Rhys ap Gruffydd
The first documented eisteddfod was hosted by Rhys ap Gruffydd, the grandson of Gruffudd ap Cynan through the maternal line and monarch of Deheubarth through his paternal descent from the House of Dinefwr, at Cardigan Castle on Christmas Day, 1176. According to Hywel Teifi Edwards, what few details are recorded of the event in the "Brut y Tywysogion", "encourage the view that it could not have been the first of its kind."