Rhys ap Thomas | The Tudor Travel Guide

Name and Titles: Sir Rhys ap Thomas KG

Born: 1449, Carmarthenshire

Died: 1525.

Buried: Greyfriars, Carmarthen, later moved at the Dissolution to St Peter’s Church, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire

The Life and Death of the Hero of Bosworth

Thanks to two near-contemporary accounts of the Battle of Bosworth, one by a Welsh poet and another by a Burgundian chronicler, Rhys ap Thomas is often heralded as the man who killed Richard III by inflicting a lethal blow to the King’s head amidst the heat of battle.

More on that in a moment…but in the meantime, let’s explore the background of this Lancastrian hero of Bosworth.

Rhys was the youngest illegitimate son of Thomas ap Gruffydd ap Nicolas of Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire, and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Gruffydd of Abermarlais, also in Carmarthenshire. Like many Welsh noblemen, the family were Lancastrian supporters. Indeed, Rhys’ grandfather was killed fighting for the Lancastrian cause at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross in 1461. Rhys was only 12 at the time. 

Retreating from the battle, the family took refuge in their ancestral home of Carreg Cennen Castle in the Brecon Beacons. However, the Yorkists laid siege, eventually forcing the castle’s surrender. The family lands were confiscated, the castle was sleighted, and Thomas’ family fled abroad to exile in Burgundy. 

There, the family remained until the Yorkist King Edward IV was deposed during the readeption of Henry VI. As a result of the shifting sands of power, and the reinstallation of the House of Lancaster, Rhys ap Thomas returned with his family and resettled in South Wales. 

Even though the Yorks retook the throne in 1471, Thomas (senior) managed to retain his lands, and the family lived a quiet life for the next decade. The only major event was the death of Rhys’ father in 1474. As his elder siblings had predeceased their father, the young Rhys ap Thomas, now aged 25, inherited his patrimony.

Enter 1483, a momentous year, as King Edward IV died unexpectedly at Westminster. Edward’s brother, Richard III, seized the throne through a chain of events that we will not go into here. Richard demanded proof of ap Thomas’ loyalty to the Yorkist crown (unsurprisingly, he was sceptical of the depth of Rhys’ commitment to the House of York). He wanted the Welshman to surrender his eldest son to be effectively held hostage at Nottingham Castle, thereby assuring Rhys’ fidelity. Understandably, Rhys prevaricated. Eventually, he refused but instead sent a letter to the King pledging that:

‘Whoever ill-affected to the state, shall dare to land in those parts of Wales where I have any employment under your majesty, must resolve with himself to make his entrance and irruption over my belly.’

Perhaps because Richard was grateful for any support he had in Wales, perhaps because he had other matters pertaining to the stability of his crown on his mind, the King pushed the matter no further. However, the day would come when Richard would surely regret that decision. For when Henry Tudor landed at Mill Bay on 7 August 1485, Rhys immediately switched sides to support the Lancastrian cause – or, more likely, he simply showed his true colours. 

Rhys ap Thomas immediately joined forces with Henry’s invasion army. Initially, the strategy was to divide and conquer. Henry marched north along the coast to Aberystwyth, rallying men to the Lancastrian cause along the way. At the same time, Rhys ap Thomas had marched through his ancestral heartland, with his focus also being to gather more men at arms. The pair rejoined at Welshpool on the Welsh / English border – they were ready to march on to meet Richard III’s forces, which happened on 22 August 1485 near Market Bosworth, in Leicestershire.

As the battle began, Rhys ap Thomas led his army to block the assault of the Duke of Norfolk, who was slain. It was the first significant blow for the House of York as Norfolk was among Richard’s key noblemen and supporters.

Until this time, the forces of Sir William Stanley, husband of Margaret Beaufort, had remained aside from the fray, watching events unfolding. When Henry rode out towards Stanley to request his intervention for the Lancastrian cause, the York King saw his opportunity to strike. Hoping to turn the tide, Richard led his forces in a direct charge against Henry Tudor (the last time an English King would lead his men in battle). 

However, Richard was unseated from his horse. The poet Guto’r Glyn implies that Rhys himself was responsible for killing Richard, possibly with a poleaxe. Referring to Richard’s emblem of a boar, the poet writes that Rhys “killed the boar, shaved his head” (“Lladd y baedd, eilliodd ei ben”). However, the Burgundian Chronicler, mentioned at the top of this post, says that a Welshman, one of Rhys’ men (suspected to be Wyllyam Gardynyr), struck the death blow with a halberd. The evidence of that fatal blow can be seen on the skull of Richard’s skeleton, which was famously uncovered from a car park in Leicester in 2012.

Following the battle, Rhys was knighted and given extensive lands in Wales. He became Chamberlain of South Wales, ruling the area like a king.

One of ap Thomas’ residences was Carew Castle, just north of Tenby in Pembrokeshire. After Henry VII made Rhys a Knight of the Garter on 22 April 1505 in recognition of his sustained loyalty to the Crown, the latter held a massive celebratory joust at the castle, where the arms of Henry VII, Katherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur can still be seen above the magnificent porch that once led into the great hall.

Rhys ap Thomas lived for another 20 years. He died at the Franciscan Friary in Carmarthenshire in 1525; he had reached the ripe old age of 76.

The Tomb of Rhys ap Thomas

When Rhys ap Thomas died, the Greyfriars Friary already had a reputation as a popular burial site for the region, and within lay buried several local notables, including the father of the Tudor dynasty, Edmund Tudor.

However, when the fairy was dissolved in 1538, the tomb was moved to its present location inside the medieval church of St Peter’s, also in Carmarthen. 

Initially, the chest tomb was placed north of the high altar. I read during my visit to the church that, over time, leakages from the roof allowed the weather to erode the fine carvings around the tomb and that of the effigies themselves. Hence, they are in a bit of a sorry state today. However, at least their demise was halted in 1866, when the tomb was restored by a direct descendant of Rhys ap Thomas: Lord Dynevor. At that time, it was moved to its present location.

In appearance, the tomb chest is enormous and so high that a mirror has been placed above it to allow the visitor to see the effigies lying atop. Of course, there is Rhys in full armour, while his second wife, Lady Janet (who died in 1535), lies next to him. They make strange bedfellows as Lady Janet’s effigy is considerably smaller than her former husband’s; I have read that it is likely that once upon a time, her effigy sat upon a different tomb altogether! Perhaps they were brought together at the Dissolution when we know that Rhys’ tomb was moved.

It is quite something to stand next to another figure who was so instrumental in ensuring Henry Tudor’s success during those few short weeks in August 1485. Did Rhys strike that fatal blow to Richard’s skull and bring a powerful dynasty to its knees? We shall never know, but it is fascinating to reflect on the fact that whether Rhys was Richard’s nemesis or not, he was nevertheless right there on the battlefield, caked in blood and sweat, witness to a new dynasty being born!