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Rhiwallon died shortly after and so it was Bleddyn and his descendants who would go on to rule Powys for the next few centuries while the native dynasty managed to reestablish itself in Gwynedd under Gruffudd ap Cynan. Bleddyn's death resulted in a massive power vacuum that plunged Powys into a mess of civil war and general chaos as multiple branches of the family fought for control.

This absolute mess of a family would spend two generations engaged in a wild, fratricidal war for control of the kingdom and the royal dynasty would near wipe itself out through their passionate obsession with murdering and mutilating one another. Bleddyn's son Cadwgan emerges as the most prominent member of the dynasty and it was Cadwgan's son Owain who would throw all of Wales into chaos with one very famous event: the abduction of his cousin, the Princess Nest, known as the Helen of Wales for

For her beauty after the famous Helen of Troy. Helen was a prominent figure, daughter of the Royal dynasty of Deheubarth, the wife of the Norman lord Gerald of Windsor and the lover of the english king Henry I to whom she had birthed at least one illegitimate son. Nest and her husband were staying at Cilgerran when Owain attacked and kidnapped the princess and her children, forcing Gerald to flee down the toilet. There is some question over whether Nest had consented to her "abduction" but im

erring on the side of "Owain was a prick". The abduction of a woman of Royal Welsh blood, the wife of a Norman lord with connections that ran to the very highest levels of Welsh and english society, caused a scandal and Owain was universally condemned and declared an outlaw.

His father Cadwgan appealed to him to surrender and return Nest but was ignored. His inability to control and restrain his son left Cadwgan politically vulnerable, without allies, and was deposed by Henry I and stripped of his lands which were offered to his nephews and siblings if they would bring his son to justice. Nest and her children were eventually returned to Gerald of Windsor and Owain was forced to flee to Ireland to escape his cousins Madog and Ithel ap Rhirid who were hunting him.

Cadwgan was fined and some of his lands in Ceredigion eventually returned to him on the promise that he would offer his son no further aid or support.
Madog ap Rhirid eventually fell out with the Henry I over harboring english fugitives and even murdered his uncle Iorwerth who had been sent by Henry to secure northern Powys after Cadwgan's deposition and seeing his opportunity, Owain allied himself with the fellow outlaw, the past forgotten in the face of survival and political expediency.

But it wasn't long after Iorwerths murder that Cadwgan himself was killed by the same Morgan who seized some of his lands while the rest, with Henry having no choice but to recognise him as the legitimate heir, fell to Owain and he was welcomed back into the royal fold. Real politik was the name of the game and one time enemies frequently became allies and Owain allied himself with his uncle Maredudd against Madog.
Maredudd managed to capture Madog in 1113 and handed him over to Owain...

Who took revenge for the death of his father by ripping his eyes out of his head.
Newly returned to royal favour, Owain accompanied the king of england to Normandy in 1114 before returning to Powys to rule with his uncle Maredudd's assistance. However in the most dramatic twist in 1116 Owain was ambushed while campaigning against Gruffudd ap Rhys and murdered by Gerald of Windsor and a group of Flemmings in revenge for the humiliation he had heaped on him seven years earlier

@mochynbrwnt It sounds very Game of Thrones. Was some kind of chronicle written for this period of Welsh history or does the information come from a number of different sources?

@simonwilliamson there are a number of sources for the time period but the most Wales focused is the Brut y Tywysogion (the chronicle of the princes), a number of chronicles from the time which portray the events in often a lot of detail. The Brut is an absolutely fascinating read

@mochynbrwnt diolch!

@simonwilliamson croeso!

@andycymro haha I would pay everything I have for a soap based on these events

@mochynbrwnt Not a soap though, a proper big budget drama!