Buried: Thompson Cemetery, Laird Hill, Rusk County, Texas

Buried: Thompson Cemetery, Laird Hill, Rusk County, Texas

Buried: Thompson Cemetery, Laird Hill, Rusk County, Texas

Died after 54 CE

died after 44 CE

In 1018 the line of Merfyn Frych was ousted by a new dynasty, whose most n
otable member, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (1039-63), reunited Wales under his so le
control. But by the end he had overreached himself, attracting retaliat ion
from Edward the Confessor's lieutenant, Harold Godwinson.

Soon after the defeat of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, Hugh of Avranches, ea rl of
Chester, and his cousin, Robert of Rhuddlan, were well established e ast of
the river Clwyd by 1086. In the following four years they captur ed the Welsh
ruler, Gruffydd ap Cynan, and founded castles at Deganwy, Ban gor, Caernarfon
and Aberlleniog on Anglesey. These were of traditional Nor man type: an
earthen mound (motte) topped by a wooden keep, the main defen sive unit, with
less significant buildings below, defended by a bank and d itch (bailey). They
were usually built within the Welsh maerdrefi, the adm inistrative centers of
the native Welsh rulers.

After initial success, Norman control in north Wales was short-lived. In 1 094
Gruffyed ap Cynan regained his freedom and, with the help of his mothe r's
Irish relations, drove out the Norman earls.

Cynegils was the son of King Ceol of Wessex. He inherited the throne of We ssex
from his uncle, Ceolwulf, in AD 611. For much of his reign, he see ms to have
shared power with his eldest son, Cwichelm, who may have been g iven control
of Upper Wessex (Northern Hampshire, Wiltshire & Berkshire).

Their early reign brought glory to the kingdom through the defeat of the D
umnonian armies of the West (possibly under a King Clemen) at the Batt le of
Bindon in AD 614. In the 620s, however, the pair became increasing ly worried
about the rise of Northumbria and appear to have formed some so rt of alliance
with King Penda of Mercia. It was sealed by the marria ge of Cynegils' son,
Cenwalh, to Penda's sister. Then in AD 626, the hot-h eaded Cwichelm sent an
assassin north to murder the mighty King Edwin of N orthumbria. The attempt
failed and, when Edwin, discovered the perpetrator s, he marched south with a
mighty army to teach them a lesson. The armi es of Wessex and Northumbria
clashed at the Battles of Win & Lose Hi ll in Derbyshire and, though the
southerners were greater in number, th ey were outmanoeuvred and thoroughly
defeated. The demoralized remnan ts of the Wessex army retreated back to
within their own borders. Two ye ar later, the Mercians turned on the weakened
Wessex kingdom by making a m ove on the territories of Gloucester, Cirencester
and Bath, which Ceawl in and Cuthwin had, at least nominally, seized from the
Celts as ear ly as AD 577. Wessex was again defeated, at the Battle of
Cirencester, a nd it may have been at this time that the western section of
the Wansdy ke was constructed to keep the enemy from expanding further.

Cynegils' kingdom did not emerge from obscurity until AD 634. In this yea r,
the King received the Italian missionary, Birinus, at his northern pala ce at
Cholsey in Berkshire. Birinus preached to the Royal court from a nea rby
hillock nearby, known as 'Churn Knob,' but Cynegils was not immediate ly
convinced of the truth of Christianity. The following year, however, t he
regime in Northumbria changed and the new ruler, King Oswald, wish ed to
restore relations with Wessex. He travelled south and, at Easthampst ead,
persuaded Cynegils to accept Christianity and to give Birinus the o ld Roman
town of Dorchester-on-Thames within which to build himself a cath edral. In
return, Cynegils' daughter, Cyneburga, was taken in marria ge by Oswald, after
which most of the Royal family were baptised in the Th ames, between
Brightwell and Dorchester.

Cynegils probably lived to quite an age. He died in AD 643 and was presuma bly
buried in Dorchester (but later translated to Winchester). Cwichelm ha ving
predeceased him, he was succeeded by his younger son, Cenwalh

Louis married Agnes de Beaumont, daughter of Raoul VII de Beaumont and Unk
nown, About 1253. (Agnes de Beaumont was born About 1230.)