Nest ferch Rhys

Nest ferch Rhys (b. c. 1085 - d. before 1136) was a daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, last King of Deheubarth (South Wales), by his wife, Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of Powys. She is also known as "Nesta" or "Princess Nesta". ^[1][2]

Nest had two younger brothers, Gruffydd ap Rhys and Hywel, and several older illegitimate half-brothers and half-sisters. After their father's death in battle in 1093, "the kingdom of the Britons fell" and was overrun by Normans. Nest's brother Gruffydd was spirited into Ireland for safety; their brother Hywel was captured by Arnulf de Montgomery, and injured while escaping. The immediate fate of Nest and her mother is unknown. What is least likely is that she was "given as a hostage" by her father to William the Conqueror, or to William Rufus, after her father's death. In any event, she came to the attention of the new king, Henry I of England, to whom she bore one of his numerous illegitimate children, Henry FitzHenry (c. 1103–1158).^[3]

First Marriage

Some time after the rebellion of the powerful Montgomery clan of Normandy and England, King Henry married Nest to Gerald de Windsor, Arnulf de Montgomery's former constable for Pembroke Castle and one of the recent Montgomery rebels. By Gerald, Nest is the maternal progenitor of the FitzGerald dynasty, one of the most celebrated families of Ireland and Great Britain. They are referred to as Cambro-Normans or Hiberno-Normans, and have been Peers of Ireland since 1316, when Edward II created the earldom of Kildare for John FitzGerald.

Rape and Abduction

The details of this most famous episode of Nest's life are obscure and vary, depending on who is relating it. Either Nest and Gerald were present at an eisteddfod given, during a truce, by Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, prince of Powys; or they were not present, and Nest and her husband were "visited" by Owain ap Cadwgan, one of Cadwgan's sons, or they were not visited by Owain, merely attacked by Owain and his men. The usual tale is that Owain hears at the eisteddfod that Gerald is in the neighbourhood, that Gerald's wife is very beautiful, and so he goes to visit her "as his kinswoman", but this is unlikely. The earliest account, that of Caradoc of Llancarfan, relates that "At the instigation of the Devil, he [Owain] was moved by passion and love for the woman, and with a small company with him...he made for the castle by night." The castle was Cenarth Bychan (possibly Cilgerran Castle; Carew Castle is also mentioned, but is unlikely.^[4]

Tradition has it that, during Owain's firing of some of the outbuildings, Nest persuaded her husband and his men to escape rather than face Owain outnumbered. They exited via a lavatory chute and escaped. Owain and his men burst into the castle and searched for Gerald. Nest said, "He whom you seek is not here. He has escaped." An infuriated Owain then raped Nest in front of her children -- either her two sons and daughter and Gerald's son by a concubine; or Gerald's two sons by a concubine and Nest's two sons; or any other variant -- following which he kidnapped Nest and the children, and took them to a hunting lodge by the Eglwyseg Rocks north of the Vale of Llangollen.

The rape of Nest aroused the wrath of the Normans, as well as of the Welsh who had been victimised by Owain and his followers. The truce was broken. The Norman lords, the Justiciar of Salop, and at least one bishop, bribed Owain's Welsh enemies to attack him and his father, which they promptly did. Owain's father tried to persuade him to return Nest, but to no avail. According to Caradoc, Nest told Owain, "If you would have me stay with you and be faithful to you, then send my children home to their father." She secured the return of the children. Owain and his father were driven to seek exile in Ireland. Nest was returned to her husband.

In recent years, Nest has been given two specious children by her rapist, Llywelyn and Einion. Owain, however, had a brother but not a son named Einion, and Welsh geneaologies do not name the mother of Owain's son Llywelyn. The omission of the name of a mother with the highborn status of Nest would be startling, if it were true.

In the 19th century, this "abduction", as well as the fighting which followed, earned Nest the nickname "Helen of Wales". She was depicted at having connived with Owain at her rape and abduction, and given more children than she had borne, along with more lovers than she had had.

In 1112, her brother Gruffydd returned from Ireland, spending most of his time with Gerald and Nest. When he was denied his inheritance from his father, and accused to the king of conspiring against him, he allied with the prince of Gwynedd, and war broke out. Owain ap Cadwgan had, by now, been pardoned by the king, and was prince of Powys; in 1111, his father had been assassinated by Owain's cousin and former comrade in arms, Madog ap Rhiryd, whom Owain captured, castrated, and blinded. Being then on the king's good side, Owain was ordered to rendezvous with a Norman force to proceed against Gruffydd. En route, he and his force chanced to run into none other then Gerald FitzWalter. Despite Owain being a royal ally, Gerald chose to avenge his wife's rape, and slew Owain.

Some historians have recently cast doubts on the account, suggesting it may have been revised or rewritten at a later date, by an author who had a motive to both demean Gerald and enhance the reputation of Owain. Thus,"we should hesitate to take it at full face value."^[5]

Issue

Nest bore five children to Gerald. The two eldest sons married two daughters of Arnulf de Montgomery.

• William FitzGerald, Lord of Carew and Emlyn (d. c.1173). By his wife Marie de Montgomery, William was the father of
  • Odo de Carew
  • Raymond FitzGerald le Gros
  • Griffin
  • Richard
  • Ralph
  • William, Justice of Eyre
  • Robert
  • Isabella, who m. William Hay (Gulielmus de Haia Wallenisis).

(Note: William Hay is frequently, and incorrectly, noted as an illegitimate son of Nest; the speculation is based on Nest's grandson, Gerald of Wales, naming William as one of the Geraldines, which he was, if only by marriage. William's father is usually given one "Hayt", a Flemish sheriff of Pembroke in 1130.)

• Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan, Naas and Maynooth, (died 1 September 1177). By his wife Alice de Montgomery, the sister of Marie, Maurice was the father of
  • Gerald FitzMaurice, 1st Lord of Offaly
  • Alexander
  • William (1st Baron Naas)
  • Maurice of Kiltrany
  • Thomas
  • Robert
  • Nest

• David FitzGerald, Archdeacon of Cardigan and Bishop of St David's who was the father of:
  • Milo FitzBishop of Iverk

• Angharad, who married (2) William FitzOdo de Barry (William de Barry), by whom she was the mother of
  • Philip de Barry, founder of Ballybeg Abbey at Buttevant in Ireland
  • Robert de Barry
  • Edmond de Barry
  • Gerald of Wales

• Gwladys, mother of
  • Milo de Cogan

Second Marriage and Issue

After Gerald's death, Nest's sons married her to Stephen, her husband's constable of Cardigan, by whom she had another son, possibly two; the eldest was Robert Fitz-Stephen (d. 1182), one of the Norman conquerors of Ireland; the second son, if such there were, may have been named Hywel. With Nest's son Maurice FitzGerald, his half-brother, Robert captured the town of Wexford (see Siege of Wexford), and, with Maurice, was granted joint custody of the town.

Footnotes

1. ^ http://thepeerage.com/p10468.htm#i104677
2. ^ "Nesta, the story of a Welsh Princess", ISBN 978-0953014118
3. ^ Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales tr. Lewis Thorpe. Harmondsworth: Penguin (1978)
4. ^ Brut y tywysogion: Or, The chronicle of the princes A.D. 681-1282 (Great Britain. Public Record Office. Kraus Reprints: 1965, ASIN: B0007JD67I
5. ^ Wolcott, Darrell. Owain ap Cadwgan and Nest ferch Rhys - An Historic Fiction? http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id160.html

References

• Dictionary of National Biography, p. 228-229
• Bartrum, Peter. Welsh Genealogies: 300-1400, 941 pages, University of Wales Press (December 1976)
• Brut y tywysogion: Or, The chronicle of the princes A.D. 681-1282 (Great Britain. Public Record Office. Kraus Reprints: 1965, ASIN: B0007JD67I
• Davies, John, "A History of Wales", p. 110, 123, 128; Penguin: 2007, ISBN 978-0-14-028475-1
• Lloyd, John Edward, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, II (2nd ed.) London: Longmans, Green, & Co (1912), pp 417-8, 423, 442, 539, 555, 767 (family tree)
• Maund, Kari, Princess Nest of Wales: Seductress of the English, Stroud: Tempus 2007, ISBN 978-0-7524-3771-2

____________, The Welsh Kings: Warriors, Warlords, and Princes, Tempus: 2005 (3rd ed.), ISBN 0752429736, ISBN 978-0752429731

In fiction

• Fairburn, Eleanor, "The Golden Hive, A novel founded on historical fact 1093-1120", London: Heinemann (1966)
• Knight, Bernard, "Lion Rampant", London: Robert Hale (1972), ISBN 1-903552-47-8
• Orford, Margaret, "Royal Mistress", Swansea: C. Davies (1976), ISBN 0-7154-0304-4
• Bell, Anne, "Daughter of the Dragon", London: Robert Hale (1978, ISBN 1-7091-6679-6
• McKinlay, Margaret, "Pawns of Kings", London: Robert Hale (1981), ISBN 0-7091-9201-0

Persondata
Name	Nest Ferch Rhys
Alternative names	Nesta
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death