Draft:Lewis family of Van, Glamorganshire

Family origins and early history
The Lewis Of The Van is an ancient Welsh family dating back to the sixteenth century, with ancestry dating back to the foundation of Wales. The most documented progenitor of the Lewis family name is Sir Edward Lewis of the Van (c.1508) who was the sheriff of Glamorgan in 1548, 1555, 1559. He was married to Ann (Blanche) Morgan the daughter of Sir William Morgan of the Tredegar family (who is the common ancestor of the Morgan banking family and the Barons Tredegar) and Florence Morgan (Bridges).

Sir Edward Lewis descended from the royal houses of Dinefwr and Gwynedd through his ancestor Ifor Bach via his wife Nest who was the daughter of Gruffydd ap Rhys and Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd a union which brought together both the house of Dinefwr and Aberffraw which were both cadet branches of the house of Gwynedd.

Main article: House of Gwynedd

The House of Gwynedd, divided between the earlier House of Cunedda, which lasted from c.401 to 825, was eventually replaced by the later House of Aberffraw, beginning in 844. The first is so named after Cunedda (386-460), the founding King of Gwynedd in late Roman Britain; following the departure of Magnus Maximus in the 380s, and the second after Aberffraw, the old capital of the Kingdom of Gwynedd.

This House was the first not being descended from the male line of Cunedda, as king Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog was the last in the direct male line. Through inheritances from the great uncle of Merfyn the Oppressor, the line of Cunedda continued from the maternal side through the House of Aberffraw, and through the House of Dinefwr through Rhodri's son, king Cadell ap Rhodri.

The House of Gwynedd was the ruling house of the Kingdom of Gwynedd.

Main article: Kingdom of Gwynedd

The Kingdom of Gwynedd (Medieval Latin: Venedotia / Norwallia / Guenedota; Middle Welsh: Guynet)[1] was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.

Based in northwest Wales, the rulers of Gwynedd repeatedly rose to dominance and were acclaimed as "King of the Britons" before losing their power in civil wars or invasions. The kingdom of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn—the King of Wales from 1055 to 1063—was shattered by a Saxon invasion in 1063 just prior to the Norman invasion of Wales, but the House of Aberffraw restored by Gruffudd ap Cynan slowly recovered and Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd was able to proclaim the Principality of Wales at the Aberdyfi gathering of Welsh princes in 1216. In 1277, the Treaty of Aberconwy between Edward I of England and Llywelyn's grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd granted peace between the two but would also guarantee that Welsh self-rule would end upon Llywelyn's death, and so it represented the completion of the first stage of the conquest of Wales by Edward I.

Welsh tradition credited the founding of Gwynedd to the Brittonic polity of Gododdin (Old Welsh Guotodin, earlier Brittonic form Votadini) from Lothian invading the lands of the Brittonic polities of the Deceangli, Ordovices, and Gangani in the 5th century. The sons of their leader, Cunedda, were said to have possessed the land between the rivers Dee and Teifi. The true borders of the realm varied over time, but Gwynedd proper was generally thought to comprise the cantrefs of Aberffraw, Cemais, and Cantref Rhosyr on Anglesey and Arllechwedd, Arfon, Dunoding, Dyffryn Clwyd, Llŷn, Rhos, Rhufoniog, and Tegeingl at the mountainous mainland region of Snowdonia opposite.

The House of Windsor
The House of Windsor was connected to House of Gwynedd when Henry the 7th son of Edmund Tudor married Elizabeth of York forming the House of Tudor which later went onto become the House of Windsor today. The descent from the House of Gwynedd through the Tudors of Penmynydd played an important role in Henry the 7th claim to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. Raluca Rădulescu a Professor of Medieval Literature at Bangor University cited this historic power struggle as being one of the possible inspirations for the House of Targaryen in George R.R Martins' Game Of Thrones.

Earls of Plymouth
The Plymouth estate through marriage of Elizabeth Lewis to Other Windsor, 3rd Earl of Plymouth On 7 May 1730 absorbed vast amounts of the Lewis estates through primogeniture after the death of Elizabeths father Thomas Lewis.

Family seat
The original family seat was Y Van Castle. In the 1580s, permission was given to Thomas Lewis to use stone from nearby Caerphilly Castle to build a manor house. The resulting building was known as Van Castle, Castell y Fan, or simply 'The Van'. The building was seen as an innovation of its day but its construction led to the further dilapidation of the original castle in Caerphilly. Van Castle was abandoned in the mid-18th century when the Lewis family moved to St Fagans Castle.

The later seat of St Fagans was outside of Cardiff. The Van castle and the vast Lewis family estates in England and Wales passed with the marriage in 1730 of Elizabeth Lewis to the third Earl of Plymouth. Her infant son Other Lewis became the 4th Earl of Plymouth on the death of his father in 1732 and Van castle remained part of the Plymouth estate until 1991

The current seat although not in the Lewis name and through the maternal line is Oakly Park, home of Ivor Edward Other Windsor-Clive, 4th Earl of Plymouth (born 19 November 1951).

Heraldry
The coat of arms of the Lewis family is a silver lion rampant argent.

The family has two family mottos, the first ‘Patriœ fidus’ (Faithful to my country) and second ‘Ofner na ofno angau’.(Let him be feared who fears not death).

The second family motto is of note, originating from on old legend from the reign of Edgar King of England. King Edgar requested the Welsh princes to row him on his royal barge across the river dee where he had summoned the Princes. One of the Princes Gwaithwood the ancestor of Ivor refused responding with “Ofner na ofno augau “(Fear him who fears not death). The King was pleased with the response and held the Prince in high regard. The only other family to have born this motto is the Bruce family of Scotland.

American History
Many American families and houses have traced their ancestry back to the Lewis of the Van family including Meriwether Lewis and Fielding Lewis. George Washington is said to have close ties to the family through the Lewis' of Warner Hall. Most of the genealogical research in the United States of America relied heavily on the use of heraldry to identify the families origins.

Recent History
Not much is known about the heirs of the Lewis family, the most notable being Ivor Edward Other Windsor-Clive.

In 2023 the current Earl of Plymouth sold off some of the Lewis estates valued in the region of £1 billion pounds. 

Notable family members
Wyndham Lewis (7 October 1780 – 14 March 1838) was a British politician and a close associate of Benjamin Disraeli, whom his widow married after his death

Thomas Lewis (c. 1679 – 22 November 1736) of Soberton, Hampshire, was a British Tory and then Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1736.

Thomas Lewis (by 1533 – 2 November 1594), of The Van, Glamorganshire, was a Welsh politician.

Tom Noyes-Lewis (1862-1946) was a visual artist most noted for work on religious themes

Fielding Lewis (July 7, 1725 – December 7, 1781) was an American merchant, member of the House of Burgesses and a Colonel during the American Revolutionary War.

Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator

Ivor Edward Other Windsor-Clive, 4th Earl of Plymouth (born 19 November 1951)

Paul Stuart Lewis Yates, (born 1988) is a media executive based in New York.