Tribes of Wales

Template:Short description "The five royal tribes of Wales" and "The fifteen tribes of North Wales" refer to a class of genealogical lists which were compiled by Welsh bards in the mid-15th century. These non-identical lists were constructed on the premise that many of the leading Welsh families of their time could trace their descent to the "five royal tribes of Wales" or the "fifteen noble tribes of North Wales".

In the surviving manuscripts, the first occurrence of the "fifteen tribes of Gwynedd" is probably in parts written by Gutun Owain in National Library of Wales NLW Peniarth MS 131. The Welsh headings which stand above the pedigrees of Eunydd of Dyffryn Clwyd and Hwfa ap Cynddelw on p. 85 and the tribe of Gollwyn ap Tangno on p. 90 all read something like "one of the 15 tribes ()". A related list is found in British Library Add MS 14919, f. 121v.

A more developed example is to be found on two folios of a 16th or 17th-century manuscript in the British Library, Harley MS 1970, folios 34r-v, where the list is accompanied by a number of heraldic designs.

The basic idea of five regal and fifteen common (i.e. noble) tribes was later used by the antiquarian and genealogist Philip Yorke as a model for his Royal Tribes of Wales (1799).Template:Sfn

Five Royal tribes of Wales

File:Five Royal Tribes of Wales.png

Coat of arms of the five royal tribes of Wales (Cambria) from the medieval era.

The Five Royal Tribes of Wales were recorded by Robert Vaughan in his book 'British Antiquities Revived', published in 1662. From the medieval ages, there were five royal figures identified in Wales who were the ancestors to many Welsh noble families, tracing their family descent through male and female lines.Template:Sfn

Five royal tribes list

	Name	Location	Century	Royal title	Coat of Arms
1	Gruffudd ap Cynan	Gwynedd	1000-1100	King	File:Gryffydd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd.svg
2	Rhys ap Tewdwr Mawr	South Wales	1000	King	File:Flag of Carmarthenshire (proposed).svg
3	Bleddyn ap Cynfyn	Powys	1000	King	File:COA Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of of Gwynedd and Powys.svg
4	Ethelystan Glodrydd	Wye and Severn	900-1000	Prince	File:COA Elystan Glodrydd.svg
5	Iestyn ap Gwrgant	Glamorgan	1000	King	File:Coat of arms of morgannwg.svg

Fifteen tribes of Wales

File:Fifteen tribes of North Wales.png

The coats of arms of the fifteen tribes of North Wales from the medieval era.

The origins of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales of North Wales, like the Five Royal Tribes, go back to 1493, when genealogists recorded the ancestry of Welsh folk from the medieval ages. The antiquary Robert Vaughan then recorded them in the mid-17th century. However, the list was not published until the release of the Cambrian Register in 1795 by either Dr. Owen Pughe or Walter Davies. Then later during the 1790s, both Thomas Pennant and Philip Yorke published works about the founders of Welsh tribes.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

15 tribes list

	Name	Location	Century	Royal ancestor	Coat of Arms
1	Hwfa ap Cynddelw	Anglesey	1100-1200	Cunedda	Hwfa ap Cynddelw
2	Llywarch ap Bran	Anglesey	1100-1200	Rhodri Mawr	File:Coat of Arms of LLYWARCH ap BRAN, of Anglesey.png
3	Gweirydd ap Rhys Goch	Anglesey	1100-1200	Cunedda	File:Coat of Arms of GWEIRYDD ap RHYS GOCH, Lord of Tal Ebolion, Anglesey.png
4	Cilmin Troed-Ddu	Caernarvonshire	800-900	Coel Hen	File:Coat of Arms of CILMIN TROED-DDU, of Caernarvonshire.png
5	Template:Interlanguage link	Merionethshire and Caernarvonshire	1000-1100	Cunedda	File:Coat of Arms of COLLWYN ap TANGNO, of Merionethshire and Caernarvonshire, Lord of Efionydel.png
6	Nefydd Hardd (Nefydd the Handsome)	Caernarvonshire	1100-1200	Cunedda	File:Coat of Arms of NEFYDD HARDD, of Caernarvonshire, Lord of Nant Conway.png
7	Maelog Crwm (Maeloc the Bowed)	Caernarvonshire	1100-1200	Cunedda	File:Coat of Arms of MAELOG CRWM, of Caernarvonshire, Lord of Llechwedd-Isaff and Creuddyn.png
8	Marchudd ap Cynan	Caernarvonshire	800-900	Coel Hen	File:Coat of Arms of MARCHUDD ap CYNAN, of Caernarvonshire and Denbighshire, Lord of Abergellen.png
9	Hedd Molwynog	Denbighshire	1100-1200	Rhodri Mawr	File:Coat of Arms of HEDD MOLWYNOG, of Denbighshire, Lord of Uwch Aled.png
10	Braint Hir (Braint the Tall)	Denbighshire	800-900	Rhychwyn the Bearded of Rhos or nephew of Cadwallon ap Cadfan	File:Coat of Arms of BRAINT HIR, of Denbighshire, Lord of Isdulas.png
11	Marchweithian	Denbighshire	1000-1100	Coel Hen	File:Coat of Arms of MARCHWEITHIAN, Lord of Is-Aled, Denbighshire.png
12	Edwin ap Tegaingl	Flintshire	1000-1100	Gronw ap Einion ab Owen ap Hywel Dda ap Cadell ap Rhodri Mawr	File:Arms of Edwin of Tegeingl.svg
13	Ednowain Bendew (Ednowain the Strong-head)	Flintshire	1000-1100	Beli Mawr	File:Coat of Arms of EDNOWAIN BENDEW, Lord of Tegaingle, Flintshire.png
14	Eunydd of Gwerngwy	Denbighshire	1000-1100	Rhys ap Marchan, descended from Coel Hen	File:Coat of Arms of EUNYDD ap GWENLLIAN, of Denbighshire.png
15	Ednowain ap Bradwen	Merionethshire	1100-1200	Coel Hen	File:Coat of Arms of EDNOWAIN ap BRADWEN, Lord of Llys-Bradwen, Merionethshire.png

Books

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