Osborn Wyddel the Irishman () (fl. 1280), also known as Osborne Fitzgerald, was the founder of the Fitzgerald House of Corsygedol, Wynne of Ynys maengwyn, Wynne of Maes y neuadd, and other important families in Merionethshire. One of its cadet branches is the House of Yale.
Biography He was an Irishman with some Welsh ancestry, arriving in Wales around 1237. He settled in the neighbourhood of Llanaber, Barmouth, in the latter part of the thirteenth century with the prince of North Wales, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, and received grants from this monarch in Wales. Tradition, the only authority for his career, asserts that he was a Geraldine, of the Desmond branch of Fitzgerald dynasty, and was attributed, by Sir William Betham, the Ulster King of Arms, as the son of John FitzThomas, 1st Baron Desmond, the first Geraldine lord of Decies and Desmond (d. 1261).Archaeologia Cambrensis, Index to 'Archaeologia Cambrensis', 1901-1960. Vol. 8. 1846. p. 405.Davies, W. Ll., (1959). OSBWRN WYDDEL (' Osborn the Irishman '), living in 1293 Irish nobleman and ancestor of landed families in Merioneth. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 8 Mar 2024
John was the grandson of Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan, and the great-grandson of lord Gerald de Windsor, and princess Nest. The circumstances of Osborn's settlement in Ardudwy (North-west Merionethshire) are unknown, though it may be conjectured that he was driven to seek a home in Wales by the temporary overthrow of the Geraldine influence in Desmond which followed the Battle of Callan (1261). A spot called Berllys (or Byrllysg), a little to the north of Cors y gedol, is pointed out as the site of Osborn's first residence.
He married thereafter the heiress of in west Merioneth, and had a son named 'Kenric Ab Osbwrn', who became the ancestor of some of the local landed gentry such as the Wynne family of Glyncywarch, Wynne family of Peniarth and Vaughans of Corsygedol.Pedigree of the family of Wynne, of Peniarth, William Watkin E. Wynne, Taylor & Co., London, 1872, p. 3-12 He was assessed in the parish of Llanaber for the fifteenth levied in 1293 or 1294 upon holders of land in Wales, and was probably responsible for the building of Llanaber church. The Corsygedol estate would stay in the same family for over 600 years, being inherited by the House of Vaughan, then the House of Mostyn, until it was sold in 1858 to the House of Corbet.Cors-y-Gedol Hall, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Welsh Government, Cadw listed buildings database, RCAHMW, 2009.
Genealogists have noted with certainty that Osborn's ancestry was to have descended through numerous Irish Fitz families of Norman-Irish descent; starting with magnate Roger de Montgomery a Norman Knight who fought in the Battle of Hastings, himself a descendant of Danish and Swedish royalty. Then it's speculated that Roger's descendant, Walter FitzOther married Gladys ap Conwym the daughter of a Welsh Prince.Rev. E. Barry, Records of the Barrys of County Cork from the earliest to the present time., Cork, 1902, p.3; Vivian, p.133: "Robert of Easton (sic), co. Bucks, quoting The Life of Sir Peter Carew, of Mohun Ottery, co. Devon., by John Hooker (c. 1527–1601), edited by Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (1792-1872), published 1840 in Archaeologia, the journal of the Society of Antiquaries of London
The Norman-Irish families continued to establish themselves after the Norman invasion; the 1st Lord of Offaly was established as the ancestor of the Duke's of Leinster in Dublin, Osborn's father has been noted as John FitzThomas, 1st Baron Desmond a man who he fought alongside at the Battle of Callann. John FitzThomas's great-grandmother is noted as being Nest ferch Rhys, daughter Rhys ap Tewdwr the last king of Deheubarth.
Gallery
Further reading Osborn Wyddel (c.1230–aft. 1293) of Cors-y-Gedol, Merionethshire. Max Brian Yale Genealogical Collection, 2025.
References
Sources
Archaeologia Cambrensis, 3rd ser. iv, 315, ix. 66-9
Attribution