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Emlyn was one of the seven of Dyfed, an ancient district of Wales, which became part of Deheubarth in around 950. It consisted of the northern part of Dyfed bordering on the River Teifi. Its southern boundary followed the ridge of the line of hills separating the Teifi valley from the valleys of the Tâf and River Tywi.Richards, Melville, Welsh Administrative and Territorial Units, UoW Press, 1969, p 268
Its area was about . It was divided by the Afon Cych into the cwmwd of Emlyn Is Cuch (to the west) and Emlyn Uwch Cuch to the east. Its civil headquarters were divided between Cilgerran in the lower commote and Newcastle Emlyn in the upper. Its ecclesiastical centre (and perhaps, in the Age of the Saints, the seat of a bishopWilliams, A. H., An Introduction to the History of Wales: Volume I: Prehistoric Times to 1063, UoWP, 1941, pp 120-121) was the church of St Llawddog at Cenarth.
Sweeping south from Ceredigion, Campaigns of the Norman Conquest, Matthew Bennett, Routledge, 2014, p. 65 Arnulf de Montgomery took the lands between the Preseli Hills and Cambrian Mountains - Emlyn - and, passing south through them, conquered western Dyfed beyond it, establishing the of Pembroke Castle in its place. With lands elsewhere, Arnulf appointed Gerald of Windsor as castellan; in about 1100, this castellan constructed Cilgerran Castle, to counter challenges from Ceredigion, and control the cantref of Emlyn. That same year, the king.
The following year, Arnulf took part in an unsuccessful rebellion (led by his elder brother) against William's successor, Henry I, in aid of Robert Curthose's claim to the throne.C. Warren Hollister, 'The Anglo-Norman Civil War: 1101', The English Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 347 (Apr. 1973), pp. 317–8 As a rebel against Henry's suzerainty, his lands were forfeit. The king kept the lands for himself, but unlike other areas of the Lordship of Pembroke, there was never a large scale settlement of Flanders in Emlyn; it remained mostly Welsh language speaking, as it continues today.
By now, Gilbert de Clare's son, Richard, had inherited the Lordship of Pembroke, now reduced to just Roose Hundred and Penfro. He had also inherited the Kingdom of Laigin (in jure uxoris, at least according to English inheritance law); King Henry, concerned about the possibility of a Norman kingdom in Ireland not ruled by him, made peace with Rhys, appointing him Justiciar of all Deheubarth.
Meanwhile, Llywelyn Fawr, prince of Gwynedd took the opportunity to establish his hegemony over the Welsh princes. King Henry III was not in a position to resist this, owing to troubles with his barons, and his own young age, until a stroke paralysed Llywelyn in 1237, and the birth of Henry's son Edward two years later put the King in a much stronger political position with the nobility. In 1240, Henry managed to get Welsh princes to agree to the Treaty of Gloucester, and Llywelyn Fawr died shortly thereafter. That same year, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty, the princes of Deheubarth surrendered the lands they held, and were re-granted them as honours; The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages: The Structure and Personnel of Government, South Wales 1277, Ralph A. Griffiths, 1972, Cardiff Carmarthen Castle: The Archaeology of Government, Neil Ludlow, 2007, p. 21-22 the king kept the Marcher Lordship of the land, while the princes became mere barons.
King Henry also ordered Gilbert, William Marshal's son and successor, to hand over "a reasonable portion" of his lands to the king so that one of Rhys's grandsons, Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg, could be enfeoffed with it; Maredudd and Gilbert's mothers were distant relations, and before Maredudd had reached adulthood, he had been Gilbert's ward. To satisfy the king's demand, Gilbert gave Maredudd the section of Emlyn east of the Cuch - Emlyn Uwch Cych (). History of Carmarthenshire, John Edward Lloyd, Cardiff, 1935, volume 1 Early the following year, in a marriage that had probably been pre-arranged, Maredudd married Isobel, the illegitimate daughter of Gilbert's elder (but now deceased) brother, William; Excavations at Dryslwyn Castle 1980-1995, Chris Caple, 2007, p. he had effectively acquired Emlyn Uwch Cych as a dowry. Maredudd built a castle to control his part of Emlyn: Newcastle Emlyn.
The part of Emlyn west of the CuchEmlyn Is Cych ()remained part of the Marcher Lordship of Pembroke, which continued to be held by William Marshall's descendants until 1389, when the then Marcher Lord died without direct or male-line heirs; as a result, the territory defaulted to the crown. Decades later, the Marcher Lordship of Pembroke was transferred to a royal favourite, who then likewise died without legitimate children, causing it to revert once more to the crown, a pattern that would repeat itself throughout the 15th century; among others it was held by Duke Humphrey (of Gloucester), William de la Pole and Jasper Tudor.
The last gifting of the Marcher Lordship of Pembroke, now attached to the title of Marquess, was from King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn (shortly before he married her); later, at around the time she was on trial for treason, the king passed the first Laws in Wales Act in 1535, which abolished the status of Marcher Lords, and converted the Marcher Lordship of Pembroke, together with Dewisland, into Pembrokeshire. Emlyn Is Cych became Pembrokeshire's Cilgerran Hundred.
Emlyn's name lives on in several local place names, including Newcastle Emlyn.
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