Robert of Rhuddlan

Who was Robert of Rhuddlan?

Robert of Rhuddlan was a Norman adventurer who became lord of much of north-east Wales and for a period lord of all North Wales.

Robert was the son of Humphrey de Tillieul and Adeliza de Grentemesnil, brother of Arnaud de Tilleul and the cousin of Hugh d'Avranches, the 1st Earl of Chester. He was also the father of William of Rhuddlan who was lost in the White Ship wreck in 1120 off the coast of Barfleur, France. He was recorded to have served as a squire in the court of Edward the Confessor and appears to have come to the Welsh Marches before 1066 in the service of the king. Hugh became Earl of Chester in 1070, and Robert appears to have been appointed Hugh's "commander of troops" in 1072. He immediately began hostilities with the Welsh, and having captured land in the cantref of Tegeingl he built a Motte-and-bailey castle at Twthill near Rhuddlan, holding the lands as a vassal of Earl Hugh.

When Gruffudd ap Cynan tried to recover the throne of Gwynedd from Trahaearn ap Caradog in 1075, Robert assisted Gruffudd by providing Norman troops.