page_title: Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam
section_title: Issue
hierarchical_section_title: Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam / William ap Thomas / Issue
caption_attribution_description: English: The armorial achievement of Jeffrey Thomas, agnatic descendant of Sir William ap Thomas, the "Blue Knight of Gwent" (obit 1445). The arms are those recorded in the 1620 Visitation of Cornwall, ascribed to the Thomases of Lelant, Thomases of Crowan, Thoms, and the Bosarvanes of St Just families, all patrilineally descended from "Richard Thomas gent. of Wales" who settled in Lelant in Cornwall some time early in the sixteenth century, where he married the daughter and heiress of John Hicks of Lelant. The motto and crest are those of the descendants of Rev. William Courtenay Thomas, the current armiger's grandfather. The 1620 Visitation records state "This coate of Pr pale nebule Ar. B. was ye coate armor of Sr Willm ap Thomas, from whom this familye chalengeth to be descended." Sir William ap Thomas was himself a member of the dispossesed pre-Norman royal family of Gwent, and was married to Gwladys, daughter of Sir Dafydd ap Llewelyn ap Hywel, or "Davy Gam", who was an heir to the Kingdom of Brycheiniog. Davy Gam fell at Agincourt along with Gwladys' first husband. Sir William also is believed to have fought at Agincourt, where he was knighted on the field. The current earls of Pembroke (Herbert family) are descended from an illegitimate grandson of Sir William ap Thomas. Copyright resides with the poster, however the artwork was created by Mr Ljubodrag Grujic.
context_page_description: Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam was a Welsh noblewoman. She was the daughter of Dafydd ap Llewelyn ap Hywel, otherwise known as Dafydd Gam, who was killed at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
  Gwladys was named "the star of Abergavenny" —"Gwladys the happy and the faultless" by Welsh poet Lewys Glyn Cothi. He describes the lady of Raglan Castle, which she became upon her second marriage, as a brilliant being, "like the sun—the pavilion of light." She has been compared to the legendary Queen Marcia for her discretion and influence.
context_section_description: The children of Gwladys and William were:
  William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1423–1469) took the surname Herbert. William's allegiance to Richard, Duke of York, and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, branded him Edward IV's Welsh "master-lock".  He was the first full-blooded Welshman to enter the English peerage and he was knighted in 1452. He married Anne Devereux daughter of Sir Walter Devereux in 1449, by whom he had issue.
  Sir Richard Herbert of Coldbrook, near Abergavenny; died on the battlefield of Danesmoor.
  Elizabeth married Sir Henry Stradling (1423–1476), son of Sir Edward Stradling (d. c.1394) and Gwenllian Berkerolles, sister and co-heir of his neighbour, Sir Lawrence Berkerolles.  Reversing alliances from the previous generation, Henry and his brothers-in-law were hostile to Henry VI's reign. Henry went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1476.  Henry died on 31 August 1476 on his journey back to England and was buried at Famagusta, Cyprus.  Thomas, Elizabeth and Henry's young son died on 8 September 1480.
  Margaret married Sir Henry Wogan, steward and treasurer of the Earldom of Pembroke, tasked with securing war material for the defence of Pembroke Castle. Henry and his father, John Wogan of Picton, witnessed an act of Bishop Benedict in 1418. Their son, Sir John Wogan, was killed at the battle of Banbury in 1469, fighting by the side of his uncle, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.
  Other issue less consistently attributed to Gwladys and William include: Maud, Olivia, Elizabeth (who married Welsh country gentlemen, John ab Gwilym), and Thomas Herbert.
  The Cornish family of Thomas (Thomas of Lelant, Thomas of Crowan, Thomas of Tremayne, Thoms, and the Bosarvanes of St Just), all patrilineally descended from "Richard Thomas gent. of Wales" are acknowledged as legitimate agnatic descendants of William ap Thomas in the 1620 Visitation of Cornwall, and thus of Gwladys.
  The Visitation records state "This coate of Pr pale nebule Ar. B. was ye coate armor of Sr Willm ap Thomas, from whom this familye chalengeth to be descended."
  Descendants of this family include Members of Parliament, such as John Thomas who sat in the 1555 Parliament for the Cornish borough of Mitchell, members of the clergy such as Methodist minister the Reverend William Courtenay Thomas and his descendants, and related pioneering families in Australia.
  Lady Gwladys mourned at length when William died in 1445.
caption: The Thomas armorial achievement as borne by the living descendants of the Rev. William Courtenay Thomas, himself an agnatic descendant of William ap Thomas.
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