I have just been reading some of the guide books I picked up at Ruthin Old Gaol. In one, there was the history of the kind of noblewoman they like in Fleams - Katheryn of Berain, known as Mam Cymru. She was kind of like a bad ass Bess of Hardwick. She was said to have disposed of an unwanted lover by pouring molten lead into his ear, and then burying him in her orchard.
Her first marriage was to John Salusbury. When he died nine years later, she married the fabulously wealthy "Sir" Richard Clough (quotation marks because he was called "Sir" by becoming an honorary Knight of the Holy Sepulchre on pilgrimage to Jerusalem). He allegedly proposed on the way to the funeral of her first husband, thus narrowly beating Maurice Wynn of Gwydir, who had politely waited until after the funeral to propose. Wynn in fact became her third husband. Later, she married Edward Thelwall. In total she had six children, at least 16 step-children, and 32 blood grandchildren, and the rest. That's why she became known as Mam Cymru, although her stepson called her "a siren and a base enchantress" instead of Mam. On the other hand, she was well-known for charity and kindness to the poor. A badass with a heart of gold!
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