John Fleming MA: Nest ferch Rhys: Princess, Mistress, Mother

The history of the Welsh March is not filled with many accounts of women. However, one woman looms very large, particularly in south-west Wales. Her name was Nest and her father Rhys was the ruler of Deheubarth. She was born a princess but was taken away to the king’s court after he was killed in battle against the Normans. There she caught the eye of the future Henry I and became his mistress, producing at least one son. She was then betrothed to Henry’s castellan of Pembroke, Gerald of Windsor, providing him with some legitimacy as a lord and at least five children. Their offspring would go on to form the early foundation of both the Marcher lordships and the early conquerors of Ireland. Oh! And she was also at the centre of one of the most remarkable stories in the Welsh Brut.
John Fleming took an MA in Medieval history at King’s College London, achieving his degree, ‘with distinction’ in 2010, after a long career in banking. Since then, he’s been a keen amateur historian, dividing his time between castle visits and rounds of golf. John is a Trustee of the Mortimer History Society and is working on the southwest volume of the Marcher Lordships trilogy.