Standing on Hadrain's Wall

Two of my daughters are shown in the picture to the right. They are standing on the remains of a section of Hadrain's Wall. At the time of Hadrain I suspect that it would not be all smiles. Just think that after 2000 years, the descendants of Beli Mawr would be standing upon the remains of The Roman Empire. Way to go descendants.

The Roman Dance

It was the grandsons and great grandsons of Beli Mawr that had to dance to the Roman music as they took control of the island. A detailed chronology of this dance is given by Salway who states that the conquest of the south and east of the island was accomplished by 47 AD. There was a Roman military campain on the Welsh border 47-52 AD. He records the foundation of London around 50 AD, which would of course mean that the Romans had taken Lud's Town before this date. The conquest of Wales was continued 52 AD - 58 AD and reached the island of Anglesey 60 AD. The conquest of northern Britain and Wales was completed 71 AD - 84 AD. So there you have it. The family of Beli Mawr is lost to the Roman world for the next 400 years. Somehow, at least one son Afflech had a lineage to survive. As given by Dwnn:

"Vortiger ap Rhydern ap Dehenfraint ap Eidigant ap Eudeirn ap Enid ap Endos ap Enddolau ap Afallach ap Afflech ap Beli mawr."

This lineage is given in Dwnn, L. Heraldic Visitations of Wales and part of the Marches, Longman & Co., London, 1846. Vol I, pp. xv - xvi.

The chronology is documented in Salway, P. The Oxford Illustrated History of Roman Britain. Oxford University Press, 1993. pp. 539-540.

The First JONES

The first of my direct JONES line that is recorded among the pages of history is Beli Mawr, son of Manogan. His name first appears in the most ancient of Welsh documents called "The Mabinogion". [A translation by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, Everyman Press, is available.] In the manuscript known as "The Four Independent Native Tales", a story titled "Lludd and Llefelys" is told. He is recorded here as having four sons; Lludd, Caswallawn, Nyniaw, and Llefelys. A daughter is given by the name Penarddun in another story titled "Branwen Daughter of Llyr". Now Ashley in his book "British Kings & Queens" states that Beli was a "semi-legendary British king who was probably an historical ruler" (p. 69) He dates him to around 100 BC and notes that he was from the Silures (southern tribal group), and was "High King" of the Britons. This would place my JONES line 50 years before those Latin writers were to show up. According to the "Historia Brittonum", he is identified as the "King of the Britons" in the time of Julius Caesar. Well, by any account, he was early in the history of Wales. According to Stephens in her book "The New Companion to the Literature of Wales", early heraldry of Wales shows that the eminent families in and the "Old North" claimed descent from Beli Mawr.(p.44) Not a bad start for a JONES line, hey?