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OWAIN GWYNEDD AND LOUIS VII: THE FRANCO-WELSH DIPLOMACY OFTHE FIRST PRINCE OFWALES* IN THE 1160s Owain ap Gruffudd ap Cynan, usually known as Owain Gwynedd after the territory he ruled in north Wales, established diplomatic contacts with Louis VII, king of France. As far as is known, this was an unprecedented move by a native Welsh ruler. The principal evidence for it consists of three letters sent by Owain to the Capetian court, two to Louis himself and another to the king's chancellor, Hugh de Champfleury, bishop of Soissons (1159-75). In addition, John of Salisbury reports that envoys of the king of Scotland and 'the kings of Wales' were amongst those at the peace talks between Louis and Henry II at La Ferte Bernard on 1 July 1168 who 'promised aid to the French king and offered him hostages' and 'departed under an obligation'. As J. E. Lloyd convincingly argued, the Welsh rulers referred to almost certainly included Owain; and they may well also have included his An earlier version of this paper was read to a seminar in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in May 1996, and I am grateful to those present, especially Professor Thomas Charles-Edwards, Professor Rees Davies and Dr Richard Sharpe, for their helpful comments. My thanks go also to Dr Anne Duggan for invaluable help with the dating of the Becket correspondence and for improving my trans- lations of Owain's letters, as well as to Dr David Howlett for his observations on the letters' Latin style. I am indebted to the Revd Dr Leonard Boyle, OP, ex-Prefect of the Vatican Library, for supplying photographic copies of the texts of Owain's letters in MS Reg. lat. 179. The letters will be included in the forthcoming edition of the acts of native Welsh rulers, 1120-1283, prepared by Charles Insley and myself in a project funded by the Leverhulme Trust: Mr Insley's comments on the texts and the Trust's support are gratefully acknowledged. 1 The Letters of John of Salisbury, ed. W J. Millor, H. E. Butler and C. N. L. Brooke (2 vols., London, 1955-79), II, 606-7 (no. 279).