"The five royal tribes of Wales" and "The fifteen tribes of North Wales" refer to a class of genealogical lists which were compiled by Welsh bards in the mid-15th century.Siddons, "Genealogies Welsh", p. 802 These non-identical lists were constructed on the premise that many of the leading Welsh families of their time could trace their descent to the "five royal tribes of Wales" or the "fifteen noble tribes of North Wales".
In the surviving manuscripts, the first occurrence of the "fifteen tribes of Gwynedd" is probably in parts written by Gutun Owain in National Library of Wales NLW Peniarth MS 131.Bartrum, "Hen Lwythau Gwynedd a'r Mars", p. 233 The Welsh headings which stand above the pedigrees of Eunydd of Dyffryn Clwyd and Hwfa ap Cynddelw on p. 85 and the tribe of Gollwyn ap Tangno on p. 90 all read something like "one of the 15 tribes ()". A related list is found in British Library Add MS 14919, f. 121v.
A more developed example is to be found on two folios of a 16th or 17th-century manuscript in the British Library, Harley MS 1970, folios 34r-v, where the list is accompanied by a number of heraldic designs.
The basic idea of five regal and fifteen common (i.e. noble) tribes was later used by the antiquarian and genealogist Philip Yorke as a model for his Royal Tribes of Wales (1799).
Five Royal tribes of Wales
The Five Royal Tribes of Wales were recorded by Robert Vaughan in his book 'British Antiquities Revived', published in 1662. From the medieval ages, there were five royal figures identified in Wales who were the ancestors to many Welsh noble families, tracing their family descent through male and female lines.
Five royal tribes list NameLocationCenturyRoyal titleCoat of Arms1Gruffudd ap CynanGwynedd1000-1100King2Rhys ap Tewdwr MawrSouth Wales1000King3Bleddyn ap CynfynPowys1000King4Ethelystan GlodryddWye and Severn900-1000Prince5Iestyn ap GwrgantGlamorgan1000King
Fifteen tribes of Wales
The origins of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales of North Wales, like the Five Royal Tribes, go back to 1493, when genealogists recorded the ancestry of Welsh folk from the medieval ages. The antiquary Robert Vaughan then recorded them in the mid-17th century. However, the list was not published until the release of the Cambrian Register in 1795 by either Dr. Owen Pughe or Walter Davies. Then later during the 1790s, both Thomas Pennant and Philip Yorke published works about the founders of Welsh tribes.
15 tribes list NameLocationCenturyRoyal ancestorCoat of Arms1Hwfa ap CynddelwAnglesey1100-1200Cunedda2Llywarch ap BranAnglesey1100-1200Rhodri Mawr3Gweirydd ap Rhys GochAnglesey1100-1200Cunedda4Cilmin Troed-DduCaernarvonshire800-900Coel Hen5Merionethshire and Caernarvonshire1000-1100Cunedda6Nefydd Hardd (Nefydd the Handsome)Caernarvonshire1100-1200Cunedda7Maelog Crwm (Maeloc the Bowed)Caernarvonshire1100-1200Cunedda8Marchudd ap CynanCaernarvonshire800-900Coel Hen9Hedd MolwynogDenbighshire1100-1200Rhodri Mawr10Braint Hir (Braint the Tall)Denbighshire800-900Rhychwyn the Bearded of Rhos or nephew of Cadwallon ap Cadfan11MarchweithianDenbighshire1000-1100Coel Hen12Edwin ap TegainglFlintshire1000-1100Gronw ap Einion ab Owen ap Hywel Dda ap Cadell ap Rhodri Mawr13Ednowain Bendew (Ednowain the Strong-head)Flintshire1000-1100Beli Mawr14Eunydd of GwerngwyDenbighshire1000-1100Rhys ap Marchan, descended from Coel Hen15Ednowain ap BradwenMerionethshire1100-1200Coel Hen
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