The Warrior Princess Whose Name Became A Battle-Cry | Boudicca of Wales | Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd

Little is known about Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, but she became a symbol for Welsh pride and independence, and for centuries her name became a battle-cry. This video looks at what we know of the 'Boudicca of Wales', and the dramatic and heart-breaking battle that would claim her life...
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[@DderwenWyllt]

I remember going to Castell Cydweli with our school, our teacher gave us all wooden swords, and we were all running round shouting "Dial achos Gwenllian" and singing Hen fenyw fach Cydweli.

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

I love that! 😊 I'm currently in Wales right now and hopefully will get to visit Kidwelly - might look a bit funny if I did the same, though! 🤣

[@stevenwilliams9181]

Kidwelly castle is a great place. I live about 10 miles away so it's great to have it in my home county Carmarthenshire

[@Boadicea17]

As a English woman but rather call myself adopted Welsh, this story of such an amazing heroine has been fascinating, educational and thrilling for me! 💖💫 I will research more into this unique warrior princess. Sleep peacefully beautiful Gwenllian, we will never forget you and your heroic courage and loyalty to your people ❤❤❤

[@leeannproctor2966]

Netflix or Amazon need to do her story.

[@GwladYrHaf]

@@leeannproctor2966they will ruin it.

[@MissMentats]

I realise, despite the fact I have a KZbin video playing at every hour of the day, this is the only channel that I actually watch while looking at the screen. I love the graphics

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Awww, that's so nice to know! That means a lot - sometimes I take a ridiculous amount of time to make one of these images, and then I realise it's only on screen for 20 seconds! 😂 It's good to know it is worth it.

[@andrewroby6113]

@@HistorysForgottenPeople worth it! I think it's a nice touch too.

[@leeannproctor2966]

Wish you would update twice a week.

[@leeannproctor2966]

Wish you would update twice a week.

[@helpinyerdasellavon]

An amazing story of a courageous lady I didn't know about. Your videos bring history alive beautifully, excellent work. Thank you 💐

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Thank you! 😊 I must admit, until someone brought her up to me, I'd heard of the name, but I didn't really know her story. Amazing to think I know a lot more about the Normans, Empress Matilda and King Stephen, and yet this was contemporary! 🤔

[@helpinyerdasellavon]

@@HistorysForgottenPeople I love to know about brave women in history. And yes, there's a lot more known about the Normans than other contemporaries back then, glad you brought her story beautifully. Thank you🙏

[@crocodiledundee8685]

I’ve been waiting for this one for ages. Gwenllian has such a fascinating story that nobody knows about but nobody covered her until now. Thank you. Although I’m not to sure about calling her the Boudicca of Wales since Boudicca’s revolt led to her kingdom being fully incorporated into the Empire and ultimately was a negative action for the Britons, whereas Gwenllian’s actions was positive and Wales wasn’t conquered by the English until Edward Longshanks. Plus Boudicca’s people didn’t have a great victory after their queen’s death like Gwenllian had. I personally refer to call her the Joan of Arc of Wales since her involvement had a positive impact of her Wales instead of a negative.

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

She really is a fascinating figure, it's just a shame more isn't known about her! I took a while as I've been trawling through research to find more scraps of knowledge about Gwenllian - shocking when we consider how much is known about the Normans in England, Empress Matilda and King Stephen, all contemporary events. I used the term 'Boudicca of Wales' only as many Welsh articles and books call her that - I think it's more from the angle of being a warrior-like female who fought against an invading force, but I do understand what you mean! 😅

[@crocodiledundee8685]

@@HistorysForgottenPeople at least you were able to bring her story more coverage. Thank you.

[@Silurist]

Only the south of Britain after her defeat. Romans had a hard time conquering the rest of Britain still. The Iceni were allied with the Romans, or at least thought they were, Prasutagus had a deal or a will, but the Romans ignored it, and after he died, they starting seizing lands and taking slaves, and raped Boudicas daughters.

[@areiaaphrodite]

This is why I love supporting this channel. It always teaches me about the lives of people whom I had never heard previously. Keep it up and keep the stories coming!

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the channel! 😊

[@stevenwilliams9181]

I'm proud to say that Gwenllian is my ancestor (more specifically my 31x-Great-Grandmother), I descend from her through her daughter and son-in-law Nest and Ifor Bach (Lord Rhys' sister and brother-in-law). I live about 10 miles from Kidwelly Castle as well

[@AnonymousCuba1898]

Greetings to you cousin, I, too am a descendant of Gwenllian through my Welsh gran. Gwenllian is my 32nd Great Grandmother. A woman that anyone related to her should be proud.

[@stevenwilliams9181]

@@AnonymousCuba1898 I descend from her through her daughter Nest (Lord Rhys' sister). She is on my paternal grandfather's side

[@katelynvaughn8172]

Hey cousin! I am Gwenllian's direct granddaughter! I am related to her through her son Rhys!

[@simon112]

Absoulutly superb, what a truly remarkable lady, such courage the bard wrote a beautiful poem about this lady, thank you as always. 👍😊

[@lfgifu296]

Oh! I must admit, when reading the title, I thought of the Boudicca who burned Londinium and two other cities back in Nero’s reign. The fact that it isn’t her makes it even better! Have a nice week :)

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

I might cover Boudicca at some point, but I'll admit I can never make up my mind about how I feel about her! On the one hand, I totally get her fury at what happened to her daughters, and the fact the Romans sneakily made an agreement with her husband that handed his kingdom to them on his death. But....she also killed a lot of her own people when she attacked Londinium, and that fact always neatly gets glossed over.

[@lfgifu296]

Geez, you do have a gift when it comes to the expressiveness with which you relate events and, in this case, read a Welsh poem! At this point, you could be reading a shopping list and make it sound epic haha

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Aww, thank you so much! 😊😅 I just have to go and hide for a while now until my cheeks stop being red, haha! I didn't know if it might be a bit too much to pop the poem in there, but as it's about her and contemporary, I thought it was only fair to Gwenllian to include it.

[@lfgifu296]

@@HistorysForgottenPeople it for sure was! A great way to end the video :)

[@lfgifu296]

wait when I said “it for sure was” I wasn’t saying it was too much😭 I forgot the previous sentence in the middle of writing

[@amandamcarden]

I recently discovered a had a direct line to this family and she is my 21st great grandmother. 8 story that I would have never known without this discovery.

[@katelynvaughn8172]

She is one of my direct ancestors on my paternal side. She was a complete badass! I also look just like how she was portrayed! Flame red hair, green eyes and extremely fair skin!

[@hughdncy]

As a welsh viewer I forgive you for the mispronounciations. Welsh is a very hard language. You made a great video❤

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Thank you so much! The double LL is the trickiest for me - I know how it should be pronounced, I can hear how it's pronounced, but my mouth won't do it! I'll definitely keep practising. 🤣

[@HywelapDafydd]

Seconded. ❤

[@hughdncy]

@@HistorysForgottenPeople place your tongue as if to pronounce a single L. But instead of making a sound, breathe out through your mouth while in that position. Easy

[@hughdncy]

@@HywelapDafydd u too half scottish?

[@GwladYrHaf]

Welsh viewer here, thirded. Good video.

[@Philip-bk2dm]

Fantastic! We still have the primordial lust for power, but at least in those days if you did you had to back it up with your own sword and lead from the front, for better or for worse.

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

That's true! People just wouldn't bother to rally behind you unless you could practice what you preached, and prove you were happy to die alongside them. I wonder how many of today's leaders would do the same? 🤣

[@SarahGreen523]

I'm always happily grateful to learn about people I'd never heard of before. I don't know as much as I'd like to about the Welsh history and their rulers. I love the language, it's so soft and musical, really beautiful.

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

It's a lovely language (and accent!). And you're right, outside of Wales, we don't learn a lot about Welsh history, even in England.

[@samueltriggs]

Although a bit of a stretch, Gwenllian was the wife of Gruffydd, who was the brother in law of Gerald FitzWalter de Windsor, who's my 26th great granduncle. Still feels really cool to be connected by them through the past. Im also a small time film maker, id love to make a movie about her life and lineage, perhaps I could make a kickstarter? 😊

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Definitely still counts as a connection! 😊 I'd love to see a movie about her, I think that would be awesome. If you get to go, I highly recommend visiting Llys Rhosyr, the remains of the ancient palace where Gwenllian grew up - really peaceful, but also very atmospheric. Plus Anglesey is beautiful. 😍

[@ludovica8221]

shes my 23 x great grandmother and Gerald and Nesta are also my 25 x great grandparents

[@tumbleweedoutdoors1776]

@@ludovica8221I don’t know how many times great she is for me but she’s my many times great grandmother as well.

[@natashairving9879]

im graduating from uni this year in film studies and currently writing by graduate film script about gwenllian! great to hear people would be interested in seeing a film about her! i think it would also make a great 10 episode high end tv series. i live in south wales close to Dragon Production Studios.

[@HywelapDafydd]

Thank you for this ❤ I've never heard this story from my history. Hywel 😊

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Diolch! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. 😊 It's shocking really that so much is generally known about contemporary events in England, but not so much in Wales! It's encouraged me to research a lot more around Welsh history, especially as I have some ancestors from there.

[@CambrianChronicles]

An excellent coverage of a very important figure, and props on the pronunciations too! I really enjoyed it

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Thank you so much! 😊 I saw sweating a little trying to get the pronunciations right, and my lisp always gets in the way, haha!

[@DicDeryn]

Professor Andrew Breeze makes a very good case for Gwenllian being the author of the Four Branches of the Mabinogion

[@robinkuykendall-adams6650]

I've never heard this story. Thank you!

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it! ☺

[@MissMentats]

Omg this is amazing! I’m doing a degree at the open university and I’ve just enrolled in Welsh studies 😍

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Oh, good luck with your studies! I'm studying with the OU too, nice to know a fellow student, haha. 😊 I actually (hate to admit this, as my pronunciation is probably not great now) did a Welsh Language module of my History degree. It was that or a Latin module, which probably would have been more useful, but I felt pulled to the Welsh one for some reason.

[@hughdncy]

In case anyone wonders The music in the background is Master of the feast by Kevin McLeod

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

It is! I always credit my music in the description. 😊

[@leeannproctor2966]

Sad to say never heard of her until now.

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

She's really not a well-known figure, even here in Britain outside of Wales! I was shocked when I realised she was alive during the Norman Conquest, because the events of that are so famous, but only from the English side.

[@katelynvaughn8172]

She's one of my ancestors!

[@abdullah9659]

Found for tonight in my ancestry search ❤

[@bexyevans777]

I'm her 29th great-granddaughter.

[@MichelleBruce-lo4oc]

Hi, awesome live history video. I enjoyed it. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Next video could you do Thomas Blood. He was a famous Thief at the tower of london. In the 17th century. Have a great day see you next video 😊

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Thank you, Michelle! I'll certainly consider Thomas Blood for a future video. 😊

[@ludovica8221]

My 23 x great grandmother

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

She's an awesome ancestor to have!

[@ludovica8221]

@@HistorysForgottenPeople I will have to go through your list.. Its a bit like collecting Pokemon, Once you have some good ones the rest all interconnect. All the kings and queens before Richard II and all of their ancestors of course and royal blood trickles down every which way The late Queen being my 13th cousin

[@SSRT_JubyDuby8742]

Stunning, well tidy, diolch cariad, job iawn! Like deployed 👍

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Diolch yn fawr! 😊 I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@beth7935]

"Well tidy", lol! Reminds me of the fabulous Nessa from Gavin & Stacey 🥰

[@detritus666]

My great-great etc grandmother :)

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

She is a fantastic ancestor to have!

[@amandamcarden]

Mine too!

[@tumbleweedoutdoors1776]

I looked her up today because I was on an ancestry website and found out I’m apparently a descendant of her. Apparently I’m a direct descendant to a lot of kings and queens of wales so now I’m trying to figure out how I’m a lower middle class American and not a king 😂

[@katelynvaughn8172]

I felt this!! I'm her direct descendant through my paternal side.

[@hughdncy]

Do you also have Boudicca in your merch?

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Not yet, but my merch is still a work in progress, so watch this space! 😊

[@lyndamcmullen5506]

❤❤❤

[@themaestroslady1812]

Just FYI, King Stephen and Empress Matilda were never married. Some mention was made in the narration that this was so. They were rivals for the crown, but never husband and wife.

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

No, I said that Stephen was married to Matilda of Boulogne - unfortunately there were a lot of 'Matildas' at the same time! 😊

[@KrisHughes]

I often wonder, when videos begin with an apology about pronunciation of a living language, whether the video makers see this as a sort of "get out of jail free" card that allows them to release the video without doing sufficient research and practice where that pronunciation is concerned. My own pronunciation of Celtic languages is a work in progress. I don't always get it right, but I consider researching pronunciation (and practising that pronunciation before I record) to be just as important as other kinds of fact checking.

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Yeah, I researched it, and actually studied Welsh as part of my degree a few years ago. But I also have a lisp, which means my pronunciation is sometimes off in many languages (including English). I find making an apology for my pronunciation is polite, rather than assuming I have it right. Funny how none of the native Welsh speakers who watched my video had a problem with that - or Welsh people (who are lovely, by and large) more generally when I visit Wales.

[@robinhood6954]

I didn't know they had lipstick in those days, lol!

[@tondakremble6660]

OMG!!! What a gut wrenching story. Her courage & bravery is incomprehensible to me. Awesome story, inspiring. The feeling with which you tell the story elevates it to a whole nuther level. Bravo👏 Thank-you so much. More, more, more.

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

LOL, I know! 🤣 But it is ridiculously difficult to make Midjourney do anyone looking 'normal' (this is also apparently a scarred face!), as it takes in images from the Internet which are mostly ladies with make-up. I just pretend they're all in a somewhat historically-inaccurate big budget film! 😅

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

@tondakremble6660 Thank you so much! Gwenllian's bravery was remarkable, especially at a time when she would have simply been expected to flee.

[@robinhood6954]

@@HistorysForgottenPeople Well worth watching nonetheless. 👍 A history teacher once told me that most of human history was peaceful and with only occasional eruptions of violence here and there. I personally have to question that, lol!

[@andrewjennings7306]

Is all the art AI generated? It looks great

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Most of it, and thank you! 😊 It's almost impossible to find contemporary art for this period, but I try to put some in where possible if it exists.

[@janiap5235]

Wonder if this royal family know about the true Welsh princess of wales????????

[@kellylouisebrown4954]

Diolch yn fawr, Da Iawn :)

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Mae croeso i chi, rwy'n falch eich bod wedi mwynhau! 😊

[@lfgifu296]

What do you think of Madame de Montespan, Louis XIV’s mistress?

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Putting aside for a moment that I always feel slightly queasy at the idea of married noblewomen becoming mistresses to a king (LOL!), I actually kind of find myself liking Madame de Montespan. I think she was a clever woman, and I think she knew how to get herself to the top position at court, which honestly, most of the women at the French court were trying to do, in one way or another. I don't think she was involved with the Affair of the Poisons, as there wasn't really any actual evidence involving her implicitly (or any evidence for a lot of what was suggested, really), and I think it's much more likely several people saw it as a good way to knock her off the top spot as the King's mistress for their own gain. If you're beautiful, clever and know how to flirt well, you don't need to kill infants and resort to Satanic rituals to gain a king, in my humble opinion!

[@lfgifu296]

@@HistorysForgottenPeopleGood answer! I must admit, I don’t like her much, mainly because she replaced Louise de la Valiére (prolly badly spelled) and then treated her cruely, humiliating her (though Louis had no quams about it ofc), and also because her attitude to Queen Maria Theresa of Spain- I mean, girl isn’t it enough you are screwing her husband, on top of that you disrespect her?? That being said, I don’t believe that she was involved in the Affair of the Poisons either. It made it easy for Louis, since he was rather tired of her (at least he didn’t behead her👀)

[@SavageDarksider-sw7rp]

Do you think french should have had A reigning Queen ?

[@HistorysForgottenPeople]

Do you mean against their rule about the Salic Law of Succession? Yes, I think most countries throughout time that haven't allowed female rule have definitely missed out, France included! It's something that is stupidly complicated as obviously patriarchal societies became the norm from ancient times, and that's something that women had to push against for centuries. Having said that, obviously once the French people decided they didn't want a monarchy any more, it's fair that there's no reigning queen or king!

[@SavageDarksider-sw7rp]

@@HistorysForgottenPeople French could have save themselves A lot of pain and time if they had just accept A queen.

[@ElectricSoul828]

If they make a movie about her, she will definitely be black and definitely gay. 😂