A little about Prince Madog Ab Owain Gwynedd
There has been a lot written about this old Welsh Prince both during his lifetime and since. The basic facts are as follows:
This is part of a paper by historian Jayne Wanner:
Madog was born in Wales inOwain Gwynedd, succeeded his father, Gruffydd ap Cynan as ruler of the Gwynedd province of Wales in 1138. His thirty-two-year reign was a bloody and turbulent time of constant warfare between the Norman barons and the Welsh chieftans. Though he strived during his rule for both the prosperity of his people and the unity of all Welsh kingdoms against the English. His aims were hindered by the treacherous feuding within his own ranks. Although well known for his ". . .fierce and brutal penalties for disloyalty. .", he was nevertheless remembered as a mighty soldier and a great leader by his own people, and considered the "King of Wales" by those in England and other lands.
Owain was said to have had seventeen sons, including Madoc, and at least two daughters, although few were considered legitimate by the churchmen of the time. This confused situation led to bitter dispute as to who among his sons would succeed him and his death in 1169 plunged his country into civil war.
It was this civil war from which Madoc fled. His story was repeated by bards and recorded throughout the next four centuries by various historians, but concise and detailed accounts would not be found until after the introduction of printing. Perhaps the earliest printed account of Madoc's story is from Dr. David Powel's The Historie of Cambria published in 1584:
Madoc. . .left the land in contention betwixt his brethern and prepared certain shipps with men and munitions and sought adventures by seas, sailing west. . .he came to a land unknown where he saw manie strange things. . . . Of the viage and returne of this Madoc there be manie fables faimed, as the common people do use in distance of place and length of time, rather to augment than diminish; but sure it is that there he was. . . .And after he had returned home, and declared the pleasant and fruitfulle countries that he had seen without inhabitants, and upon the contrarie part, for what barren and wilde ground his brethern and nepheues did murther one another, he prepared a number of shipps, and got with him such men and women as were desirous to live in quietnesse, and taking leave of his freends tooke his journie thitherward againe. . . This Madoc arriving in the countrie, into which he came in the yeare 1170, left most of his people there, and returning back for more of his own nation, acquaintance, and friends, to inhabit that fayre and large countrie, went thither againe.
So basically, Madog outfitted three ships and set off to the vast country that he'd heard about from his Viking Grandmother and her clan in Ireland. He landed at Mobile Bay in 1170 AD, spent time exploring up the Alabama and Coosa rivers and then returned to Wales to outfit another ten ships and sailed back to America.
This story fascinated me and after researching a lot of the available material, I decided to see this fabled land of America for myself.
More about this in future chapters of this site......
