Rhys Mechyll

Rhys Mechyll (* 1170, † 1244 Dinefwr Castle ) was a Lord of the Welsh principality of Deheubarth.

He was the older and presumably illegitimate son of Rhys Gryg. Already in 1227 he had wrested from his father, to let him have Llandovery Castle as their own possession. After the death of his father in 1234 he inherited the larger, southern part of Ystrad Tiwy with Dinefwr Castle, while the northeastern part of Llandovery and Dryslwyn Castle fell to his younger half-brother Maredudd ap Rhys. The two castles Dryslwyn and Dinefwr Castle were only a few kilometers apart, and for the division of the inheritance, it came in the years of conflict between the brothers.

In his first marriage he married a Miss Croft of Croft Castle in Herefordshire, with whom he had a son Rhys Fychan († 1271) had. After the death of his first wife, he married Matilda de Braose about 1219, a daughter of the Marcher Lords Reginald de Braose. With her ​​he had a daughter, Gwenllian.

His legacy is first his son Rhys Fychan. Rhys Mechylls widow wife Matilda was so hostile to her stepson, that they surrendered the castle Carreg Cennen Castle to the English, but 1248 was the castle of Rhys Fychan be recovered. After Rhys Fychans son Rhys Wyndod 1277 Dinefwr Castle had passed to the British, inherited Rhys Mechylls daughter Gwenllian, who married in 1249 the English knight Gilbert Talbot of Linton and Credenhill († September 1274 ), the estate of her father. Her grandson Gilbert Talbot was Lord Chamberlain in 1331 by King Edward III. and raised to the 1st Baron Talbot, his descendants were later given the title of Earl of Shrewsbury.