr Roeser.
Gwawr dydd, gorau dyweddi,
Gyda’r iarll, gwaed ieirll yw hi.
Translation:
I’ll go, if I’ll be alive,
Or if dead, to Mistress Mary.
Saint Ffraid, it is a necessity that she lives a good while,
[She] Is a daughter of a countess from a knight;
The stars are pure gold on silk
Which are on Sir Roger’s Iseult.
She is the light of dawn, the best of brides,
With the earl, she possesses the blood of earls.
A paraphrasing of this poem extract praising Howel ap Jenkyn and Mary could read as follows:
If Howel dies, he will go to his wife Mary who (praise be to the Saint Bridget) will live long. Mary is the daughter of a countess and Roger Kynaston, a knight (“iarlles,” or countess refers to her mother Elizabeth Grey, daughter of an Earl). Because of Mary’s lineage, she is “Sir Roger’s Iseult” (a popular usage in Wales, was that Iseult was the daughter of king Cynan of Gwynedd and later became the wife of Merfyn, a succeeding king of Gwynedd). Mary, descended from an Earl, is the light of dawn, and the best of brides for Howel. [5.2]
Tudur Penllyn who wrote the above poem, was last thought to be active in c. 1485 and the poem refers to Mary as a bride, so possibly it is referring to a marriage that happened within a few years of the poem’s composition. Additional evidence shows the marriage occurred probably by c. 1479/80 when a deed describes Mary as already married to Howel ap Jenkin. A description of the deed says that Howel forced his father to pass “all his landes upon Howel and Mary his wife and their issue, by his deede, wch beareth date ye 19th of Edw. 4.” A marriage in or before the time of the deed in c. 1479/80 would seem to allow a sufficient amount of time for the five children that Howel ap Jenkin had with Mary before his death in 1494. [5.3]
Howel ap Jenkin was likely born before c. 1458/59 if he was of age in the above 1479/80 deed. He is said to have died of the plague in 1494, according to an elegy by Welsh poet Hywel ap Rheinallt (fl. 1461-1506/7). Sometime after Howel died in 1494, Mary was said to marry secondly, Sir Rhys ap Thomas. She may have survived until the year 1500 or beyond. [5.4]
They had a son Humphrey ap Howel (see next generation). [5.5]
5.1 See the Visitation of Shropshire, vol 2, p 295 (which shows the marriage and arms ermine a saltire gules for Howel); Bartrum, “Bleddyn ap Cynfin” 38(A1) and 38(A3). See also pedigrees in PACF (Ynysmaengwyn p. 237 and Nannau, p. 200).
5.2 For the poem to Howel ap Jenkin and wife Mary, see Roberts, Gwaith Tudur Penllyn, poem 6, p. 11. My thanks to Gruffydd Aled Williams for the translation of poem 6, lines 33-40, received by email in November 2016.
Note: The Welsh Saint Ffraid (Bridget) was renowned in Wales where 18 chapels and churches are dedicated to her (see Williams, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen (1852) p. 156). For Iseult, see the Guto’r Glynn Project website, Daniel (ed.), poem 24 (“English notes” introduction and note number 2) where, in a similar manner, the poet praised Ann Herbert when he compared her with Essylt. (Note: Esyllt was the daughter of Cynan the last king of the first dynasty of Gwynedd and wife of Merfyn, the first king of the second dynasty of Gwynedd.) In this same poem on line 11, the word “iarlles” is translated as countess (though “noble lady” is also a possible translation for “iarlles” according to Gruffydd Aled Williams). For the poem link, see: http://www.gutorglyn.net/gutorglyn/poem/?poem-selection=026.
There is another poem to Howel by Tudur Aled (fl.1480-1526) titled “Ho:[well] ap Jankyn ap Ierwerth” in a manuscript book (NLW Peniarth MS no. 110, p. 124) that is dated to the 2nd quarter, 16th c. This book was once apparently owned by Howel ap Jenkin’s descendent Hugh Nanney, who wrote “Hugh Nanney is the true honor of this booke.” See Evans, RMW, vol. 1, pt. 2-3, p. 662. Tudur Aled also had the Nannau and Salesbury families as patrons.
5.3 For the text of the 1479/80 deed (NLW Peniarth 234, 50v) described by the antiquary Robert Vaughan (whose wife was descended from Howel and Mary), see Lloyd, Powys Fadog (1887), vol. 6, p. 245-6. Vaughan described the 1479/80 “deede” as follows: “Howel ab Jenkin of Ynys y Maengwyn seeing his father's meanes (estate) after his death was to be divided between him and his brethren.... took the old man [Jenkin] his father, and imprisoned him in Harlegh castell, where he [his] father in lawe [Sir Roger Kynaston of Hordley,] was constable; from whence he was not released untill he passed all his landes upon Howel and Mary [Kynaston] his wife and their issue, by his deede, wch beareth date ye 19th of Edw. 4 [blank or torn. Said to be 1479/1480]. …..”
Vaughan goes on to say that “William ap Jenkin, & Morgan his brother, ye sonnes of Jenkin ap Iorwerth aforesd, who being disinherited by meanes of their brother Howell" took up sides against Hywel. See also the Ynysmaengwyn pedigree (PACF p. 237), where both Hywel ap Jenkin and his brothers William and Morgan ap Jenkin named above appear.
Lending credence to the above deed, Tudur Aled refers to the dispute between Howel and his brothers when he wrote a poem of reconciliation to Howel’s son Humphrey ap Howel. For Gruffydd Aled Williams’ translation of part of that poem, see Smith and Smith(eds.), History of Merioneth, vol. 2, and for his article on the poem in Welsh, see ”Tudur Aled ai cant yn dda om barn I”: Cywydd Cymod Wmffre ap Hywel ap Siancyn o Ynysymaengwyn a’i Geraint’ published in Llên Cymru, 30 (2007), 57-99. This poem mentions many of the names in the deed above but does not identify Howel ap Jenkin’s wife Mary Kynaston.
For the five children attributed to Howel ap Jenkin and Mary by Bartrum’s pedigree, see pedigree Osbwrn 2(G2). Note that this pedigree also shows Howel had several children by possibly a mistress.
5.4 See Llên Cymru (1965), vols. 8-9, p. 205-6: “Gwr arall a ddechreuodd adeiladu oedd Hywel ap Siencyn o Dywyn, ond bu farw yn 1494 heb 'Orffen Ehangwen i hwn’ …” For the Bartrum pedigree showing Mary’s second marriage to Sir Rhys ap Thomas, see “Bleddyn ap Cynfin" 38(A3).
5.5 For Humphrey as son, see Bartrum Osbwrn 2 (G2) and PACF “Ynysmaengwyn" p. 237. Also see poem (discussed under generation 7 below) where Griffith Nanney’s wife Jane is said to be the daughter of Humphrey ap Howel and her grandfather is named as Howel ap Jenkin: by William Llyn (fl. 1534/35-1580) in Morrice, Barddoniaeth William Llyn: “Awdl Foliant Gruffydd Nannau” (poem LIV, p. 140).
Mary Kynaston married Howel son of Jenkin ab Iorwerth of Ynysymaengwyn. Though the Visitation of Shropshire and Bartrum pedigrees show this marriage, [5.1] a contemporary poem by Tudur Penllyn (c. 1415/20- c. 1485) praising Hywel ap Siancyn of Ynysymaengwyn and Mary, which was written when they were still alive, is more certain evidence. Beginning on line 33, the poem reads:
Mi af, os byw fyddaf fi,
Os marw, at Meistres Mari.
San Ffraid, bo rhaid ei byw rhawg,
Sy ferch iarlles o farchawg;
Aur glân ar sidan yw’r sêr
Sy ar Esyllt Syr Roeser.
Gwawr dydd, gorau dyweddi,
Gyda’r iarll, gwaed ieirll yw hi.
Translation:
I’ll go, if I’ll be alive,
Or if dead, to Mistress Mary.
Saint Ffraid, it is a necessity that she lives a good while,
[She] Is a daughter of a countess from a knight;
The stars are pure gold on silk
Which are on Sir Roger’s Iseult.
She is the light of dawn, the best of brides,
With the earl, she possesses the blood of earls.
A paraphrasing of this poem extract praising Howel ap Jenkyn and Mary could read as follows:
If Howel dies, he will go to his wife Mary who (praise be to the Saint Bridget) will live long. Mary is the daughter of a countess and Roger Kynaston, a knight (“iarlles,” or countess refers to her mother Elizabeth Grey, daughter of an Earl). Because of Mary’s lineage, she is “Sir Roger’s Iseult” (a popular usage in Wales, was that Iseult was the daughter of king Cynan of Gwynedd and later became the wife of Merfyn, a succeeding king of Gwynedd). Mary, descended from an Earl, is the light of dawn, and the best of brides for Howel. [5.2]
Tudur Penllyn who wrote the above poem, was last thought to be active in c. 1485 and the poem refers to Mary as a bride, so possibly it is referring to a marriage that happened within a few years of the poem’s composition. Additional evidence shows the marriage occurred probably by c. 1479/80 when a deed describes Mary as already married to Howel ap Jenkin. A description of the deed says that Howel forced his father to pass “all his landes upon Howel and Mary his wife and their issue, by his deede, wch beareth date ye 19th of Edw. 4.” A marriage in or before the time of the deed in c. 1479/80 would seem to allow a sufficient amount of time for the five children that Howel ap Jenkin had with Mary before his death in 1494. [5.3]
Howel ap Jenkin was likely born before c. 1458/59 if he was of age in the above 1479/80 deed. He is said to have died of the plague in 1494, according to an elegy by Welsh poet Hywel ap Rheinallt (fl. 1461-1506/7). Sometime after Howel died in 1494, Mary was said to marry secondly, Sir Rhys ap Thomas. She may have survived until the year 1500 or beyond. [5.4]
They had a son Humphrey ap Howel (see next generation). [5.5]
5.1 See the Visitation of Shropshire, vol 2, p 295 (which shows the marriage and arms ermine a saltire gules for Howel); Bartrum, “Bleddyn ap Cynfin” 38(A1) and 38(A3). See also pedigrees in PACF (Ynysmaengwyn p. 237 and Nannau, p. 200).
5.2 For the poem to Howel ap Jenkin and wife Mary, see Roberts, Gwaith Tudur Penllyn, poem 6, p. 11. My thanks to Gruffydd Aled Williams for the translation of poem 6, lines 33-40, received by email in November 2016.
Note: The Welsh Saint Ffraid (Bridget) was renowned in Wales where 18 chapels and churches are dedicated to her (see Williams, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen (1852) p. 156). For Iseult, see the Guto’r Glynn Project website, Daniel (ed.), poem 24 (“English notes” introduction and note number 2) where, in a similar manner, the poet praised Ann Herbert when he compared her with Essylt. (Note: Esyllt was the daughter of Cynan the last king of the first dynasty of Gwynedd and wife of Merfyn, the first king of the second dynasty of Gwynedd.) In this same poem on line 11, the word “iarlles” is translated as countess (though “noble lady” is also a possible translation for “iarlles” according to Gruffydd Aled Williams). For the poem link, see: http://www.gutorglyn.net/gutorglyn/poem/?poem-selection=026.
There is another poem to Howel by Tudur Aled (fl.1480-1526) titled “Ho:[well] ap Jankyn ap Ierwerth” in a manuscript book (NLW Peniarth MS no. 110, p. 124) that is dated to the 2nd quarter, 16th c. This book was once apparently owned by Howel ap Jenkin’s descendent Hugh Nanney, who wrote “Hugh Nanney is the true honor of this booke.” See Evans, RMW, vol. 1, pt. 2-3, p. 662. Tudur Aled also had the Nannau and Salesbury families as patrons.
5.3 For the text of the 1479/80 deed (NLW Peniarth 234, 50v) described by the antiquary Robert Vaughan (whose wife was descended from Howel and Mary), see Lloyd, Powys Fadog (1887), vol. 6, p. 245-6. Vaughan described the 1479/80 “deede” as follows: “Howel ab Jenkin of Ynys y Maengwyn seeing his father's meanes (estate) after his death was to be divided between him and his brethren.... took the old man [Jenkin] his father, and imprisoned him in Harlegh castell, where he [his] father in lawe [Sir Roger Kynaston of Hordley,] was constable; from whence he was not released untill he passed all his landes upon Howel and Mary [Kynaston] his wife and their issue, by his deede, wch beareth date ye 19th of Edw. 4 [blank or torn. Said to be 1479/1480]. …..”
Vaughan goes on to say that “William ap Jenkin, & Morgan his brother, ye sonnes of Jenkin ap Iorwerth aforesd, who being disinherited by meanes of their brother Howell" took up sides against Hywel. See also the Ynysmaengwyn pedigree (PACF p. 237), where both Hywel ap Jenkin and his brothers William and Morgan ap Jenkin named above appear.
Lending credence to the above deed, Tudur Aled refers to the dispute between Howel and his brothers when he wrote a poem of reconciliation to Howel’s son Humphrey ap Howel. For Gruffydd Aled Williams’ translation of part of that poem, see Smith and Smith(eds.), History of Merioneth, vol. 2, and for his article on the poem in Welsh, see ”Tudur Aled ai cant yn dda om barn I”: Cywydd Cymod Wmffre ap Hywel ap Siancyn o Ynysymaengwyn a’i Geraint’ published in Llên Cymru, 30 (2007), 57-99. This poem mentions many of the names in the deed above but does not identify Howel ap Jenkin’s wife Mary Kynaston.
For the five children attributed to Howel ap Jenkin and Mary by Bartrum’s pedigree, see pedigree Osbwrn 2(G2). Note that this pedigree also shows Howel had several children by possibly a mistress.
5.4 See Llên Cymru (1965), vols. 8-9, p. 205-6: “Gwr arall a ddechreuodd adeiladu oedd Hywel ap Siencyn o Dywyn, ond bu farw yn 1494 heb 'Orffen Ehangwen i hwn’ …” For the Bartrum pedigree showing Mary’s second marriage to Sir Rhys ap Thomas, see “Bleddyn ap Cynfin" 38(A3).
5.5 For Humphrey as son, see Bartrum Osbwrn 2 (G2) and PACF “Ynysmaengwyn" p. 237. Also see poem (discussed under generation 7 below) where Griffith Nanney’s wife Jane is said to be the daughter of Humphrey ap Howel and her grandfather is named as Howel ap Jenkin: by William Llyn (fl. 1534/35-1580) in Morrice, Barddoniaeth William Llyn: “Awdl Foliant Gruffydd Nannau” (poem LIV, p. 140).
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