1174 he sided with Henry, and in the latter year besieged Tutbury, which was held for Earl Ferrers, with a force of Welshmen (R. Diceto, Rolls edit. i. 384). On 29 June 1175 he was present at the council of Gloucester, having with him six minor princes of South Wales, most of whom were connected with him by marriage. In May 1177 he did homage to Henry at Oxford with the other princes of Wales, and received Meirionydd, a district held by Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd until his death in 1174; in the same year he strengthened his hold on the upper valley of the Wye by building a castle at Rhayader. A struggle with the sons of Cynan began in 1178, which ended in their winning back Meirionydd for the north.
Rhys's sons were now old enough to be a source of trouble to him. Their ravages induced Henry in 1184 to plan an expedition into South Wales, but Rhys met the king in July at Worcester, and there promised obedience on their behalf. He found, however, that they would not accept his terms, and had accordingly to wait upon Henry at Gloucester shortly afterwards and inform him that peace could not be made. The conflict was nevertheless postponed, and in 1186 matters were settled by Ranulf de Glanville [q. v.] Rhys afforded archbishop Baldwin [q. v.] every facility for his tour through Wales in 1188; he received him at Radnor, escorted him through a considerable portion of his dominions, and entertained him at Cardigan. But for the entreaties of his wife he would himself have taken the cross. The death of Henry II, however, once again kindled in him the spirit of strife; he took by surprise the castles of Llanstephan and Laugharne, ravaged Penfro, Rhos, and Gower, and was only checked by the resistance of Carmarthen. An army was despatched under Prince John to quell the southern prince, but Rhys, finding himself isolated, decided to yield, and in October 1189 came to Oxford to render the customary homage to Richard I. The king, however, was not there to receive him; accordingly he returned in great wrath, and appears not to have tendered homage again. In 1190 he built a castle at Kidwelly; in the following year, on 15 Aug., he deprived his son-in-law, William FitzMartin, lord of Cemais, of his castle of Nevern, and gave it, against his oath, to his son Gruffydd. Further successes followed in Dyfed; in 1192 Lawhaden, and in 1193 Wiston, fell into the hands of the Welsh. But Rhys's age now exposed him to the violence of his ambitious sons; in 1194 he was imprisoned by them in Nevern Castle, an incident which Giraldus Cambrensis regarded as a signal instance of divine retribution. Released by his son, Hywel Sais, he had to face in 1195 a plot of the men of Ystrad Tywi to depose him in favour of his sons Maredudd and Rhys, whom he forthwith imprisoned in Ystrad Meurig Castle. His last campaign was fought in 1196, when he destroyed Carmarthen, captured and burnt the castle of Colwyn, burnt the town of Radnor, defeated Roger Mortimer in a pitched battle, and took Pain's Castle in Elfael. He died on 28 April 1197, and was buried in St. David's Cathedral, where his tomb (of the end of the fourteenth century) is shown in the presbytery. According to the ‘Annals of Winchester,’ Rhys was at the time of his death under excommunication in consequence of an insult inflicted by his sons upon Peter de Leia; on the submission of his son Gruffydd, his body was scourged and absolution pronounced over it.
Rhys married Gwenllian, daughter of Madog ap Maredudd of Powys, and left a numerous progeny by her and others. His sons were Rhys Gryg (d. 1234), Gruffydd (d. 1201), Maredudd (d. 1201), Cynwrig (d. 1237), Hywel Sais (d. 1199), Maelgwn (d. 1231), Cadwaladr (d. 1185), Maredudd, archdeacon of Cardigan (d. 1227), Maredudd Ddall (d. 1239), and Morgan (d. 1251). Of his daughters, Gwenllian (d. 1236) married Ednyfed Fychan and Angharad William FitzMartin; Einion Clud of Elfael and Einion ap Rhys of Gwerthrynion were also sons-in-law of Rhys.
Rhys is generally reckoned the founder of the monastery of Strata Florida, now Mynachlogfur, Cardiganshire. He certainly endowed it on a liberal scale (Dugdale, v. 632–3), though Giraldus Cambrensis says it owed its foundation (in 1165) to Robert FitzStephen (Speculum Ecclesiæ, Rolls edit. of Gir. Cambrr. iv. 152). He was a donor also to Whitland and Talley Abbeys. The ‘Myvyrian Archaiology’ contains three poems in his honour by Cynddelw (2nd edit. pp. 164–167, 171–4), one by Gwynfardd Brycheiniog (p. 193), and one by Seisyll Bryffwrch (pp. 236–7). The ‘Chronicle of the Princes’ describes a contest for two chairs between poets and musicians, held under the patronage of Rhys at Cardigan in 1176, which is the earliest instance of an ‘eisteddfod.’
[Annales Cambriæ; Bruts in Myvyrian Archaiology; Giraldus Cambrensis, Rolls edit. of works, vi. 14, 15, 80, 85, 110–12, 122, 145; Benedictus Abbas, Rolls edit. i. 92, 162, 314, 317, 355, ii. 87, 97; Robert of Torigny, Rolls edit. p. 251; Annales Monastici, Rolls edit. i. 48, 55, ii. 66, iii. 18.]
