Virtual History

Four of the Carneddau mountains in The Welsh 3000s - North (Carnedd Llewelyn, Carnedd Dafydd, Yr Elen and Carnedd Gwenllian) have associations with members of a Welsh Royal Family (The House of Aberffraw, to which many of the Princes of Gwynedd and all the Princes of Wales belonged). Unfortunately, there are two possible ways they could be associated. It all hinges on whether Carnedd Llewelyn was named after Llewelyn the Great or his grandson, Llewelyn the Last. In the former case, Dafydd would be his son and Elen one of his two daughters with that name. In the latter case, Dafydd would be his brother and Elen his wife, whose name was actually Eleanor de Montford, but Elen would be the nearest equivalent Welsh first name for this Norman French lady or it could be an abbreviation. The last mountain with an association with this Royal Family, which points to Carnedd Llewelyn being named after Llewelyn the Last, is Carnedd Gwenllian who was this Llewelyn's daughter. But this doesn't prove anything, as the mountain was not known as Carnedd Gwenllian before 2009.

Below is a chart that shows the family of Llewelyn the Great.

 

Simplified Family Tree of Llewelyn the Great

 

Click anywhere on the chart above, to open a larger version in a new window.

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